The Third Bank of the River
Power and Survival in the Twenty-First-Century Amazon
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4.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A sweeping look at the war over the Amazon—as activists,locals, and indigenous tribes struggle to save it from the threat of loggers, drug lords, and corrupt cops and politicians
Following doctors and detectives, environmental activists and indigenous tribes, The Third Bank of the River traces the history of the Amazon from the arrival of the first Spanish flotilla to the drones that are now mapping unexplored parts of the forest. Grounded in rigorous firsthand reporting and in-depth research, Chris Feliciano Arnold reveals a portrait of Brazil and the Amazon that is complex, bloody, and often tragic.
During the 2014 World Cup, an isolated Amazon tribe emerged from the rain forest on the misty border of Peru and Brazil, escaping massacre at the hands of loggers who wanted their land. A year later, in the jungle capital of Manaus, a bloody weekend of reprisal killings inflame a drug war that has blurred the line between cops and kingpins. Both events reveal the dual struggles of those living in and around the world’s largest river. As indigenous tribes lose their ancestral culture and territory to the lure and threat of the outside world, the question arises of how best to save isolated tribes: Keep them away from the modern world or make contact in an effort to save them from extinction? As Brazil looks to be a world leader in the twenty-first century, this magnificent and vast region is mired in chaos and violence that echoes the atrocities that have haunted the rain forest since Europeans first traveled its waters.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Arnold draws on his extensive reporting in the Brazilian Amazon and joins it with history, memoir, and travel writing in this well-crafted debut. The book starts with Arnold's recollection of covering the 2014 FIFA World Cup matches in Manaus, a city in the Amazon rainforest, and closes as the torch relay passes through Manaus ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics. In between, Arnold provides snapshots of major news stories in the Amazon region: the emergence of an isolated indigenous tribe beset first by drug traffickers and then disease; a war between organized crime and rogue cops; and the aftereffects of a huge hydroelectric dam project. Arnold also includes contextual history (the original colonization by the Spanish and Portuguese, the atrocities of the rubber trade) and his own personal story of returning to Brazil, his birthplace, at 25 after being adopted as a child and raised in the U.S. Arnold handles all of the narrative strands expertly and shows a keen eye for detail ("A middle-aged woman with bottle-blonde hair, she entertained a few questions as she counted up the wrinkled bills in her cash register"). The reader leaves with a newfound understanding of the diversity, complexity, and corruption to be found in the modern Amazon.
Customer Reviews
FANTASTIC! Informative, smooth read. LOVED IT!!
GREAT READ! I learned lots about the cultural dynamics and sociology of the Brazilian Amazon. I appreciate his objective approach in fact finding and reporting. His experiences connecting to his birth country and mother are an extra touch. I loved it and HIGHLY recommend it!
The Third Bank of the River
An eye opening perspective of life in the Amazon, government corruption, mining & oil interest running over the indigenous people.
Best book on the Amazon in the past decade, one of the best narrative non-fiction books of the year
Chris Arnold lays out the politics, sociology, culture and economy of the Brazilian Amazon in an exciting, detailed and easy to read narrative. His treatment of difficult social and political issues is refreshingly evenhanded. His personal homecoming story to his country of birth is compelling and heartfelt. This is a must-read for anyone interested in Brazil or the Amazon.