A quite interesting and certainly very informative book. This book mainly deals with various and mostly unrelated events in the Caribbean during the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

While some of the stories in this book are quite colourful and full of dashing, adventurous and romantic tales of the buccaneers and pirates of that time I suspect, after having read this book, that the author relied to much on a book called 'The History of the Bucaniers' by Alexander Oliver Oexmelin which is well known for being of dubious quality when it comes to plain historical fact. In this way I feel the author himself has been taken in by the romanticism of the great tales of the carribean during its buccaneering heyday and thus lost his objectivity. This is however, only a minor flaw in what is otherwise a great book.

Overall I give it 8/10, losing out only because of the previously mentioned lack of objectivty and the omitance of a great deal of other events of that time.

I got this book from the library and I am unable to find it through retail so if you find it please contact me.

Mark Andrews(mra@mistral.co.uk)

THis is a great book, a history of the founding of a place - where Naipaul was born - that virtually no one cares about. As such, there is nihilism at the very core of the book, which Naipaul emphasizes by beginning with a tribe (just a name) whose only existing reference was that it was annihilated during the colonization.

And yet, this book is brilliantly written, full of drama of torture and interminable trials, great and bitter ironies that lead to what Trinidad became (or didn't), all of it adding up to a sense of the passage of human life and striving. I loved this book: it is a fascinating rumination by a highly talented writer, a dark essay on futility and non-history.

It may seem obscure, but then, so is much of the Third WOrld's history. That is one of Naipaul's points. He is a true master.

First of all I would like to say that Peter Lerangis is an excellent writer. His previous jobs incluide a novelization of "The Sixth Sense". "Road to el Doorado" Is a fun novel for being read by kids on blustery days. It is very easy to read, and the language that it uses is extremely simple. Lerangis has got a great way of writing. If you like the movie this is a must-read. So, search for El dorado with Lerangis novelization

"The Forty Niners: Chronicle of the California Trail and El Dorado" tells the story of the thousands of people that rushed to the California foothills in search of gold. People packed up their belongings and headed toward what they believed would be a new, promising life. What they found was a little different than they had hoped. This book gives a good view of just how these settlers lived and what they had to go through. It is a good historical book, and it taught me a lot about my country's history. Most of the book was pretty interesting, but at times it was a little slow. I think it could have been made a little shorter. If you are looking for a book that is so good that you can't put it down, this isn't it. At a few points, I was almost looking for an excuse to put it down. However, if California history is appealing to you, you may be interested in reading this book.

Unlike the other contributor, I not only found this book -- as well as the other in his "Story of California" trilogy, to wit, "The Gray Dawn" and "The Rose Dawn," -- quite spellbinding. One follows a "large lump of a man," Frank Munroe by name, from the naivete of the Eastern dreams of easy wealth to a San Francisco that, but for landmarks and names, is barely recognizable to most of us Californians. The journey takes them by boat up the Sacramento River to Sacramento and thence to Sutter's Fort where the are fortunate enough to meet the gentleman before misfortune took away his vast holdings. From Sacramento they packed up to the gold fields. In an effort to better their circumstances the group with which Frank has found himself start off on their own. In leaving the established camps they leave behind security and are constantly on watch for bandits and subsequently Indians. In the saga there are places where the story tends to lag. The grind of rocking and panning is not exciting. Nevertheless, in spite of the theft of a good portion of their gold, they still return to San Francisco with enough to assist one of their number who elected to stay in that city... but that is another story ("The Gray Dawn"). This is an historical novel. It names people and places. It talks about the less romantic side of the gold hunt such as dealing with a group of marauding Indians who they were reluctantly inclined to let go until it was found that they killed one of their number. It speaks of the hope in the search of gold, the exhilaration of the find, the insanity of gold fever, the trust of some people and distrust of others, the change in the gold camp society, the precursor of the vigilance movement, the humor, the pathos. Behind it all is the backdrop of a California as it existed 150 years ago. One can put the book down, but I am certain that one will not leave it down long until he or she is finished reading it.

mezcla la vida de unas famosas Madame de Chicago y agraga lago de suspenso pero.... no me convencio

American Anthropology Association El Dorado Task Force Preliminary Report:

"We regard [Darkness in El Dorado] with profound ambivalence, finding the book deeply flawed, but nevertheless highlighting ethical issues that we must confront."

Visit the American Anthropology Association web site for the complete report.

Patrick Tierney doesn't like anthropologist-legend Napoleon Chagnon, James Neel, or any number of other scientists, journalists, politicians, bureaucrats, perverts, and debutantes who have made reputations and money among and at the expense the Yanomami. This message is crystal clear. To Tierney's credit, his extensive, meticulous research and annotation, at times even distractive in its excruciating detail show just how serious he is about the pointed and refreshingly direct accusations he makes throughout his book.

Tierney's argument is extensive and lengthy, clearly fueled by alternating rage and conviction. His knowledge of the area, its history, and the academic body surrounding the Yanomami is obvious. But, to my reading his narrative is poorly organized, even rambling. His detailed attacks against Chagnon, Neel, and others continue throughout the book, more or less chronologically, with detailed analyses and the debunking/disproving of Chagnon's studies and products continuing right to the very last paragraph on the very last page. It seems to me, however, that the discussion of the US Atomic Energy Commission's Project Sunshine, the radioactive injection programs, the mysterious bone collection program, the encroachment of miners and other agents of plunder into Yanomami areas, and the tales of official corruption all would serve to be the bookends, the hard bands around a core of clinical and precise dissection of Chagnon, both personally and professionally. But such was not the case.

There are a great many issues going on here, and Tierney's need to address them all dilutes his overall work.... Tierney attacks constantly, without letting up, only rarely giving ground. To his credit, he does point out valid observations At the same time, he goes after the corrupt politicians and their cohorts, as well as the US Atomic Energy Commission, journalists, and any number of other individuals and organizations which he asserts have had impacts-all of them negative--upon the Yanomami. Many of these side stories are highly intriguing, worthy of additional research and publication, specifically the AEC's Project Sunshine and the bone collection program.

Reading the book gave me some insight of my own. I'd argue that a better subtitle to the book would be "How Vanity and Commerce Devastated the Amazon." From the information provided here, what is clearly driving the academic exaggerations and falsifications, and the increasing, destructive contact with the Yanomami is the quest for personal glory and/or greed. The scientists saw and still see Yanomamiland as a massive laboratory in which to make a global reputation, the locals (politicians and entrepreneurs) see it as a resource-rich region for exploitation, and the journalists regard the area as a made-for-publication, story-rich environment, full of newspaper-selling, viewer-inducing drama. Unfortunately, all of this is true. What comes through clearly is that the Yanomami are absolutely powerless, ultimately doomed, unable to even conceive of let alone competently oppose the forces conspiring constantly to exploit them.

In conclusion, the book serves three positive, educational purposes. First, it provides a detailed and accurate, albeit distorted slightly by Tierney's passion, history of the discovery and exploitation of the Yanomami. Second, it provides a cautionary tale on the nature of exploration and discovery, a real-world anthropological application of the Heisenberg Principle. And third, despite its rambling, unfocused message, it offers a textbook method for a point-by-point, meticulous refutation and indictment of apparently false ...scientific research. Tierney does not stoop to name-calling or insults; he retains the high ground yet ruthlessly, incessantly picks apart and destroys decades of Chagnon's and others' work, a lifetime of apparently wasted and falsified effort, all in the name of vanity.

im glad this book was written for the sole-fact that all these reviews are so concentrated on supporting the name of Anthropology and "Science" that they dont focus on the cultures people have destroyed in the name of science, "progress", profit, grants, warfare, etc, etc, etc.

"all of Chagnon's work is taken in vain." so are a lot of peoples livlihoods so he gets his paycheck. you can balance what you think its more important... a man coming back to his roots to observe for the rest of us or letting the people live autonomously.

This book was a total waste of time. Full of high-blown, flowery prose, lofty hypotheses, and absolute nonsense. Sometimes a Ph.D thesis--which this apparently was before the University of Chicago Press was convinced to publish it--ought to remain a Ph.D. thesis. A waste of trees, a waste of ink, and a waste of time. Save your money and read the yellow pages--you will enjoy it more than Masters of All They Surveyed

An interesting, well researched book about Robert Schomburgk's attempts to obtain a place for himself in history within the context of setting forth British Guiana's borders using the science and land surveying techniques available to him in the 19th century. The prose of book, however, is what native Guyanese would call 'high falautin' and, toward the end, I disagree with a few of his political theories on modern Guyanese politics; moreover, significantly, there is some repetition. In the end, Graham adds a human and scientific aspect to the discourse concerning the disputed boundaries. The editors should have allowed for a rewrite and/or the author should not have rushed to market or allowed for more maturity. I would recommend the paperback.

As an aficionado of the history of the British Empire, I found this book to be very informative and readable. Knowing nothing of the subject beforehand, being easy to read is important. The erudition of the author's style may intimidate some, but, in the end, it is precisely the element of the book which carries the reader beyond a mere chronology of events and through synthesis and interpretation gives perspective and colour to what comes out as an adventuresome story, well told, about, of all things, surveying. The experts in the field will probably have their nits to pick, just as Schomburgk had to deal with the RGS and Harrison had to suffer the nabobs of longitude, and the bridge-builder at Szavo had to contend with the lions, but the story will remain alive long after the lions are stuffed and relegated to museums.