Tree of Rivers: The Story of the Amazon

Tree of Rivers: The Story of the Amazon

Title: Tree of Rivers: The Story of the Amazon
Author: John Hemming
Release: 2009-11-30
Kind: ebook
Genre: Nature, Books, Science & Nature
Size: 16756526
“In his long career of exploration and scholarship, Hemming has become a powerful advocate for the Amazon.”—The New York Times, John Hemming
Amazonia is one of the most magnificent habitats on earth. Containing the world’s largest river, with more water and a broader basin than any other, it hosts a great expanse of tropical rain forest, home to the planet’s most luxuriant biological diversity.

The human beings who settled in the region 10,000 years ago learned to live well with its bounty of fish, game, and vegetation. It was not until 1500 that Europeans first saw the Amazon, and, unsurprisingly, the rain forest’s unique environment has attracted larger-than-life personalities through the centuries. John Hemming recalls the adventures and misadventures of intrepid explorers, fervent Jesuit ecclesiastics, and greedy rubber barons who enslaved thousands of Indians in the relentless quest for profit. He also tells of nineteenth-century botanists, fearless advocates for Indian rights, and the archaeologists and anthropologists who have uncovered the secrets of the Amazon’s earliest settlers.

Hemming discusses the current threat to Amazonia as forests are destroyed to feed the world’s appetite for timber, beef, and soybeans, and he vividly describes the passionate struggles taking place in order to utilize, protect, and understand the Amazon.

More Books from John Hemming

Mark Plotkin, Iain Martin, Claire Lehmann, Brendan O'Neill, M. Antoni J. Ucerler, Janne Haaland Matlary, Nathan Shachar, Suzana Herculano-Houzel, Erica Benner, Peter Burke, Richard Miles, Jessica Frazier, John Hemming, Nicholas Carr, Mariano Sigman, Peter Frankopan, Martin Ingvar, Christopher Coker, Michael Goodman, Elisabeth Kendall, Gill Bennett, David Goodhart, Simon Mayall, Fraser Nelson, Maria Borelius, Adrian Wooldridge, Andrew Keen & Mark Pagel
Jessica Frazier, Erica Benner, Iain Martin, Claire Lehmann, Brendan O'Neill, Michael Goodman, Janne Haaland Matlary, Mariano Sigman, Martin Ingvar, Richard Miles, John Hemming, Nathan Shachar, Gill Bennett, Mark Plotkin, Simon Mayall, Elisabeth Kendall, Maria Borelius, David Goodhart, Andrew Keen, Fraser Nelson, Nicholas Carr, Adrian Wooldridge, Peter Frankopan, M. Antoni J. Ucerler, Peter Burke, Christopher Coker, Suzana Herculano-Houzel & Mark Pagel