Praise for The Life and Death of a Minke Whale in the Amazon
A Book Riot “Must-Read Book in Translation for 2022”
“Zuker combines hard-hitting reportage with stories that veer from hopeful to elegiac, and his takes on his subjects’ relationship with the rainforest are spot-on and direct . . . This one deserves wide readership.”—Publishers Weekly
“Thanks to Zuker’s essays, neglected voices from a remote part of the world receive much-needed attention . . . Recommended for anyone seeking to better understand the often overlooked world of Indigenous Amazonians.”—Kirkus Reviews
"In poignant, lyrical, even fable-like essays written primarily from the perspectives of Indigenous people, Brazilian journalist Zuker chronicles the destruction of the Amazon rainforest . . . Zuker presents an in-depth depiction of massive environmental and social decimation conveying urgently needed information and insights."—Booklist
“With Zuker, the language, the thoughtful observation, and the work of witnessing this profound time of alteration never falters. In his prose, in his conclusions, and with his keen eye, he allows us to know him in the areas of his expertise, and in the areas of his displacement and wandering. While he does not over-identify with the people he documents, neither does he set himself apart from the world in which they find themselves.” —Eiren Caffall, Los Angeles Review of Books
"These are astute and vivid dispatches from a part of the world, and a viewpoint that most Americans know far too little about—and that plays an absolutely critical role in the planet's future." —Bill McKibben, author of The Flag, The Cross, and the Station Wagon
“This unique view of Brazil’s precious, precarious rain forest shimmers with passion and an intimate understanding of ‘the friction between two worlds, between two ways of relating to the land.’”—Foreword Reviews
“Zuker’s book is a conscientious curation of stories about resistance, resilience, and self-determination against the odds that populist politics and mass consumerism pose to fragile environments and ways of life.”—Sage Cigarettes Blog
"In this collection of linked essays, Fábio Zuker gathers together the voices of those long left out of the official conversations around what the Amazon was, is, and ought to be. By listening to ordinary people and recounting their tales, he invites us to eavesdrop on an extraordinary conversation unfolding between this place and those who call it home." —Elizabeth Rush, author of Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore
"This collection of essays by Fábio Zuker is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the challenges and dangers facing the Amazon region and its Indigenous peoples. Zuker has the infallibly keen eye of a world-class journalist. His prose flows like water from one chapter to the next as he tracks harsh realities, like the death of a river, beside the wonderful astonishment of finding a whale in the most unexpected of places. If you get caught in his net, you won't regret it." —Jorge Ramos, author of Stranger: The Challenge of a Latino Immigrant in the Trump Era
"Heartbreaking and necessary, these essays embody the struggles of Indigenous peoples respecting their past and fighting for their present, while exploring the long-reaching and deadly impacts that greed—and the forces of evil that supply greed—have on the world and on people in Brazil in particular." —BrocheAroe Fabian, River Dog Book Co.
“In the midst of this crossfire that’s ravaging the forest, with a far-right government churning out more fake news every minute and manipulating the truth about the burning Amazon rainforest, it’s essential to highlight the ethical concern that permeates the writing of these essays: writing that isn’t about something or with something, but is, as the Vietnamese filmmaker and thinker Trinh T. Minh-ha puts it, near to it.”—Le Monde Diplomatique-Brasil
2022-01-26
A collection of essays exploring issues faced by Indigenous peoples of the Amazon.
While researching, journalist Zuker traveled the region, getting to know and interviewing many of the local residents and leaders, offering an up-close and personal view of their struggles. “The Indigenous struggle,” he writes, “is not merely for existence but for a different existence: not to let themselves be absorbed into an all-encompassing white culture.” As these essays demonstrate, the Indigenous residents feel that they are being forced to integrate into modern society. Additionally, many rightfully fear that they will be expelled from their land—as has happened repeatedly in the past due to the Brazilian government’s financial interests. Zuker shows how the traditional communities are consistently threatened by mining, deforestation, industrial agriculture, and the government’s unwillingness to protect ancestral lands. “What corporate soybeans operations call development means ruin for small, local farmers,” writes the author, noting how the Indigenous farmers are suffering from the widespread use of pesticides, which degrade the adjacent lands and water sources that are necessary for them to support themselves and their families and remain healthy. Some teachers in the region have mounted grievances about how the pesticides are being sprayed on fields close to schools even when children are present. Zuker also explores how modern medicine fails to take into account centuries-old Indigenous knowledge. As one researcher in the area points out, “technically there’s a proposal for integration, but [Indigenous] wisdom and experience ends up being disqualified in favor of biomedicine.” Thanks to Zuker’s essays, neglected voices from a remote part of the world receive much-needed attention. “It is my attempt to bring out not only a sense of the conflicts and fear,” he writes, “but also of the resistance exhibited by the Amazonian peoples’ joyous fight for life, which is so often and so easily dismissed.”
Recommended for anyone seeking to better understand the often overlooked world of Indigenous Amazonians.
