Elizabeth Marshall Thomas was born on September 13, 1931 in Boston, MA. She
has done anthropological field work in the Kalahari Desert in Namibia and Botswana,
is a philanthropist, politician, and author of both fiction and nonfiction books dealing
with !Kung Bushmen, Paleolithic life, and animal behavior. She has written
at least ten books.
The Hidden Life of Dogs was published in 1993. The book spent 10 months on the
New York Times bestseller list. The book details the author's observations over a
thirty-year period of the behavior of her own dogs, trying to answer the question: what
do dogs want? Kirkus Reviews summarizes the answer: "'They want to belong, and they
want each other.' Popular science of the highest order: revelatory, impeccably observed,
and a joy to read. A four-woof salute to Thomas and a vigorous tail-wage to boot."