In Amazonia: A Natural History

Book Description

The Amazon is not what it seems. As Hugh Raffles shows us in this captivating and innovative book, the world's last great wilderness has been transformed again and again by human activity. In Amazonia brings to life an Amazon whose allure and reality lie as much, or more, in what people have made of it as in what nature has wrought. It casts new light on centuries of encounter while describing the dramatic remaking of a sweeping landscape by residents of one small community in the Brazilian Amazon. Combining richly textured ethnographic research and lively historical analysis, Raffles weaves a fascinating story that changes our understanding of this region and challenges us to rethink what we mean by "nature."

Raffles draws from a wide range of material to demonstrate--in contrast to the tendency to downplay human agency in the Amazon--that the region is an outcome of the intimately intertwined histories of humans and nonhumans. He moves between a detailed narrative that analyzes the production of scientific knowledge about Amazonia over the centuries and an absorbing account of the extraordinary transformations to the fluvial landscape carried out over the past forty years by the inhabitants of Igarapé Guariba, four hours downstream from the nearest city.

Engagingly written, theoretically inventive, and vividly illustrated, the book introduces a diverse range of characters--from sixteenth-century explorers and their native rivals to nineteenth-century naturalists and contemporary ecologists, logging company executives, and river-traders. A natural history of a different kind, In Amazonia shows how humans, animals, rivers, and forests all participate in the making of a region that remains today at the center of debates in environmental politics.

Customer Reviews:

A great read.......2004-06-24

This beautifully written book won the 2003 Victor Turner Prize for Ethnographic Writing, a big deal in US anthropology. When you read it you can see why, as it really succeeds in bringing this fascinating region to life. It is lyrically written, and often both funny and sad. It is very personal in its account of the author's experience in the Amazon and of the people that he knows there, and it is also very informative about the region's history and culture. A quote on the book rightly says that "it has a great deal to offer those knowing everything or nothing about the Amazon." I agree: Highly recommended!

Interesting but a tough read........2004-06-01

From the first chapter: "I am preoccupied by a range of questions in the politics of nature that draw me to explore the fullness and multiplicity of nature as a domain marked both by an active and irreducible materiality and by a similarly irreducible discusivity-a domain with complex agency. In addition, this is a book of intimacies, an account of the differential relationships of affective and often physical proximity between humans, and between humans and non-humans. Such 'tense and tender ties' are themselves the sites and occasions for the condensations I examine here. Indeed, they are the constitutive matter of these locations" (p. 8).

The author, Hugh Raffles, apparently has three main goals in this book. The first is to discuss the significance of man-made canals in the Brazilian Amazon. Many of these canals were cut and dug by hand, and they opened up areas for settlement and trade that otherwise wouldn't have been so open. What appeared to 19th century explorers and naturalists to be "nature" was actually nature modified by man well before the era of steam powered ships and digging machines. A second goal, related to the first, is to give a fairly detailed example of the history of a particular man-made canal area, Igarape Guariba, that illustrates the idea of "natural history" in the sense of the history of a local natural area that has been changed over time through complex interactions between humans and nature and between humans and other humans. Such details provide an intimacy of acquaintance with Amazonia that is missed in larger-scale histories. A third goal is to discuss historical changes in European views of the relationship between man and nature, and the issue of environmental determinism of culture.

The book was of interest to me since I have visited the upper Amazon in Peru, and paddled through man-made canals similar to those that Raffles describes. And I am generally interested in Amazonian nature and native cultures. As it turned out, I was not as enthusiastic about this book as I had hoped to be. On the plus side, Raffles' narrative description-based on interviews of natives-of the history of a particular Amazonian tributary and its canals, and the families that made them, was written clearly enough, and was interesting. His discussion of trading patterns and land use in Amazonia was also interesting. On the negative side, Raffles' theoretical discussions were often tedious and hard to understand. He uses lots of rare words and complex sentences. I am not unaccustomed to reading academic writing. In fact, I have done quite a bit of it myself. But if a graduate student had turned in this manuscript to me as a doctoral dissertation, I would have required many parts of it to be re-written in plain English before I would have approved it. If you are interested in Amazonia and you have a very large vocabulary and like to use it to decipher sentences that most people would not understand at all, then you might like this book. In my view, if I have to read a sentence more than twice to understand it, then the sentence was badly written. There were many such cases in this book. This book has a number of interesting ideas. It is too bad that one has to work so hard to get them.

If you want to read a really interesting book about the Amazon as it was 150 years ago, I highly recommend A Naturalist on the River Amazons, by Henry Walter Bates. Bates was an English naturalist who spent 11 years exploring and collecting plant and insect and animal samples on the Amazon in the mid-1800s. His book is interesting for his interactions with the local people--both the natives and the Portuguese colonialists--as well as for its discussion and drawings of tropical nature. Bates' book is a major historical document of the Amazon, and it is quite interesting and well-written. After you have read Bates, you might want to read Raffles' Chapter 5 on Bates, titled "The Uses of Butterflies." Raffles discusses the historical context and significance of Bates and his work, which will add to your appreciation of Bates' book. However, be warned, to get through Raffles' chapter on Bates you will have to get through passages like this one:

"Scientific practice turns out to be a conjunctural negotiation of emergent and relational knowledges. Amazonians' understandings of the forest mediated by their assessments of the institutional resources and priorities of the visitor enter into fluid dialogue with Bates' own conflicted allegiance to natural historical systematics as mediated by all the complications stirred up in his Amazon experience" (p. 142).

I recommend this book for college professors and graduate students who specialize in the history of Amazonia.

Natural history for the 21st century.......2004-01-06

Amazonia is arguably the heartland of modern Western environmentalism-the region where many fundamental ecological insights were first proposed and honed, the site of some of the most violent and wrenching contemporary conflicts over natural resource exploitation and conservation, and the beloved core of a planetary nature conceived all too often as a battered and sputtering "spaceship Earth." In Amazonia casts a fresh and provocative light on this vital and contested terrain.

Nature in this account is not a primeval zone either threatened or threatening, but rather a dynamic and heterogeneous web of places and relations, saturated with the affinities and intimacies, the memories and yearnings, of everyday life. Tracking back and forth between multiple sites and scales, In Amazonia takes up a series of human engagements through which the very nature of the Amazon has been elaborated-exploratory expeditions, natural history collections, ecological experimentations, and embodied practices of occupation and development.

Raffles writes both with and against the literary traditions of Western naturalism, suggestively presenting the Amazon itself as an assemblage or collection of living objects. The result is a novel and enlightening mode of "natural history," one that places at center stage both the accidents and the affects that have made modern Amazonia.

Ultimately it is the quality of Raffles' writing that makes this volume such a captivating and enlightening read. With great skill and delicacy, Raffles spins out a narrative that turns at every turn on contingency-on the myriad and unpredictable accidents of biography, politics and philosophy that lend to places their significance and texture.

It is in such workings that nature itself finds a measure of agency, ecological chains of consequence turning fields to swamps, dropping houses and fruit trees into river beds, forcing fish to move from one place to another. Raffles is candid about the contingencies that led him through the path of his own writing, from the seductions of his characters to the personal traumas that directed him to the question of Amazonian passions in the first place.

As an heir to the vexing legacies of Western environmentalism myself, I found that In Amazonia struck many an unanticipated chord. How many of us have shared Amazonian dreams unknowing?

This is an amazing book!.......2004-01-04

This is an amazing book - at once engaging, entertaining and challenging. I can understand why it won two awards for ethnographic writing at the AAA. It is a testament to the possibility of combining beautifully written prose, interesting stories and sophisticated theoretical insights under the same cover, making it a great read for those with a general interest in Natural History, the environment and Amazonia, as well as for the most theoretically-minded academics interested in a sophisticated exploration of the complex relationships between nature, culture and power. Indeed, I used this book in a graduate seminar that I taught at Stanford and my students selected it as the best of 12 ethnographies they read during the course. The book has also been thoroughly enjoyed by non-academics, including my sister, who is a physician. In short In Amazonia is a tremendously worthwhile read.

Beautiful writing; compelling anthropology.......2004-01-02

"In Amazonia" tells an engaging and well-researched story of epic proportions. Raffles' lyrical style draws the reader close to the narrative but stops short of romanticizing. Appropriate for academic research or an interested layperson. Highly recommended!

Average customer rating:

Intriguing, Adventurous
A Super book that Ranks right up there as his best
The Testament
Fantastic
Satisfying on many levels

The Testament
John Grisham
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0385493800
Release Date: 1999-02-02

Amazon.com

Troy Phelan, a 78-year-old eccentric and the 10th-richest man in America, is about to read his last will and testament, divvying up an estate worth $11 billion. Phelan's three ex-wives, their grasping spawn, a legion of lawyers, several psychiatrists, and a plethora of sound technicians wait breathlessly, all eyes glued to digital monitors as they watch the old man read his verdict. But Phelan shocks everyone with a bizarre, last-gasp attempt to redistribute the spoils, setting in motion a legal morality tale of a contested will, sin, and redemption.

Our hero, Nate O'Riley--a washed-up, alcoholic litigator with two ruined marriages in his wake and the IRS on his tail--is dispatched to the Brazilian wetlands in search of a mysterious heir named in the will. After a harrowing trip upriver to a remote settlement in the Pantanal, he encounters Rachel Lane, a pure-hearted missionary living with an indigenous tribe and carrying out "God's work." Rachel's grave dedication and kindness impress the jaded lawyer, so much that a nasty bout of dengue fever leads him to a vision that could change his life.

Back in the States, the legal proceedings drag on and Grisham has a high time with Phelan's money-hungry descendents, a regrettable bunch who squandered millions, married strippers, got druggy, and befriended the Mob. The youngest son, Ramble, is a multi-pierced, tattoo-covered malcontent with big dreams for his rock band, the Demon Monkeys. Will Nate get straight with Rachel's aid? Do the greedy heirs get theirs? What's the real legacy of a lifetime's work? The Testament is classic Grisham: a down-and-out lawyer, a lot of money, an action-packed pursuit, and the highest issues at stake. It's not just about great characters; it's about the question of what character is. --Rebekah Warren

Amazon.com Audiobook Review

Troy Phelan hates his greedy, spoiled children. The aging multibillionaire knows that they're circling like vultures as he waits to die. Phelan's surprising last will and testament names a heretofore unknown beneficiary--a missionary living deep in the wilds of Brazil. Nate O'Riley, a lawyer fresh from his fourth stay in rehab, is sent to find her. Along the way, he learns about God and himself, and he discovers that the dangers of alcohol pale in comparison with the perils of the jungle. This abridgment, though jumpy at times, flows smoothly thanks to actor Henry Leyva's polished performance. (Running time: 6 hours, 4 cassettes) --C.B. Delaney

Book Description

Troy Phelan is a self-made billionaire, one of the richest men in the United States. He is also eccentric, reclusive, confined to a wheelchair, and looking for a way to die. His heirs, to no one's surprise--especially Troy's--are circling like vultures.

Nate O'Riley is a high-octane Washington litigator who's lived too hard, too fast, for too long. His second marriage in a shambles, and he is emerging from his fourth stay in rehab armed with little more than his fragile sobriety, good intentions, and resilient sense of humor. Returning to the real world is always difficult, but this time it's going to be murder.

Rachel Lane is a young woman who chose to give her life to God, who walked away from the modern world with all its strivings and trappings and encumbrances, and went to live and work with a primitive tribe of Indians in the deepest jungles of Brazil.

In a story that mixes legal suspense with a remarkable adventure, their lives are forever altered by the startling secret of The Testament.

Customer Reviews:

Intriguing, Adventurous.......2007-10-08

I found this book to be interesting because it dealt with a contested will. The man who died was very rich but wanted to make sure his ex-wives and children who weren't nice people didn't get their hands on it. He left it to a missionary in Brazil and the story was about finding her to give her the fortune.

A Super book that Ranks right up there as his best.......2007-08-10

I got this book from the book club. I've read just about all of John Grisham's novels, but for some reason I missed this one. I'm certainly glad I didn't, because I thought The Testament was close to being one of his best. I really enjoyed "The Partner", but this book ranks right up there. The characters were likable and believable. Mr. Grisham has demonstrated once more that he has a social conscience. He created a lovely and easy to understand description of the Gospel of Jesus. Certainly, the best that I have ever read. I'm sure that if people read this book they will get a better understanding as to how God works and that he his there for them in their time of need. Just a wonderful story

The Testament.......2007-07-30

ISBN 0440234743 - Troy Phelan is a self-made multi-billionaire who, on the last day of his life, outsmarts everyone around him, sticks it to his 3 ex-wives and six living children by means of a well thought out and executed plan, before he flings himself from the balcony of his building. The book isn't about him.

His 3 ex-wives and their children are, overall, pretty rotten people who have only one reason to be interested in the old man - his money. So when his plan works and they are all left out of his final will, they all lawyer up to do battle for what they believe is due to them. The book isn't about them, either.

Troy's final will leaves everything to his illegitimate and, until now, unheard of daughter. Rachel was the result of an office affair and was given up for adoption when she was born. Years later, Troy made contact, which ended abruptly when Rachel finished college. She is the only one of his children who has turned out reasonably well: she is not interested in money, she has made a career of spreading God's word and she is happy. She is also living in the jungles of Brazil. Oddly, the book isn't about her either.

Sent to find Rachel, Nate is fresh out of rehab - for the fourth time. Behind him are two ex-wives, four neglected children, innumerable affairs, countless malpractice suits (filed by him, not against him!), drugs and alcohol and about 20 years as a lawyer. He's facing problems with the IRS and his return to practice isn't exactly welcomed at the office. This all makes a jaunt in the jungle to find the probably reluctant heiress to the world's largest fortune seem like a perfectly reasonable idea. The book is about him.

Nate's journey, the goal of which is to find Rachel, leads him to find himself and his purpose, just as his life really seems to have slipped too far out of his control for him to recover from. He does find Rachel, of course - and everything about her, from her reaction to her father's will to the life she has chosen and is happy with, makes Nate realize what does (and doesn't) really have value.

One thing bugged me - the back cover says "Nate is crashing through the Brazilian jungle, entering a world where money means nothing, where death is just one misstep away, and where a woman - pursued by enemies and friends alike - holds a stunning surprise of her own..." This is nonsense. Her only secret seems to be that she's Troy Phelan's child, which is revealed in the will on page 27, so that hardly counts as her "stunning surprise". She changed her name from Lane to Porter, and the reason was never really explained, other than to indicate she didn't want Troy to find her again. Maybe that's her "stunning surprise", but since the reason is never brought up... I don't think so. I read the whole book waiting for the stunning surprise and it never materialized.

Fantastic.......2007-07-29

Considerable imagination went into creating the generally reprehensible family members and greedy attorneys in this Grisham novel. This was balanced by the benevelont missionary and eventual "good guy" attorney. I was disappointed in the ending, which was not quite "they lived happily ever after." But, this is classic Grisham.

Satisfying on many levels.......2007-07-06

On the surface, this book is about an eccentric billionaire who leaves nearly all of his fortune to his only illegitimate child, a daughter, who happens to be a Christian missionary and doctor working with primitive Indian tribes in a remote Brazilian rainforest. Of all his children, he knows her least of all, having distanced himself from her decades earlier when she was ending her teenage years. To those of his remaining children whom he knows far more intimately, he bestows comparatively little. He detests them and has spurned them for multiple reasons: each has squandered millions of dollars already, each is heavily in debt, and each is leading a selfish and contemptible life.

Since John Grisham typically writes books about lawyers, we as readers get to learn much about wills and testaments (hence the name of the book) and trusts, and it's all rather interesting. As a reader you will be privy to intimate details as to how big law firms handle contests of wills and how certain trusts may be established. These elements give the novel a certain legal flair that is evocative of Grisham's works.

But beyond the surface story line, we as readers get drawn into the thoughts and attitudes and behaviors of the main characters, who range in profession and lifestyle from ultra-rich professionals to petulant trust-fund kids to high-stress white-collar types to third-world missionaries and tribes people living in the simplest of conditions.

Few would argue that the main character in this novel is not the billionaire himself, nor any of his children, but the troubled lawyer who is hired to track down the heiress in one of the most remote and uncivilized places on earth. His thrilling adventure to locate her encapsulates much of the heart of the book and provides vivid insight into what it must be like to trek deep into an inhospitable and wild jungle.

The lawyer's name is Nate, and what a wonderful character he is. Full of doubt and deeply flawed, I came to appreciate his humility and sincerity as I witnessed his transformation from a troubled alcoholic and drug addict to a dependable and resolute father and law professional. Fraught with the pressures and long hours that come with being a high-dollar attorney, Nate let his profession get in the way of his family and health. We learn that often he turned to liquor and drugs and infidelity to cope with his high-anxiety life.

Upon being sent into the Brazilian wilderness and upon meeting the lovely Rachel, the multiple-billion-dollar heiress, something changes in him. We watch as his Christian faith and associations with deeply good and helpful people change him into a truly loveable character. This is a wonderful book.

I especially appreciate John Grisham for his high moral standard. One need not worry about reading profane and vulgar language on every page with Grisham. In my opinion, many modern writers appear to have some misguided profanity and vulgarity agenda, mistakenly believing that tense situations and dramatic effect can't be created without extremely offensive language thrown into the mix.

Grisham writes a masterful work, with beautiful characterizations and moving situations, without offending his readers with the use of base and distasteful dialogue. I truly appreciate that. I highly recommend this book.

Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy

Average customer rating:

Understanding Modern Slavery
Buy this book and see how slavery still exists in the World Today.
Good bur Redundant...
A Poignant Cry in the Dark
An Evil That Is Still With Us

Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy
Kevin Bales
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0520224639

Amazon.com

The horror of slavery, says Kevin Bales, is "not confined to history." It is not only possible that slave labor is responsible for the shoes on your feet or your daily consumption of sugar, he writes, the products of forced labor filter even more quietly into a broad portion of daily Western life. "They made the bricks for the factory that made the TV you watch. In Brazil slaves made the charcoal that tempered the steel that made the springs in your car and the blade on your lawnmower.... Slaves keep your costs low and returns on your investments high."

The exhaustive research in Disposable People shows that at least 27 million people are currently enslaved around the world. Bales, considered the world's leading expert on contemporary slavery, reveals the historical and economic conditions behind this resurgence. From Thailand, Mauritania, Brazil, Pakistan, and India, Bales has gathered stories of people in unthinkable conditions, kept in bondage to support their owners' lives. Bales insists that even a small effort from a large number of people could end slavery, and devotes a large chapter to explaining the practical means by which this might be accomplished. "Are we willing to live in a world with slaves?" he asks. As a sign of his commitment, all his royalties from Disposable People will go toward the fight against slavery. --Maria Dolan

Book Description

Slavery is illegal throughout the world, yet more than twenty-seven million people are still trapped in one of history's oldest social institutions. Kevin Bales's disturbing story of slavery today reaches from brick kilns in Pakistan and brothels in Thailand to the offices of multinational corporations. His investigation of conditions in Mauritania, Brazil, Thailand, Pakistan, and India reveals the tragic emergence of a "new slavery," one intricately linked to the global economy. The new slaves are not a long-term investment as was true with older forms of slavery, explains Bales. Instead, they are cheap, require little care, and are disposable.
Three interrelated factors have helped create the new slavery. The enormous population explosion over the past three decades has flooded the world's labor markets with millions of impoverished, desperate people. The revolution of economic globalization and modernized agriculture has dispossessed poor farmers, making them and their families ready targets for enslavement. And rapid economic change in developing countries has bred corruption and violence, destroying social rules that might once have protected the most vulnerable individuals.
Bales's vivid case studies present actual slaves, slaveholders, and public officials in well-drawn historical, geographical, and cultural contexts. He observes the complex economic relationships of modern slavery and is aware that liberation is a bitter victory for a child prostitute or a bondaged miner if the result is starvation.
Bales offers suggestions for combating the new slavery and provides examples of very positive results from organizations such as Anti-Slavery International, the Pastoral Land Commission in Brazil, and the Human Rights Commission in Pakistan. He also calls for researchers to follow the flow of raw materials and products from slave to marketplace in order to effectively target campaigns of "naming and shaming" corporations linked to slavery. Disposable People is the first book to point the way to abolishing slavery in today's global economy.
All of the author's royalties from this book go to fund anti-slavery projects around the world.

Customer Reviews:

Understanding Modern Slavery.......2007-06-06

The comparison that Bales' draws between the "new" slavery and the "old" slavery is the most striking revelation I have encountered yet. It is essential that people read this book to understand that slavery effects every person, either directly or indirectly, and to understand the extent to which both individuals and state government's help to perpetuate this socially constructed atrocity.
Bales gives an intimate account of slavery in different locations and the information that he presents is compelling, informative, and heartbreaking. Informed people of the world should pick up this book and begin to act.

Buy this book and see how slavery still exists in the World Today........2007-04-27

As Bales himself points out, many people equivilate slavery with the kind that existed in the United States over 100 years ago. But that's only one tupe of slavery, thankfully long gone. However, slavery still exists in the world today and it is worse than ever. Bales book is englightening for those of us, like myself, who have trouble imagining where and how it still exists.

The book is mainly consisted of case studies, which serve as examples for each kind of slavery found in the world today. If you want to find out the social environments that allow for slavery to come into existence, then you are better of reading Bales' more in depth book "Understanding Slavery". But if you are just starting and want to know how slavery exists in the world today, this book is the one to get.

I'll admit, sometimes the writing of this book is a little redundant, as others have said, but more often then not it's interesting. You don't need to read the entirety of every chapter to get the gist of this book, because the point of it is not to compeltely educate the reader about slavery but simply to inform the reader about ways it exists still today.

After reading this book, hopefully you will feel inspired to get invovled with one of Bales' organizations, such as "Free The Slaves". Whether you can sit down and read this entire book or not is of no importance. Even simply reading the introduction and skimming the chapters is enough to englighten one to the facts, which no person can hide from.

Good bur Redundant..........2006-11-30

I liked this book a lot. It was a huge eye-opener to the depressions of slavery in the world today. I never realized it was so bad. The only thing I didn't like about the book was that the author tended to say the same thing over and over. He would just re-word what he had previously stated. He could have had the same impact in less pages. I would, however, recommend this book to anyone who has an interest (or not) in slavery. Everyone needs to know that this kind of stuff goes on in our world today.

A Poignant Cry in the Dark.......2006-05-12

By cloak of night or false identity, Bales, the world's foremost expert on slavery, goes to the squalid homes of slaves around the globe. From the coal-making batterias in Brazil to the brothels of Thailand, from the brick factories of Pakistan to the bonded-labor farms of India, he looks into the eyes of the oppressed and gives voice to their cries.

Sometimes too academic and repetitive, this book is nonetheless a life-changing must-read. For, as Bales reminds readers, ignorance of slavery perpetuates the crime. Suggestions for fighting this insidious and slippery aspect of commerce are included at the end.

An Evil That Is Still With Us.......2005-08-18

Sadly, it is not true that human slavery was abolished back in the 1800s, and in fact there are still millions of slaves in the world. There are slaves working in third world brothels, mines, farms, and sweatshops. Even some domestic servants in Western nations are technically enslaved. Here Kevin Bales explains how this is a new and modernized type of slavery. The old "classic" slavery, in which masters outwardly and legally owned other people, has disappeared around the world, except for in the oddly backward nation of Mauritania. The new slavery is not based on ethnic or religious subjugation and punishment, but is the outcome of globalized economics, as certain industries inevitably gravitate toward near-zero cost labor.

Most modern slaves are victims of "debt bondage," in which businessmen or middlemen make poor and desperate people work off their debts, but through fraudulent accounting and trickery make it impossible for the debts to be paid off, therefore gaining forced and unpaid labor. This phenomenon is tragically common in many nations, and tens of millions of people are subjected to hopeless lives of economic subjugation. Bales explores this modern slavery in several nations that are trying to convince the world that it doesn't happen within their borders, or try to justify this bondage with dissembling arguments that are disgustingly similar to those used by the old Southern plantation owners in America.

Bales does a pretty good job of describing how real, quantifiable economics and globalization processes bring this human tragedy about. However, this aspect of his analysis could be strengthened, to make a more effective argument with policy makers. I suggest that Bales team up with a reputable political scientist or economist to make this structural argument stronger. Some international readers may also take issue with Bales' introductory explanations of the cultures on which he is reporting. Statements about how Thailand's culture totally condones that nation's horrific sex industry, or how Pakistan's social structure inevitably results in internecine violence, are most likely generalizations that could be fleshed out with more sensitive research. But overall those are minor flaws. Bales gives you a very disconcerting feeling about the state of modern humanity, and about how slavery has played a part in the manufacture of many of your consumer items and the bottom line of companies in which you may have invested. [~doomsdayer520~]

A Land of Ghosts: The Braided Lives of People and the Forest in Far Western Amazonia

Average customer rating:

One month later Still waiting for the book
AMAZING TRAVEL AND SCIENCE WRITING ON THE AMAZON
Richly textured
Excellent!
some good, some bad

A Land of Ghosts: The Braided Lives of People and the Forest in Far Western Amazonia
David G. Campbell
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 039571284X

Book Description

The western Amazon is the last frontier, as wild a west as Earth has ever known. For thirty years David G. Campbell has been exploring this lush wilderness, which contains more species than ever existed anywhere at any time in the four-billion-year history of life on our planet. With great artistic flair, Campbell takes us with him as he travels to the town of Cruzeiro do Sul, 2,800 miles from the mouth of the Amazon. Here he collects three old friends: Arito, a caiman hunter turned paleontologist; Tarzan, a street urchin brought up in a bordello; and Pimentel, a master canoe pilot. They travel together even farther into the rainforest, set up camp, and survey every living woody plant in a land so rich that an area of less than fifty acres contains three times as many tree species as all of North America. Campbell knows the trees individually, has watched them grow from seedling to death. He also knows the people of the Amazon: the recently arrived colonists with their failing farms; the mixed-blood Caboclos, masters of hunting, fishing, and survival; and the refugee Native Americans. Campbell introduces us to two remarkable women, Dona Cabocla, a widow who raised six children on that lonely frontier, and Dona Ausira, A Nokini Native American who is the last speaker of her tribe's ages-old language. These people live in a land whose original inhabitants were wiped out by centuries of disease, slavery, and genocide, taking their traditions and languages with them -- a land of ghosts.

Customer Reviews:

One month later Still waiting for the book.......2007-10-09

I wouldn't mind reviewing this book but I still haven't recieved it yet. It's now a month since you posted it, perhaps you could please chase it up. Thankyou

Paul Lightfoot

AMAZING TRAVEL AND SCIENCE WRITING ON THE AMAZON.......2006-09-08

Though there are many books that describe nature in the Amazon, David Campbell definitely is among the top writers on it. In this book he offers, from start to finish, a very interesting mix between storytelling with lyrical qualities and scientific analysis with social commentary.

He is a scientist, focused on botany, and his knowledge of all aspects of science related to the forest are outstanding. We learn about the strategies employed by frogs to reproduce, or by snakes to identify prey, or by trees to attach polen to beetles. While learning about the science behind such activities and how they evolved, the author leads the reader through his travel log, meeting people and species and learning much about the history of the region he is visiting.

Besides all the interesting science, the author also provides a very deep character description of the people who live in this remote frontier. The stories range from rubber tappers left over from a period of abundance, to old indians who became westernized, to occupants moving there from the south due to government incentives. Each has a story and a way to deal with the challenges of the forest; some have a way to prosper in the exact same circumstances in which others fail. Some characters are presented as integrated in the forest, some as aliens beaten by the forest, some as leaders beating the forest.

Most amazing than all the history, social aspects and science however are the narrative abilities of the author. The book is a work of art, as it becomes clear that every word has been hand picked and every metaphor was chosen to provide the reader with the correct image, texture, taste, sound and smell of the forest. Reading is an experience of immersion and is to be savoured as very few books provide such a deep experience. It becomes quite clear to anyone reading the book that the author has a deep connection with his subject, much beyond science.

This book is the very best description of the Amazon I have encountered, written with gusto. It is the kind of book you will wish you had written. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the region, in nature writing or in popular science.

Richly textured.......2005-07-14

This book delivered much more than I expected. The author is a scientist, not just a traveler. Each observation went several steps deeper into the biology and history than typical with this kind of book. The story was made much richer by these details.

It is true that the vocabulary was a bit advanced. However, I never bothered to check the dictionary, and it didn't hurt the narrative.

Highly recommended.

Excellent!.......2005-07-06

A Land of Ghosts is a splendid journey through Amazonian Brazil. Infused with enlightened historical, ecological, and anthropological perspective, Campbell stands alone in his ability to fuse eloquent science writing with a tale of adventure. At times haunting, this book reveals the deep causes of rainforest destruction in the region. However, this book presents these causes in a unique way, and, at least for me, marks a new style of conservation advocation. Indeed, a refreshing one. If you have any interest in tropical ecology, and like works by such authors as David Quammen or Tim Flannery you will love this brilliant work.

some good, some bad.......2005-06-03

The "good" is that there are some very interesting stories in the book. The "bad" is that, in my opinion, it rambles in some places, especially in the last half of the book. Another "bad" is that the author uses a lot of uncommon words that only someone with an incredible vocabulary would understant. Example: page 127 (picked at random)uses the words: Flummoxed, estivation, tropeiro, mealy, prehensile, transect, naunce, anthocyanins, cotyledoms, transect, bromeliads. Trying to get through that for over 200 pages was a workout for me. The author also uses meters and hectars, not feet and acres, so distances and area are hard to understand. In addition he uses a lot of Portuguese words. There is a Portuguese glossary in the back if you don't mind flipping back and forth while you read, which I don't take the time to do. The author is an excellent writer, too bad it is so difficult to read.

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Amazon Boy
Lewin
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0027573834

Brazil in Pictures (Visual Geography. Second Series)

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This book is for children.

Brazil in Pictures (Visual Geography. Second Series)
Thomas Streissguth
Manufacturer: Lerner Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0822519593

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This book is for children........2005-12-22

Apparently this book is for ages 9 - 12. That apparently is correct. Don't buy for an adult.

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Rainforest Fun
Why do the tiny monkeys insist on sleeping amongst thorns?
the RHYTHM is makes the book fun for young and old
Wonderful!
A Fun Read

So Say the Little Monkeys
Nancy Van Laan
Manufacturer: Aladdin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0689846908

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Rainforest Fun.......2004-10-25

The talents of the prolific Nancy Van Laan ("In a Circle Long Ago," and many others) and illustrator Yumi Heo ("Sometimes I'm Bombaloo") combine in this cheery retelling of a Brazilian folktale about blackmouth monkeys. The monkeys frolic through the Brazilian rainforest, swinging from vine to vine, and, most importantly, climbing the thorny tall trees:

Still they climb, UP-UP!
And they slide, Down-Down!
They sing, "Jibba-jibba-jabba."
swinging round and round

JUMP, JABBA JABBA,
RUN, JABBA JABBA,
SLIDE, JABBA JABBA,
Tiny monkeys having fun!

But these same trees keep them from having a comfortable home, unlike their neighbors the armadillo and the toucan. The monkeys SAY they're going to build a house, but fun and delicious things (e.g., bananas!) keep them from doing it!

The short rhymes and wonderful animal and nature sounds make this a very fun book to read out loud. The rhythms are musical, and the capitalized sounds (e.g., PLINKA PLINKA, WOOYA WOOYA, GURR-YUH GURR-YUH) are your cue to turn up the narrative volume for your little one. They'll eat it up. Slightly older toddlers may also enjoy the monkeys' priorities of fun and food over practicality. Yumi Heo has an unusual palette: I love the blues in her bubbling river and stormy sky. Her repetition of the playing monkeys nicely complements the repeated sounds of the text, and her flat, "folkish" drawings, filled with repeated designs and iconic imagery, evoke the teeming rainforest. The book was included in "The 3rd Edition of The New York Times Parent's Guide to the Best Books for Children." A simple but superb performance by van Laan and Heo.

Why do the tiny monkeys insist on sleeping amongst thorns?.......2004-04-23

The Rio Negro (Black River) is the second biggest river in Brazil, taking its name from its dark waters. In trees along the banks of the Rio Negro live tiny monkeys, which are called "blackmouths" by the local tribes. The reason for this is that their mouths are as dark as the waters of the river. These tiny monkeys live in tall palm tree that are full of sharp thorns and although the thorns are uncomfortable the monkeys sleep on top of them each night. If this seems somewhat strange to you this seems no less strange to the natives, who made up an amusing story to explain why the monkeys do this.

"So Say the Little Monkeys" is Nancy Van Laan's version of the tale told in the Brazilian rain forests about the blackmouth monkeys. Illustrated by Yumi Heo, this is a read-aloud book where children 3-7 will have fun with the constant refrain: "Jump, jabba jabba, run, jabba jabba, munch, jabba jabba, tiny, tiny monkeys having fun." Of course the jump/run/munch part changes depending on what the tiny monkeys are doing, so children too young to read will still be able to anticipate how the refrain will be different the next time around depending on what the little monkeys have been doing.

In "So Say the Little Monkeys" the tiny monkeys actually think about building themselves a shelter so they can have shelter from the rain (plinka plinka), the wind (wooya wooya), and the jaguar (gurr-yuh gurr-yuh), but it seems they always get distracted by something a lot more fun. Will young children who are listening to or reading this story figure out that maybe they have a lot in common with tiny monkeys? Maybe not. But they still should be able to appreciate the lesson of this story, namely that you should not put off for tomorrow something that you can do today.

the RHYTHM is makes the book fun for young and old.......2003-11-17

This book that is great to give to new families starting out their library. The rythm of this story makes it so fun to read and for the kids to listen to- over and over and over again. Its simple enough for the youngest child to have fun with and fill in the fun sounds, or a life lesson in getting, or not getting, your work done for older kids.

Wonderful!.......2002-10-15

My 7 month old loves this book. His face lights up when he hears the rain "plinka, plinka" and the wind "Wooya, Wooya". He also loves the pictures. I know this will always be one of his favorites.

A Fun Read.......2000-07-29

Both my three year old daughter and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's rhyming verse is fun to read and the pictures are captivating. The actual story of how the carefree monkeys avoid making their night-time nests is light-hearted and amusing. My daughter and I borrowed this entertaining book from our local library. We liked it so well that I intend to buy it for her collection of favorites.

Exiles, Allies, Rebels: Brazil's Indianist Movement, Indigenist Politics, and the Imperial Nation-State (Contributions in Latin American Studies)

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Exiles, Allies, Rebels: Brazil's Indianist Movement, Indigenist Politics, and the Imperial Nation-State (Contributions in Latin American Studies)
David Treece
Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0313311250

Book Description

This is the first global study of the single most important intellectual and artistic movement in Brazilian cultural history before Modernism. The Indianist movement, under the direct patronage of the Emperor Pedro II, was a major pillar of the Empire's project of state-building, involving historians, poets, playwrights and novelists in the production of a large body of work extending over most of the nineteenth century. Tracing the parallel history of official indigenist policy and Indianist writing, Treece reveals the central role of the Indian in constructing the self-image of state and society under Empire. He aims to historicize the movement, examining it as a literary phenomenon, both with its own invented traditions and myths, and standing at the interfaces between culture and politics, between the Indian as imaginary and real. As this book demonstrates, the Indianist tradition was not merely an example of Romantic exoticism or escapism, recycling infinite variations on a single model of the Noble Savage imported from the European imaginary. Instead, it was a complex, evolving tradition, inextricably enmeshed with the contemporary political debates on the status of the indigenous communities and their future within the post-colonial state. These debates raised much wider questions about the legacy of colonial rule-the persistence of authoritarian models of government, the social and political marginalization of large numbers of free but landless Brazilians, and above all the maintenance of slavery. The Indianist "stage" offered the Indian alternately as tragic victim and exile, as rebel and outlaw, as alien to the social pact, as mother or protector of the post-colonial Brazilian family, or as self-sacrificing ally and "voluntary slave."

Children of the World - Frederico: A Child of Brazil (Children of the World)

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Children of the World - Frederico: A Child of Brazil (Children of the World)
Francois Goalec
Manufacturer: Blackbirch Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1410302946

Book Description

Located in eastern South America and bordering the Atlantic Ocean, Brazil is a geographically large country with a predominately Catholic population. While coming to know the social and personal activities of a young Brazilian named Frederico, readers discover life in the busy, warm coastal city of Rio.

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Life Among the Yanomami
John F. Peters
Manufacturer: Broadview Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1551111934

Book Description

'Life Among the Yanomami' builds on recent literature and on the author's personal experience of the northern Brazil people, the Mucajai Yanomami, with whom he lived from 1958 to 1967 and whom he has since frequently visited. the result is a rich and well-rounded understanding of this famously isolated people. While considerable detail of a traditional way of life is provided, particular attention is devoted to the realities of social change arising from initial exposure to missionaries (of whom the author was one) to more recent pressures from mining and the intervention of government and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Family and village life, health and health care, demography, politicization (that includes Yanomami criticism of Western society), and cultural survival are among the key issues explored by Peters - compelling issues for indigenous peoples the world over.

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