Land Without Evil: Utopian Journeys Across the South American Watershed

In 1990, by train, plane, bus, car and motorcycle, Gott ( Guerilla Movements in Latin America ) journeyed from east to west across central South America through the swamps and plains of Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay, on a route marked by old Spanish and Portuguese mission settlements. Rich in the geography and history of this little-chronicled area, this thoughtful, well-researched account details the ravages that European colonists inflicted on populous Indian nations. While he mentions that some of the Jesuit missions, particularly those in the northern section of the region, offered positive cultural and agricultural changes to the indigenous peoples, Gott believes that elsewhere the missionaries were a nearly military force that collaborated with the European invaders. In a final note, he suggests that there is enough documentation available to support a revision of the ``archaic and racist view of South American history that has prevailed for so long.'' Illustrations not seen by PW. (Jan.)