Author Talk: “Into the Amazon” with Mass Book Award-honoree Larry Rohter

Join the Vineyard Haven Public Library at 6:00 pm on Tuesday, May 20th for a book talk with Mass Book Award-honoree Larry Rohter! Rohter will discuss his thrilling new biography, Into the Amazon, which celebrates the great indigenous Brazilian explorer, scientist, statesman, and conservationist, Cândido Rondon. Into the Amazon: The Life of Cândido Rondon, Trailblazing Explorer, Scientist, Statesman, and Conservationist is at once a traditional adventure yarn, an introduction to modern Brazilian history, and a meditation on race and exploration. 

This event will be held at the Katharine Cornell Theatre at 51 Spring Street in Vineyard Haven (above the Tisbury Town Hall). The program is sponsored by the Mass Book Awards Speakers Bureau and is presented in collaboration with the Massachusetts Center for the Book. Free and open to the public. No registration required.  

Between 1890 and 1930, Cândido Rondon navigated scores of previously unmapped rivers, traversed untrodden mountain ranges, and hacked his way through inhospitable jungles. In 1913-14, he led Theodore Roosevelt and his son Kermit on their celebrated “River of Doubt” journey. Upon leaving the Brazilian Army in 1930, Rondon devoted the remainder of his life to writing about the region’s flora and fauna, advocating for his fellow Indigenous people who inhabited the rainforest, and lobbying for the creation of a system of national parks. Rondon’s many achievements earned him three nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize, yet he has never received his due. Originally published in Brazil, Into the Amazon is the first comprehensive biography of the greatest tropical explorer in history.

Larry Rohter was the Rio de Janeiro bureau chief for the New York Times from 1998 to 2008 and held the same role at Newsweek from 1977 to 1982. He is the author of two previous books about Brazil, one in Portuguese and one in English: Deu no New York Times and Brazil on the Rise: The Story of a Country Transformed. He divides his time between the United States and Brazil.

For more information, please contact the library at vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org or (508) 696-4211.