We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People by Nemonte Nenquimo, Mitch Anderson (Hardcover)

Nonfiction - Biography & Autobiography - Memoir - Indigenous - Environmentalists & Naturalists

RELEASE DATE: 9/17/2024 (WILL SHIP DIRECTLY FROM OUR SUPPLIER'S WAREHOUSE)

From a fearless, internationally acclaimed activist comes an impassioned memoir about an indigenous childhood, a clash of cultures, and the fight to save the Amazon rainforest

We Will Be Jaguars is an astonishing memoir by an equally astonishing woman. Nenquimo is a winner of TIME magazine’s Earth Award, and MS. magazine named this book among the Most Anticipated Feminist Books of 2024.

Born into the Waorani tribe of Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest—one of the last to be contacted by missionaries in the 1950s—Nemonte Nenquimo had a singular upbringing. She was taught about plant medicines, foraging, oral storytelling, and shamanism by her elders. At age fourteen, she left the forest for the first time to study with an evangelical missionary group in the city. Eventually, her ancestors began appearing in her dreams, pleading with her to return and embrace her own culture. She listened.

Two decades later, Nemonte has emerged as one of the most forceful voices in climate change activism. She has spearheaded the alliance of indigenous nations across the Upper Amazon and led her people to a landmark victory against Big Oil, protecting over a half million acres of primary rainforest. Her message is as sharp as a spear—honed by her experiences battling loggers, miners, oil companies and missionaries. In We Will Be Jaguars, she partners with her husband, Mitch Anderson, founder of Amazon Frontlines, digging into generations of oral history, uprooting centuries of conquest, hacking away at racist notions of indigenous peoples, and ultimately revealing a life story as rich, harsh, and vital as the Amazon rainforest herself.

AUTHOR BIO: 

Nemonte Nenquimo is a leader of the Waorani people, cofounder of the Ceibo Alliance, and an internationally acclaimed activist. Born in the Amazon region of Ecuador in 1985, she is a winner of the 2020 Goldman Environmental Prize and was named to TIME's 100 Most Influential People of 2020 list (lauded by Leonardo DiCaprio). 

Mitch Anderson is the founder and executive director of Amazon Frontlines, which supports the struggles of Indigenous peoples to defend their rights to land, life, and cultural survival in the Amazon rainforest. A native of the Bay Area, he is Nemonte's partner, and they have two young children.

"Everyone should read this--never has a book been more urgent. Truly soul-stirring, Nemonte's book is a radical manifesto for our times. It moved me to tears. Her story flows like a mighty river, and I was utterly taken by its current."-- "Vanessa Kirby, actress and activist"

"On one level, Nemonte Nenquimo's memoir is inspiring, moving, and unforgettable; a rarely seen, firsthand insight into a childhood spent in the Amazon rainforest and the extraordinary story of her fight to save it from oil companies. On another level, this intimate and motivating book should spur action from all of us: the fight to save our planet from exploitation is something that affects us all and is the responsibility of us all. Nenquimo's leadership and example should shame those of us in industrialized countries into changing the way we live and the way we see our world."-- "Rowan Hooper, author of How to Save the World for Just a Trillion Dollars and senior editor of the New Scientist"

"If you want to understand the climate crisis and do something about it, read this book. Nemonte's writing is as provocative as it is inspiring, a heroine speaking her truth which is exactly what we need to hear. Had we listened long ago to these voices we wouldn't be in the eye of the storm now."-- "Emma Thompson"