Siddharth Kara Popular Books

Siddharth Kara Biography & Facts

Siddharth Kara is a British Academy Global Professor and an associate professor at the University of Nottingham. He is best known for his book "Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives" (2023). He has also published a trilogy on modern slavery: Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery (2009), Bonded Labor: Tackling the System of Slavery in South Asia (2012), and Modern Slavery: A Global Perspective (2017). Early life Kara was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, to Indian parents of Hindu and Parsi background. He grew up between Memphis, Tennessee, where he attended Memphis University School, and Mumbai, India, where he spent most of his summers. Education and early career Kara received a BA in English and Philosophy from Duke University (including one semester at Queen Mary College, University of London). While at Duke University, Kara co-founded the Duke Refugee Action Project, which was the precursor to the prestigious Hart Leadership Program at the Sanford School of Public Policy The project was set up to enable students to volunteer in Bosnian refugee camps in the former Yugoslavia. He and a few other students obtained a grant from the university, learned basic Bosnian, and procured placements from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to volunteer at camps in the region. That summer, he lived as the refugees, in wretched conditions with barely enough to eat. During this time, he heard countless tales of brutish atrocities, including tales of Serbian soldiers who would raid Bosnian villages, execute the men, then round up the women and young girls, rape them and traffic them to brothels across Europe. Kara worked as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch in New York City for several years, during which time he was involved in some of the firm's largest M&A and equity financing transactions. He received an MBA from Columbia University. While attending Columbia, he became increasingly aware of the need for a more analytical finance and economics approach to understanding modern slavery. The summer he graduated from Columbia, he embarked on the first of several long self-funded journeys across the world to research contemporary slavery and child labor. Upon his return, he decided not to resume his career in investment banking, in order to be able to continue his research and analysis of contemporary slavery. He moved to Los Angeles, where he worked and consulted by day, while continuing to make research trips around the world. He then received a law degree from the BPP Law School in London. Research and writing Kara's research travels have taken him to more than fifty countries across six continents, where he has interviewed several thousand former and current slaves of all kinds. Most of the research for Kara's books has been self-funded, though he has also received research support from major charitable foundations such as Humanity United and Google.org. Kara has published three non-fiction books that provide his approach to all forms of contemporary slavery. Kara has also published several articles in legal and academic journals such as the Northwestern Journal of International Human Rights, Harvard International Review, Solutions Journal, and World Politics Review. Kara has also edited two thematic issues of the journal Social Inclusion (in 2015 and 2017), titled 'Perspectives on Human Trafficking and Modern Forms of Slavery'. Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives (2023) In January 2023, Kara's non-fiction book Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives was released by St. Martin's Press, which debuted on the NY Times Bestseller List. Cobalt Red is the first-ever book to investigate human rights and environmental abuses involving the mining of cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The DR Congo supplies almost 75 percent of the world's supply of cobalt, which is used in the manufacture of lithium-ion rechargeable batteries found in smartphones, tablets, laptops, and electric vehicles. Praise for Cobalt Red includes: Kara has also appeared extensively in the media to talk about the human rights abuses involved with cobalt mining, including on The Joe Rogan Experience, Fresh Air, CNN, Fox News, and ABC News. Cobalt Red was shortlisted for the 2023 Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award. Cobalt Red was named to the ''NY Times'' list of 100 Notable Books for the 2023. Cobalt Red was named to the ''New Yorker'' list of Best Books for the 2023. Cobalt Red was listed as one of the Best Books of 2023 by Goodreads. Cobalt Red was named one of the Top 16 Books of 2023 by Wired. Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery (2009) Kara's first non-fiction book on contemporary slavery, Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery, was published by Columbia University Press in January 2009. The book won the 2010 Frederick Douglass Book Prize, given to the most outstanding nonfiction book on the subject of slavery and/or abolition and antislavery movements. Since the inception of the Award in 1999, numerous books on the subject of modern-day slavery have been submitted, but Kara's book was the first to be awarded the prize. The book has been recommended by the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. It has been lauded by academics, policy-makers and the press, with the Financial Times describing it as an "eloquent and campaigning book", and slavery experts heralding it as "groundbreaking" and the "best book yet on the enduring problem of modern-day slavery". Bonded Labor: Tackling the System of Slavery in South Asia (2012) Kara's second non-fiction book on contemporary slavery, Bonded Labor: Tackling the System of Slavery in South Asia, was released by Columbia University Press in October 2012. The book focuses on the pervasive system of bonded labor, encompassing roughly six out of every ten slaves in the world. Its geographic focus is South Asia, covering such industries as hand-woven-carpet making, tea and rice farming, construction, brick manufacture, and frozen-shrimp production. Kara's concludes with ten specific initiatives to eliminate the system of bonded labor from South Asia. The book received high commendations from scholars, activists, non-profit organisations and governments, and was covered as part of a three part series on the CNN International primetime news program Connect the World with Becky Anderson. Tainted Carpets: Slavery and Child Labor in India's Hand-Made Carpet Sector (2014) Kara was the lead investigator and author of the report Tainted Carpets: Slavery and Child Labor in India's Hand-Made Carpet Sector, which was released through the Harvard School of Public Health in January 2014. This report is the largest single first-hand study of slavery and child labor conducted to date, and also the largest single study of slavery and child labor in the supply chain of any c.... Discover the Siddharth Kara popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Siddharth Kara books.