Wild Coast

Product Description

John Gimlette travels to Guyana to the Wild Coast in South America & discovers his ancestral colonial history
- one of brutal cruel & often uncomfortable truths. Between the Orinoco & the Amazon lies a fabulous forested land barely explored. Much of Guiana seldom sees sunlight & new species are often tumbling out of the dark trees. Shunned by the conquistadors it was left to others to carve into colonies. Guyana Suriname & Guyane Francaise are what remain of their contest & the 400 years of struggle that followed. Now award-winning author John Gimlette sets off along this coast gathering up its astonishing story. His journey takes him deep into the jungle from the hideouts of runaway slaves to penal colonies outlandish forts remote Amerindian villages a Little Paris & a space port. He meets rebels outlaws & sorcerers; follows the trail of a vicious Georgian revolt & ponders a love-affair that changed the face of slavery. Here too is Jonestown where in 1978 over 900 Americans members of Reverand Jones cult committed suicide. The last traces are almost gone now as the forest closes in. Beautiful bizarre & occasionally brutal this is one of the great forgotten corners of the Earth: the Wild Coast.