Amazon Books & Reading List
A curated library of books about the Amazon rainforest — its peoples, its natural history, and the long struggle over its future. From a 19th-century naturalist’s travel memoir to today’s investigative journalism. Browse by era or theme, or search by title, author or keyword.
A Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro
The Amazon travel memoir of the author, a biologist and colleague of Charles Darwin.
Wizard of the Upper Amazon: The Story of Manuel Córdova-Rios
Documents life among a South American indigenous tribe.
Floods of Fortune: Ecology and Economy Along the Amazon
Features the natural history and economy of the region.
One River: Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon Rain Forest
The story of two generations of scientific explorers.
The Amazon River Forest: A Natural History of Plants, Animals, and People
Examines the culture and nature of the region.
The Mapmaker’s Wife: A True Tale of Love, Murder, and Survival in the Amazon
Reports about the 18th-century French Geodesic Mission to measure one degree of latitude at the equator and confirm Newton’s theories about the shape of the Earth — including a couple separated across thousands of miles and the wife’s solo journey through the Amazon.
The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey
Chronicles the Amazon journey of the former US president after his 1912 election defeat.
Territorial Policies in the Amazon
Explores Amazon policies from 1970 onward, with focus on government programs and multilateral development programs developed after the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.
The Last Forest: The Amazon in the Age of Globalization
Follows the transformation of the region and the conflict between development and conservation.
Thief at the End of the World
Recounts the journey of Henry Wickham, who smuggled 70,000 rubber tree seeds from the Amazon to Great Britain and helped start the rubber boom of the early 20th century.
Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City
Reports about Henry Ford’s ill-fated 1920s effort to create a rubber plantation town in a remote area of the Brazilian Amazon.
The Gold Book of the Amazon
Brings the people, biodiversity and myths of the Amazon up for reflection while considering the threats they face.
Tree of Rivers: The Story of the Amazon
Explores the history of the region through key personalities — explorers, archaeologists, botanists and more.
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon
A modern study of the 1925 journey of a British explorer who disappeared in the Amazon.
Walking the Forest with Chico Mendes: Struggle for Justice in the Amazon
A primary account of activist Chico Mendes’s innovative approach to protecting the forest while supporting workers, and the struggle between Brazil’s rubber tappers and ranchers that ultimately led to his murder.
Schools in the Forest: How Grassroots Education Brought Political Empowerment to the Brazilian Amazon
Takes readers into the Brazilian rainforest with the grassroots activists and teachers who have helped transform the state of Acre through their courageous work.
The Devil and Mr. Casement: One Man’s Battle for Human Rights in South America’s Heart of Darkness
Recounts the 1910 investigation by a British journalist of a crime against humanity in the Peruvian Amazon, whose exposure in 1912 sent shockwaves around the world.
Deep Jungle: Journey to the Heart of the Rainforest
Examines the biodiversity of rainforests and considers their future.
River of Darkness: Francisco Orellana’s Legendary Voyage of Death and Discovery Down the Amazon
Tells the story of a 16th-century explorer in the Amazon.
The Fate of the Forest: Developers, Destroyers, and Defenders of the Amazon
Reports about the destruction of the forest and possible solutions.
Tropical Nature: Life and Death in the Rain Forests of Central and South America
Features essays on habitats, ecology, plants and animals.
Management of the Amazon: Assets, Policies and Proposals
Explores management of the Amazon biome while considering biodiversity, water, deforestation, social challenges and other contemporary controversies.
Walking the Amazon: 860 Days. One Step at a Time
Reveals one man’s history-making journey down the full length of the Amazon river.
The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon’s Last Uncontacted Tribes
Documents the true story of a journey to track an uncontacted indigenous people.
The Burning Season: The Murder of Chico Mendes and the Fight for the Amazon Rain Forest
Tells the story of the murder of an Amazonian activist by cattle ranchers, and the impact of Chico Mendes’s activism and death on the broader fight for the Amazon.
Noble Savages
Tells the story of Chagnon and his anthropological research of the Yanomamö Indians in the Venezuelan Amazon, and the ensuing controversy his work ignited.
Mother of God: An Extraordinary Journey into the Uncharted Tributaries of the Western Amazon
The autobiographical story of a young explorer in the Amazon wilderness.
Cattle in the Backlands: Mato Grosso and the Evolution of Ranching in the Brazilian Tropics
Recounts the history of ranching in Mato Grosso, Brazil — the economic transformation of remote areas, the resulting labor and land-tenure changes, and the long-term impact of ranching on ecosystems.
Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle
Features the story of the author, a missionary, learning from the Pirahã tribe and losing his religion.
The Dilemma of Amazonian Development
Combines anthropology, geography, ecology, economics and sociology to analyze the Amazon River region and its development, exploring the impact of development on Amazonian populations and the results of rural and urban growth strategies.
Amazonia: An Economy of Nature Knowledge
Dispels the notion that economic growth in the Amazon requires deforestation.
The Amazon: What Everyone Needs to Know
Presents an overview of the ecosystem and the challenges that face it.
Masters of the Lost Land: The Untold Story of the Amazon and the Violent Fight for the World’s Last Frontier
Features the struggle of Maria Joel Dias da Costa and her fight for justice against the Brazilian legal system and the land barons who murdered her husband.
Banzeiro Òkòtó: The Amazon as the Center of the World
Recounts Brum’s move from São Paulo to Altamira, a city along the Xingu River devastated by the construction of one of the largest dams in the world.
The Amazon in Times of War
A series of essays detailing physical assaults and destructive state policies enacted in the Brazilian Amazon, with a focus on 2018, when Jair Bolsonaro assumed the presidency of Brazil.
How I Became an Amazonian: An Investigative Journalist’s Memoir of the World’s Largest Rainforest
Synthesizes nearly six decades of the author’s reporting on the Amazon region with his own journey into becoming an Amazon activist, exploring the challenges of journalism in the region.
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