MARCHING POWDER The True Story of an English Drug-Smuggler ....

Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd. Very Good. 2003. First Edition. Softcover. 028307373x . Pages clean and intact, with no markings, b/w photos. Cover has light edge/corner wear, creasing to spine and a couple small spots outer edge of pages. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 320 pages; "Marching Powder is the story of Thomas McFadden, a small-time English drug smuggler who was arrested in Bolivia and thrown inside the notorious San Pedro prison. He found himself in a bizarre world, the prison reflecting all that is wrong with South American society. Prisoners have to pay an entrance fee and buy their own cells (the alternative is to sleep outside and die of exposure) , prisoners' wives and children often live inside too, high quality cocaine is manufactured and sold from the prison, and all the police from the governor downwards can be bribed. Under the surface is a frightening level of violence-Thomas's life was often in danger and one of his friends was murdered by the police when he threatened to expose the corruption in the prison. Thomas ended up making a living by giving backpackers tours of the prison-he became a fixture on the backpacking circuit and was named in the Lonely Planet's guide to Bolivia. When he was told that for a bribe of $5,000 his sentence could be overturned, it was the many backpackers who'd passed through who sent him the money. Sometimes shocking, sometimes funny, Marching Powder is an always riveting story of survival. Thomas McFadden is now a free man, teaching English in Colombia. " [462-noto] .