More Terrible Than Death

Extraordinary and compelling... brings to life the various strandsthat have made Colombia the most brutal killing field in our hemisphere.
—The Miami Herald

In These Times

thoughtful and provocative... It is impossible to read this book and come away with one's view of Colombia unchanged.

Seattle Times

Heartbreaking... puts human faces on the quagmire and makes a plea to raise awareness of the worsening tragedy.

The Miami Herald

Extraordinary and compelling... brings to life the various strandsthat have made Colombia the most brutal killing field in our hemisphere.

Wall Street Journal

A vividly written and often mesmerizing first-hand account of the violence [in Colombia]...capture[s] the reality of the violence itself... splendidly.

Publishers Weekly

Mapping the destructive effects of Colombia's drug war from the ground up, Human Rights Watch researcher Kirk (The Monkey's Paw: New Chronicles from Peru) personalizes the devastation created by the violence among the paramilitary, the guerillas and the drug cartels. The result is a very readable and heart-wrenching narrative blending interviews, personal experiences and observations about the violence that has defined and destroyed Colombia for decades. Unfortunately, the book's insider perspective is both its greatest asset and its greatest failing, as the account centers more on an individual American's experience than on America's war in Colombia. Although Kirk is adept at explaining complicated internal problems within Colombia and detailing the general misery and bloodshed there, her personal anecdotes and tenuously related observations do little to advance the book and too often get in the way of the powerful accounts she is trying to present. The key to the drug war-the connection between the United States and Colombia- gets less than its due, as the majority of the narrative details internal problems in Colombia having little to do with the U.S or, at times, with drugs. Given Kirk's experience in the region and obvious investigative talent, it is disappointing that she doesn't provide an in-depth analysis of the role the U.S. has played in the region, why Colombia's plight should matter to Americans, and prospects for the country in the future. (Jan.)

Foreign Affairs

A long-time researcher for Human Rights Watch, Kirk brings the reader to a closer understanding of the conditions that have turned Colombia into what she sees as a vast and horribly violent slum, with Colombian society becoming brutalized and fragmented by the destructive impact of the drug trade and multiple guerrilla insurgencies. The U.S.-supported drug war, she believes, is frozen in place. On the one hand, the United States refuses to deal with the problem of demand, instead emphasizing supply-side eradication and interdiction. And since September 11, Washington has compounded the problem by accepting the self-interested arguments long advocated by Colombia's generals: that it is a war against leftist terrorists as well as a struggle against narcotics traffickers. As a result, the United States overlooks the Colombian military's abuses against civilians — notwithstanding Congress' demand that military aid be linked to human rights. Meanwhile, American politicians fear cutting military aid on human rights grounds because they do not want to appear to be soft on drugs. The story Kirk tells is not new, but she offers vivid touches rarely provided in most reports, stemming from her many years of research on the front lines. In effect, she concludes, the United States is fighting on both sides, "funding illegal arms with our purchases, and then fighting them with our charity." A depressing but vital contribution to the growing literature on Colombia's tragedy.