Where the Gods Reign: Plants and Peoples of the Colombian Amazon

by Richard Evans Schultes, Mark J. Plotkin (Preface)

BACK IN STOCK DECEMBER 2022 Where the Gods Reign is a scientific and creative anthropological overview of the Amazon rainforest ecosystem-featuring writings and excerpts on rivers, ethnic groups, cultural customs, rubber and cocoa plants, drugs and medicines, and more. Beautiful photographs taken by Dr. Schultes during his 14 years residing in the Colombian Amazon are accompanied by short poetic reflections, precise summaries which showcase Schultes’s immense knowledge of the area, and carefully selected quotes from other great ethnographers of the Amazon.

Genres: Anthropology, Nonfiction

307 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Richard Evans Schultes (SHULL-tees) (January 12, 1915 – April 10, 2001) may be considered the father of modern ethnobotany, for his studies of indigenous peoples' (especially the indigenous peoples of the Americas) uses of plants, including especially entheogenic or hallucinogenic plants (particularly in Mexico and the Amazon), for his lifelong collaborations with chemists, and for his charismatic influence as an educator at Harvard University on a number of students and colleagues who went on to write popular books and assume influential positions in museums, botanical gardens, and popular culture.

His book The Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers (1979), co-authored with chemist Albert Hofmann, the discoverer of LSD, is considered his greatest popular work: it has never been out of print and was revised into an expanded second edition, based on a German translation by Christian Rätsch (1998), in 2001.[1]

Reviews

[Monty Python]

A strong book that both offers beautiful photography of the Colombian Amazon, and a detailed examination of the flora, fauna and aboriginal societies therein. This book is rather old, and given current trends, there's a good possibility that a number of these tribes may be extinct. I lost my copy a few years ago and I am aching for another.

[Cherie]

B&W photos (lower quality bc many of these were quite old) with short informative text abt Schutles's observations and studies. Good for someone who has minor interest (or even deep interest) in Amazonian plants and peoples.

[Tao]

"Very early in human pre-history certain members of the community acquired a better knowledge of the properties of plants than their fellows and gradually they became leaders and even spiritual powers. The medicine-man has persisted in aboriginal societies everywhere."

[Sumanth Ƀharadwaj]

Schultes' work is priceless. The gamut of knowledge within each of his books has aided me in understanding plant life and their interaction with people substantially. This is a must read for anyone interested in Ethnography or Ethnobotany.

[Asit]

coffee table book, but a classic in ethnobotanical circles.

[Dirkfabian]

Beautiful pictures of a place and time that will never exist again.

[Sean]

A lovely book of photos and info by genius ethnobotanist Schultes. Only downside is he could have used a copy editor.