Review: MEETING THE MANTIS by John Ashford (Botswana)
Meeting the Mantis: Searching for a Man in the Desert and Finding the Kalahari Bushmen by John Ashford (Botswana 1990–92) Peace Corps Writers August 2015 216 pages $13.00 (paperback), $4.00 (Kindle) Reviewed by Julie R. Dargis (Morocco 1984-87) • “Follow the lightening,” the first people of the Kalahari said. At the end of the proverbial rainbow in Western culture, lies water, herds of wild animals, and life in the desert. For years, John Ashford fantasized about what it would be like to live the life of a Bushman. After years of contemplation, the photograph of Freddy Morris that John Ashford had once glimpsed in his hometown library, came to life. By the time the author met him, Freddy Morris had clocked nearly 90 years straddling two cultures. Before he set out on his journey, Ashford could lay claim to a half-life of Freddy’s experiences, the most relevant months boiled . . .
Read More
Ashford's book gets beyond the "numbers" to the underlying factors which cause people to do what they do in different…