Elizabeth Marshall Thomas (born September 13, 1931) 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 Lorna Marshall (born Lorna Jean McLean; September 14, 1898 – July 8, 2002) was an anthropologist who in the 1950s, 60s and 70s lived among and wrote about the previously unstudied !Kung people of the Kalahari Desert.Douglas Martin, "Lorna Mars ...

and Laurence K. Marshall, co-founder of the

Raytheon Corporation The Raytheon Company was a major U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft unti ...

. She is the sister of ethnographic filmmaker

John Marshall John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the fourth Chief Justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remains the longest-serving chief justice and fourth-longes ...

. She was raised in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

and attended Abbot Academy in

Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 387. As of th ...

. After beginning undergraduate studies at

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

, Thomas took a break to travel in Africa with her family and later completed a degree in English from

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...

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 The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa extending for , covering much of Botswana, and parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coastal de ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

and

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

. 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'' and ''The Animal Wife''. A popular success and ''New York Times'' bestseller, her book ''The Hidden Life of Dogs'' also drew criticism from some in the scientific and dog training communities for Thomas' observational methods and analysis. 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 Sy Montgomery (born February 7, 1958) is a German born, American naturalist, author and scriptwriter who writes for children as well as adults. She is author of 34 books, including ''The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wo ...

, to a column called
Tamed/Untamed
in the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

''.

Personal life

Ms. Thomas has long made her home in

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. 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.

Bibliography

Non-fiction

;Anthropology * *''Warrior Herdsmen'' (1965),

Secker & Warburg Harvill Secker is a British publishing company formed in 2005 from the merger of Secker & Warburg and the Harvill Press. History Secker & Warburg Secker & Warburg was formed in 1935 from a takeover of Martin Secker, which was in receivership, ...

, ASIN B0000CMXZI * *''The Old Way: A Story of the First People'' (2006)

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...

, ;Ethology and animal culture *''The Hidden Life of Life'' (2018),

Penn State University Press The Penn State University Press, also known as The Pennsylvania State University Press, was established in 1956 and is a non-profit publisher of scholarly books and journals. It is the independent publishing branch of the Pennsylvania State Uni ...

, *''The Hidden Life of Dogs'' (1993),

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

, *''The Tribe of Tiger: Cats and Their Culture'' (1994),

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

, *''The Social Lives of Dogs: The Grace of Canine Company'' (2000), Simon & Schuster, *''The Hidden Life of Deer: Lessons from the Natural World'' (2009),

Harper Harper may refer to: Names * Harper (name), a surname and given name Places ;in Canada * Harper Islands, Nunavut *Harper, Prince Edward Island ;In the United States *Harper, former name of Costa Mesa, California in Orange County * Harper, Il ...

, *''A Million Years with You: A Memoir of Life Observed'' (2013),

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (; HMH) is an American publisher of textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers and adults. The company is based in the Financial Dist ...

Novels

*''Reindeer Moon'' (1987), Houghton Mifflin, *''The Animal Wife'' (1990), Houghton Mifflin, *''Certain Poor Shepherds: A Christmas Tale'' (1996), Simon & Schuster,

Critical studies and reviews of Thomas' work

* Review of ''The tribe of tiger''.

References

External links

* http://elizabethmarshallthomas.net Official Elizabeth Marshall Thomas Website
Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
on Literati.net
Interview with Elizabeth Marshall Thomas on Mother Nature Network

Salon.com people , Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

Socializing Humans

The tribe of tiger : cats and their culture

The social lives of dogs : the grace of canine company
{{Authority control 1931 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers American anthropologists American women novelists American women anthropologists Animal cognition writers Radcliffe College alumni Smith College alumni People from Peterborough, New Hampshire American women non-fiction writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers Abbot Academy alumni 21st-century American women