As a young researcher from England, accompanied by his Danish wife and (later) a very young son, Maybury-Lewis flew and trekked into the savannahs and riverine forests of Mato Grosso to study two groups of Indians. One group was more influenced by the Brazilians, the other hardly at all. He had to learn the languages, as the Indians usually spoke no other language than their own. The book details how the couple got there, what kind of conditions they had to live under, and their relationships with the Indians, who were no doubt ambivalent about these strangers, especially when those same strangers had run out of presents. Hunting expeditions lasting for days, flights in rickety airplanes, all-night dances and rituals, tarantulas, jaguars, long river voyages, serious illness, and even murder fill the pages of this most interesting account. It contains none of his academic findings, but is an honest account of how difficult it is to penetrate and learn about a completely different human society. The text is accompanied by many photographs which add considerably to a reader's impressions. THE SAVAGE AND THE INNOCENT is not the only book of this kind, but it reminds you that it is a pity that more anthropologists could not write so well about their lives in the field.
The author and his wife spent time with two of the most primitive tribes in Brazil, the Sherente and the Shavante. -The author welcomed the chance to try to unravel the mysteries of the tribes, and their way of life. On his second expedition he took not only his wife, but his baby son with him into the Brazilian Jungle.