The Devil and Mr Casement: One Man’s Struggle for Human Rights in South America’s Heart of Darkness
In September 1910, the human rights activist and anti-imperialist Roger Casement arrived in the Amazon to investigate reports of widespread human rights abuses in the vast forests stretching along the Putumayo river. There, the Peruvian entrepreneur Julio César Arana ran an area the size of Belgium as his own private fiefdom; his Britishregistered company operated a systematic programme of torture, exploitation and murder. Fresh from documenting the scarcely imaginable atrocities perpetrated by King Leopold in the Congo, Casement was confronted with an all too recognisable scenario. He uncovered an appalling catalogue of abuse: nearly 30,000 Indians had died to produce four thousand tonnes of rubber.
From the Peruvian rainforests to the City of London, Jordan Goodman recounts a crime against humanity that history has almost forgotten, but whose exposure in 1912 sent shockwaves around the world. Drawing on a wealth of original research, The Devil and Mr Casement is a story of colonial exploitation and corporate greed with enormous contemporary political resonance.
Paperback, 328 pages
ISBN: 9781844676255
July 2010
£10.99
Reviews
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“Meticulously researched ... A riveting, if harrowing, narrative which, in its treatment of corporate greed and exploitation, is full of contemporary resonance. A rich, moving, important book.”
Blog
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Vargas Llosas has a hard act to follow—another five star review for Jordan Goodman's The Devil and Mr Casement
Another five star review for Jordan Goodman's The Devil and Mr Casement: One Man's Struggle for Human Rights in South America's Heart of Darkness, this time from the Independent:
The Devil and Mr Casement is a fine achievement, offering both a rigorous account of atrocities in the Amazon and a balanced portrait of Casement himself. The Nobel Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa's forthcoming
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Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa to publish novel based on Roger Casement
Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature last week has written a novel based on the fascinating and controversial life of Roger Casement, to be published in Spanish on 2nd November.
Casement's story is staggering. Born in Dublin to a Protestant father and a Roman Catholic mother, he went on to become British consul in the Congo, where he was commissioned by the British government to examine forced labour in the Congo Free State. His report on the atrocities he witnessed contributed to Leopold II of Belgium's relinquishment of his colonial fiefdom.
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Independent on Sunday gives Jordan Goodman's The Devil and Mr Casement a five star review
Jordan Goodman's The Devil and Mr Casement: One Man's Struggle for Human Rights in South America's Heart of Darkness has received a fantastic review in the Independent on Sunday. Giving the book five stars, David Evans writes:
