Savages (Paperback)

by Joe Kane (Author) "THE PORT OF Coca sits on the north bank of the broad, brown Napo River, in the very heart of the Oriente, which may well..." (more)
Key Phrases: bravest people, oil development, Quehueire Ono, United States, Rachel Saint (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
In this impressive, funny and moving work, Joe Kane tells the story of the Huaorani, a tribe living in the deepest part of the Amazonian rain forest in Ecuador. The Huaorani have only in the last generation been exposed to such items as the wristwatch. But the modern world is reaching them quickly; for better or worse--usually worse--they live astride some of Ecuador's richest oilfields. Oil production in the Amazon has opened the forest to colonization and industrialization, often with alarming results: about 17 million gallons, of raw crude, more than in the Valdez spill in Alaska, were spilled from a Amazon pipeline between 1972 and 1989. Kane, who lived with the Huaorani for months, immaculately reports on the tribes' connections with the old world and its battles with the new one. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
Firsthand account of the battle between oil companies and an indigenous Indian population for control of territory in the Amazon.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (August 27, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679740198
• ISBN-13: 978-0679740193
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #52,096 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I've ever read!, January 4, 2001

By A Customer

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.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A reaction from an anthropologist, November 11, 2001

By A Customer

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.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What is a Savage?, April 12, 2004

By	Justin Bean "Post-college Twenty-something wh... (Ann Arbor, MI) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.