The Thief at the End of the World: Rubber, Power, and the Seeds of Empire by Joe Jackson

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Minor edgewear to book. Dust jacket has minor creasing at top and tail edges and near spine. Some minor marks on back cover. Remanant mark on tail foredge.

In 1876, a man named Henry Wickham smuggled 70,000 rubber tree seeds out of the rainforests of Brazil and delivered them to Victorian England's most prestigious scientists at Kew Gardens.

Those seeds, planted around the world in England's colonial outposts, gave rise to the great rubber boom of the early twentieth century, an explosion of entrepreneurial and scientific industry that would change the world.

The story of how Wickham got his hands on those seeds, a sought-after prize for which many suffered and died, is the stuff of legend. In this thrilling real-life account of bravery, greed, obsession, and ultimate betrayal, award-winning author Joe Jackson brings to life the story of a fortune hunter and his collaboration with the empire that fueled and then abandoned him. (book jacket)