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Thy Will Be Done: The Conquest of the Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil

gerard colby charlotte dennett

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Examining the motives, deeds, and tragic repercussions of their intervention in the Amazon and Central America, a study reveals the legacies of Nelson Rockefeller, who secured natural resources for American corporations, and Cameron Townsend, who saved souls at any cost.

1008 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1995

This edition

Format
1008 pages, Paperback
Published
January 1, 1996 by HarperCollins
ISBN
9780060927233
ASIN
0060927232
Language
English
Characters More characters
  • Nelson Rockefeller

    Nelson Rockefeller

    Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979) was an American businessman, philanthropist, public servant, and politician. He served as the 41st Vice President of the United States (1974–1977) under President Gerald Ford, and as the 49th Go...

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About the author

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gerard colby

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Gerard Colby is an author and past president of the US National Writers Union, where he previously held various chair positions. From 1997 to 2001 he served as chair of the Vermont section.
He is notable for authoring Du Pont: Behind The Nylon Curtain. The 1974 publication was put under contract by Prentice-Hall in anticipation of a significant quantity of books sold to Book of the Month. The book painted a portrait of DuPont enterprises and the DuPont family that was characterized as "sober but unflattering" by some but as presenting a Marxist interpretation of the company by others. In response to pressure from DuPont, Book-of-the-Month cancelled its preorder. In anticipation of lower sales, Prentice-Hall reduced its print run and scaled back its marketing plans. Colby (Zilg) sued Prentice-Hall for breach of contract. In the federal case Zilg v Prentice-Hall, Inc., the Federal District Court in New York awarded Colby damages of $24,000. In 1984 the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overturned the ruling. The US Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal the same year. The suit is an important example of case law relating to the practice of privishing (private publishing) where a publishing house reduces its print run and support of a book so much that the book fails to reach the public.

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Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 12 votes)
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12 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
RMB2
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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Fascinating book on Nelson Rockefeller and the Rockefeller family, politics, native Americans, indigenous people, religion and the intrusion of these influences in opening up and degrading the Amazon rain forest and other locales.
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totetwotechs
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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18 years of research

As the two subtitles indicate, Colby and Dennett investigate the long career of this Rockefeller scion. However, they not only include a necessarily detailed context for his domestic activities and his political rise to the vice-president role under Gerald Ford, but his very long association with the ordinary-sounding Summer Institute of Linguistics, but its parent organization, Wycliffe Bible Translators, Their relentless mission to bring the Gospel to every nation by rendering its native tongue into scripture sounds innocuoue. But these researchers unearth the entangled ties of SIL to leading American multinational corporations, far beyond Standard Oil or Chase Bank.

In these hundreds of pages, the scholars dig into archives, scour public records and dozens of newspapers and magazines of all sizes and circulations, and countless interviews. Their book appeared in the middle of the Nineties, so they lacked the assistance of the net. This makes their achievements all the more valuable, for it's evident the compilers had to slog through thousands of sources, many not easily available, and given the limitations placed upon them by the Rockefeller's estate to quote verbatim from its documents, admirable. For they managed to tell this extremely complicated narrative in c!ear prose, apt metaphors, and patient exposition.

I'd have liked more background on the Dynasty first patriarch regarding how he forced the railroads to haul "his" oil cheaper for rebates, while finagling for his rivals to be charged exorbitantly...and how Southern California became at the dawn of Fundamentalism a bastion, but the abundant documentation doubtless elucidates many matters that must be suggested rather than expanded. For this massive work, with a 2018 update in its forward following brother David's century-plus life and deeds, remains invaluable for anyone looking deeper at the SIL's impacts not only in the Amazon, but across the...a telling term..."developing world" where capitalism, Christianity, the CIA, cronies, and collusion among the elites who run our society appear to shut out any competition.
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WazEvergarden
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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This one took me quite a while, but was worth it. Well-organized (and exceptionally well-sourced). Though it covers a lot in detail, the authors make it coherent and fascinating. Worth it for anyone interested in the history of United States “development” of Latin America.
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loungyoo
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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Interesting book

I found it interesting to see how business, politics, education, and religion can be combined to build wealth. Most of us know this is reality, but to see it explained step by bloody step is quite eye-opener. Although this book is quite interesting is proceeds extremely slowly. Slowly. It is a long book. It makes you really wonder about our country.
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HauntingShock
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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This book is now over 20 years old, but well worth the read. Although a large volume (about 850 pages, not counting footnotes), it flows easily and is interesting. There is a lot of information unearthed about Nelson Rockefeller, the CIA and its major players, and various corporate interests in South America throughout the 20th century. The other arena explored in detail is the relationship of William Cameron Townsend (founder of Wycliffe Bible Translators, JAARS, and SIL) with Rockefeller interests and other corporate sponsors. It is hard not to come away with a somewhat jaded or cynical view of mission boards. New Tribes Mission and Christian & Missionary Alliance (CMA) are mentioned a few times with respect to abuse of indigenous tribes in South America. This book was written before a lot of the more recent revelations of mission board abuses have been brought to light, such as those of ABWE in Bangladesh. The common thread seems to be the adoption of the corporate model in missions.
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ErnieE
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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More of a focus on Wycliffe Bible Translators than just any Rockefeller... this goes all over the place without a discernible narrative beyond missionaries and academics being used by private actors trying to influence government policy from the early 20th century to the trilateral commission days. Primarily South America but touches on Asia and the Middle East. Lots of sources.
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Annabeth_96
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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You'll never look at Carmen Miranda the same way again. I read it in conjunction with some of Gabriel Kolko's histories, and got a real lesson in how the world's governments and industries (actually, trading blocs) work. Sounds dry, isn't.
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Rylston
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 16,2025
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The most detailed description anyone will ever need to have of the deadly confluence of the Rockefellers' insatiable desire for oil and resources, the CIA's fanatical drive for US political hegemony, and the Christian Fundamentalists' lust for souls, and what it did to an entire continent's land and peoples for most of a century. Academics should pay great attention to exactly how linguists, anthropologists, sociologists, botanists and geologists were recruited to participate in terrorism and genocide. Saddest of all is the lingering idea that even with all the remarkable political changes in the last decade in Latin America, and now in the Middle East, the bad old days have not gone away for good, and the same interests: financial, corporate, military and "soldiers of the Lord" may be coming together again in a last stand for the re-taking of a 'lost' hemisphere, with America's insatiable demand for both energy and drugs as the driving force. US global power, both soft and hard, may be in irreversible decline, but the question this book forces you to ask is: how much will it take with it before it goes down for good?
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