A review by sethfossils
Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas by Jim Ottaviani

3.25

An important story to be told about three trail-blazing women in the field of primatology and animal conservation. The way that these three women took animal intelligence and personhood seriously and dedicated their lives to understanding our closest relatives is worthy of praise. I enjoyed the comic book format and the attempt to reach a young audience (teens). But, I found the telling somewhat lacking. Some important questions are brought up but not totally dealt with. The lack of African or Indonesian partners in conservation and research was a major oversite of time. Not addressing the racism of this approach means leaving unquestioned the fact that there are no significant non-white characters in this telling. Also, the most tragic part of these women's story, the murder of Dian Fossey, is implied but never explicitly mentioned. Although it is surely challenging to know how to write about racism and murder for a teen audience, I think it can be done, and failing to do so is a big oversight.