In Southern Light: Trekking Through Zaire and the Amazon.

New York, NY Simon & Schuster, 1986. Hardcover First Edition; First Printing indicated. First Edition; First Printing indicated. Near Fine in Near Fine DJ: Both book and DJ show only minute indications of use. The book shows a small bump at the bottom edge of the front panel; else flawless; the binding remains square and secure; the text clean.The DJ is very lightly sunned along the front and rear hinges and at the backstrip, but the titles thereon remain bold and clearly legible; else only mild rubbing; the price is unclipped. Overall, very close to 'As New'. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. 239pp.Hardback with DJ. Anyone who likes travel literature will certainly not be disappointed in Alex Shoumatoff's IN SOUTHERN LIGHT. It is a book in two parts. In the first, he travels with a friend up a large, but seldom-visited tributary of the Amazon, the Nhamunda, in search of any clues about the eponymous Amazons themselves. He finds mostly caboclos, mixed race people who live off fishing, hunting, and a little farming when possible, and the last remnants of the Indian peoples who lived in the region for centuries. The second, less-focussed journey is in the former Zaire, now Congo (again). Though the current wars and massacres had not begun, the reader gets a strong impression of the crumbling, decaying society that existed under Mobutu. The author travels by truck, by riverboat, and through the jungle on foot with some BaMbuti (pygmies). I liked two things about this book. First, I liked Shoumatoff's attitude towards the people he met: neither condescending and critical, nor full of gushing admiration. He took each person as they came, just as he would have in his own society. If you are tired of the snide, superior writing style of a Theroux or Naipaul, this could be a welcome change. Secondly, I liked his descriptions of the natural world of the forests, rivers, and interactions between people. My criticism is that both sections lack focus and sometimes the book and the diary are a little too close together. The Amazon section starts off with a very fascinating description of the Greek Amazon legend and how the early Europeans were influenced by it, how the Indians may have fed it back to successive explorers once they realized what the intruders were looking for. But really, he's not interested in Amazons, - he was basically "messing around"; travelling to see what he could see - and he saw a lot. His book is well worth reading. I recommend it to anyone looking for a different sort of travel book. One more rugged - and ragged than the usual run of effete joys of Provence or Tuscany.