Amazonia in the Anthropocene

"A provocative read. Densely packed, this richly constructed, engaging ethnography explores biodiversity, human adaptation, risk, vulnerability, and resilience in the immensely complex and rapidly changing realm that is the Amazon. Writing in an effective, reflexive style, Nicholas Kawa offers the reader a nuanced, deeply supported, and multifaceted view of Amazonian life in times that are truly momentous. This is, simply, an insightful, beautiful gem of a book." ~Barbara Rose Johnston, Center for Political Ecology Senior Research Fellow and principal author of Who Pays the Price?: The Sociocultural Context of Environmental Crisis

"I didn’t realize such a recent coinage as ‘anthropocene’ is already in desperate need of revision. Kawa provides that in his intriguing account of soils, forests, and rivers. These stories sparkle with analytic insight and unfold through vivid ethnographic details that cumulatively challenge the centrality of the West in the narrative of how the world is changing. This book will change our thinking about the planet." ~John Hartigan, University of Texas at Austin, author of Aesop’s Anthropology: A Multispecies Approach