Cobalt Red

How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives

Siddharth Kara

$36.99

Paperback

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English

griffin pan macmiillan
30 July 2024

History; Violence in society; Human rights; Civil rights & citizenship

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*2024 Pulitzer Prize Finalist
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Now in paperback: the powerful, revelatory New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller, shortlisted for the Financial Times Best Business Book of the Year Award.

An unflinching investigation reveals the human rights abuses behind the Congo's cobalt mining operation-and the moral implications that affect us all.

Cobalt Red is the searing, first-ever exposé of the immense toll taken on the people and environment of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by cobalt mining, as told through the testimonies of the Congolese people themselves. Activist and researcher Siddharth Kara has traveled deep into cobalt territory to document the testimonies of the people living, working, and dying for cobalt. To uncover the truth about brutal mining practices, Kara investigated militia-controlled mining areas, traced the supply chain of child-mined cobalt from toxic pit to consumer-facing tech giants, and gathered shocking testimonies of people who endure immense suffering and even die mining cobalt.

Cobalt is an essential component to every lithium-ion rechargeable battery made today, the batteries that power our smartphones, tablets, laptops, and electric vehicles. Roughly 75 percent of the world's supply of cobalt is mined in the Congo, often by peasants and children in sub-human conditions. Billions of people in the world cannot conduct their daily lives without participating in a human rights and environmental catastrophe in the Congo. In this stark and crucial book, Kara argues that we must all care about what is happening in the Congo-because we are all implicated.

By: Siddharth Kara
Imprint: griffin pan macmiillan
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 215mm, Width: 135mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 258g
ISBN: 9781250322159
ISBN 10: 1250322154
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 30 July 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

SIDDHARTH KARA is an author, researcher, and activist on modern slavery. He is a British Academy Global Professor and an Associate Professor of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery at Nottingham University. Kara has authored three books on modern slavery and won the Frederick Douglass Book Prize. Kara's first book was adapted into a Hollywood film, Trafficked. A feature film inspired by Cobalt Red is currently in pre-production. He divides his time between the UK and the US.

Reviews for Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives

""Timely, important, compelling."" -- The Los Angeles Times ""Harrowing...a righteous quest to expose injustice."" -- The New York Times Book Review ""Powerful...heart-wrenching...compelling."" -- The Wall Street Journal ""I hope policy-makers on every continent will read this book."" -- Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold's Ghost ""A riveting, eye-opening, terribly important book."" -- Jon Krakauer, author of Into Thin Air