The Riverbones

A young man uncovers myth, history, and murder while searching for the soul of an unknown and magical place. Andrew Westoll spent a year living the dream of every aspiring primatologist: following wild troops of capuchin monkeys through the remote Central Suriname Nature Reserve, the largest tract of pristine rainforest left on earth. But that was only the beginning. Westoll left the world of science altogether when he departed Suriname six years ago. But the country itself stayed with him and became a strange obsession. Nestled above Brazil and the Upper Amazon Basin, Suriname has a legitimate claim to the title The Last Eden, as ninety percent of this mysterious country is covered in thick, neo-tropical jungle. Westoll read everything he could find about the old Dutch colony — wild stories about secretive Amazonian shamans, superstitious tribes of ex-African slaves, outlaw Brazilian gold-miners, a ghostly lake with the dead canopy of a drowned rainforest at its surface, and an unsolved political murder mystery that continues to haunt the nation. Five years passed, and Westoll yearned to return to the rainforest. Then the opportunity finally arose. Westoll didn’t think twice — he immediately quit his job, gave away most of his possessions, and kissed the love of his life goodbye. For the next five months, he explored the most surreal country in South America for a glimpse of its quintessential soul. He struggled up dark neo-tropical rivers, immersed himself in Surinamese Maroon culture, and met a cast of characters whose eccentricities perfectly mirrored the strangeness of their land. Westoll maps the natural and human geography of this exotic land while hunting for closure to his strange obsession with it. In the end, he tells a spellbinding story of survival, heartbreak, mystery, and murder.

'Rainforest Warriors' describes the campaign launched by the Saramaka Maroons of Suriname to harness international human rights law as a means of protecting their way or life, part of a larger story of tribal & indigenous peoples that is unfolding across the globe.

This comprehensive, detailed account explores crime and punishment throughout the world through the eyes of leading experts, local authors and scholars, and government officials. It is a subject as old as civil society, yet one that still fuels debate. Now the many and varied aspects of that subject are brought together in the four-volume Crime and Punishment around the World. This unprecedented work provides descriptions of crimes—and the justice systems that define and punish them—in more than 200 nations, principalities, and dependencies. Each chapter examines the historical, political, and cultural background, as well as the basic organization of the subject state's legal and criminal justice system. It also reports on the types and levels of crime, the processes leading to the finding of guilt, the rights of the accused, alternatives to going to trial, how suspects are prosecuted for their crimes, and the techniques and conditions of typical punishments employed. Comprising a study that is at once extraordinarily comprehensive and minutely detailed, the essays collected here showcase the variety and the universality of crime and punishment the world over.

Maroon Cosmopolitics: Personhood, Creativity and Incorporation offers diverse perspectives on the presence of the Guianese Maroon at the twentieth-first century, and on the contemporary lives of the descendants of those who fled from slavery in the Americas.

A collection of essays from distinguished international scholars that explore the idea of a literary geography of the American Tropics.

In the 1660s, Jews of Iberian ancestry, many of them fleeing Inquisitorial persecution, established an agrarian settlement in the midst of the Surinamese tropics. The heart of this community-Jodensavanne, or Jews' Savannah-became an autonomous village with its own Jewish institutions, including a majestic synagogue consecrated in 1685. Situated along the Suriname River, some fifty kilometers south of the capital city of Paramaribo, Jodensavanne was by the mid-eighteenth century surrounded by dozens of Jewish plantations sprawling north- and southward and dominating the stretch of the river. These Sephardi-owned plots, mostly devoted to the cultivation and processing of sugar, carried out primarily by enslaved Africans, collectively formed the largest Jewish agricultural community in the world at the time and the only Jewish settlement in the Americas granted virtual self-rule. Sephardi settlement paved the way for the influx of hundreds of Ashkenazi Jews, who began to emigrate in the late seventeenth century from western and central Europe. Generally banned from Jodensavanne, these newcomers settled in Paramaribo, where they established their own cemeteries and historic synagogue. Meanwhile, slave rebellions, Maroon attacks, the general collapse of Suriname's economy, soil depletion, absentee land ownership, and a ravaging fire all contributed to the demise of the old Savannah settlement beginning in the second half of the eighteenth century..

Insight Guide South America is the most illustrated, full-colour travel guide to the continent on the market, and its lively narrative and stunning images provide both inspiration and information to plan a memorable trip to South America. The Best Of section highlights the unmissable sights and experiences: from Peru's breathtaking citadel of Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail - the number one South American trek on most travellers' wishlists - to vibrant Rio with its famous Carnival and beaches, sophisticated Buenos Aires, and the jungles of the Amazon, home to the greatest biodiversity on the planet. As well as the blockbuster sights, we cover the continent's lesser known but equally fascinating countries such as Paraguay, Bolivia and Guyana. Lively features focus on South America's history and culture, while the Places chapters show you where to go in South America, with beautiful photography, insightful descriptions of all the main attractions, and detailed, full-colour maps for easy orientation. The Travel Tips section provides practical information for planning a trip and getting around once you're there, along with our independent reviews of selected hotels and restaurants in South America.