I am a big fan of ethnobotany and Amazon stories but this is pathetic. She gets nearly no medicines on her journey, ends up chasing Indians around becuase she never meets them, and has racial slurs (published in 1961 originally) about how suprised she is that the Indians are not savages and unpolite ,etc.. She actually says that one Indian was the 'best looking male animal she has seen' Insane. Not a good book.

The book Witch Doctor's Apprentice is a personal narrative about Nicole Maxell's Journey into the Amazon. On her quest to find medicinal plants of the Amazon she is forced to overcome many obstacles. The book appealed to me as a nature enthusiast and an aspiring physician. I expected to learn about tropical plants and their uses in modern medicine. Instead it was a boring journey where she spent most of her time wandering around.

Maxell did do a good job using sensory detail. For instance, "She changes her distinction on every new fashion she follows. She changes the length of her hemline, the shape of her hate, the way she does her hair without altering her own strikingly individual personality." That description of a chic woman was used in a comparison with the town of Lima in Peru. The purpose of the book was informative, but it was nice when she did include the detail. Details helped move the story along and let us relate to the people/characters. She included a few travel troubles but instead of allowing the reader to find humor in them she made her dilemmas into catastrophies. In a similar book, Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams, he is looking for nearly extinct animals. That book was much more enjoyable because he was able to include humor. His book also included photographs. Often Maxwell would attempt to describe a complex plant and a photo would have been useful. She tried to include every detail of her trip, which made it boring. If she could have focused more on a few major events the book would have flowed better. Some chapters were extremely dull.

I liked how this non-fiction story included character evolution. Maxwell started out almost naïve about the Amazon and ended up far wiser. If she had done more research it would have cut out half of the story, which was made up of her messing around. Throughout the book Maxwell insults the indigenous people many times. At one point she states that, the Indian is the 'best looking male animal she has seen.' She is also surprised that the Indians are not savages. I hope her stereotypes can be attributed to the fact that she set out on her journey in 1958. She seems to think she is better than the people instead of treating them as equals. If she had valued the information they gave her, perhaps she would have had a more successful journey.

In my own writing I would like to use better imagery. She was able to describe things I've never seen before exceptionally well. I learned from her how difficult it could be to write a personal narrative. There are always ways to improve and she definitely had some improvements to make. The language she used made the time period clear and also showed how inexperienced the people were. This book was interesting but it was an un-enjoyable slow read.

This was a great read for me back in '94 when it was presented as a gift and I have often recommended it. Nicole shares her life story when she is in her 80s. One needs to keep in mind the prevalence of ethnocentricity of our society back in the 50's and 60's. And to her credit she tells the WHOLE story, including all her fumbling bumblings of an imperfect human. As one who has ventured a little into the Bolivian and Belizian jungle her misadventures are only to be expected and provide great humor and reading. An example of her humor is while she is deep in the amazon jungle she relates that she wasn't all that concerned because what self respecting warrior would want a meazly female head for a trophy. Nicole was way ahead of her time in two areas: collecting ethnobotanical information and plants, and fighting multinational corporations in the pharmaceutical industry by bringing information directly to the people. I wonder if anyone has ever discovered what that one plant was that given one tbsp a woman was sterile until given a tbsp of another plant and she was fertile again! One may only be able to realize what an adventuresome and hardy soul she is, if you have taken steps into the amazon jungle yourself.

Before reading this book, I knew nothing about the Amazon and wasn't that interested. Now, even though it's been half a year since I finished the book, I find myself thinking about Moi, Enquiri, Judith, and the rest. Joe Kane also did a good job explaining the very complicated situation with the oil companies. I was inspired to hit the library for more books on the Amazon and the people there. It's also inspired me to check in with Rainforest Action Network and write a few letters. One of my favorite books ever.

I first read this book about two years ago and have since given copies as gifts to friends and have passed my own copy about to many colleagues. I work in the oil industry and I believe that this book is a MUST READ for all foreign workers in the Amazon region. My field of work involves protecting the interests of the local people and the health of the environment and I can assure the previous reviewer that while the oil companies have much to answer for historically that there is a small army of us working on the inside and who have found Savages to be one of the best books around. Joe Kane writes in journalistic style presenting events as they unfolded and he sheds light on several issues relating to foreign activity in developing countries that are seldom thought about by those who participate in the "invasion". Mr Kane's writing had me in fits of laughter at times and at other times I was in tears. By the end of the book I felt that I almost knew the people whose lives were discussed and I certainly closed the cover with a new understanding and questions that I had not asked myself before. Anyone contemplating a trip to the jungle of Ecuador, or other Amazonian nation, should make a point of reading this book. It is factual, interesting and tells a real life drama that describes the beginning of what will probably be the final days of the isolated people of the Amazon. It will be up to you as the reader to form an opinion on the situation as Kane doesn't do it for you. He does however raise the interesting question that may not be answered easily - what rights do isolated people have to remain isolated and completely unaffected by the development of the world? Read Savages for yourself and see if you can answer that question.

In Savages, Kane conveys the dire importance of understanding and respecting the traditional practices of the Huaorani Indians of Ecuador. Kane examines through personal experience their struggle to maintain identity, land, and dignity in the face of oil companies, missionaries, and economic progress. The author demonstrates journalistic reporting at its very best and assures the reader a sincere and responsible account of the matters at hand. This book should be read by anyone interested in the future of humankind

A rambler with historical overtones, The Spirit Woman is set on a Wyoming Indian reservation peopled with vaguely familiar and rather sedate characters that leave a reader wondering whose cookie cutter Margaret Coel borrowed to cut them out. No genuine surprises in plot or character come to the reader's rescue to convince you these are real people with real problems. The book has the feel of a formula mystery, just well crafted enough to be mildly entertaining, yet hindered by the writer's unwillingness to get off the fence and pull out all the punches. The plot is a little too respectable, plodding through correct mental, social and historical territory as if the author is afraid to offend. You'll find no flamboyant, action driven main characters like Stephanie Plum or Kinsey Millhone here. Main characters Father O'Mally, a recovering alcoholic, and Vicky Holden, a divorced Arapahoe lawyer, are likeable enough, but come across as humorless and powerless. Their progress through the book is chiefly emotion driven and interesting at times. But the characters lack the necessary appeal of flesh and blood people and the plot has few twists or unpredictable events that could have elevated this novel into a superior read. The book's strong point is the setting, the landscape and weather managing to steal the show. Reminiscent in the style and pace of an English cozy mystery that's been transplanted to the modern American west, it should be a moderately satisfying read for Tony Hillerman and Agatha Christie buffs alike. But fans of fast paced suspense by the likes of Sue Grafton, Janet Evanovich and Elmore Leonard may find The Spirit Woman tedious at best. Good enough for a Rainy Day, but if it falls out of your beach bag you probably won't mourn the loss.

A rambler with historical overtones, The Spirit Woman is set on a Colorado Indian reservation peopled with vaguely familiar and rather sedate characters that leave a reader wondering whose cookie cutter Margaret Coel borrowed to cut them out. No genuine surprises in plot or character come to the reader's rescue to convince you these are real people with real problems. The book has the feel of a formula mystery, just well crafted enough to be mildly entertaining, yet hindered by the writer's unwillingness to get off the fence and pull out all the punches. The plot is a little too respectable, plodding through correct mental, social and historical territory as if the author is afraid to offend. You'll find no flamboyant, action driven main characters like Stephanie Plum or Kinsey Millhone here. Main characters Father O'Mally, a recovering alcoholic, and Vicky Holden, a divorced Arapahoe lawyer, are likeable enough, but come across as humorless and powerless. Their progress through the book is chiefly emotion driven and interesting at times. But the characters lack the necessary appeal of flesh and blood people and the plot has few twists or unpredictable events that could have elevated this novel into a superior read. The book's strong point is the setting, the Colorado landscape and weather managing to steal the show. Reminiscent in the style and pace of an English cozy mystery that's been transplanted to the modern American west, it should be a moderately satisfying read for Tony Hillerman and Agatha Christie buffs alike. But fans of fast paced suspense by the likes of Sue Grafton, Janet Evanovich and Elmore Leonard may find The Spirit Woman tedious at best. Good enough for a Rainy Day, but if it falls out of your beach bag you probably won't mourn the loss.

Vicky Holden is a woman you can identify with. She becomes like a good friend you watch struggling with personal as well as career issues. Be sure to add this to your collection.

I first read this beautifully crafted work in 1977. Shortly thereafter I had the great pleasure to meet Tobias in Northern California where he presented a slide lecture on his life among the Asmat of New Guinea. There is no question in my mind that Keep the River on Your Right is a work of non fiction. It is an astonishing journal as brutally honest as any I've ever read. It deserves to be in the pantheon with Beaudelaire (Intimate Journals), and Broughton (The Androgyne Journal). I've just reread this timeless work after 23 years after having recently seen the documentary on Tobias' life which no doubt will bring a new generation of readers to this elegantly written masterpiece.

Hawilson's comments (below) reflect a very limited mind. I know Toby Schneebaum, and have no doubt in my mind that this book is, indeed, non-fiction. Schneebaum is in every way a remarkable man. The reader should celebrate the world depicted in this book, not feel threatened by it, thereby dismissing it, as hawilson has done.

Managed to see advance press screener of the new documentary based on Tobias Schneebaum's life called Keep the River On Your Right: A Modern Cannibal Tale - the film was so mesmerizing and Mr. Schneebaum so articulate and intriguing I immediately ordered the original memoir by Schneebaum and read it in one sitting. An important "lost" book from the Sixties thank god restored to it's original importance.

This mystery novel has two interesting features: its spacious settings in Colorado and Wyoming, and its detective team of an American Indian woman and a Catholic priest. Both these lead characters are sympathetic. Indian legends and a secret revealed in the confessional play parts in this story, which is competently told. On the down side, the scheme that drives the murders is not particularly original. The fortuitous intervention of a male friend saves the female sleuth from violence, a much overused convention. It would have been more interesting to read about how a plucky woman outsmarted the bad guys.

Author Margaret Coel launches "The Thunder Keeper," seventh in the line of a classic mystery series set on the Arapaho's Wind River reservation, with the classic hook of a man alone high on a ledge who soon plummets to his death. The police learn the dead man has been on an Arapaho spirit quest and label the death a suicide. But, a few pages later, a mysterious stranger confesses to a priest that soon more people will be murdered.

Coel's stories feature two amateur sleuths: St. Francis Mission Priest, Father John O'Malley, (history scholar and recovering alcoholic,) who has been exiled to the Arapaho reservation mission in Wyoming, and Vicky Holden, an Arapaho attorney who carries the baggage of a mean ex-husband, sometimes unhappy son (and a reciprocated inappropriate attraction for Father O'Malley.)

Father O'Malley knows he is bound by his vows to keep the confession secret. He decides to investigate the death of the man on a spirit quest himself.

Meanwhile, attorney Vicky Holden witnesses the horrific hit-and-run slaughter of Vince Lewis, a man who had valuable information he was about to tell her in reference to an urgent matter regarding the Wind River Reservation. Are the two deaths connected? If so, what ties them together? What is the secret worth killing for on Arapaho land?

The freshness of Coel's writing, the voice and clarity of the story, as well as her love and passion for the West shine in phrases like these: "The mountains rose jagged and blue in the orange-tinged dusk. Northwest, where the mountains dropped into a gully that allowed the sky to flow through, was Bear Lake," and "The thunder sounded like tanks rumbling through the sky. Lightning turned the air white and sent a charge through the earth that he could feel reverberating inside him....when the lightning flashed again he saw the petroglyph shining on the cliff above-human looking, eyes all-seeing, hands raised in benediction. He was not alone. The spirits were here, the messengers of the Creator."

Coel's skill crafting this series is a pleasure to watch. Read "The Thunder Keeper" for pure enjoyment.

Vicky Holden loves the land of the Arapahos, the Wind River Reservation in central Wyoming, but she still leaves her home to take a job in Denver. The attorney needs to get away from the Jesuit priest Father O'Malley because they both have feelings for one other that are inappropriate. She also has to get away from her ex-husband, who wants to reconcile, but he keeps falling off the wagon and he is a mean drunk.

In Denver, Vicky currently works on a mineral rights case on behalf of the Navaho Nation. However, she receives a call from Vince Lewis, a vice president of Balder Industries, famous for their diamond minding operations. He tells her that he has information she needs to know involving the Wind River Reservation, but before they meet a hit and run driver kills Vince.

Back on the reservation, Father John hears the confession of a man who says his partner killed a man in a place sacred to the Arapaho. The police rule the man's death a suicide but Father John knows somebody killed him and there will be more deaths if the person isn't stopped. Vicky and Father John are coming at the same problem from different angles, both of them putting their lives in jeopardy.

Fans of Aimee and David Thurlo and Tony Hillerman will definitely enjoy this fast paced mystery starring two likable, believable and colorful protagonists. The heroine is a role model for women everywhere and the hero not only understands the underlying concepts of justice, he abides by them in his life. THE THUNDER KEEPER by Margaret Coel is a definite keeper.

Harriet Klausner

One would think that a book that continuously refers to geographic features and locations, archaic place names, native villages and encampments, and river miles above the mouths of the Columbia and Willamette rivers would include a map. Not so with this book. I found it extremely frustrating that this book did not include even one useful map. This would seem to be a monumental oversight by the author or editors, since it significantly detracts from the clarity and accessibility of the subject matter. I finally attempted to annotate several USGS quad maps so that I could get my bearings (This made it somewhat difficult to read the book on the bus or the train). I grew up in the area Rubin writes about, and even so, I definitely could have used a map. Were the publishers trying to save money? Save yours, and check the book out from the library if you are interested (luckily, that's what I did). Oh, and get a good map while you're at it.

Rick Rubin's NAKED AGAINST THE RAIN: THE PEOPLE OF THE LOWER COLUMBIA, 1770-1830, is a fascinating look at the last days of the many tribes which populated the lower Columbia river. The collision of culture and disease, brought to the tribes by the "floats ashore", whites, began the demise of these remarkable people and their unique way of life. Daily life is beautifully portrayed by Rubin as he details the people and their relationship with the land they occupied for many thousands of years. Surviving people are to be found on the reservations of the Grand Ronde, Warm Springs and Siuslaw. Many languages and many tribes share the language that has come to be known as Chinook Jargon; a language developed to accomodate trade amongst the people of various tribes. Rubin has done a magnificent job of chronicaling the lifestyle of these fascinating people. Diet, clothing, cultural norms and daily life are detailed in this very fine synthesis of what is known about the people of the Columbia and what is conjectured. Rubin has honorably brought to life a people who are intelligent, humorous and enormously resourcful. This is an excellent book, written in a manner that is accessible to all. I highly recommend Mr. Rubin's very fine book.

This book is an excellent introduction to the Amazon's tortured past and offers some insight into the region's prospects. What really sets it apart are the illustrations, many from early manuscripts. Reproduced woodcuts and watercolors give the reader a genuine feel for how the conquistadors and early explorers perceived the Amazon's people and wildlife. The book progresses logically, from initial forays looking for El Dorado and cinnamon forests to the explorer-scientists, in a sweeping historical vista. Gheerbrant's account of the rubber boom is especially poignant, and the reader becomes utterly outraged at the shamelessly inhumane treatment of local tribes by greedy industrialists. The book's reproduced photographs from this era drive home the untrammeled brutality of the rubber barons in their urge to acquire riches at any cost to the indigenous people. The author's observations of the Amazon's current status (the "Present") seem somewhat outdated, as the area is changing fast and there is not much on conservation efforts or scientific research (although other books cater). The "Documents" section added as a sort of appendix offer some interesting facts, but seem collected together on a rather ad-hoc basis. However, the chronology and bibliography are commendable. Generally well-written, in places the text seems a bit convoluted and may frustrate readers used to a snappier style. Perhaps something happened in the translation. In summary, I recommend this book for its illustrations, and overall historical perspective.

This book is nearly 35 years old, but it lacks the stereotypes and disrespectful attitude towards native peoples that characterizes much ethnic fiction of the time. I'm happy to have it in my fifth grade classroom. This is a good companion book to go with Julie of the Wolves.

It can be such a battle to get a junior high or high school student to write a book report. I've found that if you help the student to choose a book that is interesting enough to keep him drawn in until the end of the story, the job is much easier. "Captured by Indians: The Life of Mary Jemison" is a fabulous example of the many, many enjoyable--and suitable--books that are available to the young reader. History is full of fascinating stories, and our own country's history provides so many stories worth reading. That Mary Jemison was a real person and not just a character created by a writer makes this book an even easier "sell" to the student. It should be emphasized that Karen Zeinert's edition of the transcript of Mary Jemison's life story, which she told in 1823, has many excellent features. For example, Zeinert includes an extremely helpful timeline incorporating the major events of Mary's life with major historical events (dates treaties were signed, etc.), which enhances the reader's understanding of the time period. Also included are hand-drawn maps, a few photographs, several (period) hand-drawn portraits of people who are part of the story. A very helpful glossary of terms appears at the end of the book--another item most useful to today's young readers. Note to teachers and/or parents: Zeinert has carefully edited out the sensationalism that was very much a part of the original work, and she points out in the "Background" section that author James Seaver was hired in 1823 to interview Mary Jemison in order to produce a "captive story"--a popular genre of the period--and that captive stories were often used as propaganda against the Native Americans, who were normally portrayed as savages in such works. Finally, a personal note: I found it utterly fascinating that in 1823 Mary Jemison made a most prophetic statement: "He (her son John) fell victim to the use of liquor, a poison that will soon exterminate the Indian tribes in this part of the country." Although she couldn't read or write, Mary Jemison was an intelligent, strong, and very brave woman. Her story is one that is worth reading. She shouldn't be an obscure figure in American history. She should be more widely known. Recommend this book to the young people around you!

-
-
-
This is not a nature book!

Please note that for all intents and purposes there is not a single nature photograph in this entire collection!
There are only two and with little photographic value.
One on the first page and one on the last page.

There is not one picture of either animal, insect or plant.

As a photographer myself, I consider the pictures ok but not great(the people who live along the Amazon). Not worth the effort and expense of a journey along the great Amazon for such meagre photography.

And as I recall there are no photgraphs of any indeginous peoples
along the Amazon either(very dissapointing).

This is also an old book and the photographic print quality is not comparable to what might be published today.

I showed this book to one of my photography instructors at the college I attend and we discussed how wonderful the use of color and composition is in Alex Webb's photography. He is an extremely insightful photographer. Many of the photos are so skillfully composed that they are almost like two or three photographs in one. This book is filled with "decisive moments" - similiar to Cartier-Bresson's approach to photography - but in beautiful color.

I'll never look at color photography in the same way after having seen Mr. Webb's work. I learned things from this book. And I am proud to own it.

Mr. Webb's images reflect a sensitive photographer, a thinking photographer with a great eye. His graphic approach to documentary photography adds a wonderful artistic quality to the images.

The images bring me to the Amazon, the real Amazon with its beauty, danger, ugliness, etc.-- not the romanticized Amazon of just beautiful sceneries.