Amazonian deforestation is a catastrophe that may define the geological epoch in which we live. Although well understood in the sciences, its multiple causes have often been distorted in the arts and letters. Nevertheless, one doubts that even if deforestation were accurately portrayed, the habitats would be conserved. One suspects that verisimilitude is a necessary but not a cufficient condition for conservation. Ultimately, the conservation of the Amazon is a question of ethics and justice Public sentiment must be cultivated through an accurate and passionate portrayal of the horror of the complex system of deforestation. Such an approach is inspired by the American abolitionist movement: just as Harriett Beecher Stowe sensitized the world to the horror of slavery through Uncle Tom's Cabin, and substantiated its factual basis in A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, artists today must sensitize the world as to the horror of deforestation while portraying its factual basis. Because drama persuades the public better than statistics, the arts and letters may be just as critical to forest conservation as is any dispassionate science Several texts and films on Amazonian deforestation are analyzed, not just for their verisimilitude but also for their capacity to motivate the public to take action. Each work is polemical and when analyzed together, the ensemble may even augment the moral outrage of an informed public to impose a limit. Inasmuch as the latter is achieved, this dissertation can fulfill the imperative of ecocriticism that academic research be proactive