The author offers a memoir of his two decades in the field studying Kenyan baboons as he describes the members of the baboon troop and their behavior and his interaction with the neighboring Masai tribe.

The Adolescent Years: When I First Joined the Troop -- The Baboons: The Generations of Israel -- Zebra Kabobs and a Life of Crime -- The Revenge of the Liberals -- The Masai Fundamentalist and My Debut as a Social Worker -- The Coca-Cola Devil -- Teaching Old Men About Maps -- Memories of Blood: The East African Wars -- The Subadult Years -- The Baboons: Saul in the Wilderness -- Samwelly Versus the Elephants -- The First Masai -- Zoology and National Security: A Shaggy Hyena Story -- The Coup -- Hearing Voices at the Wrong Time -- Sudan -- Tenuous Adulthood -- The Baboons: The Unstable Years -- Ol' Curly Toes and the King of Nubian-Judea -- The Penguins of Guyana -- When Baboons Were Falling Out of the Trees -- The Old White Man -- The Elevator -- The Mound Behind the 7-Eleven -- Adulthood -- The Baboons: Nick -- The Raid -- Ice -- Joseph -- The Wonders of Machines in a Land Where They Are Still Novel: The Blind Leading the Blind -- Who's on First, What's on Second -- The Last Warriors -- The Plague.