In the borderlands between the United States and Mexico, America's largest cat—the jaguar—is fighting to regain its kingdom. Added to the endangered species list in 1997, the jaguar has declined in population mainly due to habitat fragmentation created by roads, farms, mines, and most controversially, the border wall. Such human-made barriers prevent free movement of many wild animals for predation and mating, thereby threatening their reproduction, DNA transfer, and overall survival. Author and wildlife biologist Elizabeth Webb examines the jaguar's predicament and highlights the work of field scientists who are searching for solutions. "Conservation Connection" features throughout the book underscore the importance of protecting this keystone species of the Americas.
Not since Clifford Geertz's "Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight" has the publication of an anthropological analysis been as eagerly awaited as this book, Terence S. Turner's The Fire of the Jaguar. His reanalysis of the famous myth from the Kayapo people of Brazil was anticipated as an exemplar of a new, dynamic, materialist, action-oriented structuralism, one very different from the kind made famous by Claude L vi-Strauss. But the study never fully materialized. Now, with this volume, it has arrived, bringing with it powerful new insights that challenge the way we think about structuralism, its legacy, and the reasons we have moved away from it. In these chapters, Turner carries out one of the richest and most sustained analysis of a single myth ever conducted. Turner places the "Fire of the Jaguar" myth in the full context of Kayapo society and culture and shows how it became both an origin tale and model for the work of socialization, which is the primary form of productive labor in Kayapo society. A posthumous tribute to Turner's theoretical erudition, ethnographic rigor, and respect for Amazonian indigenous lifeworlds, this book brings this fascinating Kayapo myth alive for new generations of anthropologists. Accompanied with some of Turner's related pieces on Kayapo cosmology, this book is at once a richly literary work and an illuminating meditation on the process of creativity itself.
If it is a war they want, then it is a war I’ll give them. Because I am Soledad, The Pirate, and I will not rest until my people have been set free. Rejected by my mate, I set off in search of my lost sisters. Terrorizing the Ximerans in the process is just an added bonus. In a cruel twist, it is my own mate they send to find me. And even though our passion burns as fiercely as ever when he finally catches me, I refuse to submit. I will not simply roll over and show my belly to this brute of a man while my sisters and others like us are being hunted, our very nature twisted to be used against the innocent. The game is on, my love. Accept me, all of me, and stand beside me in battle. Or perish with the rest of your kind.
The jaguar is one of the most mysterious and least-known big cats of the world. The largest cat in the Americas, it has survived an onslaught of environmental and human threats partly because of an evolutionary history unique among wild felines, but also because of a power and indomitable spirit so strong, the jaguar has shaped indigenous cultures and the beliefs of early civilizations on two continents. In An Indomitable Beast: The Remarkable Journey of the Jaguar, big-cat expert Alan Rabinowitz shares his own personal journey to conserve a species that, despite its past resilience, is now on a slide toward extinction if something is not done to preserve the pathways it prowls through an ever-changing, ever-shifting landscape dominated by humans. Rabinowitz reveals how he learned from newly available genetic data that the jaguar was a single species connected genetically throughout its entire range from Mexico to Argentina, making it unique among all other large carnivores in the world. In a mix of personal discovery and scientific inquiry, he sweeps his readers deep into the realm of the jaguar, offering fascinating accounts from the field. Enhanced with maps, tables, and color plates, An Indomitable Beast brings important new research to life for scientists, anthropologists, and animal lovers alike. This book is not only about jaguars, but also about tenacity and survival. From the jaguar we can learn better strategies for saving other species and also how to save ourselves when faced with immediate and long-term catastrophic changes to our environment.
Compelling reading for anyone seeking the courage to make more conscious choices and live fully awake, The Necktie and The Jaguar is a memoir with thought-provoking questions that encourage self-exploration. Author Carl Greer—businessman, philanthropist, and retired Jungian analyst and clinical psychologist—offers an illuminating roadmap to individuation and personal transformation. Greer found security in conforming to the cultural expectations of a postwar, midwestern, middle-class upbringing after a childhood tragedy taught him to constrict his emotions. Becoming president of an independent oil and gas company, he drove his team to success and built his wealth only to find in midlife that his spiritual self was crying out for expression. Undergoing Jungian analysis and becoming an analyst himself offered some soul nourishment. So did studying and practicing martial arts, whose principles helped him navigate challenges in the world of work. Still, it wasn’t until Greer took a deep dive into shamanic training and practice that he was able to embody the qualities and emotions he had long denied and turn his attention to philanthropy. Writing about his spiritual practices and reflecting on his vulnerabilities, Greer tells of honoring his longings for purpose and meaning, journeying to transpersonal realms, reinventing his life, and devoting himself to service to others while living with deep respect for Pachamama, Mother Earth. His memoir is an inspirational testament to the power of self-discovery. As Carl Greer learned, you don’t have to feel trapped in a story someone else has written for you.
Two top of the line modern warriors, both orphaned in childhood, hunt one another throughout the cities and jungles of Latin America. As their hunt progresses, both discover they have been lured into this contest by Jaguar, a great spiritual power of the Amazon. Their hunt for one another turns into an otherworldly spiritual ordeal orchestrated by magical powers of the Amazon, an ordeal in which the former methods and rules by which they have fought and survived as modern day warriors are useless. Both men are motivated by deep, unshakable love. John Ashbrook, ex Navy SEAL turned deep cover spy, is hunting for his missing mentor and best bud, Ronnie Bates. Bates is the only close tie Ashbrook has let in since his family died when he was a young boy. As Ashbrook tries to pick up Bates’ trail, Bates begins appearing in Ashbrook’s dreams, dropping clues that actually work in the real world. Bates’ clues lead Ashbrook to Rafael Sanchez. Cast adrift on the harsh streets of Caracas Venezuela by the death of his parents at age 11, Rafael became a thief to provide for his 6 year old sister Maria. With his exceptional skills, athletic prowess and fierce courage Rafael rapidly shot up the ranks of the cartels, eventually becoming Pablo Escobar’s top gun and right hand man. But Rafael now wants to break free from the darkness of his past life to find a new, decent life with Isabel Londono, a woman he loves passionately. Isabel believes Rafael is a successful businessman and knows nothing of Rafael’s dark side, but begins to suspect that he may have one. Their relationship is threatened and pushed into crisis as she presses Rafael to confide in her, but Rafael resists as he knows there are powerful men that would kill her or worse to find him. Jaguar’s power is irresistible as he draws the men into the battle of their lives, facing their ultimate match as warriors in each other. From its beginning to the end this hunt is a high tension guessing game for both men as nobody, not even the highly accomplished native seers the men consult, can fathom what Jaguar’s ultimate design is. In a bizarre turn of events, Isabel unwittingly does the one thing that radically alters the fate of both men, proving that even in the great warrior Jaguar’s world love and its power of redemption are formidable forces to be reckoned with. But even with that, the men’s fierce battle will take them on an unforgettable journey into the realm of death. It is only here that Jaguar’s final test will take place and his ultimate design will be revealed.
Sable Darwin has run from her destiny for too long. Stepping away from her role as Beta of the Onyx Pack, she chooses to take her chances and face judgment for her crimes. Her only hope for survival is to trust the male who ripped her heart out and turned his back on her so many years before. Jared Nickels’ only loyalty is to the Alphas of Ashwood Falls. When he sees Sable again after fifteen years, he can’t stop himself from touching her. Through his Justice gift to see others’ pasts, he learns she’s not as guilty as he’d assumed. She’s actually one of the biggest victims in the war that her parents started. When the war shifts in favor of the enemy, Sable and Jared must band together to put an end to the threat. Or die trying.
What happens when one harrowing incident changes your life, splitting it between before and after? On the fourth day of what Lara Naughton thought would be two weeks of bliss in Belize, she was kidnapped and assaulted by a man pretending to be a cabdriver. Held in the depths of the tropical forest—alone with the jaguar Man—she found that compassion was her only defense. Lara’s survival and journey of healing is poignant, compelling, and exceptional. Bending the limits of reality, she uses myth to process her experience. As Lara seeks a new understanding of herself, her lyrical, haunting prose reveals a belief that there is room for compassion—for self and and others—even in the midst of violence. Lara Naughton is an author and documentary playwright. Her work includes Never Fight a Shark in the Water: The Wrongful Conviction of Gregory Bright. She is a certified Compassion Cultivation Trainer through The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University School of Medicine. She lives and teaches in New Orleans.
Diego DiSilva escapes death at the hands of the man he called father only to be thrust into an uncertain future with a shadowy Cortez, his alien allies the dark Suns, and a Mexica emperor determined to drive Cortez and the Dark Suns from the New World. Diego must overcome his fear of his psychic abilities and escape Cortez and his allies if he is to survive. His curiosity about a book called The Codex of Flowering Butterfly ends in a chance encounter with an alien device used by the Dark Suns. Diego flees to the camp of the Mexica where he confronts his greatest fear as he trains to become a Light Dancer and face the Mind Jewel. Can he overcome his past and his fears in time to help the Mexica drive the Dark Suns from their land? And what of the strange prophecy that states a war will start in this world and end in another? As Diego is drawn deeper into the conflict between old enemies, he finds that knowledge is his best ally.
