God in the Rainforest: A Tale of Martyrdom and Redemption in Amazonian Ecuador

Long (The Revival of 1857–58) examines the 1956 killings of five missionaries in Ecuador in this intense, demanding book. The missionaries, all young men from Protestant evangelical denominations, were killed by local Waorani, a small, reclusive tribe known for their violence whom the missionaries were trying to reach. The story of continuing attempts to reach the Waorani as well as accounts of the deaths of the five young men became, Long argues, of vital importance for American Protestant evangelicals, key to fund-raising efforts as well as to the design of other missions. This is a complex, nuanced story with multiple, competing narrators from the missionary, Ecuadorian, international, and Waorani communities. Long is careful to give as much attention as possible to Waorani voices, which is particularly difficult given that the tribe had no consistent written language before the intervention of the missionaries. Long makes good use of oral histories and interviews as well as the more complex life of Dayomae, a long-time Christian convert who worked closely for many years with Protestant missionaries. This is a diligent, open-ended exploration of a little-known international incident. [em](Feb.) [/em]