ESU Hosts Book Signing for Student Author December 1

In 1975 David Good’s father, Kenneth, travelled to the Amazon jungle as a graduate student to study the isolated Yanomami tribe—a people then virtually untouched by western civilization. Eventually he became a familiar and trusted presence within the community. So much so, that the village leader declared Kenneth “one of them” and insisted he take a wife.

Yarima and Kenneth developed their relationship over the course of his ongoing assignments in the Amazon. After learning that she was pregnant—and nervous about the care she would need as well as the troubling Venezuelan political environment—they headed back to the United States where David was born.

David, now a graduate student studying biology at East Stroudsburg University, remembers his mother’s first years in New Jersey. She was “happy, smiling, and wide-eyed at the unfolding wonders of the world” around her. As David’s family expanded to include a sister and a brother, on the outside Yarima adapted to look like any other suburban mom. But over time she felt cut off and alone. When the entire family travelled back to the Amazon to film a National Geographic documentary, then 6-year-old David had no idea that his mother wouldn’t be returning to New Jersey with them.

David wanted to share the story of his parents—his American anthropologist father and his mother, a tribeswoman who could not fully adapt to western life, of moving between the wilds of the Amazonian jungle to the paved confines of suburban New Jersey, of his mother’s abandonment and the harmful effect it had on his young self; of his rebellious teenage years marked by depression and drinking, and the near fatal car accident that transformed him and gave him purpose, leading him back to his mother in the Amazon 20 years later.

Combining adventure, history and anthropology, “The Way Around” is a compelling tale of recovery and discovery. On December 1, ESU will host a book signing where faculty, students and members of the community are invited to meet David Good and hear his stories. The event will be held in the university’s bookstore at 10 a.m.

For more information about the book signing, please contact the university store at 570-422-2665.

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