Research Catalog

Title

The most offending soul alive : Tom Harrisson and his remarkable life / Judith M. Heimann.

Author

Heimann, Judith M.

Publication

Honolulu : University of Hawai'i Press, ©1998.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

viii, 468 pages : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

• "An English eccentric and adventurer, Tom Harrisson (1911-1976) sought knowledge and renown in a dizzying number of fields, while breaking most of the rules of "civilized" society. This story of his extravagant, controversial life offers a sympathetic and insightful look at a charismatic figure who offended as many people as he impressed at the twilight of colonialism on the fringes of the British empire."--Jacket.
• "By age twenty-one, Harrisson had carried out pioneering ornithological research in his native Britain, accompanied two grueling Oxford Expeditions to Lapland and the Outer Hebrides, and explored the flora and fauna of Sarawak, Northern Borneo. While still in his twenties, he wrote a best-selling book based on his experiences living among the South Pacific islanders who still practiced cannibalism. The next decade found Harrisson applying the techniques of bird-watching to his fellow Britons in what became Mass-Observation, a precursor to modern market research. During the Blitz, Harrisson and his fellows haunted the streets, recording observations on the morale of working men and women for Whitehall.
• Later, he won the DSO for parachuting into Borneo behind enemy lines and organizing an army of blow-piping head-hunters who eventually killed more than a thousand Japanese soldiers."--Jacket.
• "After the war, Harrisson settled in Borneo, where he pursued his scientific interests. As curator of the Sarawak Museum, he transformed it into a model and inspiration for the region; he led efforts to save the orangutan, the green sea turtle, and other endangered species; he discovered the oldest modern human skull known at the time; he published widely in the scientific and popular press, made natural history films, and appeared frequently on the BBC and British television. A man with tremendous breadth of interest and vision, Harrisson continually sought ways to connect knowledge across disciplines, alienating in the process more narrowly focused academics who resented his encroachments - and his lack of a university degree.
• Yet a number of his ideas, particularly in anthropology and archaeology, seem modern today."--BOOK JACKET. "The Most Offending Soul Alive is the rousing and compelling story of a man who has been called one of the most remarkable men of his generation."--Jacket.

Subjects

• Great Britain
• Ethnologists
• 1900-1999
• Harrisson, Tom, 1911-1976
• Biographies
• collective biographies
• Great Britain > Social life and customs > 20th century
• Manners and customs
• Pacific Area > Social life and customs
• Adventure and adventurers > Pacific Area
• Adventure and adventurers > Great Britain
• Ethnologists > Pacific Area > Biography
• Ethnologists > Great Britain > Biography

Genre/Form

• collective biographies.
• Biographies.

Note

• "A Latitude 20 Book."

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 405-453) and index.

Contents

The view from Mount Dulit -- Arctic adventures -- borneo -- Letter to Oxford -- Zita and Santo -- Gaua -- Jock comes to Santo -- Living among cannibals -- On His Majesty's Service -- A Hollywood interlude -- Tom and the thirties -- Bolton -- Mass-observation -- Thrice betrayed -- M-O in Bolton -- M-O and Munich -- M-O goes to war -- Living through the Blitz -- Waiting for dawn on Mindoro -- SEMUT 1: impact of ants -- Moving out -- The ants take heads -- End game -- SEMUT 1 and the Fujino Tai -- Officer administering the interior -- Back "home" again -- Government ethnologist -- Tom responds to Leach's challenge -- A Kelabit wedding -- Museum curator -- Looking for a friend -- Turtles -- Explorations and excavations -- The best year -- Tom, Max, and young people -- The deep skull from hell -- Going back for another look -- The British sun sets on Borneo -- Guerrilla again -- Cornell connections -- Dark days -- Tom the teacher -- Escape from the New World -- Second youth -- Professor at last -- Epilogue.

ISBN

• 0824821491
• 9780824821494
• 0824821998
• 9780824821999

LCCN

99023535

OCLC

• ocm41310213
• 41310213
• SCSB-962610

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library