Elizabeth Marshall Thomas writes with clarity and a lyrical eye about her immersion in the strange world of the cattle-herding Dodoth, far from her East-coast American roots. She proves herself a humane and unshockable witness to the life of these warrior herdsmen, dissecting their poignant relationship with their cattle, and watching as they sacrifice prized animals to avert raids from the neighbouring Turkana tribe and search the entrails for clues about forthcoming attacks. She records the escalating violence between the tribes, as the new nation states of Uganda and Kenya are drawn in to police the ancient clan frontiers.