2009 Mark Lynton History Prize Finalist
Joe Jackson
The Thief at the End of the World: Rubber, Power, and the Seeds of Empire (Viking)
Judges’ Citation
Deep in the jungles of Amazonia, a white liquid seeped from tree trunks that would transform the Victorian world: rubber. The Thief at the End of the World tells the gripping story of Henry Wickham, an entrepreneurial British adventurer who smuggled 70,000 rubber seeds out of Brazil that would end up spawning vast plantations in British colonial Asia. Joe Jackson vividly describes how Wickham's bold act of biopiracy transformed the global economy, wrecking the Brazilian rubber industry while bringing immense wealth to the British Empire. What makes his book most extraordinary, however, is his insightful exploration of the character of Wickham himself, a tragic hero of Conradian proportions, whose quest for fame and fortune in some of the world's least hospitable places tested the limits of individual endurance and obsession. Jackson's engrossing, novelistic narrative brings to life a tale as full of resonance for our world today as it is full of insight into unexpected corners of imperial history.
Bio
Joe Jackson is the author of one novel and five nonfiction titles, including The Thief at the End of the World, named one of Time magazine’s Top Ten Books for 2008, and Leavenworth Train, which was a finalist for the 2002 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime. Jackson holds an MFA from the University of Arkansas and was an investigative reporter for the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot for twelve years, covering criminal justice and the state’s Death Row. His journalism has resulted in the acquittal of a man wrongly convicted of murder, the federal investigation of a jail in which sixteen prisoners died of medical neglect, and the recantations of two men whose testimony helped send men to Death Row. His website can be found at www.joejacksonbooks.com. Joe lives in Virginia Beach with his wife and son.
Judges for the Mark Lynton History Prize Winner
Richard Bernstein, Maya Jasanoff and Patrick Keefe.