Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
{{short description|American author (born 1931)}}
{{Expand German|topic=bio|date=July 2011}}
Elizabeth Marshall Thomas (born September 13, 1931){{cite encyclopedia |title=Thomas, Elizabeth Marshall |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Anthropology |publisher=Sage Publications |url= |last=Reiten |first=Linda |editor-last=Birx |editor-first=H. James |publication-date=2006 |pages=2186–2187 |isbn=0-7619-3029-9}} is an American author. She has published fiction and non-fiction books and articles on animal behavior, Paleolithic life, and the !Kung Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert.
Early life and education
Thomas was born to anthropologist Lorna Marshall and Laurence K. Marshall, co-founder of the Raytheon Corporation. She is the sister of ethnographic filmmaker John Marshall.{{cite journal | last= McCarthy| first= Susan| title= Elizabeth Marshall Thomas|journal=Salon.com|date=June 27, 2000| url= http://www.salon.com/2000/06/27/thomas_4|access-date=November 18, 2012}} She was raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts and attended Abbot Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.
After beginning undergraduate studies at Smith College, Thomas took a break to travel in Africa with her family and later completed a degree in English from Radcliffe College.
Career
Between 1950 and 1956, she took part in three expeditions to live with and study the Ju/'hoansi (!Kung Bushmen) of the Kalahari Desert in Namibia and Botswana.{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Elizabeth Marshall|title=The Harmless People|url=https://archive.org/details/harmlesspeople0000thom_t2y3|url-access=registration|year=1989|publisher=Vintage Books|location=New York|isbn=067972446X| chapter= About the Author|edition=Rev. ed., 2nd}} During these trips, Thomas kept a journal which she later drew on when writing her first book, The Harmless People. She later drew on this experience in her fiction, depicting the life of Paleolithic hunter gatherers in the novels Reindeer Moon{{cite news| url= http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-395-42112-3 |title= Review: Reindeer Moon |work= Publishers Weekly |year= 1986}} and The Animal Wife.
A popular success and New York Times bestseller, her book The Hidden Life of Dogs{{cite news| first= Polly |last= Devlin| url= https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/book-review-absolutely-mad-about-barking-the-hidden-life-of-dogs-elizabeth-marshall-thomas-1437669.html |title= Book Review: Absolutely mad about barking: 'The Hidden Life of Dogs'| work= The Guardian| date= 21 May 1994}} also drew criticism from some in the scientific and dog training communities for Thomas' observational methods and analysis.{{cite journal| last1= Adler| first1= Jerry| first2= Teresa |last2= Namuth|title=The (secret) world of dogs|journal=Newsweek|date=1 November 1993|volume=122|issue=18}} Thomas wrote a follow-up book, The Social Life of Dogs: The Grace of Canine Company as well as books on feline and deer behavior. She also contributes, along with Sy Montgomery, to a column called "[https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/style/2015/02/02/want-protect-your-heart-think-about-cat/Ah62NWaFU3diko3kRU1KkM/story.html Tamed/Untamed]" in the Boston Globe.
Personal life
Ms. Thomas has long made her home in Peterborough, New Hampshire. With proceeds from her bestselling book about dogs, she donated land for Peterborough's first town beach at Cunningham Pond, where canines of town residents are always welcome. She served on the town's Select Board for 15 years.{{cite news| url= http://www.yankeemagazine.com/article/features/cunningham-pond#_| work= Yankee| title= Cunningham Pond
Bibliography
{{Incomplete list|date=September 2018}}
=Non-fiction=
;Anthropology
- {{cite book |title=The Harmless People |year=1959 }}
- Warrior Herdsmen (1965), Secker & Warburg, ASIN B0000CMXZI
- {{cite book |title=The Harmless People |url=https://archive.org/details/harmlesspeople0000thom_t2y3 |url-access=registration |edition=Revised |publisher=Vintage Books |year=1989 }}
- The Old Way: A Story of the First People (2006) Farrar, Straus and Giroux, {{ISBN|978-0374225520}}
;Ethology and animal culture
- The Hidden Life of Life (2018), Penn State University Press, {{ISBN|978-0271081014}}
- The Hidden Life of Dogs (1993), Houghton Mifflin, {{ISBN|978-0395669587}}
- The Tribe of Tiger: Cats and Their Culture (1994), Simon & Schuster, {{ISBN|978-0671799656}}
- The Social Lives of Dogs: The Grace of Canine Company (2000), Simon & Schuster, {{ISBN|978-0684810263}}
- The Hidden Life of Deer: Lessons from the Natural World (2009), Harper, {{ISBN|978-0061792106}}
- A Million Years with You: A Memoir of Life Observed (2013), Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, {{ISBN|978-0547763958}}
=Novels=
- Reindeer Moon (1987), Houghton Mifflin, {{ISBN|978-0395421123}}
- The Animal Wife (1990), Houghton Mifflin, {{ISBN|978-0395524534}}
- Certain Poor Shepherds: A Christmas Tale (1996), Simon & Schuster, {{ISBN|978-0684833132}}
=Critical studies and reviews of Thomas' work=
- {{cite journal |author=Morris, Desmond |author-link=Desmond Morris |date=November 3, 1994 |title=CATS |journal=The New York Review of Books |volume=41 |issue=18 |pages=16–17 |url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1994/11/03/cats/}} Review of The tribe of tiger.
References
External links
- http://elizabethmarshallthomas.net Official Elizabeth Marshall Thomas Website
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927232542/http://literati.net/Thomas/ Elizabeth Marshall Thomas] on Literati.net
- [http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/books/stories/the-hidden-life-of-deer Interview with Elizabeth Marshall Thomas on Mother Nature Network] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100228211435/http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/books/stories/the-hidden-life-of-deer |date=2010-02-28 }}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070321010007/http://archive.salon.com/people/bc/2000/06/27/thomas/ Salon.com people | Elizabeth Marshall Thomas]
- [http://www.paulagordon.com/shows/ethomas/ Socializing Humans]
- [https://archive.org/details/tribeoftigercats00thom/page/n1/mode/2up The tribe of tiger : cats and their culture]
- [https://archive.org/details/sociallivesofdog00thom/mode/2up The social lives of dogs : the grace of canine company]
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Category:20th-century American novelists
Category:20th-century American women writers
Category:American anthropologists
Category:American women novelists
Category:American women anthropologists
Category:Animal cognition writers
Category:Radcliffe College alumni
Category:People from Peterborough, New Hampshire
Category:American women non-fiction writers