Jana Fortier. 2009. Kings of the Forest: The Cultural Resilience of Himalayan Hunter-Gatherers (Book Review‪)‬

Jana Fortier. 2009. Kings of the Forest: The Cultural Resilience of Himalayan Hunter-Gatherers. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, pp.215, with index, photos and one map, price: not mentioned, ISBN 978-0-8248-3322-0. The book entitled Kings of the Forest by Jana Fortier is probably the first extensively researched publication on the Rautes of Nepal, representing a society of hunter-gatherers like the people ten thousand years ago. The book provides an insightful ethnographic analysis of one of the world's last nomadic hunting and gathering societies, as Nepali villagers usually denounce them as (ban-manchhe) forest men yet they themselves claim as the "kings of the forest." This book is undoubtedly an important contribution to ethnography of Nepal concentrating on one of the least known ethnic groups, the nomadic people known as Rautes. The book is basically divided into nine major chapters containing several subheadings in each chapter. I have decided to make a seminal review of the book according to each chapter to ease the understanding of the contents of the book.