- Paperback: 378 pages
- Publisher: New American Library; First Plume Printing edition (24 Sep 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0452276101
- ISBN-13: 978-0452276109
- Product Dimensions: 14.2 x 2.2 x 20.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,431,251 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
In 1987, documentary filmmaker Geoffrey O'Connor read a four-line report about a gold rush taking place on Indian lands deep in the heart of the Brazilian rain forest. Suddenly his work - and his life - took a sharp turn south. The more he researched the story, the more unbelievable it became: one billion dollars' worth of gold was leaving the Amazon every year. O'Connor set out to capture on video what he believed would be a sadly predictable tale of victims - the Yanomami Indians - and aggressors - a virtual army of 45,000 gold miners. However, this "simple story" proved to be something far more ambiguous and complex. Peopled by real-life characters ranging from an eccentric mine owner toting a solid-gold pistol to a renegade priest who smuggled O'Connor into Yanomami territory against military orders, O'Connor's startling narrative becomes 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.
From the Author
Do you want to know why I decided to write this book?
In the late 1980's the Brazilian rain forest became the big story of the day. We watched, it burned, a lot of people died and a few years later the region disappeared from the world's headlines. As a television journalist and documentarian there were many important stories I came across during this era which never saw the light of day. Those are the stories I have written about in Amazon Journal in an attempt to bring you, the reader, into this remote, fascinating and troubled region of the Earth.
In the late 1980's the Brazilian rain forest became the big story of the day. We watched, it burned, a lot of people died and a few years later the region disappeared from the world's headlines. As a television journalist and documentarian there were many important stories I came across during this era which never saw the light of day. Those are the stories I have written about in Amazon Journal in an attempt to bring you, the reader, into this remote, fascinating and troubled region of the Earth.
In writing this book I have taken a different approach from what I did in most of the films and news reports I made in the Amazon over a decade. Rather than try and hide behind the thin veil of journalistic objectivity, I have attempted to expose our media's cultural biases by being open and honest as to what I experienced both professionally and personally in this region. Like many journnalistic "hot spots"--Central America, China, South Africa--the story of what continues to take place in the Amazon has disappeared from much of the reporting of the mainstream television media. The world has now moved on to other concerns never pausing to consider what we could have learned from the complex events of that particular era. In writing Amazon Journal I encourage readers to think and not to forget, to look critically at a period that was an unprecedented era of contact between "our" world and some of the most isolated indigenous peoples remaining in the Western Hemisphere. This story is not just about disputes over precious resources but it is also about the vast differences between our cultures which result in tragic encounters between our two worlds. Many of the unfortunate incidents were simple misunderstandings. Some of them were even comic. But there were also brutal acts of character assassination, exploitation, murder and genocide as a result of the cultural barriers between our two worlds. These tradgedies could have been avoided if we--missionaries,gold miners, environmentalists and, yes, journalists--had simply stopped for a moment and reflected on the lessons of history that have taken place since Columbus first stepped onto the shores of this Hemisphere over five centuries ago. It is a complex story I have tried to tell. I hope you enjoy the journey.
Wishing you the very best,
Geoffrey O'Connor --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
As an American living in the southern Amazon basin, near the Xingu Indian Reserve, I unfortunately can attest to the truth in Mr. O'Conner's writings. He manages to give one a glimpse of what it is like to exist in this lawless, confusing frontier. To capture the flavor of this land of anarchy truly is difficult but the author does a superb job in transforming the vagueness of this bizarre and mystical frontier into words.
Mr. O'Conner, thank you for putting my thoughts into print. The grand Amazon is under serious attack and ,in my region especially, is being leveled at an exponential rate. Someone please do something.
Format:Hardcover
O'Connor's brilliance is that he combines a writing style that simply engages the reader with a the knowledge that he can't and doesn't know all that there is to know about his topic. He brings together several issues and introduces many intriguing characters (Rauni, Kenny Good, Davi, just to name a few). The combination of the political ineptitude of the Indian organizations and the skewed perception of the Religious affiliates in the Amazon create an overwhelming amount of obsticals for objective journalism. O'Connor reports what happens from the viewpoint of a jounalist that knows he is part of the problem. I have come into contact with Venezuelan Yanomama and have seen first hand the impact that contact has made. O'Connor's unbias journalism is a releif from all of the news specials, and talk-show trash that seems to abound with the "Save the Rainforest" campaign. Read this book if you want a true report of what is happening to the last remaining independent people in the world. The truth is that contact with "white" people has braught innumerable destruction to this once self-sufficient society and Geoffrey O'Connor is not affraid to tell that side of the story.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
11 of 14 people found the following review helpful
The author hits the nail on the head with no exaggeration.
8 April 1999
Format:Paperback
As an American living in the southern Amazon basin, near the Xingu Indian Reserve, I unfortunately can attest to the truth in Mr. O'Conner's writings. He manages to give one a glimpse of what it is like to exist in this lawless, confusing frontier. To capture the flavor of this land of anarchy truly is difficult but the author does a superb job in transforming the vagueness of this bizarre and mystical frontier into words.
Mr. O'Conner, thank you for putting my thoughts into print. The grand Amazon is under serious attack and ,in my region especially, is being leveled at an exponential rate. Someone please do something.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
What a great book!
14 Jan 1998
Format:Hardcover
O'Connor's brilliance is that he combines a writing style that simply engages the reader with a the knowledge that he can't and doesn't know all that there is to know about his topic. He brings together several issues and introduces many intriguing characters (Rauni, Kenny Good, Davi, just to name a few). The combination of the political ineptitude of the Indian organizations and the skewed perception of the Religious affiliates in the Amazon create an overwhelming amount of obsticals for objective journalism. O'Connor reports what happens from the viewpoint of a jounalist that knows he is part of the problem. I have come into contact with Venezuelan Yanomama and have seen first hand the impact that contact has made. O'Connor's unbias journalism is a releif from all of the news specials, and talk-show trash that seems to abound with the "Save the Rainforest" campaign. Read this book if you want a true report of what is happening to the last remaining independent people in the world. The truth is that contact with "white" people has braught innumerable destruction to this once self-sufficient society and Geoffrey O'Connor is not affraid to tell that side of the story.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
O'Connor Didn't Know When to Stop
23 Oct 2009
Format:Paperback
Amazon Journal is Geoffrey O'Connor's account of the movement to save the indigenous people (or Indians) of the Brazilian Amazon. Though I enjoyed the book, I thought that it was overly long and I was happy to come to the end.
The best parts of Amazon Journal read like a great adventure story. O'Connor met all sorts of desperadoes on one of the world's last frontiers. His stories of flights in and out of the Amazon and of the shady gold miners who prospected for gold on Indian land are interesting reading. O'Connor also gives a good account of how the Amazon issue attracted interest from celebrities, such as Sting.
I cannot rate this book any higher than three stars, however. The biggest problem is that, at 360 pages, the book was "more than I wanted to know" about the Amazon. Also, O'Connor makes his living as a filmmaker, not a writer; his narrative has a disjointed quality that makes the book laborious to follow. A final negative is that even though O'Connor goes into exhausting detail about his attempts to film during his visits to Brazil, the book contains not one photo (aside from the cover).
I'm glad that I read Amazon Journal, but I cannot give it a strong recommendation. It's heading to my local used bookstore.
The best parts of Amazon Journal read like a great adventure story. O'Connor met all sorts of desperadoes on one of the world's last frontiers. His stories of flights in and out of the Amazon and of the shady gold miners who prospected for gold on Indian land are interesting reading. O'Connor also gives a good account of how the Amazon issue attracted interest from celebrities, such as Sting.
I cannot rate this book any higher than three stars, however. The biggest problem is that, at 360 pages, the book was "more than I wanted to know" about the Amazon. Also, O'Connor makes his living as a filmmaker, not a writer; his narrative has a disjointed quality that makes the book laborious to follow. A final negative is that even though O'Connor goes into exhausting detail about his attempts to film during his visits to Brazil, the book contains not one photo (aside from the cover).
I'm glad that I read Amazon Journal, but I cannot give it a strong recommendation. It's heading to my local used bookstore.
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