Audiobooks by Siddharth Kara

The Zorg: A Tale of Greed and Murder that Inspired the Abolition of Slavery

Brought to you by Penguin. The Zorg is the most consequential slave ship of the 18th century whose voyage changed the course of history, yet the story remains largely unknown. Drawing on a trove of archival materials, New York Times bestselling author Siddharth Kara uncovers new details of the Zorg's voyage and takes the reader on a gripping journey from the Netherlands to Africa’s Gold Coast where it was captured by a British privateer before loading its human cargo and heading onto Jamaica on its ill-fated journey to fuel the lucrative sugar trade. A series of unpredictable weather events and mistakes in navigation left the ship drastically off course, running out of food and water. To save the crew and the most valuable of the slaves, the captain decided to throw 140 slaves, mostly women and children, overboard. What followed is a fascinating legal drama in England’s highest court that turned the brutal business of slavery into front page news. For the first time, concepts such as human rights and morality entered the discourse on slavery, in a notorious case that boiled down to a simple but profound question: were the Africans on board the Zorg people or cargo? The case of the Zorg catapulted the nascent anti-slavery movement to one of the most consequential moral campaigns that changed the course of history. © Siddharth Kara 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

Siddharth Kara (Author), TBD (Narrator)

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[German] - Blutrotes Kobalt. Der Kongo und die brutale Realität hinter unserem Konsum (ungekürzt)

Wie sauber ist unsere Mobilitätswende wirklich? Es ist ein Rohstoff, der unseren batteriebetriebenen Alltag am Laufen hält: Kobalt. Abgebaut wird es überwiegend in der Demokratischen Volksrepublik Kongo – unter dramatischen Menschenrechtsverletzungen. Welche Industrie steckt hinter unseren sauberen E-Autos, Smartphones und Laptops? Der Wirtschaftswissenschaftler und Aktivist Siddharth Kara ist auf seinen Reisen in die von Milizen kontrollierten Bergbauregionen bis tief in das finstere Herz unseres fossilen Kapitalismus vorgedrungen. In seinem Buch legt er erstmals die Lieferketten und Geschäftsmodelle der Tech- und Automobil-Konzerne offen, deren Nachhaltigkeitsversprechen sich selbst auf Vorzeigeminen als Fiktion erweisen. Er erkundet koloniale Hintergründe, die zu den heutigen Zuständen geführt haben, vor allem aber lässt er die Menschen zu Wort kommen, die für den Kobaltabbau ihr Leben riskieren. Eindrücklich und fundiert berichtet Kara aus den Untiefen unserer postimperialen Welt und erweitert unser Verständnis für die moralischen Effekte unserer globalen Wirtschaft, die uns alle betreffen.

Siddharth Kara (Author), Hans Henrik Wöhler (Narrator)

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Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives

This program includes an author's note read by the author. An unflinching investigation reveals the human rights abuses behind the Congo’s cobalt mining operation—and the moral implications that affect us all. Cobalt Red is the searing, first-ever exposé of the immense toll taken on the people and environment of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by cobalt mining, as told through the testimonies of the Congolese people themselves. Activist and researcher Siddharth Kara has traveled deep into cobalt territory to document the testimonies of the people living, working, and dying for cobalt. To uncover the truth about brutal mining practices, Kara investigated militia-controlled mining areas, traced the supply chain of child-mined cobalt from toxic pit to consumer-facing tech giants, and gathered shocking testimonies of people who endure immense suffering and even die mining cobalt. Cobalt is an essential component to every lithium-ion rechargeable battery made today, the batteries that power our smartphones, tablets, laptops, and electric vehicles. Roughly 75 percent of the world’s supply of cobalt is mined in the Congo, often by peasants and children in sub-human conditions. Billions of people in the world cannot conduct their daily lives without participating in a human rights and environmental catastrophe in the Congo. In this stark and crucial audiobook, Kara argues that we must all care about what is happening in the Congo—because we are all implicated. A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

Siddharth Kara (Author), Peter Ganim (Narrator)

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