Empty Hands, Open Arms
The Race to Save Bonobos in the Congo and Make Conservation Go Viral
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
“Absorbing . . . Béchard’s masterful, adventure-driven reporting delivers an inspiring account of an all-too-rare ecological success story.” —Booklist
Bonobos have captured the public imagination, due not least to their famously active sex lives. Less well known is the fact that these great apes don’t kill their own kind, and that they share nearly 99% of our DNA. Their approach to building peaceful coalitions and sharing resources has much to teach us, particularly at a time when our violent ways have pushed them to the brink of extinction.
Animated by a desire to understand bonobos and learn how to save them, Deni Ellis Béchard traveled into the Congo. Empty Hands, Open Arms is the account of this journey. Along the way, we see how partnerships between Congolese and Westerners, with few resources but a common purpose and respect for indigenous knowledge, have resulted in the protection of vast swaths of the rainforest. And we discover how small solutions—found through openness, humility, and the principle that poverty does not equal ignorance—are often most effective in tackling our biggest challenges. Combining elements of travelogue, journalism, and natural history, this incomparably rich book takes the reader not only deep into the Congo, but also into our past and future, revealing new ways to save the environment and ourselves.
“Riveting [and] surprisingly uplifting.” —David Suzuki, author of The Sacred Balance
“The embodiment of the type of reporting that we dream of reading, but all too rarely encounter—intelligent, engaged, and above all, astonishingly perceptive.” —Dinaw Mengestu, author of The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears
Also published as Of Bonobos and Men.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Through a series of interviews and travelogues, novelist and memoirist B chard (Cures for Hunger) recounts his efforts, alongside Bonobo Conservation Initiative (BCI) president Sally Jewell Cox, to save the nearly extinct bonobo chimpanzee. Since the Congolese have a complicated relationship with both the bonobos and the rainforest, BCI takes a "grassroots" approach, working with existing institutions to effect change. Strategies include laying the groundwork for ecotourism, which could boost both the bonobo population and the Congolese economy. Despite the author's good intentions, the narrative becomes diffuse as he tries to tackle the Congo's history, and the complex political and economic factors involved in global warming and the destruction of the rainforest. B chard is at his best when sharing his own insights; he makes his most salient points when describing his firsthand experience among the Congolese, narrating his travels through Djolu and Kokolopori by motorcycle and canoe.
