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The Ragged Edge of the World: Encounters at the Frontier Where Modernity, Wildlands, and Indigenous Peoples Meet
A noted environmental writer relives his experiences of how earth's far corners have yielded to or resisted modernity.
For forty years Eugene Linden has explored global environmental issues in books and for publications ranging from National Geographic and Time to Foreign Affairs . Linden's diverse assignments have brought him to ragged edges of the globe, the sites where modernity, tradition, and wildlands collide. A money and ideas from the West have seeped into places like Polynesia, the Amazon, and the Arctic, Linden has witnessed dramatic transformations. Even in the Ndoki, celebrated as the most pristine and isolated rainforest in Congo, the impact of the outside world now intrudes in the form of dust blowing in from the north and loggers encroaching from all other directions.
In the Ragged Edge of the World , Linden recounts his adventures at this slippery and fast-changing frontier-Vietnam in 1971 and 1994, New Guinea and Borneo, pygmy forests and Machu Picchu, the Arctic and Antartica, Cuba and Midway Island-charting onrushing social and environmental change. An elegy for what has been lost and a celebration of those cultures resilient enough to maintain their vibrancy. Linden's new book captures the world at a turning point and offers an intimate look at creatures and cultures as they encounter and try to adapt to globalization.
For forty years Eugene Linden has explored global environmental issues in books and for publications ranging from National Geographic and Time to Foreign Affairs . Linden's diverse assignments have brought him to ragged edges of the globe, the sites where modernity, tradition, and wildlands collide. A money and ideas from the West have seeped into places like Polynesia, the Amazon, and the Arctic, Linden has witnessed dramatic transformations. Even in the Ndoki, celebrated as the most pristine and isolated rainforest in Congo, the impact of the outside world now intrudes in the form of dust blowing in from the north and loggers encroaching from all other directions.
In the Ragged Edge of the World , Linden recounts his adventures at this slippery and fast-changing frontier-Vietnam in 1971 and 1994, New Guinea and Borneo, pygmy forests and Machu Picchu, the Arctic and Antartica, Cuba and Midway Island-charting onrushing social and environmental change. An elegy for what has been lost and a celebration of those cultures resilient enough to maintain their vibrancy. Linden's new book captures the world at a turning point and offers an intimate look at creatures and cultures as they encounter and try to adapt to globalization.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published March 17, 2011
42 people are currently reading
598 people want to read
About the author
Eugene Linden
30 books119 followersI've spent my entire writing career exploring various aspects of one question: Why is it that after hundreds of thousands of years one relatively small subset of our species has reached a point where its fears, appetites, and spending habits control the destiny of every culture, every major ecosystem, and virtually every creature on earth? What happened that enabled us to seize control in a blink of an eye?
I began scratching at this question in my first book, Apes, Men and Language, published over 40 years ago. In that book I explored the implications of some experiments from the 1960s that showed that chimpanzees could use sign language in ways similar to the way we use words - to express opinions and feelings, to make specific requests, and to comment on the events of their day. Since the moral basis of our rights to use nature as so much raw material is deeply entangled with the belief that we are the lone sentient beings on the planet, I wondered what it would mean if it turned out that other animals possessed higher mental abilities and consciousness? I never expected that the scientific establishment and society would say "oops, sorry," but I also never imagined that the issue would turn out to be as fraught and contentious as it has.
That first book was the result of a curious turn of events. My first major journalistic assignment was an investigation of fragging (attacks by enlisted men on their officers) in Vietnam. That article, "The Demoralization of an Army: Fragging and Other Withdrawal Symptoms," was published as a cover story in Saturday Review in 1971. It got a good deal of attention, and a few publishers contacted me about possibly writing a book. I was eager to do that, but a few publishers lost interest when they learned that I wanted to write about experiments teaching sign language to apes and not Vietnam. Dutton gamely stayed on, however, and "Apes" is still in print in some parts of the world.
Since that first book, I've revisited and explored animal thinking in several books and many articles. In Silent Partners: The Legacy of the Ape Language Experiments, I looked at what happened to the animals themselves in the aftermath of the experiments as the chimps were whipsawed by a society that shifted back and forth between treating them as personalities and commodities. I wrote articles for National Geographic, TIME, and Parade, among other publications about animal intelligence as the debate progressed at its glacial pace.
Then, in the 1990s, I had an epiphany of sorts. I'd heard a story about an orangutan that got hold of a piece of wire and used it to pick the lock on his cage, all the while hiding his efforts from the zookeepers. Here seemed to be a panoply of higher mental abilities on display, unprompted by any rewards from humans, and it occurred to me that, if animals could think, maybe they did their best thinking when it served their purposes, and not some human in a lab coat. Out of this flash came two more books, The Parrot's Lament: Tales of Animal Intrigue, Intelligence and Ingenuity, and, The Octopus and the Orangutan: More Tales of Animal Intrigue, Intelligence, and Ingenuity, as well as a few more articles for TIME, Parade, and Oprah among other publications. I've found this approach to thinking about animal intelligence both liberating and fun, and I intend to explore this a good deal more.
The question of what makes us different than other creatures was but one aspect of my career-long efforts to understand how we have come to rule the planet. At the same time that I was exploring the question of higher mental abilities in animals I also began to think about how our notions our notions of our own specialness related to the consumer society. If intelligence, language and consciousness gave us dominion, it was the consumer society that gave us the tools to exploit nature for our own benefit. I've developed my thoughts on the nature and origins of consumer societies in four b
I began scratching at this question in my first book, Apes, Men and Language, published over 40 years ago. In that book I explored the implications of some experiments from the 1960s that showed that chimpanzees could use sign language in ways similar to the way we use words - to express opinions and feelings, to make specific requests, and to comment on the events of their day. Since the moral basis of our rights to use nature as so much raw material is deeply entangled with the belief that we are the lone sentient beings on the planet, I wondered what it would mean if it turned out that other animals possessed higher mental abilities and consciousness? I never expected that the scientific establishment and society would say "oops, sorry," but I also never imagined that the issue would turn out to be as fraught and contentious as it has.
That first book was the result of a curious turn of events. My first major journalistic assignment was an investigation of fragging (attacks by enlisted men on their officers) in Vietnam. That article, "The Demoralization of an Army: Fragging and Other Withdrawal Symptoms," was published as a cover story in Saturday Review in 1971. It got a good deal of attention, and a few publishers contacted me about possibly writing a book. I was eager to do that, but a few publishers lost interest when they learned that I wanted to write about experiments teaching sign language to apes and not Vietnam. Dutton gamely stayed on, however, and "Apes" is still in print in some parts of the world.
Since that first book, I've revisited and explored animal thinking in several books and many articles. In Silent Partners: The Legacy of the Ape Language Experiments, I looked at what happened to the animals themselves in the aftermath of the experiments as the chimps were whipsawed by a society that shifted back and forth between treating them as personalities and commodities. I wrote articles for National Geographic, TIME, and Parade, among other publications about animal intelligence as the debate progressed at its glacial pace.
Then, in the 1990s, I had an epiphany of sorts. I'd heard a story about an orangutan that got hold of a piece of wire and used it to pick the lock on his cage, all the while hiding his efforts from the zookeepers. Here seemed to be a panoply of higher mental abilities on display, unprompted by any rewards from humans, and it occurred to me that, if animals could think, maybe they did their best thinking when it served their purposes, and not some human in a lab coat. Out of this flash came two more books, The Parrot's Lament: Tales of Animal Intrigue, Intelligence and Ingenuity, and, The Octopus and the Orangutan: More Tales of Animal Intrigue, Intelligence, and Ingenuity, as well as a few more articles for TIME, Parade, and Oprah among other publications. I've found this approach to thinking about animal intelligence both liberating and fun, and I intend to explore this a good deal more.
The question of what makes us different than other creatures was but one aspect of my career-long efforts to understand how we have come to rule the planet. At the same time that I was exploring the question of higher mental abilities in animals I also began to think about how our notions our notions of our own specialness related to the consumer society. If intelligence, language and consciousness gave us dominion, it was the consumer society that gave us the tools to exploit nature for our own benefit. I've developed my thoughts on the nature and origins of consumer societies in four b
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February 8, 2013
The Ragged Edge of the World
by Eugene Linden
4 stars
pp. 260
I once imagined myself as adventurous and thought that I would one day visit the ragged edge of the world. Now I realize that I am quite content at home with my three cats and a book which will take me there and Eugene Linden does a superb job of escorting me around various ragged edges of our planet as New Guinea, Congo, Antarctica, Peru, Borneo and Midway Island.
Linden has long been a journalist, beginning in the Vietnam war and since then specializing in environmental journalism. The Ragged Edge of the World is a series of vignettes about the places he has visited over his career. He enthralls the reader with stories of indigenous people, endangered species and their fragility and strengths in facing encroaching civilization, pollution and global warming.
Linden touches on several issues of concern in this book, one being the loss of indigenous knowledge:
"Tim mentioned a story he'd heard about the Penans, the last hunting and gathering tribe that still pursued a nomadic lifestyle in the highlands of Borneo. He explained that while those in the highlands would hunt wild boar timed to the appearance of a particular butterfly, their children away at school in the towns were already forgetting this tidbit of local knowledge. They might vaguely remember that their uncle would pay attention to this butterfly, but they couldn't say why he cared about it, or which kind of butterfly it was. While such knowledge might seem trivial, Tim noted that the relationship between the butterfly and the boar might be liked to the fruiting pattern of a rainforest tree, and such ecological connections could be invaluable to scientist trying to understand the dynamics and vulnerabilities of the local ecosystem.
That Story offered the prefect metaphor for a worldwide phenomenon I was studying --the loss of indigenous knowledge-- and suggested that learning it could be as elusive, fragile and evanescent as a butterfly itself."
I found this an intriguing idea, realizing how often civilization has dismissed indigenous people and felt the need to save them and civilized them without realizing that all people can make such valuable contributions to our civilized world. Later in the book ties this notion with that of primates losing their culture because of encroaching civilization:
"About ten years later science finally caught up with what Pygmies knew all along. This story about what we can learn from listening to those who live in the forest. It is also a story about how little we still know about our closest relatives. As noted earlier, what is a cultural holocaust for the indigenous people at the ragged edge of the world has reified into a literal holocaust for the great apes. Even those chimps that have survived in a few isolated enclaves still risk losing their culture. At the eleventh hour for these apes, we are finally discovering how rich their own culture is."
This is a favorite type of book for me which offers insight into animals, civilizations and parts of the world which I will never visit. I found Linden's book to be very readable and I looked forward to each new area and chapter.
by Eugene Linden
4 stars
pp. 260
I once imagined myself as adventurous and thought that I would one day visit the ragged edge of the world. Now I realize that I am quite content at home with my three cats and a book which will take me there and Eugene Linden does a superb job of escorting me around various ragged edges of our planet as New Guinea, Congo, Antarctica, Peru, Borneo and Midway Island.
Linden has long been a journalist, beginning in the Vietnam war and since then specializing in environmental journalism. The Ragged Edge of the World is a series of vignettes about the places he has visited over his career. He enthralls the reader with stories of indigenous people, endangered species and their fragility and strengths in facing encroaching civilization, pollution and global warming.
Linden touches on several issues of concern in this book, one being the loss of indigenous knowledge:
"Tim mentioned a story he'd heard about the Penans, the last hunting and gathering tribe that still pursued a nomadic lifestyle in the highlands of Borneo. He explained that while those in the highlands would hunt wild boar timed to the appearance of a particular butterfly, their children away at school in the towns were already forgetting this tidbit of local knowledge. They might vaguely remember that their uncle would pay attention to this butterfly, but they couldn't say why he cared about it, or which kind of butterfly it was. While such knowledge might seem trivial, Tim noted that the relationship between the butterfly and the boar might be liked to the fruiting pattern of a rainforest tree, and such ecological connections could be invaluable to scientist trying to understand the dynamics and vulnerabilities of the local ecosystem.
That Story offered the prefect metaphor for a worldwide phenomenon I was studying --the loss of indigenous knowledge-- and suggested that learning it could be as elusive, fragile and evanescent as a butterfly itself."
I found this an intriguing idea, realizing how often civilization has dismissed indigenous people and felt the need to save them and civilized them without realizing that all people can make such valuable contributions to our civilized world. Later in the book ties this notion with that of primates losing their culture because of encroaching civilization:
"About ten years later science finally caught up with what Pygmies knew all along. This story about what we can learn from listening to those who live in the forest. It is also a story about how little we still know about our closest relatives. As noted earlier, what is a cultural holocaust for the indigenous people at the ragged edge of the world has reified into a literal holocaust for the great apes. Even those chimps that have survived in a few isolated enclaves still risk losing their culture. At the eleventh hour for these apes, we are finally discovering how rich their own culture is."
This is a favorite type of book for me which offers insight into animals, civilizations and parts of the world which I will never visit. I found Linden's book to be very readable and I looked forward to each new area and chapter.
January 1, 2016
Gosh, this book was fabulous. Linden has such an engaging style - like you are just having a casual conversation. Each chapter is an essay that focuses on a location or people group that he has encountered during his long career as a foreign correspondent and journalist. After reading each chapter, I did my own research and further reading... he has a way of really piquing the reader's interest to learn more.
January 8, 2014
One of the best non fiction books I've read. Period. Fascinating, sobering, inspiring. Takes you to amazing corners of the globe and illustrates the people and creatures found in these out of the way places - and how their surroundings are rapidly changing or have been changed. And in the end the author suggests an interesting idea to hopefully curb the loss of these treasures. I will definitely be reading this again.
November 24, 2020
231130: 3.5 ⭐️s. skipped the last chapter bc it’s pro capitalism and i just don’t have the energy but otherwise this is. generally a decent book that i don’t regret reading, even if one you should have your liberalism goggles on for.
February 19, 2012
Eugene Linden traveled the world on assignments as a journalist. Often times he would learn compelling facts and make observations not on point with his current assignment. He kept these facts and this book is a compilation of these compelling tidbits from the four corners of the globe.
First stop Is Borneo. The inhabitants saw all sorts of miraculous items come from the Europeans. However they never could quite believe the (inept) Europeans were the actual creators of these products that came from the sky (in planes). They believed chicanery was afoot and all the Europeans were interested in was having Borneo supply labor and keep the people of Borneo in the dark. Lured from a hunter-gatherer life, the young became urbanized, lost their cultural knowledge and could not return to their old way of life. Of course the manufacturing pulled out (the great Borneo experiment had failed) and these young people were without a way to earn a living. Alcohol, rape and robbery was what they turned to.
Next stop: Polynesia. Where disillusioned
Ivy League graduates gravitated lured by the prospect of no prospects and incredibly beautiful Tahitian women. And in the end lost all motivation.
Rapa Nui: where once a mighty civilization thrived. But Christianity squelched the culture, outlawed it and when the Christians left, the island suffered over population, and the people were left with a blank cultural slate. They starved and forgot how or why the statutes were erected.
Next Africa and meeting Jane Goodall. New and alarming behavior is being observed. Are chimps declaring war on Gorillas? Are chimps using sticks as clubs? Are chimps beating their females? It would seem so. Africa- with the famines, mind boggling poverty, dictators and genocide- the people are not the only victims. Animals are being killed as man swarms across the plains in blood lust against their fellow man. Eco systems are being destroyed as "collateral damage" and animals are being displaced as man mines and cuts down forests and animals ate hunted to the brink of extinction for their body parts.
The Antarctic is dissolving-melting- due to the monomaniacal quest for the material needed to make products so consumers can consume. The Arctic is threatened also. Just ask the starving polar bears.
Yellowstone: where ranchers were successful in ousting the wolf. Due to the lack of predators, white tail deer proliferated. What to do? Re introduce the wolf. But appease the ranchers.
Cuba: where the man who saved Castro's life was a nature lover and was given free reign to create parks and sanctuaries. But when Castro dies, and tourism comes to life, what will happen?
Midway Island: an island caught between Japan and the US during WW2 where thousands of albatross died alongside men in a very bloody battle. Who brought the albatross back from the brink? A very unlikely environmental hero: George W. A presentation at the White House moved Laura Bush. George W seeing a way to, perhaps, vindicate his atrocious environmental record (or his entire record) asked for recommendations to save the island so the albatross could thrive once again. Strict recommendations were laid on the table with plenty of room for negotiation. Surprisingly they were enacted verbatim. Now flights into Midway can only be propellor planes and they can only fly at night when albatross are not flying. When a plane approaches Midway, someone must make sure any sleepy albatross are out of harms way before the plane can land. Guess what? The albatross is back and thriving.
The author mentions briefly a fascinating fact: that on islands very large and very small animals evolve and thrive with the scales of success swinging first in the large animal's favor, then to the small and then back to the large. This is a concept that screams for more research. The parallel with the expanding and contracting universe (the Dance of Shiva), the boom and bust economic cycles and the feast/ famine dichotomy may be an inherent pattern of life. Compelling stuff.
This book needs to be read, re-read, discussed and re-read again. It gives fascinating glimpses as to how human culture is lost.
The villains are over reaching greed; rampant pollution (plastics from the entire Northern Pacific are collected by the great gyres of the ocean-concentrated and ingested by birds that cannot digest the plastic, and thus starve with a stomach full of garbage; missionaries that go overseas and persuade people to turn their backs on their traditional ways, yet what the traditional ways are replaced with fail so the people are left with nothing but recourse to alcohol; and finally capitalism in general with its myopic focus on short term gains and a blind eye as to long term consequences.
This book is a must read- An important, seminal work.
First stop Is Borneo. The inhabitants saw all sorts of miraculous items come from the Europeans. However they never could quite believe the (inept) Europeans were the actual creators of these products that came from the sky (in planes). They believed chicanery was afoot and all the Europeans were interested in was having Borneo supply labor and keep the people of Borneo in the dark. Lured from a hunter-gatherer life, the young became urbanized, lost their cultural knowledge and could not return to their old way of life. Of course the manufacturing pulled out (the great Borneo experiment had failed) and these young people were without a way to earn a living. Alcohol, rape and robbery was what they turned to.
Next stop: Polynesia. Where disillusioned
Ivy League graduates gravitated lured by the prospect of no prospects and incredibly beautiful Tahitian women. And in the end lost all motivation.
Rapa Nui: where once a mighty civilization thrived. But Christianity squelched the culture, outlawed it and when the Christians left, the island suffered over population, and the people were left with a blank cultural slate. They starved and forgot how or why the statutes were erected.
Next Africa and meeting Jane Goodall. New and alarming behavior is being observed. Are chimps declaring war on Gorillas? Are chimps using sticks as clubs? Are chimps beating their females? It would seem so. Africa- with the famines, mind boggling poverty, dictators and genocide- the people are not the only victims. Animals are being killed as man swarms across the plains in blood lust against their fellow man. Eco systems are being destroyed as "collateral damage" and animals are being displaced as man mines and cuts down forests and animals ate hunted to the brink of extinction for their body parts.
The Antarctic is dissolving-melting- due to the monomaniacal quest for the material needed to make products so consumers can consume. The Arctic is threatened also. Just ask the starving polar bears.
Yellowstone: where ranchers were successful in ousting the wolf. Due to the lack of predators, white tail deer proliferated. What to do? Re introduce the wolf. But appease the ranchers.
Cuba: where the man who saved Castro's life was a nature lover and was given free reign to create parks and sanctuaries. But when Castro dies, and tourism comes to life, what will happen?
Midway Island: an island caught between Japan and the US during WW2 where thousands of albatross died alongside men in a very bloody battle. Who brought the albatross back from the brink? A very unlikely environmental hero: George W. A presentation at the White House moved Laura Bush. George W seeing a way to, perhaps, vindicate his atrocious environmental record (or his entire record) asked for recommendations to save the island so the albatross could thrive once again. Strict recommendations were laid on the table with plenty of room for negotiation. Surprisingly they were enacted verbatim. Now flights into Midway can only be propellor planes and they can only fly at night when albatross are not flying. When a plane approaches Midway, someone must make sure any sleepy albatross are out of harms way before the plane can land. Guess what? The albatross is back and thriving.
The author mentions briefly a fascinating fact: that on islands very large and very small animals evolve and thrive with the scales of success swinging first in the large animal's favor, then to the small and then back to the large. This is a concept that screams for more research. The parallel with the expanding and contracting universe (the Dance of Shiva), the boom and bust economic cycles and the feast/ famine dichotomy may be an inherent pattern of life. Compelling stuff.
This book needs to be read, re-read, discussed and re-read again. It gives fascinating glimpses as to how human culture is lost.
The villains are over reaching greed; rampant pollution (plastics from the entire Northern Pacific are collected by the great gyres of the ocean-concentrated and ingested by birds that cannot digest the plastic, and thus starve with a stomach full of garbage; missionaries that go overseas and persuade people to turn their backs on their traditional ways, yet what the traditional ways are replaced with fail so the people are left with nothing but recourse to alcohol; and finally capitalism in general with its myopic focus on short term gains and a blind eye as to long term consequences.
This book is a must read- An important, seminal work.
November 23, 2023
A sobering collection of stories about our consumer culture and its destructive impacts on indigenous people, wildlife, and biodiversity.
March 20, 2013
In The Ragged Edge of the World Eugene Linden (writer and correspondent for Time and National Geographic magazines, among others) describes his travels to remote corners of the globe and his encounters with environmental degradation, habitat destruction, species loss and the pressures of cultural homogenization on traditional populations. The topics are familiar ones for environmentalists: global warming, wolf reintroduction in Yellowstone, the ozone hole, sea ice disintegration and the plight of polar bears to name a few. In additional Linden writes, somewhat less convincingly, about cultural extinction among native tribes throughout the world.
The stories are anecdotal in nature, but Linden ties his experiences in with descriptions of the broader scientific consensus of the topics. Taken as a whole one is faced with a bleak picture of a world in which the relentless pressures of short term economic interests has taken precedence over ecological sustainability and long term survival of endangered species. Simply put, the natural world is losing its battle with modernity. Unfortunately, humans appear to have forgotten that they too are a product of nature.
Though there’s nothing wrong with Linden’s writing, I found his approach to environmental issues to be rather conventional. By far the most interesting part of the book involved Linden’s anecdotes of his travels. Whether it was the difficulties he encountered traveling in Africa, his experience with clever orangutans in Borneo, or his travels to the nature preserves of Cuba, these personal accounts revealed all too clearly the difficulties humans face in overcoming their inherent shortcomings, particularly where it comes to protecting the environment on which our survival depends.
Linden also describes the loss of native culture and indigenous languages that is occurring as traditional societies are absorbed into the broader culture of the state. He argues that this trend is tragic because the detailed knowledge about the environment that these cultures have acquired in order to survive is being lost. There’s some truth to this claim, but I think it is limited. First, these traditional societies lack knowledge of the scientific method and as a result, their knowledge of the natural world contains a mish-mash of truth, anecdote, hear-say and superstition. While there may be something to learn, it would not be without considerable effort to weed out the truth from fiction. Secondly, it’s easy to romanticize these traditional lifestyles if you don’t have to live in them yourself. When a temporary drought brings famine and starvation, a small cut brings the potential for infection and disease and inter-tribal conflict results in high levels of mortality it’s easy to see why these people may be willing to abandon aspects of their culture in exchange for the benefits of modern society. It is not possible, in fact it would be immoral, to force them to do otherwise.
Finally, I have to take issue with Linden’s flirtation with the superstitious woo-woo of traditional healers and shaman. The rites he describe are those you’d expect from a two-bit vaudeville magician. While these so-called ‘healing’ rituals may result in some benefit due to the placebo effect, they may also produce immeasurable damage by causing truly sick individuals to avoid seeking actual medical care. That western scientific medicine is eliminating the charlatanism of the traditional shaman should be applauded rather than treated as cause for regret.
The stories are anecdotal in nature, but Linden ties his experiences in with descriptions of the broader scientific consensus of the topics. Taken as a whole one is faced with a bleak picture of a world in which the relentless pressures of short term economic interests has taken precedence over ecological sustainability and long term survival of endangered species. Simply put, the natural world is losing its battle with modernity. Unfortunately, humans appear to have forgotten that they too are a product of nature.
Though there’s nothing wrong with Linden’s writing, I found his approach to environmental issues to be rather conventional. By far the most interesting part of the book involved Linden’s anecdotes of his travels. Whether it was the difficulties he encountered traveling in Africa, his experience with clever orangutans in Borneo, or his travels to the nature preserves of Cuba, these personal accounts revealed all too clearly the difficulties humans face in overcoming their inherent shortcomings, particularly where it comes to protecting the environment on which our survival depends.
Linden also describes the loss of native culture and indigenous languages that is occurring as traditional societies are absorbed into the broader culture of the state. He argues that this trend is tragic because the detailed knowledge about the environment that these cultures have acquired in order to survive is being lost. There’s some truth to this claim, but I think it is limited. First, these traditional societies lack knowledge of the scientific method and as a result, their knowledge of the natural world contains a mish-mash of truth, anecdote, hear-say and superstition. While there may be something to learn, it would not be without considerable effort to weed out the truth from fiction. Secondly, it’s easy to romanticize these traditional lifestyles if you don’t have to live in them yourself. When a temporary drought brings famine and starvation, a small cut brings the potential for infection and disease and inter-tribal conflict results in high levels of mortality it’s easy to see why these people may be willing to abandon aspects of their culture in exchange for the benefits of modern society. It is not possible, in fact it would be immoral, to force them to do otherwise.
Finally, I have to take issue with Linden’s flirtation with the superstitious woo-woo of traditional healers and shaman. The rites he describe are those you’d expect from a two-bit vaudeville magician. While these so-called ‘healing’ rituals may result in some benefit due to the placebo effect, they may also produce immeasurable damage by causing truly sick individuals to avoid seeking actual medical care. That western scientific medicine is eliminating the charlatanism of the traditional shaman should be applauded rather than treated as cause for regret.
May 16, 2011
In Ragged Edge of the World, Eugene Linden aims to tell the untold stories of his globetrotting adventures as a journalist covering environmental and cultural loss and resilience at the intersection of the modern world and wilderness and the societies that live in the wilderness.
The earlier chapters seemed to lack cohesiveness and came off like anecdotes remembered from long-ago adventures, rather than stories with beginnings, ends and meanings. I have a feeling they'd be more enjoyable to a reader of Linden's other works, but this is the first book I've read by him, so they came across as incomplete and fragmentary. That's not to say they didn't fulfill the task he set for himself in the introduction, to tell the remembered fragments of stories that didn't make it into his reports, but to me they were fragmentary enough to make me contemplate giving up on the book despite its consistently clear writing. The latter chapters didn't have this problem, suggesting that he had more unpublished material to draw on, or simply remembered the more recent trips better than those at the beginning of his career. In both cases, I'd have liked, as a writer, to hear more about the challenges of reporting exciting stories such as these, beyond the logistics of traveling in Africa, say, but there was enough to keep that side of me interested, too.
Regardless, he makes his points well. In his lifetime, the presence of wilderness and the strength of indigenous culture has gone from endangered to nearly non-existent. Development, in the form of logging or all-inclusive resorts, has destroyed most of the authenticity, if not the environment, of places he cherished earlier in life. And with global travel so common, it's unlikely we'll find new places with true wilderness or cultures untouched by consumer culture. If "we" do, we will likely destroy them as we have the others, Linden reports, with sobering if not unexpected persuasiveness. In the final chapter he makes a quick case for a market-based continent-wide conservation scheme that is untested but, he says, holds promise for protecting ecosystems more effectively than we have done to date. I'm not convinced that would work, either, but at least he's looking for solutions in addition to reporting on the damage we've done.
The earlier chapters seemed to lack cohesiveness and came off like anecdotes remembered from long-ago adventures, rather than stories with beginnings, ends and meanings. I have a feeling they'd be more enjoyable to a reader of Linden's other works, but this is the first book I've read by him, so they came across as incomplete and fragmentary. That's not to say they didn't fulfill the task he set for himself in the introduction, to tell the remembered fragments of stories that didn't make it into his reports, but to me they were fragmentary enough to make me contemplate giving up on the book despite its consistently clear writing. The latter chapters didn't have this problem, suggesting that he had more unpublished material to draw on, or simply remembered the more recent trips better than those at the beginning of his career. In both cases, I'd have liked, as a writer, to hear more about the challenges of reporting exciting stories such as these, beyond the logistics of traveling in Africa, say, but there was enough to keep that side of me interested, too.
Regardless, he makes his points well. In his lifetime, the presence of wilderness and the strength of indigenous culture has gone from endangered to nearly non-existent. Development, in the form of logging or all-inclusive resorts, has destroyed most of the authenticity, if not the environment, of places he cherished earlier in life. And with global travel so common, it's unlikely we'll find new places with true wilderness or cultures untouched by consumer culture. If "we" do, we will likely destroy them as we have the others, Linden reports, with sobering if not unexpected persuasiveness. In the final chapter he makes a quick case for a market-based continent-wide conservation scheme that is untested but, he says, holds promise for protecting ecosystems more effectively than we have done to date. I'm not convinced that would work, either, but at least he's looking for solutions in addition to reporting on the damage we've done.
January 9, 2012
During the late 20th and early 21st century, the indigenous peoples and unspoiled environments of the world have been quickly assimilated and/or decimated by the modern consumer culture. Eugene Linden has spent the past 40 years as a journalist traveling to these wild places at "the ragged edge of the world" to see firsthand and to document the changes in enviroment and culture in these remote areas as the world encroaches upon them.
This series of essays serves as a 40-year travelogue of Linden's excursions into the wild. Through his eyes we see the places where he encountered the untamed, unspoiled areas and the peoples and wildlife which inhabit them, and we learn of the ways in which their natural environment and way of life are endangered.
Linden's published work in popular magazines, scientific journals and books, has helped to draw attention to the fragility of these areas, and his voice, along with others, has helped to change the actions of governments to the degree that many of these areas are now protected, albeit tenuously, from further decimation.
"Now, almost miraculously, Midway is once again a republic of birds. Ive been to a number of places where wild animals are trusting of humans, but perhaps none so unlikely as Midway atoll. After more than a century of abuse at the hands of man - first being slaughtered for their feathers by hunters, then being paved over by Seabees, then shelled by the Japanese during World War II , and finally Osterized by the engines of the planes of the U.S. Strategic Air Command during the Cold War - the albatross and other birds don't seem to bear a grudge. Maybe that's because they've won." Midway, p. 186
"So it is in the realm of culture. When I began my career traditional cultures were widely viewed as impediments to development. In my book, The Alms Race, I quoted a development official who stated this principle succinctly, "the village way of life is the root cause of poverty." Now that develoment and modernity have driven traditional cultures to the brink of eradication, more and more people from developed countries have come to recognize that not only do the traditional cultures provide safety nets and meaning for tribes around the world, they are stores of knowledge and often-wondrous expertise." Esotericas, p. 223
This series of essays serves as a 40-year travelogue of Linden's excursions into the wild. Through his eyes we see the places where he encountered the untamed, unspoiled areas and the peoples and wildlife which inhabit them, and we learn of the ways in which their natural environment and way of life are endangered.
Linden's published work in popular magazines, scientific journals and books, has helped to draw attention to the fragility of these areas, and his voice, along with others, has helped to change the actions of governments to the degree that many of these areas are now protected, albeit tenuously, from further decimation.
"Now, almost miraculously, Midway is once again a republic of birds. Ive been to a number of places where wild animals are trusting of humans, but perhaps none so unlikely as Midway atoll. After more than a century of abuse at the hands of man - first being slaughtered for their feathers by hunters, then being paved over by Seabees, then shelled by the Japanese during World War II , and finally Osterized by the engines of the planes of the U.S. Strategic Air Command during the Cold War - the albatross and other birds don't seem to bear a grudge. Maybe that's because they've won." Midway, p. 186
"So it is in the realm of culture. When I began my career traditional cultures were widely viewed as impediments to development. In my book, The Alms Race, I quoted a development official who stated this principle succinctly, "the village way of life is the root cause of poverty." Now that develoment and modernity have driven traditional cultures to the brink of eradication, more and more people from developed countries have come to recognize that not only do the traditional cultures provide safety nets and meaning for tribes around the world, they are stores of knowledge and often-wondrous expertise." Esotericas, p. 223
May 30, 2011
Though these are the stories that didn't fit into the magazine articles he wrote, Linden can't shed the journalistic-style--when he does, it is less like reading the New York Times and more engaging.
Civilization is killing the planet and erasing indigenous cultures worldwide and the places where this happens are the places Linden has traveled during his long career. The anecdotes, facts, encounters, science, and descriptions are often good. These are places--Easter Island, Antarctica, Africa--where I will never go, so, I have to read about them.
To his credit, he doesn't sugarcoat the dire straits caused by capitalism (while noting that communist countries were just as bad for the environment and indigenous peoples) and the last chapter talks honestly about extinctions, loss of nature, and cultural erasure. He offers up a conservation model that may help save the last forest and wild remnants across the planet, but this tiny ray of hope illuminates nothing when overshadowed by the "consumer culture" dominating and destroying the planet.
Civilization is killing the planet and erasing indigenous cultures worldwide and the places where this happens are the places Linden has traveled during his long career. The anecdotes, facts, encounters, science, and descriptions are often good. These are places--Easter Island, Antarctica, Africa--where I will never go, so, I have to read about them.
To his credit, he doesn't sugarcoat the dire straits caused by capitalism (while noting that communist countries were just as bad for the environment and indigenous peoples) and the last chapter talks honestly about extinctions, loss of nature, and cultural erasure. He offers up a conservation model that may help save the last forest and wild remnants across the planet, but this tiny ray of hope illuminates nothing when overshadowed by the "consumer culture" dominating and destroying the planet.
August 12, 2019
This book has reignited my desire to travel the world. For some time I was on a certain path that would have likely led to settling down but it is funny how quickly our lives can be jolted off into an entirely new and unexpected direction.
August 8, 2023
This is an interesting assortment of travelogues spanning the globe, from Vietnam to Antarctica to Cuba to the Congolese rainforest, focusing on what the author refers to as "the ragged edge of the world" - areas where natural lands and traditional ways of life are colliding with the forces of modernity and capitalism. While this book was published in 2011, many of the author's travels took place from the 1970s to the early 2000s, providing an interesting glimpse into a time when many places faced crucial turning points in the balance of their ecosystem, culture, and customs. Linden talks about how the loss of individual ecosystems can be tied to the loss of local knowledge and cultural traditions, and how alterations to one environment on one continent can have cascading effects that end up influencing the entire world. I appreciated the author's voice as a narrator, as he was respectful, observant, and passionate. He argues for the preservation of natural lands and the continuation of indigenous knowledge and languages, while recognizing the benefits and allure of development and modernity.
I enjoyed this book, mainly for the travel aspect as the author explored many fascinating areas at a time when the infrastructure for travel in these places was much less refined. It was a really cool look into unique ecosystems that I haven't heard about much before.
I enjoyed this book, mainly for the travel aspect as the author explored many fascinating areas at a time when the infrastructure for travel in these places was much less refined. It was a really cool look into unique ecosystems that I haven't heard about much before.
October 17, 2018
This book has been on my to-read for list for a long time, and the wait was worthwhile!
Experienced journalist Eugene Linden takes readers across the globe, spanning over 40 years of travels on "the ragged edge of the world," where modernity and economic development are collapsing the last places indigenous peoples and often rare wildlife still manage to hang on.
This book sure is an adventure! While sprawling, most chapters hang on to their dignity as a complete piece, and a wonderful insight into each location visited. Many of the topics aren't necessarily new and revolutionary in concept, but Linden's first-hand spin on them felt fresh and revitalizing. There were moments where Linden's journalistic style fell a little flat, or random stories were thrown in that stumbled the narrative a little off-track (thus the four-star review instead of a five, for me.) The book ends with a call-to-action, impressing upon the damage of Western consumerist society upon the last wild places on our planet. It is still more pertinent now than ever that we continue to fight for those last "ragged edges."
Experienced journalist Eugene Linden takes readers across the globe, spanning over 40 years of travels on "the ragged edge of the world," where modernity and economic development are collapsing the last places indigenous peoples and often rare wildlife still manage to hang on.
This book sure is an adventure! While sprawling, most chapters hang on to their dignity as a complete piece, and a wonderful insight into each location visited. Many of the topics aren't necessarily new and revolutionary in concept, but Linden's first-hand spin on them felt fresh and revitalizing. There were moments where Linden's journalistic style fell a little flat, or random stories were thrown in that stumbled the narrative a little off-track (thus the four-star review instead of a five, for me.) The book ends with a call-to-action, impressing upon the damage of Western consumerist society upon the last wild places on our planet. It is still more pertinent now than ever that we continue to fight for those last "ragged edges."
August 31, 2018
Written by an experienced journalist, this book focuses on the effects of modernization meeting indigenous cultures; thus, the "ragged edge". One of its foci is the loss of indigenous language, story, knowledge, and culture as indigenous youth moves away from traditional settings to enter the "modern world". For example, knowledge of natural medical remedies (from herbs and other plants) accumulated over centuries disappear as oral traditions are no longer passed down and modern society depends more and more on chemically-produced medications. In the name of progress, access to previously remote areas has led to these areas losing their original character because of tourism or exploitation. Seamlessly, the book moves also to the topics of climate change and a description of our understanding of animal behavior and intelligence--all points along which the ragged edge is moving.
I very much enjoyed this book and the insights it provided. Sometimes, I believe it stretched beyond its original theme, but was nonetheless informative and interesting.
I very much enjoyed this book and the insights it provided. Sometimes, I believe it stretched beyond its original theme, but was nonetheless informative and interesting.
April 22, 2020
Eugene Linden is a traveler.
As a journalist, his work took him around the planet to places that are well off the beaten path. Along the way, he began to put together a series of essays that eventually made their way to book form with this release. From frozen landscapes to tropical jungles, Linden seeks to find where modernity and indigenous cultures collide. These intersections are risking the loss of centuries of local knowledge and native plants and animals as industrial spread pushes its way into the fringes. Linden a presents a sobering picture of what is at stake, but he does so in a conversational and engaging way. In regards to the risks to the environment and native culture, we see many of the same dangers that have been in the public eye for years. It is the anecdotes about Linden's travels that makes the book so compelling. He gives you a better sense of the battle on the ground rather than reading about it from a scholarly distance.
Recommended for readers of travelogues and the environment.
As a journalist, his work took him around the planet to places that are well off the beaten path. Along the way, he began to put together a series of essays that eventually made their way to book form with this release. From frozen landscapes to tropical jungles, Linden seeks to find where modernity and indigenous cultures collide. These intersections are risking the loss of centuries of local knowledge and native plants and animals as industrial spread pushes its way into the fringes. Linden a presents a sobering picture of what is at stake, but he does so in a conversational and engaging way. In regards to the risks to the environment and native culture, we see many of the same dangers that have been in the public eye for years. It is the anecdotes about Linden's travels that makes the book so compelling. He gives you a better sense of the battle on the ground rather than reading about it from a scholarly distance.
Recommended for readers of travelogues and the environment.
April 6, 2021
This was a depressing/ discouraging book filled with fascinating information. Anyone interested in conservation, climate change,and the effect of the modern world on ecosystems and indigenous cultures, will find valuable information, and perhaps new motivation to encourage sustainability of natural resources.
The author is well versed in reporting on wilderness areas being squeezed and drained of life in the name of economic progress. He balances the bad news with good news or with intriguing tidbits of information.
At the end he offers realistic suggestions to save the “ragged edges of the world.”
The author is well versed in reporting on wilderness areas being squeezed and drained of life in the name of economic progress. He balances the bad news with good news or with intriguing tidbits of information.
At the end he offers realistic suggestions to save the “ragged edges of the world.”
September 4, 2021
This is a fascinating book from an author who combines scholarship with forty years of field experience around the world. If you are interested in the environment and like travelogues you will enjoy this book. A lot has happened since it was published in 2012 — all confirming the author’s analysis. Instead of dated, the book sounds prophetic at times — sadly so. Still, with all the harm we are doing to the planet, Linden ends with a proposal to reverse the tide. Here’s a man who will never stop fighting. Hats off to you, sir!
July 3, 2020
Nope. I love travel books and I love learning about unfamiliar cultures and places and animals. I would also categorize myself squarely in the moderate camp (not right wing!) when it come to ecological/climate/conservation policy. But the tone of this book was so off-putting I almost just quit reading. And it didn't get any better.
March 31, 2021
Very interesting
Lots of very interesting stories of Eugene Linden's travels to various out of the way places in the world. He includes many interesting facts and observations. It does seem to be a bit disorganized with forays into what seems unrelated information. I still recommend for some very interesting info.
Lots of very interesting stories of Eugene Linden's travels to various out of the way places in the world. He includes many interesting facts and observations. It does seem to be a bit disorganized with forays into what seems unrelated information. I still recommend for some very interesting info.
June 22, 2025
According to the author, the future of our planet is all gloom, catastrophe, climatic and environmental holocaust, destruction and tragedy. His solution, after a lifetime dedicate to these causes, lies in a few paragraphs at the end of the book, vaguely outlined as the regulation of the market economies.
September 20, 2019
How can it be that a Non-Fiction book of an environmental writer’s travels to wild places and published in 2011 already feels so....very, very long ago?
January 31, 2023
A unique variety of stories from an intriguing life lived.
March 9, 2023
This book is a well written memoir of the author's travels to places with intact wilderness that need environmental protection.
January 22, 2016
This book is a combination of The Lost City of Z, Edward O. Wilson's The Future of Life and, to a degree, The World Without Us. On one level it is an adventure story about going to those places where 'civilization' meets nature and native peoples. If that is all it was it would still be worth reading, but Linden has a bigger purpose with this book: To really show the impact that we're having on culture and the environment around the world. To this end he succeeds brilliantly. The picture he paints is bleak, but he does provide hope. It isn't much hope, however, and in fact it would go against his goal (and the facts) to let readers walk away thinking "Well at least everything will be okay." It is a book that demonstrates very clearly why we must act swiftly and decisively to save these parts of the world.
September 20, 2012
The author draws on his remarkable 40-year career as an ecological journalist to tell the (yes, depressing) story of the world's vanishing wildlife and indigenous human cultures. I was able to forgive the book's almost complete disregard of problematic women's issues in many of the places discussed, because of the importance behind the primary message: modern civilization and the consumer society are pushing the planet and its delicate ecosystem of animals (the human animal included) and ecology towards disaster. Happily, the book manages a Lorax-like whisper of hope, which is just about all there is left.
March 20, 2013
If Linden ever wrote a bucket list of places to visit, he must surely have done it all twice by now. This is a fascinating study of where modernity and indigenous cultures collide, from the frozen North to the jungles of Cuba (and everywhere in between). The world is at risk of losing indigenous knowledge as more and more people leave behind their tribal life. Its disturbing that we may lose thousands of years of collective knowledge in just a few generations. Linden is sending out a warning that will probably go unheeded, but this fascinating study shows that there is still time left to preserve our planets most vulnerable people, animals, and plants.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
February 26, 2012
I read a different book than I thought I was going to read. The flap sounded much more travel or government based. The reality is good, but not what I wanted. It was much more environmental, which makes sense for someone who writes for National Geographic and Smithsonian. The text was very well written and flowed really well, which is why I kept reading. Some of the places the author visits are amazing and the details are great. That said, I am not too interested in the wild flora of Vietnam.
March 6, 2014
An interesting collection of travel essays, focusing on deep forested, undeveloped, raw wilderness regions. The essays focus on conservation efforts in Indonesia, but mostly Africa. The bulk of experience Eugene shares is from travels in Central Africa, the CAR & DROC. A quick, interesting read, good for a college class in conservation. Most of the stories are from the 1990s; more current info would have been nice.
August 17, 2012
Well, then ... this was a new and interesting take on the way humans have encroached on wildlife, animals and hidden tribes. It was one man's opinion (the author) as he traveled to do some environmental reporting for various publications. I enjoyed reading his thoughts, however, I found many of them a bit outdated as he has been collecting these stories for decades. A good read, all in all, though.
April 20, 2011
Eugene Linden is amazing. I can't put this down! Every story sucks you in. The book is a collection of vignettes about the places that Linden has traveled and what he has seen there. I highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in culture and the environment.
I learned things in this book that weren't even on my radar before. I'm so glad I decided to pick it up.
I learned things in this book that weren't even on my radar before. I'm so glad I decided to pick it up.
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