An interesting account of the experiences behind the recent TV series where Parry spent a month at a time living with 15 different remote communities around the world. I enjoyed some of the 'behind the scenes' material - such as initial misunderstandings where his hosts did not understand his determination to share their lifestyles and assumed that he was sharing the rich feasts that his crew were having in their tents. I was also fascinated by the reflections on ethical issues such as the impact of the filming & associated gifts on the host communities, and most challengingly, Parry's conclusions about the inappropriateness of passing judgement on traditional practices, even ones as extreme as cannibalism, the ritual whipping of women, or female circumcision.
This book did leave me a little confused, however - if the book could be described as the 'making of...' for the TV series, it left me wanting to go back another level and read a 'writing of...' for the book, because the thing that I found most compelling about the book was Parry's 'voice', his frequent self-examination and reflection on the process and impact of the filming, and so I couldn't help but become extremely curious about what this meant when there was clearly a ghostwriter involved - how much of this voice was authentic? (In Parry's thanks section at the end he thanks the writer for putting up with him being an "insufferable control freak" which seemed promising!)
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Just found this where the ghostwriter says that Parry's involvement "was much more full-on than with ghost-written projects I’d worked on in the past": http://www.markmccrum.com/pages/books/tribe.htm
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