Cobalt Red
How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $26.21
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Peter Ganim
-
Written by:
-
Siddharth Kara
About this listen
Long-listed, New York Times Book Review Notable Books of the Year, 2023
Long-listed, New Yorker Best Books of the Year, 2023
This program includes an author's note read by the author.
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 audiobook, Kara argues that we must all care about what is happening in the Congo—because we are all implicated.
A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.
©2023 Siddharth Kara (P)2023 Macmillan AudioYou may also enjoy...
-
The Real Anthony Fauci
- Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health
- Written by: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
- Narrated by: Bruce Wagner
- Length: 27 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Real Anthony Fauci details how Fauci, Gates, and their cohorts use their control of media outlets, scientific journals, key government and quasi-governmental agencies, global intelligence agencies, and influential scientists and physicians to flood the public with fearful propaganda about COVID-19 virulence and pathogenesis, and to muzzle debate and ruthlessly censor dissent.
-
-
An eye opening look into the corruption of the scientific community
- By Amazon Customer on 2022-01-12
Written by: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
-
The End of the World Is Just the Beginning
- Mapping the Collapse of Globalization
- Written by: Peter Zeihan
- Narrated by: Peter Zeihan
- Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For generations, everything has been getting faster, better, and cheaper. Finally, we reached the point that almost anything you could ever want could be sent to your home within days - even hours - of when you decided you wanted it. America made that happen, but now America has lost interest in keeping it going.
-
-
What a great listen!
- By Jeremy on 2023-03-10
Written by: Peter Zeihan
-
The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross
- A Study of the Nature and Origins of Christianity Within the Fertility Cults of the Ancient Near East
- Written by: John M. Allegro
- Narrated by: Martyn Swain
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Where did God come from? What do the bible stories really tell us? Who or what was Jesus Christ? This audiobook challenges everything we think we know about the nature of religion.
-
-
The Lies are insane
- By Brian on 2024-11-05
Written by: John M. Allegro
-
Dancing in the Glory of Monsters
- The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa
- Written by: Jason Stearns
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the heart of Africa is Congo, a country the size of Western Europe, bordering nine other nations, that since 1996 has been wracked by a brutal and unstaunchable war in which millions have died. And yet, despite its epic proportions, it has received little sustained media attention. In this deeply reported book, Jason K. Stearns vividly tells the story of this misunderstood conflict through the experiences of those who engineered and perpetrated it.
-
-
Confusing
- By Amazon Customer on 2022-01-23
Written by: Jason Stearns
-
Pandemia
- How Coronavirus Hysteria Took Over Our Government, Rights, and Lives
- Written by: Alex Berenson
- Narrated by: Alex Berenson
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The most important fact about the coronavirus pandemic that turned the world upside down in 2020 is that our response to it has been an epic overreaction driven by a disastrous confluence of public and private interests - all of them purporting to “follow the science”. Since the lockdowns began, millions of Americans have relied on the reporting of Alex Berenson. Exposing the hysteria and manipulation behind the worst failure of public policy since World War I, this clear-eyed journalist has been a critical source of reason and truth.
-
-
Truth be Told
- By Amazon Customer on 2022-10-20
Written by: Alex Berenson
-
King Leopold's Ghost
- A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
- Written by: Adam Hochschild
- Narrated by: Geoffrey Howard
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the late 1890s, Edmund Dene Morel, a young British shipping company agent, noticed something strange about the cargoes of his company's ships as they arrived from and departed for the Congo. Incoming ships were crammed with valuable ivory and rubber. Outbound ships carried little more than soldiers and firearms. Correctly concluding that only slave labor could account for these cargoes, Morel almost singlehandedly made this slave-labor regime the premier human rights story in the world.
-
-
I'm only critiquing the audio and not the story
- By Natalie on 2021-03-28
Written by: Adam Hochschild
-
The Real Anthony Fauci
- Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health
- Written by: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
- Narrated by: Bruce Wagner
- Length: 27 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Real Anthony Fauci details how Fauci, Gates, and their cohorts use their control of media outlets, scientific journals, key government and quasi-governmental agencies, global intelligence agencies, and influential scientists and physicians to flood the public with fearful propaganda about COVID-19 virulence and pathogenesis, and to muzzle debate and ruthlessly censor dissent.
-
-
An eye opening look into the corruption of the scientific community
- By Amazon Customer on 2022-01-12
Written by: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
-
The End of the World Is Just the Beginning
- Mapping the Collapse of Globalization
- Written by: Peter Zeihan
- Narrated by: Peter Zeihan
- Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For generations, everything has been getting faster, better, and cheaper. Finally, we reached the point that almost anything you could ever want could be sent to your home within days - even hours - of when you decided you wanted it. America made that happen, but now America has lost interest in keeping it going.
-
-
What a great listen!
- By Jeremy on 2023-03-10
Written by: Peter Zeihan
-
The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross
- A Study of the Nature and Origins of Christianity Within the Fertility Cults of the Ancient Near East
- Written by: John M. Allegro
- Narrated by: Martyn Swain
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Where did God come from? What do the bible stories really tell us? Who or what was Jesus Christ? This audiobook challenges everything we think we know about the nature of religion.
-
-
The Lies are insane
- By Brian on 2024-11-05
Written by: John M. Allegro
-
Dancing in the Glory of Monsters
- The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa
- Written by: Jason Stearns
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the heart of Africa is Congo, a country the size of Western Europe, bordering nine other nations, that since 1996 has been wracked by a brutal and unstaunchable war in which millions have died. And yet, despite its epic proportions, it has received little sustained media attention. In this deeply reported book, Jason K. Stearns vividly tells the story of this misunderstood conflict through the experiences of those who engineered and perpetrated it.
-
-
Confusing
- By Amazon Customer on 2022-01-23
Written by: Jason Stearns
-
Pandemia
- How Coronavirus Hysteria Took Over Our Government, Rights, and Lives
- Written by: Alex Berenson
- Narrated by: Alex Berenson
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The most important fact about the coronavirus pandemic that turned the world upside down in 2020 is that our response to it has been an epic overreaction driven by a disastrous confluence of public and private interests - all of them purporting to “follow the science”. Since the lockdowns began, millions of Americans have relied on the reporting of Alex Berenson. Exposing the hysteria and manipulation behind the worst failure of public policy since World War I, this clear-eyed journalist has been a critical source of reason and truth.
-
-
Truth be Told
- By Amazon Customer on 2022-10-20
Written by: Alex Berenson
-
King Leopold's Ghost
- A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
- Written by: Adam Hochschild
- Narrated by: Geoffrey Howard
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the late 1890s, Edmund Dene Morel, a young British shipping company agent, noticed something strange about the cargoes of his company's ships as they arrived from and departed for the Congo. Incoming ships were crammed with valuable ivory and rubber. Outbound ships carried little more than soldiers and firearms. Correctly concluding that only slave labor could account for these cargoes, Morel almost singlehandedly made this slave-labor regime the premier human rights story in the world.
-
-
I'm only critiquing the audio and not the story
- By Natalie on 2021-03-28
Written by: Adam Hochschild
-
The Kill Chain
- Defending America in the Future of High-Tech Warfare
- Written by: Christian Brose
- Narrated by: Christian Brose
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When we think about the future of war, the military and Washington and most everyone gets it backwards. We think in terms of buying single military systems, such as fighter jets or aircraft carriers. And when we think about modernizing those systems, we think about buying better versions of the same things. But what really matters is not the single system but "the battle network"—the collection of sensors and shooters that enables a military to find an enemy system, target it, and attack it.
-
-
Exceptional and very engaging
- By Innate on 2021-10-16
Written by: Christian Brose
-
Chaos
- Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties
- Written by: Tom O'Neill, Dan Piepenbring
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over two grim nights in Los Angeles, the young followers of Charles Manson murdered seven people, including the actress Sharon Tate, then eight months pregnant. With no mercy and seemingly no motive, the Manson Family followed their leader's every order. Twenty years ago, when journalist Tom O'Neill was reporting a magazine piece about the murders, he worried there was nothing new to say. Then he unearthed shocking evidence of a cover-up behind the "official" story, including police carelessness, legal misconduct, and potential surveillance by intelligence agents.
-
-
Fascinating and Compelling Listen
- By Andrew P Bird on 2020-05-15
Written by: Tom O'Neill, and others
-
Empire of the Summer Moon
- Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History
- Written by: S. C. Gwynne
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Empire of the Summer Moon spans two astonishing stories. The first traces the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history. The second entails one of the most remarkable narratives ever to come out of the Old West: the epic saga of the pioneer woman Cynthia Ann Parker and her mixed-blood son, Quanah, who became the last and greatest chief of the Comanches.
-
-
Story Told From Colonial Stand Point
- By jadeon rathgeber on 2020-09-13
Written by: S. C. Gwynne
-
White Malice
- The CIA and the Covert Recolonization of Africa
- Written by: Susan Williams
- Narrated by: Chanté McCormick
- Length: 21 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In White Malice, Susan Williams unearths the covert operations pursued by the CIA from Ghana to the Congo to the UN in an effort to frustrate and deny Africa’s new generation of nationalist leaders. This dramatically upends the conventional belief that the African nations failed to establish effective, democratic states on their own accord. As the old European powers moved out, the US moved in.
Written by: Susan Williams
-
Tremendous
- The Life of a Comedy Savage
- Written by: Joey "Coco" Diaz
- Narrated by: Joey "Coco" Diaz
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Outsider. Misfit. Criminal. Convict. . . . Movie star. Family man. Comedy legend. Joey Diaz has been called every name in the book (and then some). Now, for the first time, he shares the story of his unlikely rise to fame in his own words—with no punches pulled.
-
-
Tremendous
- By Brandon Fitzgerald on 2024-09-28
Written by: Joey "Coco" Diaz
-
Operation Paperclip
- The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America
- Written by: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 19 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the chaos following World War II, the US government faced many difficult decisions, including what to do with the Third Reich's scientific minds. These were the brains behind the Nazis' once-indomitable war machine. So began Operation Paperclip, a decades-long, covert project to bring Hitler's scientists and their families to the United States. Many of these men were accused of war crimes, and others had stood trial at Nuremberg; one was convicted of mass murder and slavery.
-
-
How Nazi scientists to this day are held on high regard, due to the protection of our government for utilitarian purposes.
- By Daniel Jenkins on 2024-08-29
Written by: Annie Jacobsen
-
The Hundred Years' War on Palestine
- A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917--2017
- Written by: Rashid Khalidi
- Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi, Rashid Khalidi - introduction
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on a wealth of untapped archival materials and the reports of generations of family members - mayors, judges, scholars, diplomats, and journalists - The Hundred Years' War on Palestine upends accepted interpretations of the conflict, which tend, at best, to describe a tragic clash between two peoples with claims to the same territory. Instead, Khalidi traces a hundred years of colonial war on the Palestinians, waged first by the Zionist movement and then Israel, but backed by Britain and the United States, the great powers of the age.
-
-
Setting the record straight
- By Chillyfinger on 2023-10-26
Written by: Rashid Khalidi
-
The Immortality Key
- The Secret History of the Religion with No Name
- Written by: Brian C. Muraresku, Graham Hancock - foreword
- Narrated by: Graham Hancock, Brian C. Muraresku
- Length: 15 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A groundbreaking dive into the role psychedelics have played in the origins of Western civilization, and the real-life quest for the Holy Grail that could shake the Church to its foundations.
-
-
Loved it Sooo relevant/important!
- By Andrea Unsworth on 2020-10-15
Written by: Brian C. Muraresku, and others
-
The War Below
- Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives
- Written by: Ernest Scheyder
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The War Below reveals the explosive brawl among industry titans, conservationists, community groups, policymakers, and many others over whether the habitats of rare plants, sensitive ecosystems, Indigenous holy sites, and other places should be dug up for their riches.
Written by: Ernest Scheyder
-
The Wuhan Cover-Up
- And the Terrifying Bioweapons Arms Race
- Written by: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
- Narrated by: Bruce Wagner
- Length: 22 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Publishers Weekly bestselling author of The Real Anthony Fauci comes an explosive exposé of the cover-up behind the true origins of COVID-19.
-
-
wow
- By Benjamin Quintin on 2024-03-11
Written by: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
-
"Cause Unknown"
- The Epidemic of Sudden Deaths in 2021 & 2022
- Written by: Ed Dowd
- Narrated by: Eric Torres
- Length: 1 hr and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
2020 saw a spike in deaths in America, smaller than you might imagine during a pandemic, some of which could be attributed to COVID and to initial treatment strategies that were not effective. But then, in 2021, the stats people expected went off the rails. The CEO of the OneAmerica insurance company publicly disclosed that during the third and fourth quarters of 2021, death in people of working age (18–64) was 40 percent higher than it was before the pandemic. Significantly, the majority of the deaths were not attributed to COVID.
-
-
Great book, where's the citing information?
- By Tavia on 2023-08-11
Written by: Ed Dowd
-
San Fransicko
- Why Progressives Ruin Cities
- Written by: Michael Shellenberger
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Progressives claimed they knew how to solve homelessness, inequality, and crime. But in cities they control, progressives made those problems worse.
-
-
Babies, bathwater, hell, and good intentions
- By Amazon Customer on 2022-08-21
Written by: Michael Shellenberger
What the critics say
2024, Pulitzer Prize - Finalist
2023, New York Times Book Review Notable Books of the Year: Long-listed
2023, New Yorker Best Books of the Year: Long-listed
"Cobalt Red is a riveting, eye-opening, terribly important book that sheds light on a vast ongoing catastrophe. Everyone who uses a smartphone, an electric vehicle, or anything else powered by rechargeable batteries needs to read what Siddharth Kara has uncovered."—Jon Krakauer, author of Into Thin Air
"Meticulously researched and brilliantly written by Siddharth Kara, Cobalt Red documents the frenzied scramble for cobalt and the exploitation of the poorest people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”—Baroness Arminka Helic, House of Lords, UK
“With extraordinary tenacity and compassion, Siddharth Kara evokes one of the most dramatic divides between wealth and poverty in the world today. His reporting on how the dangerous, ill-paid labor of Congo children provides a mineral essential to our cellphones will break your heart. I hope policy-makers on every continent will read this book.”—Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold's Ghost
What listeners say about Cobalt Red
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Trevor
- 2023-04-21
This book is incredibly powerful!
This book captures your attention and rewrites your narrative on colonialism, charity, and the energy transition.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- alexandre
- 2023-03-07
Eye opening…
So…. Yeah..
I knew that thing’s where bad there and well, the comfort of one is the misery of another person. But this book took it to a whole new level of perspective and details. The way it is presented, I felt i was walking with him , seeing and earring the misery of these poor people, humans like me. I really do feel so sad. Its a must. Great book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Richard Leger
- 2023-12-19
Must Read
I hope this book helps people make better decisions and drive accountability. We all need to focus more on conservation, innovation and efficiency. Free these people.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Philip
- 2023-04-22
Worth the read.
Just to get a front row seat to understand what is happening in the world at present, this book is both necessary and worth your time.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- FeeVero
- 2023-05-21
Sooo well done
easy to follow, eye opening, welldone. gave me tears, I felt like i was there.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 2023-02-21
Riveting and Hard Hitting Story
Heard the author on JRE, his passion for Africa and the mining situation was enlightening and I simply had to listen to this book to get even deeper on the subject. I had a broad idea of mining for rare earth minerals and the primary players involved but man this book just hits you hard with the truth from a variety of angles. I see some comments on the narrator but for me I found it completely fine as well as asking African friends on the pronunciation and they said the narrator was on point, so maybe try the sample before you invest otherwise get the book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kaitlin M
- 2023-03-13
So important.
Buy this book right now and listen to it. Narrator is very slow so speed it up and it will be perfect.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sarah
- 2023-10-08
Shocking, Informative, Heartbreaking
Couldn't stop listening... it wasn't a surprising story, but to hear the brutal reality of mining in the DRC was a humbling experience. Highly recommend
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Aaron J
- 2023-03-18
Heart breaking
I enjoyed this book a lot, very well done.
I see many reviews complaining about the narrator, and was concerned that I wouldn't enjoy the performance, but in the end I found his reading and cadence quite pleasant and enjoyed it greatly though the subject matter was painful.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Stefanie
- 2023-04-05
A Wake Up Call
Cobalt is the stabilizing element that gives rechargeable batteries their long life. It is mined in Congo by children, bonded laborers, and artisanal miners--a euphemism for miners working under hazardous conditions for little pay and at great personal risk.
This book is stunning in the human experiences it conveys and the horrors of an industry in which all tech companies are involved and actively engaged in denying the slave conditions of the cobalt industry.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!