How thankful I am as a reader that Harper's editors did not slash and burn her political writing which in my view is the crux of the book. The betrayal of the village, Ranotsara, in southeastern Madagascar, where Harper lived for fifteen months, by the Ranomafana National Park Project, the United States Agency for International Development, and other organizations of "good will" is astonishing. Her writing of the events is brilliant in large part because she stops just before nailing to the wall the puppets in those organizations. She leaves them twisting in the wind, unwilling, unable, or both, to make a case for themselves, no matter how obvious their desperation and denial.
The deaths in Ranotsara Dr. Harper witnessed, grieved, and tried hard to sing about bring to the fore the absolute decay of honor in these days of diminishing returns for the written word and honorable deeds hijacked by hapless do-gooders, doing more harm than good. The moment in the book when Harper's father dies is one of the most honest accounts of the multiple shocks she was electrified by in Ranotsara, as the "Tanala" (people of the forest) grieved their ever increasing dead.
Make no mistake, this book is not about Dr. Harper. It is about a village and a people she grew to love. It is about her culture shock in doing the work she obviously loves and the Tanala who are simply trying to preserve their culture and stay alive. There should be an English word stronger, brighter, and more endearing than 'endangered'. The people of the forest deserve it.
(**Please note** My name is David Harrington Campbell, the author of the recently published novel, DANCING ON THE CELLAR DOOR, currently available on Amazon.)
Endangered Species fits well in the finest activist ethnographic tradition alongside such works as Nancy Scheper-Hughes' Death Without Weeping, and Paul Farmer's The Uses of Haiti. Janice Harper's rich analysis enlarges our understanding of the impacts of international conservation programs, as well as our understanding of links between the environment, health and culture.