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Book Review
| O Mito Moderno da Natureza Intocada [The Modern Myth of Untouched Nature]. By Antonio Carlos Diegues. São Paulo, Brazil: Editora Hucitec Ltda., 4th ed. 2002. 176 pp. Bibliography. $13.14.
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| John Muir's final and epic journey to the Brazilian Amazon went practically unnoticed at the time. Nevertheless, Muir and other icons of the American conservation movement would leave big footprints on Brazil's land and people. Their ideal of wilderness as a place where man visits but does not remain became not only the bedrock philosophy of America's national park system, but that of Brazil and many other countries as well. A worthy export indeed, most Americans would say. |
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Not so, replies Antonio Carlos Diegues. This professor of economics and rural sociology at the University of S˜o Paulo maintains that the U.S.-inspired "myth of untouched nature" has been bad for traditional peoples and even bad for biological diversity. This book, currently available in Portuguese, would be of great value to scholars worldwide should a translation become available. |
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According to Diegues, there is nothing worthy of emulation in the way the United States forcibly expelled Native Americans in order to establish Yellowstone National Park. Following suit, Brazil created its otherwise admirable system of protected areas by replacing indigenous peoples, artesanal fishermen, and forest "extractivists" with tourists and park guards. |
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