Daniel Rey
From Regent’s Canal to the River Amazon
The Gold Machine: In the Tracks of the Mule Dancers
By Iain Sinclair
Oneworld 421pp £20
In 1891, Arthur Sinclair, botanist, writer and surveyor, was sent to assess ten million acres of land in the Peruvian Amazon. Crippled by defeat in the War of the Pacific (1879–84), Peru had defaulted on its debt payments and was now being forced to cede immense assets, including land and railways, to its British creditors, the Peruvian Corporation of London.
Sinclair gave a glowing appraisal of the region’s arable potential. ‘What crops of vegetables and fruit might not be produced in such a climate and such a soil!’ he wrote in his memoir, In Tropical Lands (1895). ‘Had poor old Malthus only been permitted to look upon a
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Although a pioneering physicist and mathematician, Blaise Pascal made it his mission to identify the divine presence in everyday life.
Costica Bradatan explores what such a figure has in common with later thinkers like Kierkegaard.
Costica Bradatan - Descartes Be Damned
Costica Bradatan: Descartes Be Damned - Blaise Pascal: The Man Who Made the Modern World by Graham Tomlin
literaryreview.co.uk
The era of dollar dominance might be coming to an end. But if not the dollar, which currency will be the backbone of the global economic system?
@HowardJDavies weighs up the alternatives.
Howard Davies - Greenbacks Down, First Editions Up
Howard Davies: Greenbacks Down, First Editions Up - Our Dollar, Your Problem: An Insider’s View of Seven Turbulent...
literaryreview.co.uk
Johannes Gutenberg cut corners at every turn when putting together his bible. How, then, did his creation achieve such renown?
@JosephHone_ investigates.
Joseph Hone - Start the Presses!
Joseph Hone: Start the Presses! - Johannes Gutenberg: A Biography in Books by Eric Marshall White
literaryreview.co.uk