Pioneering ecologist and humanist N. N. Miklouho-Maclay lived at a time of great colonial and industrial expansion; he was a pupil of the German philosopher Ernst Haeckel. To prove that the people of all races are equally human, Maclay went to the island of New Guinea (1870), the first white man to do so and stayed years with native Papuans while the rest of the world presumed he had been eaten. His diaries are testimony to his time in New Guinea where he observed a native culture untouched by the outside world. Maclay describes his first meeting with the natives; "A few Papuans moved closer to me. Suddenly two arrows flashed in rapid succession close by me... As the first arrow passed me by, the eyes of many natives were fixed upon me, trying to read the impressions in my face; except for fatigue and curiosity, registered I no emotion." He was instead befriended by the Papuans; they called him Tamo Russ, believing that he had descended from the moon.

The diaries were originally edited with the help of Russian author Leo Tolstoy. The books sold millions of copies in Eastern Europe. Maclay tried hard to save Papuans and their traditional culture and died disillusioned at the age of 42. He tried to revise Darwin's theory of the selection of the species and challenged the idea that certain races of people are born genetically superior.

The New Guinea Diaries provide an authentic portrait of a timeless, sustainable and egalitarian tribal society before the Europeans moved into the area. The book is illustrated with original drawings made by Maclay during his New Guinean expedition.