List of Illustrations
Introduction
The Surveillance State
1 • Lessons from a Dark Time
2 • Students as Spies
3 • Hoover’s Secret Empire
4 • The Father of American Surveillance
5 • Prison Madness
Africa
6 • The Listening House
7 • All That Glitters
8 • A Showman in the Rainforest
9 • Heart of Darkness: Fiction or Reportage?
10 • On the Campaign Trail with Nelson Mandela
India
11 • India’s American Imports
12 • Palm Trees and Paradoxes
13 • The Brick Master
14 • The Impossible City
Europe
15 • Our Night with Its Stars Askew
16 • Shortstops in Siberia
17 • A Homage to Homage
18 • On Which Continent Was the Holocaust Born?
19 • Sunday School History
America
20 • Pilot on the Great River: Mark Twain’s Nonfiction
21 • A Literary Engineer
22 • A Nation of Guns
The Continent of Words
23 • You Never Know What’s Going to Happen Yesterday
24 • Practicing History without a License
25 • On the Road Again
26 • Books and Our Souls
Acknowledgments
Article Sources
Photo Credits
Adam Hochschild is a journalist and author who has written on issues of human rights and social justice. His books include the bestselling King Leopold’s Ghost. He has been a finalist twice for the National Book Critics Circle Award and once for the National Book Award. He has been awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and is a two-time recipient of the Gold Medal of the California Book Awards.
"This is advocacy journalism of the most persuasive kind —
impassioned but never shrill or argumentative, solidly grounded in
facts patiently marshaled to make the case. . . . Hochschild builds
his evidence with the skill and rigor of a master bricklayer. . . .
Repeatedly, in his hands, the past becomes vividly rendered
prologue to the present.”
*San Francisco Chronicle*
“Hochschild is adept at both journalistic and historical reporting,
with the theme of humanity’s capacity for darkness woven
throughout. A necessary look at a past that feels uncomfortably
familiar. One is left to wonder how future essayists in
Hochschild’s circle will view the world we currently inhabit."
*Library Journal*
“In these essays about places around the globe, Hochschild's
graceful, informative, straightforward writing always finds the
telling detail as well as the people of courage in the most
horrifying of situations. Focusing on some of the direst eras of
recent history, these potent essays nevertheless find reason for
hope in the idealism of individuals.”
*Kirkus Reviews*
“A perfect complement to his earlier books, it could just as well
serve as a stand-alone introduction to his work. . . . Hochschild’s
characteristic blend of compassion, nuanced judgement, diligent
research and literary craftsmanship is evident throughout. He is
also expert at finding the telling and memorable nugget.”
*Peace News*
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