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A Book on Those Who Make It
by Magnus Linton
When Pablo Escobar, Colombia's "King of Cocaine," was killed, the world thought? or hoped? the cocaine industry would crumble. But ten years later the country's production had almost quadrupled, and since 2001, Colombia has produced more than 60% of all the cocaine consumed in the world.
Cocaine is both a curse and a salvation for Colombians. Farmers grow coca for cash but fear discovery. Families must cooperate with drug-funded guerrillas or go on the run. Destitute teens become trained killers for a quick buck in a ruthless underworld where few survive for long.
At the same time, tension grows between Colombia's right-wing government and its socialist neighbors in Latin America. With the failed US War on Drugs playing into this geopolitical brew, the future of cocaine is about more than what happens to street dealers and their customers.
Based on three years of research and more than 100 interviews with growers, traffickers, assassins, refugees, police, politicians, and drug tourists, Cocaína is a brilliant work of journalism, and an insight into one of the world's most troubling industries.
"Starred Review. His analysis of American and European complicity in Colombia's misery, the corruption of the Colombian government and the military's terroristic collusions, racial politics, and the painful psychosocial impact of a 40-year war on drugs set this book well apart." - Publishers Weekly
This information about Cocaina was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Magnus Linton is a Swedish writer whose work tackles controversial social, political, and ethical topics. He is the author of several acclaimed non-fiction books, including The Vegans (2000), a provocative account on the ethics of eating meat that turned then Swedish prime minister Göran Persson "semi-vegetarian"; Americanos (2005), a pioneering masterpiece exploring the rise of neo-socialism in Latin America; and The Hated (2012), which examines the emergence of the new radical Right in Europe. Cocaína was first published in Swedish in 2010 and was nominated for the August Prize, Sweden's most important literary award. Magnus lives in Stockholm and Bogotá with his family.
John Eason is an American translator and educator based in Stockholm. He holds a PhD in Scandinavian Studies from the University of Wisconsin, where he has taught Scandinavian literature and Swedish. John has also been a guest lecturer at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.
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