From the Publisher
Deep in the jungles of Ecuador live the Cofan people, a so-called primitive clan little changed over the centuries. Their leader has led the Cofan in a cagey, media-wise, and sometimes hostile struggle against an uninvited new neighbor - Big Oil. This leader, this "Amazon Stranger," is an American named Randy Borman. Author Mike Tidwell spent many months with the Cofan people and with Borman - and returned with this riveting tale.Amazon Stranger is the story of a man obsessed with the jungle and desperate to save it and its people. It is an unforgettable book, written with vividness and drama by a superb investigative reporter. (6 x 9, 224 pages, maps)
Publishers Weekly
A naturalist's paradise, the Cuyabeno wildlife reserve in eastern Ecuador was set aside for tourists, scientists and indigenous Indians. Then oil reserves were discovered near the Aguarico River. One band of natives, the Cofn, moved deeper into the forest and has been fighting the petrochemical companies under the leadership of an American, Randy Borman. Tidwell (The Ponds of Kalambayi) spent several months with the Cofn observing the degradation of the environment wrought by the oil companies. He tells an engrossing story of a primitive people and their remarkable leader. Born in the jungle to missionary parents, Borman chose to stay; he married a Cofn and has fathered two sons. Tidwell paints a vivid picture of the rain forest and its people, of the battle between conservation and exploitation. Author tour. (May)
Library Journal
Tidwell (The Ponds of Kalambayi, LJ 8/90) so vividly recounts this story of Ecuador's Cofan people and the American who led them that readers will long remember this tribe. Tidwell spent considerable time with the Cofan, learning about their culture and lifestyles. He describes their continuous struggle, headed by Randy Borman, the son of missionary parents, to protect their Amazon homeland from oil company invasion. Even though the Cofan live in a preserve, oil explorations are a constant threat. Hidden in the jungle are toxic dumps from previous explorations, roads cut for equipment that serve as effective barriers to wildlife, and the ever-present politics of oil. An extremely involving story from all perspectives: anthropological (the tribe and its indigenous culture), political (rich oil reserves and what people do to get them), environmental (the enormous problems of oil exploration in the rain forest), and human (Borman, his family, and other individuals). Urged for all collections.-Nancy J. Moeckel, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, Ohio
Kirkus Reviews
From deep in the Ecuadoran rainforest, from the heart of the Cofán Indian lands, comes Tidwell's (In the Shadow of the White House, 1992, etc.) spirited firsthand report on the indigenous peoples' struggle to survive.
Eastern Ecuador perhaps defines the notion of biodiversity, a natural habitat agog with every manner of creature, and the home of the Cofán Indians. It is also the resting place of petroleum products, which Texaco wished to exploit as far back as 1965 and which are now eyed covetously by the Texas-based Maxus oil group. Tidwell paid a visit to the rainforest to gauge the effects of ecotourism and fell for the place wholesale, rapt in the "macaws and kapok trees, dolphins and sherbert butterflies." He was equally smitten by Randy Borman, son of white missionaries and now leader of the Zabalo Cofán, and his efforts to protect the diminished Cofán acreage from further assault by oil interests. But this is not just a David against Goliath story—though it is a blow-by-blow account of the canny Cofán challenge to forays by the government-controlled Petroecuador into their territory. It is also the sad tale of ruined Indian villages, where wildlife was out and oil spills were in. Amid all the mayhem caused by the oil companies, Tidwell treats readers to the episodic theater of the jungle, with one fantastic siting tripping over another. By turns wry, morose, upbeat, and blue, Tidwell writes with admirable restraint (it must have been hard not to go ballistic when confronted with all the outrages) and with an appealing personal touch: He was always crushed when the quixotic Borman treated him brusquely.
A tale with enough punch to turn a few heads and enough storytelling talent to keep the converted charmed.
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