THE DUTCH BESTSELLER
NOMINATED FOR LE PRIX NICOLAS BOUVIER
Who are we? Why are we different from animals? What makes us human?
In this charming, thought-provoking book, one of Holland’s greatest non-fiction writers hunts down answers to humanity’s most fundamental questions. With an ancient skull as his starting point, he travels the globe, tracing the search for the first human being: the missing link between humans and apes.
Westerman introduces us to the world of skull hunters – leading experts in our fossil ancestry – whose lives are just as fascinating as those of their primeval discoveries. He astutely reconsiders the work of illustrious paleoanthropologists in the light of new DNA technology, postcolonialism, and the rise of women in this male-dominated field, and discovers a plethora of origin hypotheses and shows how any theory of who we are and where we come from is coloured by the zeitgeist.
We, Hominids is a compelling mixture of reportage, travelogue and essay – reminiscent of Bruce Chatwin or Ryszard Kapuscinski – written by a brilliant storyteller and thinker.
‘A masterclass in storytelling, exploring who we are and where we came from.’ Danielle Clode
‘Gripping and brilliantly told, We Hominids deftly blends personal experience with a journalist’s eye for a remarkable story.’ Mark McKenna
‘Part travelogue, part science, Frank Westerman unearths a brilliantly original story that has been millions of years in the making: what does it mean to be human? Quite wonderful.’ Chris Turney
‘A must read. So good, we wouldn’t want to deprive our readers of it. A book that makes us abandon our convictions’ – Financieel Dagblad
‘Original and always surprising, Westerman begins with one of the most extraordinary discoveries of humanity’s distant past — Flores Man, a human species whose members were barely a metre tall and became extinct some 50,000 years ago — to ponder an age-old question: what sets us apart from other animals? Halfway between a history book and a travelogue, Westerman takes the reader on a journey through the mysteries of the slow time of prehistory.’ El Pais
‘Westerman’s text, which is peppered with endearing and crazy scientists, skulls traveling by mail, and paleopolitics by the bucketful (“I find it astonishing that national sentiment influences something as cross-border as the search for human origins”), consolidates a narrative style unlike any other.
His research always starts with the closest sources, such as local paleoanthropology luminaries or a Madame Gérard who lives nearby and knows everything about what you’re looking for. From there, you move forward without preconceptions and avoiding the beaten path, charting a route that sometimes seems capricious but ultimately allows you to discover unexpected connections. The same elegant discourse that serves a novelist like Patrick Modiano to navigate the labyrinths of forgetfulness is the one Frank Westerman practices in his walk on the edge between fact and legend. With all the time in the world at his disposal, he openly challenges a current journalism in which the rule of metrics and productivity stifles the ability to get to the bottom of stories. As if his goal were also to find the missing link of good reporting.’ La Vanguardia
Sales
- Querido Fosfor, Netherlands
- Head of Zeus/Apollo, UK
- Iperborea, Italy
- Abada, Spain
- Aufbau, Germany
- Stock, France
- Weylers, Sweden
- Agora, Poland
- UMco, Slovenia
- Black Inc., USA
- Bolinda, Australia
- Ithaki Turkey
Material: Finished copies and pdf of the Dutch and English edition (288pp)