Rating: 
Summary: Yanomamo: Noble Savages or Hobbesian Brutes?
Review: The 16,000 Yanomamo people are depicted as the most primitive, most violent, and most famous tribal society in the Amazon. Popularized by the most widely read book in the history of anthropology (*Yanomamo: The Fierce People*, by Napoleon Chagnon), these people are today suffering excruciating problems from gold miners and newly introduced diseases. Major debates have raged among anthropologists, and between anthropologists and missionaries, for 20 years over the "truth" of the Yanomamo culture. Do they live a wonderful life in a beautiful rain-forest Eden, as Chagnon implies in his 1992 book, *The Last Days of Eden*, or do they live in fear and misery as some missionaries say? Perhaps we should ask that question to the Yanomamo themselves, rather than to the anthropologists or the missionaries. Who does speak for the Yanomamo, anyway? Here, for the first time, author Mark Richie allows the Yanomamo to speak for themselves to us. This is truly "a Yanomamo shaman's story," as the book's subtitle says. It is the autobiography of a Yanomamo shaman-chief named Jungleman. He, at least, is weary of his violent society, and fed-up with the anthropologists, too. Anyone who thinks the Yanomamo culture is idyllic must be a male: The women live in chronic danger of gang-rapes, savage beatings by their husbands, and kidnapping. And men suffer one of the highest homicide rates in the world from the frequent raiding between villages. If you think it's a romantic way of life, why don't you try it? Non-specialists in Amazonian anthropology may be skeptical of Jungleman's descriptions of the sexual customs of a European anthropologist who the Yanomamo call "Ass Handler." A.H. has lived with the Yanomamo for many years and, says Jungleman, makes a regular practice of forcibly sodomizing Yanomamo boys. Disbelievers may want to ask the opinion of any anthropologist specializing on the Amazon. This is a gripping book to read: hard to put down, violent (some would say pornographic), and gut-wrenching. Students who have read the other ethnographies on the Yanomamo will recognize that this book has, above all, a ring of truth. New Age seekers will be fascinated by Jungleman's descriptions of the spirit world that shamans have found. Anthropology students will be shocked by Jungleman's insider view of the political internecine intrigues among anthropologists and between anthropologists and missionaries.
Rating:
Summary: An Astounding Book
Review: This astounding book might be the last piece of the religion puzzle I have been working, for as long as I can remember.
Jungleman, the omniscient narrator, tells how the Yanomamo Indians lived and suffered because of their association with bad spirits. I would describe it as a classic study in anthropology, not necessarily meant to be of any significant religious importance, but full of religious implication nevertheless.
The Yanomamo had always known of the Great Spirit, who made all spirits, but believed that he was too dangerous to approach. They were surprised that (A) the nabas (white men) knew of the Great Spirit and insisted that the Indians throw away their lesser spirits and let the Great Spirit in, and that only then would they be happy; and (B) that so many of the nabas, even though they knew of the Great Spirit, had not, themselves, let him in, and therefore were not happy. A few of the nabas were reasonably happy, in the knowledge of the existence of the Great Spirit, even though they had not actually let him in. But the Indians who had not let the Great Spirit in and continued their association with their lessor-mostly bad--spirits suffered (and the degree to which they suffered is the most astounding part of the book) for centuries with their eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth warrior mentality, killing their enemies, stealing and raping their women, and far worse.
Among the things that ran through my mind as I read Spirit of the Rainforest:
1. The now-extinct 15th Century pre-Columbian Arawak Indians, who associated themselves with good spirits-called Zemis--and lived in peace for 10,000 years and were happy
2. The continuing tragedy of the Israelis and Palestinians under their eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth rule
3. The teachings of Jesus
Rating:
Summary: An Astounding Book
Review: This astounding book might be the last piece of the religion puzzle I have been working, for as long as I can remember.
Jungleman, the omniscient narrator, tells how the Yanomamo Indians lived and suffered because of their association with bad spirits. I would describe it as a classic study in anthropology, not necessarily meant to be of any significant religious importance, but full of religious implication nevertheless.
The Yanomamo had always known of the Great Spirit, who made all spirits, but believed that he was too dangerous to approach. They were surprised that (A) the nabas (white men) knew of the Great Spirit and insisted that the Indians throw away their lesser spirits and let the Great Spirit in, and that only then would they be happy; and (B) that so many of the nabas, even though they knew of the Great Spirit, had not, themselves, let him in, and therefore were not happy. A few of the nabas were reasonably happy, in the knowledge of the existence of the Great Spirit, even though they had not actually let him in. But the Indians who had not let the Great Spirit in and continued their association with their lessor-mostly bad--spirits suffered (and the degree to which they suffered is the most astounding part of the book) for centuries with their eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth warrior mentality, killing their enemies, stealing and raping their women, and far worse.
Among the things that ran through my mind as I read Spirit of the Rainforest:
1. The now-extinct 15th Century pre-Columbian Arawak Indians, who associated themselves with good spirits-called Zemis--and lived in peace for 10,000 years and were happy
2. The continuing tragedy of the Israelis and Palestinians under their eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth rule
3. The teachings of Jesus
Rating:
Summary: A Chronicle of Evil Spirits Making lives Miserable
Review: This book contains some disturbingly gruesome details of real wars the Yanomamo tribes of the Amazon had with one another.... It is never-the-less an awesome look into the world of evil deceiving spirits who fight for the souls of these indians and who "quake" at even the thought of Jesus, and who the Yanomamos
shamans caught lying about Jesus. The Indians know Jesus as "Yai Pada" and the Father, who they call "Yai Wana Naba Laywa". They knew of Jesus before the first white man came. The evil Spirits only wanted to lead these Indians to a life of war and revenge. Which reminds me about what Father Amorth a Catholic Exorcist wrote about these demons: "I have heard demons tell me many times that they suffer more during exorcisms than in hell. When I ask "Why don't you go to hell, then?" they answer, "Because we are only interested in making this person suffer." Jungleman the Shaman wrote: "I wish I had known the truth about Yai Wana Naba Laywa when I was a young man--it would have saved me so much pain and misery. But how could I? My spirits lied so much to me and tricked me. They were so beautiful, so wonderful, so hard not to want. They were the best at telling me split-truth. Now I'm at the end of this life, and I'm ready to begin my real life with Yai Pada."
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