Consuming the Congo: War and Conflict Minerals in the World's Deadliest Place - Hardcover

Eichstaedt, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1569763100 ISBN 13: 9781569763100

Publisher: Lawrence Hill Books, 2011

Synopsis

Every time you use a cell phone or log on to a computer, you could be contributing to the death toll in the bloodiest, most violent region in the world: the eastern Congo. Rich in “conflict minerals”--valuable resources mined in the midst of armed conflict and egregious human rights abuses--this remote and lawless land is home to deposits of gold and diamonds as well as coltan, tin, and tungsten, all critical to cell phones, computers, and other popular electronics.

In Consuming the Congo, veteran journalist and author Peter Eichstaedt goes into these killing fields to find what is behind the bloodshed, hearing the stories of those who live this nightmarish reality. He talks with survivors of villages decimated by war and miners slogging knee-deep in muck, desperately digging up the gold, tin, and coltan on which Western culture depends. While these men work with picks, shovels, and iron bars, marauding militias and renegade army units who control the mines roam the jungles, killing and raping with impunity, taking their profits, and leaving villagers to a life of grueling manual labor, brutality, and disease.

Some five million Congolese have died unnecessarily, the worst loss of human life since World War II, yet the pillaging and bloodletting continue at a frightening pace. Consuming the Congo not only explores the violence suffered by the Congolese but also examines how we, as part of the problem, can become part of the solution.

About this title

About the Author:

Eichstaedt is the winner of the 2015 International Latino Book Award for best in Current Affairs. The prize-winning book, The Dangerous Divide, reveals the realities of life and immigration along the U.S.-Mexico border. He is an author and veteran journalist who has written about locations worldwide, including Afghanistan, Albania, Somalia, the Sudans, Uganda, Kenya, eastern DR Congo, eastern Europe, and the Caucasus. 

His latest work is Borderland, a thriller set in the Southwest and Washington DC. The novel features war correspondent Kyle Dawson, whose father is brutally murdered in the desert west of El Paso. Dawson tracks down the killers with the help of Raoul Garcia, an ex-special forces veteran turned DEA special agent. Dawson quickly finds himself embroiled in cross-border drug cartel violence linked to a U.S. senator who is on the verge of being elected to the White House. Dawson knows he has the story of a lifetime -- one that could cost him his career and his life. 

He attended the University of the Americas in Mexico City and graduated from Ohio State University. He earned a masters degree from St. John's College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he lived and worked for more than twenty years. From 2010 to 2011 he was the Afghanistan country director for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting in Kabul. He is the author of Above the Din of War, Consuming the Congo, Pirate State, First Kill Your Family, and If You Poison Us.

Review:

"A powerful and long-overdue expose of greed and violence in the battle over Africa’s mineral wealth. . . .  A harrowing and important work that shows yet again that far-flung conflicts touch closer to home that we may imagine."—Greg Campbell, author of Blood Diamonds: Tracing the Deadly Path of the World's Most Precious Stones

"An exceptional book that opens up the complicated and brutal reality of life in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  By explaining and connecting the violence that occurs on the ground to the products it facilitates, Eichstaedt serves up a devastating global insight into the perpetuation of violence in the DRC.” —Sarnata Reynolds, Amnesty International USA

"Eichstaedt provides counterpoint and a glimmer of hope in the form of possible reforms and legislations that could restore order to a devastated region." —Publishers Weekly

About this edition

• Publisher: Lawrence Hill Books
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1569763100
• ISBN 13: 9781569763100
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272