In 1989, I spent four months roaming the Amazon rain forest of Brazil, researching the life, assassination and legacy of Chico Mendes for my first book, The Burning Season.

https://islandpress.org/books/burning...

Mendes, raised in the forest, was a rubber-tree tapper and union organizer who became an international leader of efforts to stem a rising tide of deforestation driven by largely-lawless cattle ranchers and developers.

His legacy has fresh meaning as Luis Ignacio Lula Da Silva returns to the presidency of Brazil. Lula and Mendes were Workers Party allies during the military dictatorship and Lula has pledged to end Amazon deforestation but faces big challenges.

When the book was published in 1990, I made the rounds of TV and radio shows. One interview stood out – my hourlong conversation with the legendary historian and radio host Studs Terkel.

Recently Chicago’s great WFMT Radio Network and the Chicago History Museum posted an archive of hundreds of Stud’s interviews, including mine on the web. The Library of Congress and National Endowment for the Humanities supported the effort.

The full archive is at https://studsterkel.org.

Here's the audio of The Burning Season conversation:

https://studsterkel.wfmt.com/programs...

More at https://revkin.substack.com