When We Sold God's Eye

The astonishing true story of how one the Amazon's last uncontacted tribes came to embrace capitalism (and all its bloody consequences) by operating an illegal diamond mine in the depths of the rainforest

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'A first-class work of reporting [and] a work of compassion for Indigenous peoples everywhere' BENJAMIN MOSER, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of SONTAG

'A non-fiction novel of modern conquest, capitalism and murder . . . a stunning work' GREG GRANDIN, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of FORDLANDIA

Growing up in a remote corner of the Amazon, Pio, Maria, and Oita learned to hunt wild pigs and tapirs, gathering Brazil nuts and açaí berries from centuries-old trees. Then the first highway pierced through. Loggers and prospectors invaded, and they lost their families to terrible new weapons and diseases. Pushed to assimilate, they struggled to understand their new, capitalist reality. They ended up forging an uneasy symbiosis with their white antagonists - until a seam of diamonds erupted in their territory and decades of suppressed trauma burst out in a shocking act of retribution.

Based on six years of immersive reporting and research, WHEN WE SOLD GOD'S EYE tells a unique kind of adventure story, a story of survival against all odds; of the temptations of wealth and the dream of prosperity; of a vital ecosystem threatened by the hunger for natural resources; of genocide and revenge. It's a story as old as the first European encounters with Indigenous people, playing out in the present day. But most of all, it's about a few startlingly clever individuals and their power to adapt - even thrive - in the most unlikely circumstances.