Books by Tom Feiling

Long forgotten in England, Providence Island is a microcosm of the 400-year-old Atlantic story, a narrative of colonial struggle and empire, slavery and drugs, pirates and puritans and amazing reversals of fortunes. At once intimate and global, this book casts new light on the part England played in the making of the modern world.

For decades, Colombia was the 'narcostate'. Now it's seen as one of the rising stars of the global economy. Where does the truth lie? How did a land likened to paradise by the first conquistadores become a byword for hell on earth? And how is it rebuilding itself after decades of violence?

Cocaine is big business and getting bigger. Governments spend millions on an unwinnable war against it, yet it's now the drug of choice in the West. How did the cocaine economy get so huge? Who keeps it running behind the scenes?In The Candy Machine Tom Feiling travels the trade routes from Colombia via Miami, Kingston and Tijuana to London and New York. He meets Medillin hitmen, US kingpins, Brazilian traffickers, and talks to soldiers and narcotics officers who fight the gangs and cartels. He traces cocaine's progress from legal 'pick-me-up' to luxury product to global commodity, looks at legalization programmes in countries such as Switzerland, and shows how America's anti-drugs crusade is actually increasing demand.Cutting through the myths about the white market, this is the story of cocaine as it's never been told before.