Customer Reviews

Salt of the Mountain: Campa Ashaninka History and Resistance in the Peruvian Jungle

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I had to read this and write a critique on it because I was in his NAS10 class, and found the information to be slightly interesting, though the information is presented rather dryly.
The book, originally Varese's dissertation, is an English translation of the Spanish text, and can be almost as confusing as if I had simply read it in the original dialect. His sentences must often be read and re-read many times to decipher their meaning, as the subject of the sentence is often lost in the sea of professor jargon and odd syntax. In addition, Varese tends to make note of things that don't really matter in the large scheme of things, such as his mention of the estimated population of Ashaninka at the beginning of chapter one, which he fails to expand upon, therefore rendering the information extraneous and useless.
All in all, the main drawbacks of the novel are 1) How it is written, and 2) How dryly the information is presented. Though bits and pieces of the book remain interesting enough to keep you reading, it's not enough to give the novel a higher rating.
Sorry, Professor. (Please don't fail me!)