Controversial book creates stir at anthropologists' convention

Controversial book creates stir at anthropologists' convention
ASSOCIATED PRESS

NOV 18: On Thursday, Tierney's appearance at the AmericanAnthropological Association's annual meeting drew hundreds of anthropologists.

Many clutched copies of "Darkness in El Dorado."

"I understand the anger, and I do understand the griefpeople have," Tierney told the crowd. "They feel I have destroyed the reputations of great scientists."

Epidemiologists, a Venezuelan Indian and colleagues ofNeel and other men Tierney has criticised were on hand to challenge his research.

"Tierney says he spent 11 years researching his book, andit took a matter of days to prove some of his claims were not true," said William Irons, an anthropologist who represented famed Yanomami ethnographer Napoleon Chagnon, whom Tierney also accuses of misconduct.

Susan Lindee, who wrote a study of Neel's field researchwith atomic bomb survivors, said, "If you know anything about epidemiology, you know these things are hard to track."