Indigenous Peoples and the Future of Amazonia is an anthology which boasts contributions from archaeologists, anthropologists, cultural ecologists and nutritionists, its input from the indigenous population is limited to a two-page forward by Simeon Jimenez and Nelly Arvelo-Jimenez.

Sponsel mentions that an earnest attempt was made to include authors from the nine Amazonian countries. However, in the end, only three of the authors are from South America.

Perhaps I'd hoped for a more activist approach, or at least, a ground-based examination of current environmental practices and potential strategies. Instead, this is a scholarly book which sticks its nose in the pages of future academic research and does not appear to be looking up. The book provides no action plan and few resources or contacts for interested readers.

Still, in its own way, this is an interesting volume and offers more than a handful of insightful gems.

Here are short excerpts of what some professional anthropologists have written in reviews of this book in major journals:

John Bodley - "Very timely collection...examines key issues...a self-conscious and very successful attempt to combine basic and applied perspectives...." (American Anthropologist June 1996).

Jerome Levi - "For those who thought that as our discipline approaches the third millennium ecological anthropology had subsided beneath the waves of postmodernism, this book will come as a virtual tsunami." (American Ethnologist November 1995).

Bartholomew Dean - "This volume is a most welcome addition to our emergent understanding of the political ecology of lowland South America... For those complacent about the future of Amazonia and the region's inhabitants, this book provides a clarion call to action." (Cultural Survival Quarterly Fall 1995).

Richard Reed - "The volume provides strategic lessons.... the authors survey Amazonian realities ignored by recent developers.... the volume raises critical issues involved in protecting forests and peoples from the ravages of development." (Journal of Anthropological Research Spring 1997).

Read the full reviews and/or the book and judge for yourself!

"The White," seemed more like a broad overview, rather than a novel that one can get into. The characters are never really developed and emotions are not really discussed, so it is very difficult to get into these characters or feel anything really for them. It goes from one scene to another without making one get any sort of sense for it, before moving on to something else. I really didn't care for the book and took nothing from it.

I like historical fiction, so I couldn't wait to get my hands on THE WHITE by Deborah Larsen. I had also read a previous account of Mary Jemison, a white women who lived her entire life with the Indians. She willingly stayed it seems as she was given the opportunity to return to her own people a number of times. Mary was sixteen in 1758 when she and her family were taken by a Shawnee raiding party. She is adopted by two Seneca sisters and given the name Two-Falling Voices. She resembles their brother who'd been killed in battle and is taking his place.
THE WHITE is a small book, only two hundred nineteen pages with lots of white space. Larsen alternates between Mary's own voice and third person. It's hard to know if the italicized material is Mary's actual voice or a fictionalized version of what she said in A NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF MARY JEMISON: THE WHITE WOMAN OF THE GENESEE, by James Everett Seaver, M.D., which was first published in 1823.
Despite its brevity, I was impressed by a number of things. Mary's first husband, Sheninjee, was not the chauvinistic warrior of countless Hollywood movies. He woos Mary by helping her hoe corn. He dies on a trading mission and she takes a second husband, Hiokatoo, an ancient warrior who'd fought in countless battles. He likes to brag about the number of scalps he's taken, and at first Mary is offended by this, until they discuss it. The discussion sounds like something out of Margaret Meade. Larsen emphasizes the fact that the Indians did not invent scalping. The French put bounties on the heads of the aboriginals and the scalp was evidence.
At the end of her life Mary owns 10,000 acres of land, but she also loses three of her sons who killed each other, their brains pickled by drink. The funeral eulogy is quite shocking. "Go! Get out of here! Better that in your cowardice you are gone."
Larsen also likes to mix in quotes from the Bible, often referring to Job and by comparison Mary. Of Mary Jemison, James Seaver says, "Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars." There's more, but it's obvious that he had enormous respect for this woman who lived among "savages".

This book of fiction is based on true historical persons and events...... The author tells the story of Mary Jamison/Jemison, a white woman who was captured by a Shawnee raiding party when she was only 16 yrs. old, near her home which later became Gettysburg, Pa. Her whole family was killed and scalped in this raid.....Mary learned the Indian ways,raised a family and never returned to the white world.....She does eventually own a large piece of land which has been a dream of hers all her life. Mary befriends a family of former black slaves and also has some white friends.....This is a beautiful poetic book. I read it in one day and loved it.

Gunn and Smith struggled valiantly to shape a collection of 9 biographies of Native American achievers, blending the historical and the personal in a somewhat old-fashioned style of narration that young people will find attractive. The biographical sketches review the life and achievements of Weetamoo, an Indian woman who figured in very early white-Indian skirmishes, Geronimo, Will Rogers, Jim Thorpe, Maria Tallchief, Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Wilma Pearl Mankiller, Michael Naranjo (Vietnam War Veteran), and Louise Erdrich. Yet, this reviewer believes that most libraries will not want to purchase it this book. First of all, the title picks up an egregious lie that appeared in many treaties that were later broken. The authors admit knowing this but used it anyhow. The persons pictured, for the most part, became successful in the white world on white terms. In the story of Jim Thorpe, Gunn and Smith tell of a battle in which 300 Sac and Fox Indians were killed, and include parenthetically a comment by Lincoln that, during his war experience at this time, he "could not remember meeting any enemy except mosquitoes." The authors refer to the disparaging term "blanket Indians," which is very nearly as offensive as the n word to black Americans. They say that Quakers forced an Indian young person to do indoor chores but provide little context. They comment that Senator Campbell made jewelry but never got to the point of selling it for income; also, that he was married in a sleazy wedding chapel. The authors refer, directly or indirectly, to disparaging stereotypes this reviewer has not heard for half a long lifetime: laziness, drunkenness, and unwillingness to embrace reasonable white demands for education, private ownership of land, and relocation to urban areas. They may not have intended to offend, but they have a glaring lack of intuitive sense of what Native American culture is all about today. Add this to the unattractive packaging of the book--black and white portraits, large print, and narrow margins. Schools should reject this collection.

Did you know Will Rogers was American Indian? Want to know about Balancine's wife? Read this book. It's good

Welcome to the incredibly boring world of the Mississippi Valley. If you have to read this book, the last paragraph of each chapter will sum everything up for you. There is also a ten page summary at the end of the book! So if this is required reading, don't sweat it. You can get everything you need out of this book in ten minutes! Please don't waste your time reading the entire book.

Usner's Indians, Settlers and Slaves is a highly readable and path-breaking study of economic interactions in southern Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama before the formation of the 'Old South.' Here is a world of great social complexity, and surprising equality, featuring the Upper Mississippi Valley in a time of low settlement density. A must for anyone trying to understand the long-term settlement dynamic of the South.

A rash of thefts and desecrations of Native American artifacts and graves has hit the reservations throughout the south and midwest. The Ojibwa tribe finds its ceremonial objects stolen from the reservation's school. Trouble doesn't stop there for the tribal chairman is found dead. In the midst of these events the tribal dreamer, school teacher and sometime sleuth enters to solve the mystery.

Meet Renee La Roche the above described Ojibwa dreamer who attempts to regain her tribe's ceremonial objects in addition to dealing with other challenges in her personal life. Struggling in her relationship with her white lesbian lover, dealing with the rebelliousness of her teenage daughter and attempting to help another Ojibwan come to terms with himself, Renee has quite a bit on her shoulders. How she attempts to juggles these challenges in addition to solving the theft and murder will focus your attention.

Although the theme and all the elements of a good story are there this book is very slow moving. You are bogged down with meaningless information before you even get to the murder. Renee's problem with her lover is unclear. Is it due to cultural, racial or economic differences that cause the tension? The same problem emerges when you try to find out just how Renee gets herself involved in the investigation. Is it because she is the tribal dreamer or what? Quite a bit of technical questions need to be answered in this novel. It is slow moving but has the potential for greater adventure and depth.

Leppart's fist novel, Headwaters (Galde Press, 1998), gives thereader much to think about. The main character, Amjad, is a physicianfrom Iran who becomes a terrorist following the death of his family during the Gulf War. The book allows the reader to join Amjad in his journey to seek revenge on the U.S. The simplicity of his plan and the vulnerability of our country to terrorist attack, in this case, at a nuclear waste plant on Prairie Island, keeps the reader anxiously awaiting the next page.

Mr. Leppart gives insight into the emotions of the Iraquis we bombed in the Gulf War, the Indians who live on the Prairie Island Reservation and the public servants sent to defend our citizens against terrorist attack.

With the exception of a rather "spicy" chapter that reads like a step by step sex manual, the book matures into a well written piece, that leaves you with food for thought for many a day.

Although the title says Amazonia, a lot of the content pertains to Orinoquia. Prospective buyers should be aware that a recent volume of Ethnohistory (also edited by Whitehead) contains much of the same material (by some of the same authors). The biggest problem that I had with the book is that very important recent work done among some of the native groups mentioned in the text is totally ommitted in the references. It seems like a collection of friends got together to write this book and dismiss the work of other good and emerging scholars. One of the important lessons taught to all graduate students is to cite the work of others, particularly when it is relevant. This work is careless in its review of the current literature and contains some factual errors that specialists will have no problem detecting. I found that it offered nothing new.

This book may serve as a good introduction about the Yakama heritage. It is only one man's interpretation of the information gathered from one Yakama family. What you need to remember is that you can't write about an entire culture in only a few pages. The book takes a look at important aspects of the Yakama heritage but you need to consider that there are thousands of Yakama families and this book only describes the lives of one family. The information in this book is accurate and very informative, but it does not tell the whole story.

I've got this book from an university libary. It' based on taped narrations from Warao Indians about their life, like school, living in the familiy, work and as well how they see the influence of modern times in their environment. The informations are quiete old, but I think it's worth to know about their thoughts and not to have a description about them from authors of the modern world. Nevertheless this book is influenced by etnologists who translated and wrote the narrations. But prices we found on book market are not worth for the quality of printing and paper.

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.