African Silences Author:Peter Matthiessen "Our greatest modern nature writer in the lyrical tradition" (New York Times Book Review) offers a powerful and sobering account of the cataclysmic depredation of the African landscape and its wildlife. Critically acclaimed, African Silences explores the continent and captures the elephants, white rhinos, gorillas, and other endangered creatures... more » of the wild.
From Library Journal
Matthiessen's previous travels in Africa have been largely confined to the East,"..." in this account of three trips to Central and Western Africa, Matthiessen reports on the almost total devastation of wildlife in Senegal, Gambia, and the Ivory Coast and describes an exhibition searching for the rare Congo peacock and gorillas in the Virunga Mountains of Zaire. Matthiessen's disgust for the government, ruined landscape, and many of the people he found in these countries makes for uncomfortable reading. Especially engrossing is his "African Silences" chapter in which he accompanied ecologist David (Jonah) Western to the Central African Republic, Gabon, and Zaire to survey populations of the forest elephant and visit the Mbuti Pygmies of the Ituri Forest. Matthiessen's delight in the Mbuti and his cautious optimism about the effects of the recent ban on ivory trafficking somewhat softens his otherwise grim message about the fate of the people and wildlife of Africa...
- Beth Clewis, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community Coll. Lib., Richmond, Va.
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