A Land of Ghosts: The Braided Lives of People and the Forest in Far Western Amazonia

by David G. Campbell

The western Amazon is the last frontier, as wild a west as Earth has ever known. For thirty years David G. Campbell has been exploring this lush wilderness, which contains more species than ever existed anywhere at any time in the four-billion-year history of life on our planet.

With great artistic flair, Campbell takes us with him as he travels to the town of Cruzeiro do Sul, 2,800 miles from the mouth of the Amazon. Here he collects three old friends: Arito, a caiman hunter turned paleontologist; Tarzan, a street urchin brought up in a bordello; and Pimentel, a master canoe pilot. They travel together even farther into the rainforest, set up camp, and survey every living woody plant in a land so rich that an area of less than fifty acres contains three times as many tree species as all of North America.

Campbell knows the trees individually, has watched them grow from seedling to death. He also knows the people of the Amazon: the recently arrived colonists with their failing farms; the mixed-blood Caboclos, masters of hunting, fishing, and survival; and the refugee Native Americans. Campbell introduces us to two remarkable women, Dona Cabocla, a widow who raised six children on that lonely frontier, and Dona Ausira, A Nokini Native American who is the last speaker of her tribe's ages-old language. These people live in a land whose original inhabitants were wiped out by centuries of disease, slavery, and genocide, taking their traditions and languages with them -- a land of ghosts.

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction, Science, Memoir, College, History

288 pages, Hardcover

First published December 16, 2004

Reviews

[Mikey B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well written book on the Amazon rain forest basin detailing the ecological diversity found there, without resorting to copious botanical and zoological aspects (i.e. species naming). One comes to appreciate and be made aware of the vast diversity and incredible number of species that co-exist within even a small area of the rain forest. It is literally an orgy of reproduction and a struggle to obtain light. There are vast towers of insects mating. There are enormous numbers of plants, insects, birds and other animals co-existing 100 meters above ground level – where most of life exists in the rain forest. As David Campbell points out there is little life at land bottom – dead leaves are quickly consumed and the roots of tress lie close to the surface, the better to absorb the rain water.

All and all a great read and, sadly as the author suggests – how long will this diversity last?

[Haaze · Rating 5 out of 5]

Campbell's book is a blend of anthropology, biology and history as he explores one of the upper tributaries to the Amazon river. As a botanist he reflects back upon one of his expeditions collecting plants, but as a reader we also partake of the dramatic history and changes that have occurred in the region. It is a book that unravels complex connections in the midst of a multitude of lives. Campbell is very insightful and eloquently shares his experiences and wisdom of the region. It is a book that certainly opened my own eyes to its complexity. However, I found that his sections focusing on the organisms and ecology of the river and forest were the most powerful. The book holds much sorrow as we realize the fate of the forest. It is a beautiful and powerful book.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book contains the best, most evocative and beautiful descriptions of tropical rainforests and Amazonia I have ever come across and which I suspect I ever will. Campbell is an insanely good writer, I noticed that other reviews here complain of the books lack of plot structure and liberal use of Brazilian Portuguese vocabulary but I don;t think they understand this kind of writing.

I have visited the Amazon myself (in Ecuador) and written a lot the same kind of writing, so I'm familiar with the challenges the author faces here. What he is doing with this book is describing the world he is travelling through there while simultaneously teaching the reader about it in different ways: earth systems science (describing in detail how Amazonia generates its own rainfall), animal anatomy (talking about "a certain taxonomy of eye shinings" and tapetums in the chapter "River of Terns" as well as ecology, botany, cell structure, nutrient cycling etc etc. It's very comprehensive but he writes so well that it's fascinating and easy to remember.

This approach presents a difficult balancing act and doesn't leave a whole lot of room for a detailed plot compared to what people are used to, however and that's not actually all that important. "Jungle" by Yhossi Ghinsberg is a good example of a book about these same forests that is more about the personal journey and plot. Reading this book is a wonderful way to learn more about this beautiful place and it's as much the story of this incomparably vast landscape as of the author's own journey, more so in fact.

Speaking as someone entering a career in tropical rainforest conservation and finance,I learnt a huge amount from reading this book on many different levels, the science and grasp of academic knowledge is at an extremely high level but so is the artistic and enjoyable nature of his writing itself. Campbell clearly has that "intellectual/intuitive, masculine/feminine" balance to his psyche and his implicit sense of deep emotional connection and love both of these forests and their now mostly smashed and dying indigenous peoples and cultures comes through very strongly and is deeply moving at certain points. The story of the individuals he spent time with at the Katukina indian settlements on the Transamazonica in Acre is as memorable as it is poignant and haunting. It's a story, it teaches you about the forest but also about the threats it faces and why we need to protect it on many different levels.

It's also as much a story of the people of this region as of the forest itself and they are in fact inseparable and the book teaches you this indirectly. No text is perfect but if you know these rainforests,if you have a formal scientific education in biology and or/geography at a university level, or know what he's talking about then I think you will love this book. If you are just starting out and want to do or be able to do all these things in the near future as I did not that long ago, you may not appreciate it as much because this guy is an artist and scientist of the rainforest at an extremely high level and without some existing background knowledge, some aspects of the book will be lost on you and may seem unconventional and perhaps frustrating.

As books on Rainforests go however, it is in a league that very few others can even approach. An emerald!

[Alex Falconer · Rating 2 out of 5]

At chapter three of eleven, I'm debating whether or not to continue with this book. The author claims that "botflies have been clocked flying several hundred kilometres an hour, perhaps the fastest of any animal on earth. In the blink of an eye, a female botfly can dart into a japiim nest, lay her microscopic egg on a chick, and escape before the parent notices anything". When I read this, I was astonished. Several hundred kilometres an hour?? And then the speeding fly must decelerate to zero to lay her egg on a chick. The fly must have extraordinary anatomy to do this, I thought. Well, a quick google search cast doubt on the author's claim. I'm not saying such doubt disproves the claim, but it does make me skeptical. Plus, there is no obvious reference in the book's bibliography to support the claim. For a writer who claims to be a scientist, this is disappointing. He also claims, in chapter four, that the black caiman can grow to eight metres in length. Another astonishing claim, apparently not backed by evidence. Reportedly, even black caimans of six-metre length have not been verified.

[Jonathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

David G. Campbell, a scientist, talks about his trip trough the Amazon. His theme is that it is disappearing, and much of the book is him giving discriptions of seeing some kind of plant or some kind of animal. The book didn't seem to have much plot at all, and I was not a huge fan of it. If you don't speak Portuguese, then you will need to get some major usage out of the glossary in the back of the book.

[Peter Corrigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got this from the library on a mostly random search of the stacks but now wish I owned a copy. Amazing might not be the right word for 'River of Ghosts' but it is a work that certainly approximates that at times. Written in 2005 'River of Ghosts' is a summary of scientific expeditions in the far western Amazon basin (the Rio Juruá and tributaries) in the early 2000s with the goal of producing highly detailed botanical surveys of narrow transects of Amazon forest (Campbell is a biology professor at Grinnell College). The book is much more however, a blend of anthropology, sociology, botany, biology, hydrology, history and travelogue. I have read several excellent books on the Amazon including John Hemming's brilliant 'Tree of Rivers' and 'Red Gold' his account of the destruction of the Brazilian Indians. But David Campbell's book belongs on any short list of outstanding English volumes on the Amazon.

His writing is highly descriptive (and I mean highly) and almost dazzling at times as he describes the flora and fauna, the sights, sounds and smells and the incessant dance, or better yet war for survival among the denizens of the Amazonian rain forest. As another reviewer said: 'This book contains the best, most evocative and beautiful descriptions of tropical rainforests and Amazonia I have ever come across and which I suspect I ever will'. I have to agree, the prose and wonder it evokes is at times almost sublime.

I have never been to the Amazon and honestly not sure I would dare. The descriptions of the myriad swarming, biting, burrowing (under your skin) insects are sort of terrifying and the caimans pretty scary too. But the snakes are anything but sort of scary. He tells numerous stories during breaks in the forest 'wonderland' narrative. The snake stories are among the most memorable. Spoiler warning: The story of the woman (Dona Cabocla) whose husband was bit on the finger by a 'baby' (15 cm) Surucucú pico de jaca (aka Fe-de-lance) and the ensuing 90 minutes until his death by hemorrhage from every orifice in his body was um, well unforgettable. Later Dona Cabocla tells you how to catch a pico de jaca snake--lure him into an enclosure with narrow slats (3-4 cm) that a snake can wriggle through. Keep a live chicken for dinner inside but make the slats too narrow for a snake with an entire chicken in his gullet to escape through, then chop his head off in the morning with a machete while he is sleeping beneath the acai fronds you have so thoughtfully placed for him to sleep under since he is stuck! Sounds like fun (?!) and I assume you still have to move the fronds aside and not miss with your machete. Yikes.

But in all seriousness this book is something of a love letter and a plea for a place under unrelenting pressure from humanity. You can't read any book about the Amazon without becoming aware of the issues: widespread deforestation, slash and burn agriculture that leaves impoverished soils in its wake, increasingly erratic rainfall patterns, etc. And the indigenous populations? Well they are and have been in full retreat for many decades, many tribes exist only on paper. Entire books have been written on the subject but useful answers are elusive, the march of modernity seems inexorable. Thus the title, 'A Land of Ghosts', the disappearing tribal peoples of this entire region. The primary denizens of the western Amazon are what he calls 'Caboclos', mixed race persons of European, African and perhaps Middle Eastern or Indian descent. These are the people of Brazil for the most part but are often caught between the forces that seek to preserve the dwindling indigenous populations and their own imperative to make a living. It is an incredibly difficult life for many as he chronicles. The frequent veering among the many subjects is somewhat to the detriment of a cohesive overall product. Hence I went with 4.5 stars overall but rounded down.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 3 out of 5]

As is often the case, this book would have been way better with a different author.  There are certainly some compelling stories on offer in this book, but the intrusive nature of the author's unwelcome perspective makes this book less enjoyable to read than it otherwise would have been.  There are truly a great many interesting stories in a small city, and in the wisdom of allowing survival skills to show the way that cities and towns can endure in harsh and unforgiving territories, but the author does not do a good job at making this story appealing, especially when he begins with a rather laughable discussion of evolution.  Still, as most of this book talks about some people in the Amazon region and their struggle for survival in a harsh climate where logistics and transportation are immensely challenging, all for the sake of the counting of trees and the search for the number of trees that the area has for a biological census, this book is at least generally enjoyable even if the author is the weakest link in the entire exercise.

This book is about 200 pages and it is divided into eleven chapters.  There are several threads that are woven through the book and some of them are worthwhile and enjoyable and some of them are not.  The author himself is a scientist who is seeking to understand the plants (especially the trees) in a remote part of Brazil that once belonged to Bolivia before Brazilian aggression stole it.  There are also a great many interactions that the scientist has with locals, some of whom have good forest sense and survive, and some who die because of their lack of such savvy.   There is a discussion of Amazonia's fragile transportation network and the failure of roads to provide an alternative to rare and dangerous flights and lengthy boat trips.  There is a discussion of the ecology of the region, which is less interesting than it could have been because of the author's bloviating about various matters.  At its best, though, this book discusses the struggle of people in an unforgiving and remote wilderness, and that thread takes up a good portion of the book, thankfully.

If you check out this book, you will enjoy it a lot more if you care about trees, have an interest in the Amazon (and other rain forests) and/or have an interest in Brazilian culture and history.  The author has a lot to say about these subjects and by far the most compelling and interesting aspects of the book are in the stories.  In some ways that storytelling comes from the author's need to pad out the book a little, since the account of his own efforts at conducting a tree census in a remote region is only three weeks long and admittedly not that interesting of material.  But a tree census that leads to flashbacks of the author's previous time spent in Brazil, as well as some of the people he knows there and their lives and pasts, that is something that is worth reading for at least some people.  Admittedly, I happen to be one of those people, but I wonder if the author realizes that this book would have been more interesting with even less of him than the book provides.  Sometimes a writer of a book, and that is the case here, is of the mistaken impression that they are interesting enough to carry the book rather than simply to convey what others truly want to see.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book deserves a lot more attention, a beautiful lyrical work from a passionate biologist who clearly loved every aspect of the environment he lived and worked in. Accounts of the Amazon are not difficult to find, but one from an extremely knowledgeable scientist is another thing. Campbell wrote not just about the ecology and natural history of the rain forest, though obviously he was an expert in its myriad flora and fauna, describing organisms in all their splendor. We also get a social and cultural history of the storied West Amazon district of Acre in Brazil, from initial exploration by Europeans and the subsequent exploitation of native Americans largely resulting from the boom in wild rubber harvesting in the late 19th century, and what little remains of the local heritage today. The author lamented this tragedy of almost total decimation of indigenous knowledge and likened it to the modern rampant obliteration of the forest and its countless unknown species. It would have been overwhelmingly depressing if not for those sublime descriptions of the interconnected ecological networks - a taxonomy of sounds and scents that we as primates cannot begin to fathom.

For a naturalist and nature lover, this is a rare work of genius. Even containing a few chapters of fascinating history of the wrong headed and largely failed attempts by humans to tame and conquer the wild. The Trans-amazon highway is evidence of this folly, apparently abandoned and in disuse today, leaving migrants from the 1970s and 80s stranded and reliant on unsustainable clearing of the land to subsist.
4.5 stars.

[John Locke · Rating 5 out of 5]

With a poet’s eye, Campbell’s description of Amazonia paints vivid images in the reader’s mind. But not simply a visualization. Campbell describes in great detail the smells, the sounds, even how the air feels at different times of the day or season. Interspersed with these text paintings are the observations of the flora and fauna as only a learned biologist could document them. And finally, Campbell makes this remote region relatable to humans by including personal histories of its inhabitants. Chances are, I will never see the Amazon or it’s tributaries, But thanks to David Campbell, I can dream about the place as though I’ve been there.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Campbell is a biology professor at Grinnell who has spent a lot of time in the Amazon rainforest. This is a rather nice account of the place although there is a lot of biology jargon and unexplained Portuguese that gets annoying. The glossary is not much help, but the notes at the end of the book were sometimes more interesting than the book itself.

[Eppie · Rating 4 out of 5]

See: http://archive.wilsonquarterly.com/si...

[Bryan Jacobs · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fantastic! If for no other reason, read it for the writing. He is a phenomenal writer. Highly recommended.