In June 2009, 60 soldiers slipped into the bush above Devil's Curve, a notorious bend in the two-lane highway connecting Peru's northern Amazon to the outside world. The soldiers had orders to dislodge the 3,000 Awajun natives who had been camped there for the past 57 days. The subsequent clash was deadly.

At issue was the lease of three-quarters of the jungle to foreign oil and mining interests over the previous decade. The Devil's Curve untangles the story behind the deadly stand — and the Canadian gold mine that provoked their drastic action.

Arno Kopecky picks up the story where the news left off. Travelling to Peru and Colombia, he follows radical left-wing politicians on the campaign trail, discusses black magic with villagers, winds up in gunfights and hallucinates in dark huts. Superbly crafted and full of complex and captivating characters, The Devil's Curve is a story that speaks to universal themes of the dislocation of Aboriginal people, the inequitable distribution of wealth, and the abdication of responsibility from governments to corporations. Kopecky's remarkable debut is a haunting tale, brilliantly told, of how affluent Western lifestyles impact distant societies.

Arno Kopecky

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