“The Ethnobotany of Eden is full of verve and enthusiasm, and Voeks is eclectic, erudite, and humorous as he ranges from the influence of the African diaspora, as they popularize their traditional medicines in the countries they now live in, to the meaning of kids’ eco-protest songs. It is always right to celebrate indigenous medicinal knowledge and mourn its loss. But Voeks’s challenge to the West’s muddled and dangerously romantic views of rainforests as phytomedical cornucopias and sources of near-mystical ‘purity’ for drugs is what singles his book out.”

Adrian Barnett | New Scientist

“We often tell ourselves a powerful story, according to Voeks, that ‘the biblical Garden of Eden, God’s sacred oasis of perpetual spring, healing leaves, and life everlasting, was hidden deep in the primordial rainforest.’ But although it makes a compelling argument for preserving such rainforests, is it really true that there is or was a world of ‘noble natives’ and ‘mysterious shamans’ which is also full of ‘miraculous drug plants’? Or is this largely just a Western fantasy? Here the author, drawing extensively on his experiences of working in Borneo, Brazil, and Mozambique, carefully untangles what may actually be true from what we would just like to believe.”

Times Higher Education

"The conclusions of this study need to be taken note of by both conservationists and politicians. . ."

Biodiversity and Conservation

“It is about time that a scholar criticizes the ‘jungle narrative’ that the rainforest is full of undeveloped medicines that can save us (i.e., the Western world) from disease. Based on sound scientific data, personal field experiences, and relevant literature, Voeks’s clear and well-written argument against the general clichés of ethnobotany, medicinal plants, indigenous peoples, traditional knowledge, and rainforests is original and refreshing. Especially in this time of fake news, racial debates, and environmental destruction, I welcome this rational debunking of the prejudices and myths of ethnobotany, written by one of the leading and most respected scientists in this field.”

Tinde van Andel, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Wageningen University, and Leiden University

“From ancient Greek accounts of tropical peoples as cannibalistic savages to modern tales of wise shamans, Voeks covers two thousand years of ethnobotanical history. There exists no shortage of books focusing on medicinal plants or colonial exploitation of tropical peoples, but the authors often either are poor historians or fail to cover relevant areas of botany and ethnobotany. Voeks is a serious scholar, and his knowledge of subjects as diverse as history, chemistry, and botany is both broad and deep. As such, The Ethnobotany of Eden will be an important contribution. This book is an accurate and compelling account of the non-native discovery of tropical plants and peoples from the ancient world to the modern.”

Mark J. Plotkin, PhD, President of the Amazon Conservation Team and author of "Tales of a Shaman’s Apprentice: An Ethnobotanist Searches for New Medicines in the Amazon Rain Forest"

“Voeks provides a rich historical and contemporary account of the narratives constructed around the West’s conflicted love-and-fear relationship with tropical forests and their inhabitants. This eloquent book presents the reader with a mirror that reveals the solipsistic face of the intellectual North, a face more than ready to forget about, and trample on, the rights of those who inhabit tropical regions rich in plants but lacking access to mainstream economy. Voeks’s love for his scientific field of study shines through in the details with which he carefully examines and unravels the history of the jungle medicine story. It is a narrative that will draw the reader into a book that is scientifically compelling and successfully bridges the humanities and natural sciences. Bravo!”

Ina Vandebroek, Institute of Economic Botany, New York Botanical Garden

"Remarkable...engaging and fascinating...a tour de force. The Ethnobotany of Eden explores the history of medicine, voyages of discover, and the evolution of natural products-derived medicine."

HerbalGram