Coca's Gone: Of Might and Right in the Huallaga Post-Boom

In a valley in the eastern foothills of the central Peruvian Andes, a wealth of cocaine once flowed. From the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s, this valley experienced abrupt rises in fortune, reckless corruption, and the brutality of those who sought to impress their own brand of order. When this era of cocaine came to a close, the legacy of its violence continued to mold people's perceptions of time through local storytelling practices.

Coca's Gone examines the tense, depressed social terrain of Peru's Upper Huallaga Valley in the wake of a twenty-year cocaine boom. This compelling book conveys stories of the lived reality of jolted social worlds and weaves a fascinating meditation on the complex interrelationships between violence, law, and time.

Author: Richard Kernaghan
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 06/12/2009
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9780804759588

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 08/01/2009 pg. 111

About the Author
Richard Kernaghan is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology of Fordham University at Lincoln Center.