The Frozen Leopard: Hunting My Dark Heart in Africa

Africa proved a revelation and a revitalization for the author. Dispirited and in the grip of writer's block, Latham ( Urban Cowboy ) recently took his family on an extended safari as a palliative. In the wildlife parks of Kenya and on a side trip to see the gorillas of Rwanda, he found he was escaping both his old identity and his species; in the presence of the animals, he temporarily became one of them. This account of the family safari is fine travel writing; Latham's experience of Africa is a spellbinding story of self-discovery. When he asked anthropologist Richard Leakey what gives Africa such power, the answer was ``genetic memory''--Latham had returned to his first home. (Sept.)