Saturday, October 15, 2011

"The Unconquered": Tracking isolated Indians in the Brazilian Jungle

Unconquered


http://www.salon.com/2011/10/15/the_unconquered_tracking_isolated_indians_in_the_brazilian_jungle/

     The article talks of Scott Wallace's book The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon's Last Uncontacted Tribes.  It is an interesting article that captivates the reader's attention as it explains the book in a brief summary.  According to the article the book is about Sydney Possuelo's expedition into Brazil's Javari Valley which is off-limits to all people but the indigenous tribes that live there.  The book documents the expedition in what the author says is a "novelistic" style.  The second half of the article contains an interview between Emma Mustich, the author, and Steve Wallace.  Personally, I thought that this was the best part of the article because it allowed me to see into the thoughts of Wallace.
     Overall, Mustich attempted to glorify Scott Wallace and his book, which she obviously liked very much.  She appeared extremely enthusiastic which made the article itself more enjoyable and actually made me want to read the book.  Within Mustich's in-depth interview with Wallace she asked extremely inquisitive questions that intrigued the reader and made the reader want to know Wallace's answer.  In a way, the questions messed with the mind of Wallace by debating issues within the book, and asking him to explain certain events and such that were unclear to the reader.  I also noticed how Mustich asked several questions about how Wallace managed to write the book-(it appeared very difficult as they were trekking through the rain forest during their expedition and taking notes and such would not be such an easy task).  This demonstrated the interest that Mustich had in the book and hinted that she was encouraging anyone reading her article to try reading it also.

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