Jahme, Carole

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Jahme, Carole

PERSONAL:

Female. Education: Middlesex University, earned diploma (dramatic art), 1985.

ADDRESSES:

Home—London, England. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Virago Press, Brettenham House, Lancaster Place, London WC2E 7EN, England.

CAREER:

Writer and documentary filmmaker. Actor, appearing in films, including Chaplin, 1992, and Moll Flanders, 1996.

WRITINGS:

Beauty and the Beasts: Woman, Ape, and Evolution,Virago Press (London, England), 2000, Soho Press (New York, NY), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS:

Carole Jahme is a writer and documentary filmmaker who has acted in a few films during her career. Jahme published her first book,Beauty and the Beasts: Woman, Ape, and Evolution, in 2000. In it she covers the lives of many female primatologists, including Jane Goodall, Birute Galdikas, andDian Fossey. However, lesser-known scientists, such as Jeanne Altmann, Sarah Hardy, and Barbara Smuts, are also highlighted. The female-dominated book is justified as the World Directory of Primatology records sixty-two percent of its scholars as being female. Jahme's account focuses primarily on the personal lives of the women and on their time in the field.

Reviews of Beauty and the Beasts were mixed. A review in the Atlantic Monthly noted Jahme's lack of sentimentality as "she insightfully intertwines the personal with the professional." Raymond Hamel wrote unfavorably about this mix of personal and professional in Library Journal. He stated: "At times she goes too deep into personal matters" and "gives short shrift to the pioneers who happened to be male." In a Salon.com review, Charles Taylor also found that "Jahme gets into trouble when she tries to justify human behavior by pointing to ape behavior." A Publishers Weekly review concluded that, overall, Jahme "thoughtfully explores the work of female primatologists and its implications for the study of evolution, sex, and gender."