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Cobalt Red

How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives

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Cobalt Red

Written by: Siddharth Kara
Narrated by: Peter Ganim
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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 Audio
Africa Freedom & Security Violence in Society Mining
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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

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This book is incredibly powerful!

This book captures your attention and rewrites your narrative on colonialism, charity, and the energy transition.

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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

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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.

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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.

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Sooo well done

easy to follow, eye opening, welldone. gave me tears, I felt like i was there.

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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.

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So important.

Buy this book right now and listen to it. Narrator is very slow so speed it up and it will be perfect.

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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

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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.

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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.

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