Professors Schultes and Raffauf, in this handsome re-issue of their classic book, take us on a journey to a place where healing with plants is the norm, and where ritual and magic play an essential role in everyday life. This book is the story of a time that was — a time when Amazon Indians, living in their verdant and expansive rainforest environment, had a minimum of contact with cultures of the outside world. Thus, we have a first-hand picture of traditional life in this region.

Vine of the Soul is an exceptional photographic essay accompanied by detailed descriptions on the Amazon Indian’s use of medicinal and other sacred plant substances. Included are over 160 of the most significant photographs ever taken on this subject, and an extraordinary amount of information on the ethnobotany and phytochemistry of the plants used by people from this region.

“Quite simply a masterpiece...Vine of the Soul deserves to be read by everyone interested in rainforests, indigenous peoples, shamanism, hallucinogens, ethnomedicine, and conservation.” —Mark Plotkin, Conservation International.

Vine of the Soul is a companion volume to Schultes’ earlier book Where the Gods Reign: Plants and Peoples of the Colombian Amazon.