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Marching Powder Paperback – January 1, 2004

by Rusty Young (Author)

4.4 11,025 ratings

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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.

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 guide to Bolivia. When he was told that for a bribe of $5000 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.

‘All the staples of the prison memoir are here: sadistic guards, an attempted break-out, the terrors of solitary confinement, the joys of freedom... The result is a truly gripping piece of testimony’ Sunday Telegraph

‘This exotic, cautionary yarn opens the abyss beneath our wealthy world’ Uncut

Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Pan MacMillan
Publication date

January 1, 2004
Dimensions

5.12 x 0.96 x 7.76 inches
ISBN-10

0330419587
ISBN-13

978-0330419581
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Rusty Young is an Australian lawyer who met Thomas McFadden on a tour of San Pedro. He was so impressed by him that he stayed there (voluntarily) for three months in order to write his story. Thomas McFadden is now a free man, living in London.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pan MacMillan; New Ed edition (January 1, 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0330419587
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0330419581
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.12 x 0.96 x 7.76 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,441,714 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #772 in General South America Travel Guides
- #6,191 in Crime & Criminal Biographies

Customer Reviews:
4.4 11,025 ratings

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Rusty Young
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Rusty Young
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Rusty Young is the author of the international bestsellers MARCHING POWDER and COLOMBIANO. Voted by his colleagues at law school as "the most likely to end up in prison", he spent 4 months voluntarily living in Bolivia's San Pedro Prison to research his first book, MARCHING POWDER, written with Tanzanian-born UK inmate, Thomas McFadden. MARCHING POWDER is due to be made into a major Hollywood film.
Rusty then moved to Colombia for 7 years, working in counter-terrorism for the US government, driving a bulletproof car and assisting in anti-kidnapping efforts. His interviews with child soldiers from the FARC and Paramilitaries formed the basis of his next book, COLOMBIANO.
He recently interviewed various "legends" of the drug trade, including George Jung (played by Johnny Depp in "Blow") and Pablo Escobar's chief assassin, for the award-winning documentary WILDLANDS, directed by Colin Offhand.
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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

11,025 global ratings

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Amazon Customer

Incredible story! MOVIE!!!

Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2023

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Plan B - Brad Pitt's company owns the movie rights since 2014 - BRAD, PLZ!! make this into a movie - this story is way too good not to be a movie! If it weren't a true story, I wouldn't believe it.

One person found this helpful

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Gaby

Very easy to read & very, very interesting!

Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2021

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I felt that I was in there with him. Great narrative. I like the photos in the middle. All in all is a great leisurely read. Nothing that he endured, saw & lived through surprised me. It’s like that all throughout the Americas...and the world. I know because I have seen it.

One person found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

We lived in Caranavi Bolivia

Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2022

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My wife and I lived in Bolivia for 7 years so reading this was a real eye opener for us we knew a drug traffiker as well as some politicians but never knew the conditions of San Pedro , this was a great book would of liked to have read what Happened to Thomas Afterwards but it was a good read none the less.

One person found this helpful

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Ericevils

A fun read yet poorly structured

Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2016

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I like the book but I am in love with it. To me it feels like a failed opportunity. Instead of letting us think that we are in a very serious realistic world the author tells us within a few pages and from the back description that things are going to get really weird. That makes it so it's not suspenseful at all when you hear about a crack cat, inmates having to buy their own cell, and all the other wacky things that go on. Right from the beginning we find out that the person he bribes to get the drugs through the airport betrayed him. Right there and then you know that the whole country is going to be corrupt so there's no suspense, there's no thrill, there's there's nothing that makes you think, "Oh my God! That's crazy!" Instead you think, "ayeah of course that happenned" over and over again.
Lastly he says he does all these things while in prison and I don't want to ruin it for you but it's impossible that he could've done them all at the same time. There are other little things like that we kind of scratch your head and wonder whether not he's making things up. I'm not saying he is but he should have been able to explain how all these things were going on and not failing.
It's a good book if you have time to spare but honestly all you have to do is read the reviews with the spoilers and you'll get pretty much the whole book. Unfortunately there's not much else other then chapter after chapter of anecdotes.

2 people found this helpful

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Mrs. M. L. Hagan

Captivating.

Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2012

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I found "Marching Powder" to be intensely interesting and was immediately captivated by the story as it slowly unfolded. Incredulous, brutal and often unbelievable the daily life in San Pedro prison as it is narrated left one bemused as only in South America could this have happened. Tourists visiting and being allowed to stay overnight. The depths of corruption in all levels of society were mind blowing as well as the incident of extreme mass hysteria by prisoners as they brutally attacked and murdered convicted child rapists is disturbing as it is told graphically.
Hard to believe also is the fact that high grade cocaine is mass produced within the walls of San Pedro & that one as a inmate has to buy his own cell.
At times the book is long drawn out but overall it is a very good read and it leaves one with the feelings that one would have to put this prison on the list of "must see and experience" ( from a tourists viewpoint and not an inmate!!!)

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Jo Jaacks

This book took me away from my usual reading choice, it was worth it!

Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2018

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.

Interesting book! It truly makes me think that I am quite happy traveling within the borders of the United States and Canada. This book
.had my complete attention from the very start I am not completely convinced that some things the author writes about actually happened.However having never spent
time in a Bolivian prison as an inmate or a tourist I will have to take his word for it and owe to creative license. I would definitely recommend this book to others. It was very entertaining. It was also completely different subject matter from what I normally read. I did enjoy it.

One person found this helpful

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Harley J. Ogier

A look into a world so unbelievable that it could only be true.

Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2014

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I heard about Marching Powder via a friend who had recently met its author, Rusty Young. The tales of his own brief time drinking with Rusty were enough to whet my appetite, despite my having no foreknowledge of, or interest in, Bolivia or its San Pedro prison. This is a book I would probably never have otherwise found, and that would have been a terrible tragedy. Everyone should read Marching Powder, if only for a glimpse of a world that the average westerner (such as I) could simply not imagine.

Well-structured, well-written and phenomenally interesting, this book did not change my life, but is still a read I will be recommending to anyone that will listen from now on. Such as you.

One person found this helpful

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Donna S. Stewart

A good read on a bizarre Bolivian gaol.

Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2013

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Marching Powder is a fascinating book. It tells the story of a British subject convicted of drug dealing and incarcerated in a Bolivian gaol. The gaol, situated in the heart of La Paz, is a city within a city. The way in which it operates is to the western reader bizarre, but it has its own internal logic which becomes apparent as the reader moves further into the book.

The main character is boastful and his account of events is narrated uncritically. Nevertheless Rusty Young does a good job in his narration, and the book is well worth reading, especially for anyone interested in South America.

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Andrew Wallbank

Great book

Reviewed in Canada on December 4, 2023

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Great read.

Cliente Kindle

Fascinante

Reviewed in Brazil on November 15, 2022

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É um livro delicioso de se ler, com estórias incríveis e, ainda por cima, bem escrito. Os relatos são por vezes chocantes, mas isso só torna o livro mais atraente.

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Perfect

Brilliant

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 24, 2024

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Loved this

Victoria

Gripping and captivating.

Reviewed in Germany on September 9, 2023

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Captivating book based on real experiences. Will keep your adrenaline up while reading. Is one of those books that feels like a blockbuster movie while reading.
Highly recommend.

Tarek

ottimo titolo

Reviewed in Italy on October 17, 2020

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appasionante,coinvolgente e di una scorrevolezza unica. storia reale ambientata in sud america di un giovane narco trafficante. consigliato.

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