The Third Invention: How the Bow & Arrow Made History

In 24 wooden vignettes which might be termed anthropological fiction, Hayes dramatizes the impact of the bow and arrow on culture, from Cro-Magnon hunters to Romans, Crusaders, Vikings, Mongols and Kalahari bushmen. Protagonists include Christian martyr Saint Sebastian; Celtic Queen Boadicea, who chose poison over Roman fleshwounds; and Apache brave Geronimo, weary and dispirited at age 79. Some of the sketches are woven around suppositions--for example, the theory that Alexander the Great may have been responsible for introducing the bow and arrow to western India. There are intriguing tidbits, such as a glimpse of Turkish Sultan Selim III perfecting the ``snap-shooting'' method that enabled him, in 1798, to shoot an arrow over 972 yards. (June)