Amazon Journal: Dispatches from a Vanishing Frontier

by Geoffrey O'Connor

A work of literary nonfiction blending reportage, history, anthropology, and personal memoir, Amazon Journal is a unique and critical look at how cultural differences in the Amazon have resulted in incidents ranging from comic misunderstandings to blatant exploitation, environmental disaster, and even genocide. Beginning by revisiting the period in the late 80's when the "save the rainforest" campaign, the indigenous rights movement, and the assassination of Chico Mendes became the focus of a media storm, O'Connor stuck with his story long enough to tell us what happened when the world turned its attention elsewhere.Peopled by a colorful cast of real-life characters, O'Connor's startling narrative is a journey into a contemporary heart of darkness, a compelling and compassionate look at a vanishing people, and a blistering account of the forces of destruction, both human and environmental, at work within the greatest forest on earth.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel

384 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1997

Reviews

[Darla Ebert · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had a lot of details and was quite a bit more political than I was ready for but the reader will learn plenty about the people of the Amazon. It seems the people are ever in flux while the jungle and the river remain the same. Tragedy mingles with a kind of a modernization of the people, but there is a fair amount of "ruse" and misunderstanding of the actual progress of the people themselves.

[Tomek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although a bit dated now (written in the late 80s and early 90s) O'Connor's book details the socio-cultural clashes in the Brazilian Amazon's frontier region passionately, yet objectively. The wild-west style stories jump off the page. Some may not like O'Connor's style of writing, which involves telling multiple stories simultaneously; jumping around from one to another between chapters, but it kept me on my toes. I would have loved to see some maps to get a better sense of the geography, but all in all, an informative and adventure-filled read, if only a bit depressing. Oh, one last criticism: O'Connor's self-loathing and criticisms of journalists' dealings with native peoples is not necessarily unfounded, but I think a bit too pointed and presumptuous at times.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sobering, dense, but highly readable. It was interesting to read this perspective of the rainforest-as-trendy-cause back in the late 80s; I was a kid then, learning about the rainforest in school, and had no idea that it was a hip new thing. I loved the rainforest and did not expect to go there ever.

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riveting and harrowing, this first-person narrative is an on-the-ground account on the continuous rape of the Amazon. Written a decade ago, one can only imagine how different things are now. An important stop in assessing our on-going train crash of environmental destruction.

[Karen B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as a follow-up to the Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. Provides a realist's perspective into the issues facing the Amazon region today.

[Amy Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

An astonishing portrait of one of the most amazing places on earth. Heartbreaking. If only the destruction would stop.

[Brian Tyhy]

An eye opener into the political problems of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon. Some times I had problem keeping my interest in the book and it took a long time to finish