Joe Jackson (2) (1955–)
Auteur van The Thief at the End of the World: Rubber, Power, and the Seeds of Empire
Voor andere auteurs genaamd Joe Jackson, zie de verduidelijkingspagina.
Werken van Joe Jackson
Dead Run: The Shocking Story of Dennis Stockton and Life on Death Row in America (1999) 41 exemplaren
Tagged
Algemene kennis
- Pseudoniemen en naamsvarianten
- JACKSON, Joe
- Geboortedatum
- 1955
- Geslacht
- male
- Nationaliteit
- USA
- Woonplaatsen
- Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA
- Opleiding
- University of Arkansas (MFA)
- Beroepen
- investigative reporter
- Organisaties
- Virginian Pilot (newspaper)
- Korte biografie
- Jackson holds an MFA from the University of Arkansas and was an investigative reporter for the Virginian-Pilot newspaper in Norfolk 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, the investigation of federal agents for misconduct, and the recantations of two men whose testimony helped send men to Death Row. He was the writer-in-residence at the James Thurber House in 2001 and lives in Virginia Beach with his wife, son, and clumsy dog.
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Henry Wickham, a lower-class Englishman, in an effort to earn himself a reputation and a fortune, set his sights on rubber - he was integral in making it a ubiquitous substance today. He successfully stole 70,000 seeds and delivered them viable to Kew Gardens who eventually spread the plants to distant colonies and shifted the rubber supply from wild to plantation (from Brazil to England's colonies in East Asia) ultimately providing a more voluminous and cheaper supply. Once the vulcanization process was discovered in 1839 - hardening rubber while increasing its strength and elasticity - life demanded rubber loudly: waterproof shoes & coats then bicycles into Model T's and always war.
Wickham was an impressive adventurer but not so much a likeable individual. His field study of Hevea brasiliensis (Pará) and other rubber-producing trees, in conjunction with his experience surviving in the Amazon jungle, made his 19th-century biopiracy feat possible where others, better supported, failed. But he also convinced his mother, sister & brother + families to join him on a jungle expedition knowing firsthand the risks they'd face. He left the jungle with the seeds and his wife, Violet - the others dead or abandoned behind.
His delivery of the seeds was not life-altering as he had hoped. In continued pursuit of recognition and riches, he dragged Violet to remote and inhospitable environs - back to the Amazon jungle, to Queensland (northeastern Australia), and the Conflict Islands in Papua New Guinea. While London industrialized rapidly, the Wickhams were often fully consumed with basic survival in their far-flung homes.
In 1920, Henry was knighted for his contribution to the empire from decades earlier. He believed that the British empire was mankind's best chance at advancement. Was it in this instance? Could the Amazon basin's resources (managed by the players at the time) have supported the freedom and comfort that cheap and available rubber allowed? Or would the overall state of things be improved without this episode of colonialism ick?… (meer)