Searching for El Dorado
Subtitle: a journey into the South American rain forest on the tail of the world's largest gold rush
By: Marc Herman.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: N.A. Talese/Doubleday
Published: 2003
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 253
Subjects: Herman, Marc, 1969-; Rain forests -- Amazon River Region.; Gold mines and mining -- Amazon River Region.; Adventure and adventurers -- Amazon River Region.; Guyana -- Description and travel.; Venezuela -- Description and travel.; Amazon River Region -- Description and travel.; El Dorado.
Description: "The search for the lost City of Gold in the Amazon basin has inspired adventurers since the days of the Spanish conquistadors and Sir Walter Raleigh. Intrigued by the cultural, economic, and environmental fallout of a five-hundred-year gold rush, journalist Marc Herman traveled to the rainforests of Guyana, where he joined up with a rowdy crew of local gold miners as they pursued their dreams of riches." "In an adventure-filled narrative rich with humor and empathy, Herman brings to life the group of miners. They are independent prospectors who wear all their earnings on their fingers and around their necks - their bank accounts are oversized rings and huge gold necklaces. But yards away from the mines where these men seek their fortunes with techniques reminiscent of California's forty-niners - dynamite, tin pans, and wooden sluices - there are mines run by international corporations that fail to alleviate the area's poverty despite their tremendous technological and political power."--Jacket.