Very little has been written specifically about the Atlantic Rainforest, but "With Broadax and Firebrand" by Warren Dean is a fascinating history of 12,000 years of the Atlantic Rainforest, in particular its rapid destruction in recent years. Read this, and you will understand the uniqueness and importance of our forest. Another important work is Galindo-Leal's "The Atlantic Forest of South America", published by Island Press.

With regard to Rainforest flora and fauna we would recommend "Tropical Nature" by Adrian Forsyth & Ken Miyata. It is not exhaustive (given rainforest biodiversity its impossible to be!) but is a well-written, very readable look at some rainforest plants, insects and animals, and draws out their complex interrelationships.

"The Last Rainforests" by Mitchell Beazley, in association with The World Conservation Union, is a glossy, beautiful book, which looks at rainforests worldwide -- plants, insects, birds, animals, people, and their conservation. It was the first book to publish maps of the past and present distribution of the rainforests, and clearly demonstrate their destruction. The book is beautifully illustrated. (ISBN 0 85533 789 3).

Another globally encompassing book, with more excellent photographs, is "People of the Tropical Rain Forest" by Denslow & Padoch. It looks at forest dwellers from prehistory to the present day, and discusses all the related topics from deforestation, to the impact of big business, and sustainable use.

The rainforests are not disappearing in isolation -- so are the inhabitants. John Hemming's "Red Gold: The Conquest of the Brazilian Indians" will tell you just about all you need to know about the conquest and colonization of Brazil by the Portuguese, and the consequent decimation of the indigenous population.

Which is not to suggest that violence and death in the rainforest is a thing of the past. Today, forest land is constantly being cleared by landless Brazilian "squatters" who are entitled to the land after having lived and worked on it for a year and a day. Unfortunately, many are intimidated into leaving the land by large landowners, and intimidation can go as far as murder. An excellent introduction to the complexities of Brazil's land wars is found in Binka Le Breton's "A Land to Die For", a tale of Padre Josimo, a priest who paid with his life for his support of the oppressed.

And of course, there is the famous "The Burning Season" by Andrew Revkin. Charting the life of Chico Mendes, perhaps the best known person thus far to die in Brazil's struggle, Mendes founded Brazil's union of rubber tappers, and won international acclaim for his role in the non-violent campaign to protect the Amazon rainforest on which their lives depend. He was murdered by a hired assassin in 1988.

The future of the forest lies with the people who inhabit it: Indians, loggers, ranchers, river people, rubber tappers and miners. "Voices from the Amazon" by Binka Le Breton gives the forest dwellers a chance to express their own views on the development of the forest. Strangely enough, not many people thought to ask them before...

If you don't know Brazil well, a very enlightening book about our culture is an collection of essays by sociologist observers of the Brazilian scene, some national and some foreign, by David Hess and our leading social commentator, Roberto da Matta.The book is called The Brazilian Puzzle.

A good, racy account of modern Brazil is Peter Robb's A Death in Brazil (published by Picador) that describes the political machinations of the early 1990s leading to the first and only presidential impeachment in Latin American history.

And, finally, if you want a feel for Brazil in general you can do little better than read some of the magnificent fiction written by her authors. Whilst we are hardly being revolutionary in recommending you read Márcio Souza, "The Emperor of the Amazon" is a great, comic tale of a true scoundrel and his adventures in the Amazon, by a man who has written many a fine work.