Born in New York in 1922, Tobias Schneebaum graduated from the City College of New York and received a degree in cultural anthropology from Goddard College. He was the assistant curator of the Asmat Museum of Culture and Progress in Irian Jaya from 1973 to 1983. Since then he has served as the curator of a number of exhibitions of Asmat art, and lectured on Asmat culture at universities and museums around the world. Where the Spirits Dwell is the final volume of his autobiographical trilogy, which also includes Keep the River on Your Right and Wild Man. He was the subject of a documentary film, Keep the River on Your Right: A Modern Cannibal Tale, which premiered at the 2000 Los Angeles Independent Film Festival. His latest work, a memoir entitled Secret Places: My Life in New York and New Guinea, was published in October 2000. Tobias Schneebaum passed away in September 2005.