Tamar Myers returns to Africa in The Headhunter’s Daughter, the second book in her wonderful mystery series set in the Belgian Congo in the mid-twentieth century—a riveting and atmospheric follow-up to The Witchdoctor’s Wife. Raised in the Congo herself, the child of missionaries, Myers uses her intimate knowledge of the people, the culture, and the landscape to add richness to this stunning story of an abandoned infant raised by a tribe of headhunters—a masterful mystery that fans of Alexander McCall Smith and The #1 Ladies’ Detective Agency will adore.
THE EXTRAORDINARY TALE OF SYLVIA BROOKE, THE LAST WHITE RULER OF THE JUNGLE KINGDOM OF BORNEO Sylvia Brooke was one of the more exotic and outrageous figures of the twentieth century. Otherwise known as the Ranee of Sarawak, she was the wife of Sir Vyner Brooke, the last White Rajah, whose family had ruled the jungle kingdom of Sarawak on Borneo for three generations. They had their own flag, revenue, postage stamps, and money, as well as the power of life and death over their subjects—Malays, Chinese, and headhunting Dyak tribesmen. The regime of the White Rajahs was long romanticized, but by the 1930s, their power and prestige were crumbling. At the center of Sarawak's decadence was Sylvia, author of eleven books, mother to three daughters, an extravagantly dressed socialite whose behavior often offended and usually defied social convention. Sylvia did her best to manipulate the line of succession in favor of her daughters, but by 1946, Japan had invaded Sarawak, sending Sylvia and her husband into exile, ending one of the more unusual chapters of British colonial rule. Philip Eade's Sylvia, Queen of the Headhunters is a fascinating look at the wild and debauched world of a woman desperate to maintain the last remains of power in an exotic and dying kingdom.
The fires on Bataan burned on the evening of April 9, 1942 — illuminating the white flags of surrender against the nighttime sky. Woefully outnumbered, outgunned, and ill-equipped, battered remnants of the American-Philippine army surrendered to the forces of the Rising Sun. Yet amongst the chaos and devastation of the American defeat, Army Captain Donald D. Blackburn refused to lay down his arms. With future SF legend Russell Volckmann, Blackburn escaped from Bataan and fled to the mountainous jungles of North Luzon, where they raised a private army of over 22,000 men against the Japanese. Once there, Blackburn organized a guerrilla regiment from among the native tribes in the Cagayan Valley. “Blackburn’s Headhunters,” as they came to be known, devastated the Japanese 14th Army within the western provinces of North Luzon and destroyed the Japanese naval base at Aparri — the largest enemy anchorage in the Philippines. After the war, Blackburn remained on active duty and played a key role in initiating Special Forces operations in Southeast Asia. In 1958, as commander of the 77th Special Forces Group, he spearheaded Operation White Star in Laos — the first major deployment of American Special Forces to a country with an active insurgency. Seven years later, Blackburn took command of the highly classified Studies and Observations Group (SOG), charged with performing secret missions now that main-force Communist incursions were on the rise. In the wake of the CIA’s disastrous Leaping Lena program, in 1964 Blackburn revitalized the Special Operations campaign in South Vietnam. Sending cross-border reconnaissance teams into Cambodia and North Vietnam, he discovered the clandestine networks and supply nodes of the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail. Taking this information directly to General Westmoreland, Blackburn received authorization to conduct full-scale operations against the NVA and Viet Cong operating in Laos and Cambodia. In combats large and small, the Communists realized they had met a master of insurgent tactics — and he was on the US side. Following his return to the United States, Blackburn was appointed “Special Assistant for Counterinsurgency and Special Activities,” where he was the architect of the infamous Son Tay Prison Raid. Officially termed Operation Ivory Coast, the Son Tay raid was the largest POW rescue mission — and indeed, the largest Special Forces operation — of the Vietnam War. During a period when United States troops in Southeast Asia faced guerrilla armies on every side, it has been little recognized today that America had a superb covert commander of its own, his guerrilla skills honed in resistance against Japan. This book follows Donald D. Blackburn through both his youthful days of desperate combat against an Empire, and through his days as a commander, imparting his lessons to the newly-realized ranks of America’s own Special Forces.
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Award winning author James Duermeyer has written another western, Counterfeit Rodeos, Book Three, in his Nathan Wolf series: After a casual afternoon visit to a local rodeo, Nathan Wolf discovers that the rodeo performance is rigged by a criminal element that is willing to commit murder to keep its secrets from reaching the arm of the law. But Nathan soon learns that rigged rodeos are only one piece of a much larger multi-faceted criminal enterprise that spans many states in its reach. Several of Wolf’s friends join him in the twists and turns of searching for the head of the criminal enterprise, all the while placing Wolf in life and death danger in his hunt for the truth. Counterfeit Rodeos, following Trail of the Outlaw and Singing Creek are set in post reconstruction Kansas, where a traveling carnival holds secrets that Wolf must pry from dangerous criminal characters.
This is an old writing about the Wa tribal people. During the period of this report written by Harold Mason Young, he was associated less frequently and gained knowledge of their ways from direct contact as well as from the Lahu people. His perspective of the Wa tribal people is unique, especially as it was in the early part of 1900 when the Wa were still practicing their traditional way. It offers some interesting information on the Wa, of which few foreigners ever saw during this period of history. There are likely studiers of ethnic tribal people that will find some of the book useful and maybe even entertaining.
This tale follows a music nymph and her friends learning to be themselves and facing the deadly Head Hunters (poachers of supernatural beings). When Angel gets her powers she finds out shes on the endangered species list. Her friends who are were creatures, angels, and witches are being poached as well. Head Hunters want the were creatures pelts and the angels wings and such. How would you feel if people wanted to kill you for a certain body part? Would you be okay if hunters wanted to kill a family member of yours just for a piece of them?
Detailed ethnographical study of the Torres Straits Islanders (tour also included New Guinea and Borneo); Chaps. 2 & 3; Brief history of the discovery of the Torres Straits islands - geographical features; physical appearance of Islanders, investigation carried out on natives in experimental psychology; form of government; comments on Miriam language; description of rainmaking ceremony; amusements cats cradles, top spinning; method of cooking; Malu ceremonies - initiation masks associated with ceremonies; clan organization linked to totems; Chap 5; Murray Island oracles - Zogos - the Waiad ceremony; Chap.6; Discussion of the character and social life of Murray Islanders; burial customs mummification, decorated skulls; Chaps. 8 & 9; Mabuiag - intelligence of natives, work standards in fishing, as sailors and in agriculture compared with Murray Islanders and Muralug natives; measurements of skulls including collection from Moa; results of contact with Europeans (including missionaries); economic conditions; genealogical surveys carried out on Murray and Mabuiag; comments on Mabuiag language - no link with Yaraikanna tribe of Cape York; tribal organization, significance and advantages of totemic system; initiation customs concerned with women, on Island of Tut; Pulu Island cave of skulls and ceremonial artifacts; Chap.10; Detailed description of dugong and turtle fishing use of harpoon, and sucker fish; Chap.11; Marriage customs from Mabuiag, Warrior and Murray Islands; legends of paintings on Kirivi; war dance on Muralug; Chap.13; Brief study of Gudang and Yaraikanna tribes - physical appearance - tooth avulsion; use of bullroarer in initiation ceremonies; obtaining of the Ari or personal totem.
This semi-documentary combines many accurate representations of aspects of Kwakwaka'wakw culture, art, and technology from the era in which it was written with a melodramatic plot based on practices that either dated from long before the first contact of the Kwakwaka'wakw with people of European descent or were entirely fictional. Curtis appears never to have specifically presented the book as a documentary, but he also never specifically called it a work of fiction.
