Philippe Drescola , The Spears of Twilight: Life and Death in the Amazon Jungle (Flamingo/New Press). Drescola, a French ethnologist, spent two years living among the Achuar of the Oriente in the 1970s, a time vividly and intelligently recounted in this memoir.

 

Joe Kane , Savages (Pan/Vintage). An affecting and sensitive book that never descends into sentimentalism, charting the protests of the Huaorani against what they call "the Company", the megalithic face of the multinational oil industry and all its supporting agencies. It's sprinkled with a poignant humour generated from the gap in cultures between the author and his subjects.

Randy Smith , Crisis Under the Canopy (Abya Yala, Ecuador). An in-depth look at tourism in the Oriente and its effect on the Huaorani people.

Rolf Wesche , The Ecotourist's Guide to the Ecuadorian Amazon (CEPEIGE, Ecuador). This book focuses on old Napo province (Baeza, Tena, Misahuallí and Coca) and although its town and hotel accounts are getting out of date, there are some good descriptions of petroglyph sites, caves and hikes, as well as a selection of excellent 1:50,000 maps.

Rolf Wesche and Andy Drumm , Defending Our Rainforest (Acción Amazonia, Ecuador). Full practical details and descriptions of many indigenous ecotourism projects in the Oriente, accompanied by spirited analysis of why they could be the salvation of the forests and its people.