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We explore the people of North Sentinel Island, who are thought to be the last un-contacted tribe on Earth. Our guest is historian, essayist, and author Adam Goodheart and his book is The Last Island: Discovery, Defiance, and the Most Elusive Tribe on Earth.
Then, we talk with author, gardener and radio host Jennifer Jewell about her book, What We Sow: On The Personal, Ecological And Cultural Significance Of Seeds.
Key Words: Adam Goodheart, Jennifer Jewell, writer’s voice, podcast, book recommendations, author interview, book podcast, creative nonfiction, history, environment, seeds
Writers Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Find us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram and Threads @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on X/Twitter @WritersVoice.
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Adam Goodheart, The Last Island
In November 2018, an American missionary was killed while attempting to visit an island he called “Satan’s last stronghold,” a small patch of land known as North Sentinel in the Andaman Islands, a remote archipelago in the Indian Ocean. News of the tragedy fascinated people around the world. Most were unaware such a place still existed in our time: an island unmolested by the advances of modern technology.
Twenty years before the American missionary’s ill-fated visit, a young American historian and journalist named Adam Goodheart also traveled to the waters off North Sentinel. During his time in the Andaman Islands he witnessed another isolated tribe emerge into modernity for the first time.
Now, Goodheart has returned to the Andamans with his new book The Last Island. It tells the stories of others drawn to North Sentinel’s mystery through the centuries, from imperial adventurers to an eccentric Victorian photographer to modern-day anthropologists.
It narrates the tragic stories of other Andaman tribes’ encounters with the outside world. And it shows how the web of modernity is drawing ever closer to the island’s shores.
Adam Goodheart is a historian, travel writer, essayist, and author of the New York Times bestseller 1861: The Civil War Awakening.
Jennifer Jewell, AS WE SOW
Ever since the evolution of seed-bearing plants some 350 million years ago, most life on this planet has depended, directly or indirectly, on them. But seeds and seed diversity are endangered from multiple threats, ranging from industrialized agriculture to habitat loss.
In her book, What We Sow, gardener, podcast host and author Jennifer Jewell explores “the personal, ecological and cultural significance of seeds,” as her subtitle states. She recounts the wonders of seeds, the threats to them and the world-wide efforts to save them for posterity.
Jennifer Jewell is a gardener, garden writer, and gardening educator and advocate. She’s also the host of the public radio show and podcast, Cultivating Space.