Richard Reed is Professor of Anthropology at Trinity University, USA. He studies the effects of deforestation on indigenous groups in the forests of South America. Over the last fifteen years, he has been working with Guarani villages on the frontier of expanding colonization and agriculture in Paraguay. In two of his books, Prophets of Agroforestry (1995) and Forest Residents and Forest Managers, (1997) Reed proposes indigenous models of land use as alternative strategies for sustainable development in forested regions.

Chapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 Guaraní Social Organization; Chapter 3 Guaraní Production; Chapter 4 Contemporary Development and Guaraní Communities; Chapter 5 An Indigenous Model for Sustainable Development;

The Guarani of Paraguay have survived over four centuries of contact with the commercial system, while keeping in tact their traditions of leadership, religion and kinship. This concise ethnography examines how the Guarani have adapted over time, in concert with Paraguay's subtropical forest system.