Books

The World Is Burning: Murder in the Rain Forest (1990)

Alex Shoumatoff documents the plight of the Amazon rainforest and the events that ultimately led to the assassination of Mendes.

Fight for the Forest: Chico Mendes in His Own Words (1992)

In this book, Chico Mendes talks about his life’s work in his last major interview. He shares about the successes and failures he had in his life, as well as the struggles that the people of the Amazon rainforest faced. This book has additional material by Tony Gross, who writes on the trial and conviction of Mendes’ assassins.

Gomercindo Rodrigues is a close associate of Chico Mendes and writes of his experience with Mendes. It details the struggle between Brazil’s rubber tappers and the local ranchers, as well as the problems of public security and justice in which the rubber tappers lived and worked in.

Media

This documentary tells the story of the battle between the people of the Amazon rainforest and those that want to exploit it. It provides insight through interviews from rubber tappers, politicians, scientists, police and cattle ranchers, as well as Mendes himself about the devastation of the rainforest.

Directed by John Frankenheimer, this film follows Chico Mendes (Raul Julia) and his struggle to fight and protect the Amazon rainforest. The film focused much on the events that took place between 1983 to 1988, at the peak of Mendes’ activism.