Wild Coast : travels on South America's untamed edge
/ John Gimlette
- 1st U.S. ed.
- New York : Alfred A. Knopf , 2011.
- 358 p. : ill. (some col.), map ; 25 cm.
"Originally published in Great Britain by Profile Books ... London, in 2011"--T.p. verso. "This is a Borzoi book"--T.p. verso.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
The town of George -- The town of Jones -- The golden Rupununi -- A parliament of ants -- The bloody Berbice -- Good morning, Suriname -- Paramaribo -- The hinterlands -- The last of the colonies, Guyane -- Epilogue -- Afterword.
Travel writer Gimlette offers a rare glimpse of a forgotten region: the formerly European colonies of Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, commonly known as the Guianas. As he describes his travels from coast to forest, through what he depicts as a muddy, rotting, stinking, stagnant landscape, he quickly realizes that Sir Walter Raleigh's 1596 account of bountiful riches might have bent the truth. The first quarter of the book reads like a Devil in the White City-style true crime account as he searches for the ghosts of the Reverend Jim Jones' Jamestown massacre of 1977. Gimlette then follows the footsteps of such notables as novelist Evelyn Waugh and V.S. Naipul, encountering natives as well as a sociologically-intriguing population "descended from people who'd rather have been somewhere else." Turning his attention to linguistics, Gimlette discuses certain humorous facts about the Surinamese language, "Talkie-talkie," in which "I love you" translates as "Mi lobi yu." The balance between history and travelogue would be an asset to curious travelers.
9780307272539
2011009370
Gimlette, John , 1963-
Guyana----Description and travel Suriname----Description and travel French Guiana----Description and travel