The Wind in the Bamboo

Historically defined as "Negrito" because they physically resemble small Africans, these forest peoples may have the most ancient ancestry in Asia. Captured for slavery, exhibited at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, nearly exterminated by disease and a cataclysmic volcano, they survive in a few places: Malaysia, the Philippines and India's remote Andaman Islands. Some are armed with spears and blowpipes, a few with cellphones and graduate degrees. Edith Mirante, author of Burmese Looking Glass and Down the Rat Hole, weaves a compelling Chatwinesque narrative examining race and identity and the environmental, social, political challenges these indigenous peoples face in contemporary Asia.