Customer Reviews

Savages

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Although this book has been criticized by people with a background in anthropology, as a practicing anthropologist (with research expertise in media studies), I beg to disagree. Certainly, the book has weaknesses, and the fieldwork it is based on was flawed. Yet it presents a balanced view of Amazon peoples -- if one reads carefully one finds that they are NOT merely portrayed as "noble savages." Moreover, the book has a chance of reaching a FAR greater audience than most anthropology works ever do. I aspire to write as compellingly as Kane; it's about time anthropology had more of an impact on the world. I have done research and writing that is critical of journalists and journalism, but I'm aware that anthropological fieldwork is far from perfect, either. Instead of taking pot shots at a nuanced, in-depth view of the geo-political problems of indigenous peoples, we should celebrate the possibilities of collaborating with journalists as careful and sensitive as Kane.

I first read this book about two years ago and have since given copies as gifts to friends and have passed my own copy about to many colleagues. I work in the oil industry and I believe that this book is a MUST READ for all foreign workers in the Amazon region. My field of work involves protecting the interests of the local people and the health of the environment and I can assure the previous reviewer that while the oil companies have much to answer for historically that there is a small army of us working on the inside and who have found Savages to be one of the best books around. Joe Kane writes in journalistic style presenting events as they unfolded and he sheds light on several issues relating to foreign activity in developing countries that are seldom thought about by those who participate in the "invasion". Mr Kane's writing had me in fits of laughter at times and at other times I was in tears. By the end of the book I felt that I almost knew the people whose lives were discussed and I certainly closed the cover with a new understanding and questions that I had not asked myself before. Anyone contemplating a trip to the jungle of Ecuador, or other Amazonian nation, should make a point of reading this book. It is factual, interesting and tells a real life drama that describes the beginning of what will probably be the final days of the isolated people of the Amazon. It will be up to you as the reader to form an opinion on the situation as Kane doesn't do it for you. He does however raise the interesting question that may not be answered easily - what rights do isolated people have to remain isolated and completely unaffected by the development of the world? Read Savages for yourself and see if you can answer that question.

June 18, 2002

This is a well written book, but not an inclusive
piece of research. The author writes of his
experiences in South America with skill and passion,
but a reader should come to the story with the full
knowledge that he is reading the work of an interested
observer and not that of an anthropologist, or
sociologist, or even much of an activist.

Still, I'd recommend this book to someone who wouldn't
normally be interested in the subject matter. It's a

pleasurable and moving read. Author Joe Kane seems
more interested in the people he met during his travels
than in cleansing or condemning his various subjects.
Persons truly interested in the puzzle that is big oil,
bad politics and embattled natives in South America,
however, will probably finish `Savages' with as many
questions as answers.

Kane gives a very sympathetic yet never condoning view of a people that comes an incredible long way to take up the challenge of the most powerful industries in the world: the oil industry! The author relates his experiences with great humour reflecting one of the most outstanding characteristics of the Huaorani: they seem to be able to lough a lot inspite of it all! A most touching yet also entertaining book.

Before reading this book, I knew nothing about the Amazon and wasn't that interested. Now, even though it's been half a year since I finished the book, I find myself thinking about Moi, Enquiri, Judith, and the rest. Joe Kane also did a good job explaining the very complicated situation with the oil companies. I was inspired to hit the library for more books on the Amazon and the people there. It's also inspired me to check in with Rainforest Action Network and write a few letters. One of my favorite books ever.

Joe Kane, author of best selling 'Running the Amazon', has tackled a subject often thought of as being the job of anthropologists and the like. As a reporter, Kane has done a good job of relaying details such as the environment the Huaorani live in and the details of the oil industry that looms over their part of the Ecuadorian Amazon. As mentioned in another review, the anthropological insite Kane offers in response to Huaorani culture and how it has changed and adapted to its situation leaves something to be desired. That said, I do not find this to be a problem. Kane is writing for an audience that would probably find most anthropological scholarly texts dry and unintersting, but he has managed to explain the conflict that has arisen due to oil exploitation in the rainforest, all the while demonstrating the effects this exploitation has on humans in the area. I wa spleased to see that Kane demonstrated how the Huaorani have formed a sort of resistance to the destruction of the environment they call home by using conduits provided by external political groups, thus demonstrating how the marginalized make themselves known. The book is engagingly written and Kane, while unable to hide his anti-corporate and anti-oil exploitation sentiments (with which I agree), has made a worthy case for the halting of oil exploitation at the level it was (and still is) being carried on in the Amazon.

One of my professors used this book in an anthropology graduate seminar at Berkeley to examine the concept of field work, and the types of knowledge that field work imparts. We found this book to be very instructive in the values and practice of journalists as our society's "instant experts" as opposed to anthropologists who spend decades studying the cultures they write about. We were all struck by how little time Kane actually spent conducting fieldwork, how absorbed he was with himself, and we were shocked to see what little regard he gave to actually learning the language of the people he claimed to be so interested in studying. This book can teach readers quite a bit about how journalists study the world, and should not be confused with the field of anthropology (as the book's jacket blurbs would have it).

I do not wish to be overly harsh with this book for it does inform general readers of some important developmental issues facing indigenous peoples the world over. The information gathered outside of the field setting does present vital data on the travesties of the petroleum industry (though the author does ignore an embarrassing amount of published anthropological work on the Huaorani). This is the book's strength, but the degree to which it exoticizes the Huaorani (even given Kane's attempt at irony in naming his book) as (noble) Savages overly simplifies a complex situation, as deadline pressed journalists often do.

This well-researched book shines because of the author'scourage in much on site time with first hand experience andobservation under conditions most of us would not risk. All in orderto present the outside problems being presented to an ancient,indigenous people, the Huaorani Indians of Ecuador who live in aremote region of the rainforest being exploited by various oilcompanies that have little regard for the cultural effects on thepeoples occupying for many eons this area. Additionally, the effectson the animal life, the numerous polluting activities and the bringingin of many settlers to abuse and exploit this beautiful land all forthe sake of a few more days of oil production in the world makes onequestion the ability of the human species to conduct themselves in amoral fashion. And, of course, it was interesting hearing more aboutthe activities of Ali Sharif, a world's expert in permaculture, oftenmentioned in this book. Similar to The Beak of a Finch, this book isa must read for those interested in the environment, social justicecauses, anthropology, and other fields, including just general funreading about something outside of one's usual frame of reference. Somany people are giving of themselves to become one more shining lightout there giving energy and hope to others that I am touched by theirsacrifices for this planetary home of ours.

In Savages, Kane conveys the dire importance of understanding and respecting the traditional practices of the Huaorani Indians of Ecuador. Kane examines through personal experience their struggle to maintain identity, land, and dignity in the face of oil companies, missionaries, and economic progress. The author demonstrates journalistic reporting at its very best and assures the reader a sincere and responsible account of the matters at hand. This book should be read by anyone interested in the future of humankind

Have you read Kane's Running the Amazon? Here's another good one. It even won the Bay Area Book Reviewers Assoc Award in 1995. Kane travels to Ecuador to live for a while with the Huaorani tribal people as their Stone Age culture bumps against the 20th Century.
The Huaorani eventually befriended Kane, but at the beginning, it was just as likely that they might murder him, as they had fairly recently killed a missionary and several others they considered enemies. Something about Kane made them feel comfortable - lucky for him.
Kane intersperses magical vignettes of tribal life with historical and sociological information in a way that makes his book imminently readable by ordinary readers like me as well as my scholars and sociologists.
It's a good one.