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    At Play in the Fields of the Lord

    Author Peter Matthiessen
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    Paperback
    $21.00 US
    Knopf | Vintage
    On sale Dec 03, 1991 | 384 Pages | 9780679737414
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    Set in the South American jungle, this thriller follows the clash between two misplaced gringos--one who has come to convert the Indians to Christianity, and one who has been hired to kill them.
    © Linda Girvin
    Peter Matthiessen was born in New York City in 1927 and had already begun his writing career by the time he graduated from Yale University in 1950. The following year, he was a founder of The Paris Review. Besides At Play in the Fields of the Lord, which was nominated for the National Book Award, he published six other works of fiction, including Far Tortuga and Killing Mister Watson. Matthiessen's parallel career as a naturalist and explorer resulted in numerous widely acclaimed books of nonfiction, among them The Tree Where Man Was Born, which was nominated for the National Book Award, and The Snow Leopard, which won it. Matthiessen died in 2014. View titles by Peter Matthiessen
    “Inventive and extremely well-written. . . . Incredibly moving. . . . A remarkable performance.” —San Francisco Chronicle

    “Matthiessen has produced, in expertly crafted and sometimes deeply affecting prose, an entertainment full of glittering color, nose-to-nose conflict and heroic gestures.” —The Washington Post Book World

    “A work approaching the highest art, of the most serious purpose.” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch

    “A haunting novel. . . . A sardonic wit and a huge fund of compassion illuminate its pages.” —Newsday

    “A brutal yet compassionate narrative . . . that will remain long in the reader’s mind.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune

    About

    Set in the South American jungle, this thriller follows the clash between two misplaced gringos--one who has come to convert the Indians to Christianity, and one who has been hired to kill them.

    Author

    © Linda Girvin
    Peter Matthiessen was born in New York City in 1927 and had already begun his writing career by the time he graduated from Yale University in 1950. The following year, he was a founder of The Paris Review. Besides At Play in the Fields of the Lord, which was nominated for the National Book Award, he published six other works of fiction, including Far Tortuga and Killing Mister Watson. Matthiessen's parallel career as a naturalist and explorer resulted in numerous widely acclaimed books of nonfiction, among them The Tree Where Man Was Born, which was nominated for the National Book Award, and The Snow Leopard, which won it. Matthiessen died in 2014. View titles by Peter Matthiessen

    Praise

    “Inventive and extremely well-written. . . . Incredibly moving. . . . A remarkable performance.” —San Francisco Chronicle

    “Matthiessen has produced, in expertly crafted and sometimes deeply affecting prose, an entertainment full of glittering color, nose-to-nose conflict and heroic gestures.” —The Washington Post Book World

    “A work approaching the highest art, of the most serious purpose.” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch

    “A haunting novel. . . . A sardonic wit and a huge fund of compassion illuminate its pages.” —Newsday

    “A brutal yet compassionate narrative . . . that will remain long in the reader’s mind.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune

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