The Thief at the End of the World: Rubber, Power, and ... (ISBN 0143114611)

Informative and well-written:
"The Thief at the End of the World" by J Jackson is another book in the popular genre of the history of everyday things - in this case, how natural rubber was taken from its home in Brazil. Jackson writes somewhat in the style of a thriller writer, but it is appropriate given the tale of deception and theft that he relates. He is actually a fine writer - far superior to the soulless journalese of many books in this genre. His gift for writing and description makes the book quite exciting, but he does not fall into the trap of "embellishing" the tale for dramatic effect. Henry Wickham, the central figure in the story, is one of those driven, obsessed men who were so common in the Victorian era of the British Empire, and even until World War 2. They were usually flawed and often tragic figures who played key roles in the saga of Empire building. What was it about Great Britain in the19th century that produced such an abundance of restless men? In reading this book, one is struck by the trials Wickham endured, his disappointments, his brushes with death in remote jungles. Yet he always got up to try again, driven by some inner vision. After reading his story, one is filled with admiration for such people. There is a very moving portrait in the book of Wickham, aged over 80, posing in slight profile for the camera. He looks strong and healthy, with the face of a much younger man. In the evening of his life, recognition and honours were showered on him and one might have expected a happy, even triumphant air in such a portrait. But the wary eyes and the sad smile half-hidden by his great moustache tell of his trials, and of unfulfilled dreams that died in the remoter regions of the British Empire. Jackson gives an excellent account of the frantic Rubber Boom to hit the Amazon in the early years of the 20th century as demand for rubber for tyres, insulation and many other products soared and vast fortunes were made and squandered in luxuries such as the Opera house at Manaus. The bubble was quickly followed by a classic bust as plantation rubber from Wickham's smuggled seeds quickly killed the Amazonian wild supply. Jackson's description of the boom and bust is one of the best accounts I have read and applies to all bubbles - right down to those of our day, such as the mad dotcom bubble. There is a deeper message in the story of this book that Jackson only briefly alludes to. In the 19th century Empire-builders such as the English believed that everything in nature was put there by God for the use and pleasure of Man (but other countries were arguably much worse). This was the religious justification for ruthless exploitation of nature for profit and "sport". Thankfully, most of the worst excesses of that era are past. But many traditional societies in poor countries are still being plundered for their knowledge of the medicinal and other uses of plants. Foreign companies often develop lucrative products based on this knowledge, but they rarely ever compensate the people from whom they stole the knowledge in the first place. Sadly, many traditional societies are easy prey, and the predators often lack sufficient moral restraint to prevent injustices being done. Not surprisingly, the custodians of traditional knowledge are waking up to the exploiters and are starting to realise the value of what they have. They are becoming increasingly reluctant to share knowledge with inquisitive foreigners. No one wins in this situation: the world is denied potential new drugs and the knowledge itself risks being lost as traditional societies change and custodians of knowledge die out. Jackson's descriptions of the Amazonian tropical jungles are particularly evocative and accurate. I have travelled through the jungles of the Amazon and Central America and I often felt the joy of recalling familiar things while reading this book. The river boats on which I have travelled are almost the same as the boats described in the book. Although Brazil is central to the story, and numerous place names are mentioned, there is not a single map in the book. It's an astonishing omission, since most readers will be unfamiliar with the detailed geography of either country. Being able to see on a map the places that played key roles in the drama would have added greatly to the book. There is an extensive section of notes and an exhaustive bibliography. The bottom line: I really liked this book. It is enjoyable and informative read about a little-known episode of biopiracy, written by an author who knows his craft.

When Natural Rubber Was An Instrument Of Empire:
The story of an earlier resource bubble, one that had a longer run but crashed spectacularly anyway. It is also the story of conscious empire building, using natural rubber as a lever in an attempt to dominate world trade. The book follows the depressing career of a decidedly unlikely adventurer, whose exploits in getting rubber seeds from Amazonia to England's Kew Gardens would be hard to duplicate if it were a fictional story. Along with the rubber seeds are other social and class seeds that ultimately led to the British Empire's fall. The book's 13 chapters are divided into three parts that cover a brief overview of natural rubber's harvesting and early uses, the collection and transport of the seeds, and the subsequent path of the latex industry up until the 1930s. Capped by an epilog, three appendices and an ample bibliography, this book is rewarding on several levels: As an amazing, almost unbelievable adventure story; as a history of what was once a crucial natural resource; and a comparative study of the Amazonian and late Victorian cultures.

An epic about rubber and its history:
Rubber would not at first seem like such an exciting product. However, the history of it, from La Condamine's first samples brought from the Amazon to France to the momentous steal of seeds by Wickham (main character of the book) to Kew Gardens and later to Malaysia, is a truly outstanding saga of what would today be known as biopiracy but was at the time simply the obligation to serve the British crown. The economic collapse left behind by rubber in the Amazon is coupled with the progress brought upon the British colonies in southeast Asia. The book contemplates the history of why rubber (along with coal and steel) became such a valuable material desired and needed for much of the industrial and railroad revolution. The bottleneck was supply of rubber, which came from the tree in not too reachable circumstances in the Amazon. Wickham and the British crown sought to make it more productive and widely available (hence cheaper). In the midst of it all is the curious Wickham character - part idealist, part opportunist, who would eventually sacrifice everything (family, love, etc.) chasing dreams across the world from the Amazon to New Guinea. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is widely knowledgeable about the Amazon and would like more info on this singular event that changed its history.

Adventures in rubber:
Henry Wickham left Britain to Central and South America in 1866 when he was 20. He wanted to be a writer/explorer and to shoot exotic birds and export skins and feathers for the ladies-hat trade. Wickham failed miserably; the parrots and toucans exploded into gristle and fluff when shot, and Wickham developed boils and just escaped a cholera epidemic. Joe Jackson wrote this excellent, well researched history focusing on his return voyage. Wickham sought "like others before him, an unspecified El Dorado." In 1876, he found his treasure in the Santarém area of Brazil, the seeds of the Hevea brasiliensis tree, which produced "white gold". Charles Goodyear discovered the vulcanization process in 1839. Natural rubber could be heated and chemically treated to make it stable and pliable. There was enormous world-wide demand for rubber products, which continues today. Gaskets for railroad steam engines and factory turbines were particularly important markets. Hevea trees appeared in the rain forest "at a rate of two or three per acre as if someone had scattered them from cloud level like a giant Johnny Appleseed." William Jackson Hooker was a university professor and the head of Kew's Royal Botanic Gardens. He dreamed of cultivating hevea trees outside the Amazon valley. Hooker was contemptuous of amateur botanists like Wickham, and he had received rotten seeds from others in the past. Despite his skepticism, he encouraged Wickham. Wickham accepted a small commission from Hooker and spent weeks collecting seeds, 70,000 in all, despite venomous snakes, violent deaths and jungle-borne diseases. He learned from Hooker how to avoid earlier mistakes; he dried and packed the seeds "between banana leaves to soak up excess oil." Wickham is considered a "bio-pirate" in Brazil. It was not illegal to take hevea seeds out of Brazil but to avoid red tape and perhaps to add a bit of spice to the expedition, Wickham secretly loaded the seeds into a ship in darkness. (He may have misrepresented his cargo as dead botanical material destined for the herbarium in order to obtain an export license in Belém.) In later years, Wickham encouraged the idea that his seeds had been loaded aboard a ship under the nose of a gunboat which "would have blown us out of the water had her commander suspected what we were doing". The ship took Wickham and the seeds to Liverpool, and Wickham raced to Hooker's London home in the middle of the night, waking Hooker with pebbles thrown against a window pane. Hooker ordered a special train delivery for the next day, and the seeds were quickly planted. 2,700 of the seeds germinated, about 4%. The seedlings were shipped to Ceylon, India, Malaya and Singapore -- and the global rubber-plantation industry was born. Jackson's book is weaker on the details of how the industry actually developed; 1900 of the seedlings were sent to the Botanic Gardens at Colombo, where 90 per cent survived; 18 went to the Botanic Gardens at Bogor, Indonesia, where two survived; and 50 went to Singapore where probably none survived. The Heneratgoda Botanic Gardens in Colombo, Sri Lanka became the major source of rubber seeds. Rubber plantations in Asia were much more efficient than in Brazil. The plantations were organized for commercial production; in Brazil gathering latex from forest trees was difficult because rubber tree densities were very low in the high natural forest diversity. Brazilian trees were also vulnerable to South American rubber tree leaf blight fungus and other diseases and pests. Jackson's book is well written and tells an interesting story well. I particularly enjoyed Jackson's description of the personalities involved in this important industrial product. Robert C. Ross 2008

A Look at Thief at the End of the World:
All preliminary material was good and led me to the correct Book.I saw it through two lenses.As an adjunct to my own research it was great, pinpointing the world of the Louisiade with great accuracy.Joe Jackson is to be congratulated on his research. As a straight read I had to give up. It jumped around too much. However if the reader selects specific scenarios and sticks to those they should be happy. It is a very interesting topic.