THE PACAA NOVA: CLASH OF CULTURES ON THE BRAZILIAN FRONTIER Bernard von Graeve Peterborough (Ont.), Broadview Press, 1989. 168pp, paper, $14.95 ISBN 0-921149-36-0. CIP Grades 11 and up/Ages 16 and up Reviewed by Graham Draper. Volume 18 Number 3 1990 May In 1969 and 1970, von Graeve spent time living in the rain forest near the border between Bolivia and Brazil. The anthropological field work he conducted at the missions allowed him to observe the Pacaa Nova, an Indian group that had established contact with outsiders only a few years before. Many of his observations concerned the changes that the people had made since contact. The story of the Pacaa Nova is a tragic one. Their numbers were decimated by the diseases of the outsiders, and the people's social organization quickly disintegrated. They became dependent on the missions for food and employment. The encroachment of outsiders seeking the rubber and mineral wealth of the region further pushed the Indians from their traditional way of life. Through the conflicts that inevitably developed between the two groups, the Pacaa Nova came the see themselves as inferior: they began to aspire to the way of life of the outsiders. This book is written from the point of view of an observer and researcher. It offers disappointingly little insight into the emotional trauma and frustration that the people must have endured. This clinical character does not allow the real impact of the story to develop. Overall, the reader is left with a rather unsatisfying glimpse of the culture of the people. The Pacaa Nova deserve to be studied, and for that reason this book should be considered for purchase. It will not, however, be a widely used resource. Graham Draper, Langstaff Secondary School, Richmond Hill, Ont.