This is a fascinating book about a long forgotten World War II History of the Rubber Industry in Brazil. The first part of the book is well written and illustrated with historical photographs. The authors begin with a history of the Rubber Industry in Brazil and the efforts to continue production during the war. The second part of the book however is nothing but letters and tables. I wondered why many of the letters were even included. The book is well written. Despite the problems I would still recommend reading this book for anyone interested in World War II.

This work is clearly a labor of love for the authors, whose long residence in Brazil allowed them to interview surviving tappers and translate a trove of documents. The story is a dramatic one, since in 1941, most of the world's rubber was under the control of the Japanese--to manufacture the tires, insulated wires, surgical tubing and waterproof material desperately needed, FDR needed to amp up the Good Neighbor relationship with the Vargas government to revive the rubber industry eclipsed by southeast Asia (ironically, it was the British who had stolen rubber plant seeds and transplanted them to their plantations there). 50,000 Brazilians, under horrific circumstances, did battle with the jungle rather than an armed foe to keep this vital material flowing, while U-boat attacks on Brazilian ships kept the war popular on the Brazilian homefront. Unfortunately, this is written in a clunky way, with embedded documents and poor contextualization.