Snowblind: A Brief Career in the Cocaine Trade

by Robert Sabbag

Overview

Robbert Sabbag’s Snowblind , the true story of an American smuggler whose intricate, ingenious scams made him a legendary figure in the cocaine world of the late sixties and early seventies, is a modern classic. In this “witty, intelligent, fiercely stylish, drug-induced exemplary tale” ( Los Angeles Times ), Sabbag masterfully traces Zachary Swan’s Roman-candle career, from his first forays into smuggling marijuana to his jaunts to Colombia to buy pure cocaine, and his ever more elaborate plans to outwit the police and customs officials. Updated by the author and featuring a newly designed cover, this captivating portrait of a dashing antihero and enthralling look at a turbulent age is sure to reach a new generation of readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802144942
Publisher:	Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Publication date:	06/08/2010
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Robert Sabbag's books include Down Around Midnight, Smokescreen, and Too Tough To Die. His journalism appears in Rolling Stone, the New York Times Magazine, and other publications.

Coming from a long line of theater folk, Andrew Eiden has been acting since the age of four, working at regional theaters from the Glendale Center Theatre to the Pasadena Playhouse. He has also appeared as a series regular on Discovery Channel's Outward Bound, Disney Channel's Movie Surfers, and ABC's Complete Savages.

Table of Contents

Breakaway

1 Indian Summer 3

2 Talking to Boswell 22

3 Brownsville Breakdown 45

4 After Math 62

5 Aesthetics and Anaesthetics 78

Going South

6 A Rainy Day in Santa Marta 97

7 A Way with the Spoon 117

8 Snowbound in Carthage 135

9 The Carpenter Said Nothing but… 150

10 Alkaloid Annie/Power of the Press 174

11 Horse Latitudes 182

12 Why did you Write my Name in the Snow? 196

Running Blind

13 Back to the Border 223

14 Journey of the Magi 241

15 Blues in the Bottle 260

16 The Hawk and the Hired Man 273

17 After the Fox 289

Epilogue

1 New York 305

2 South America 308

Appendices

1 Quaaludes 313

2 Credit Cards and Traveler's Checks 316

3 Mexican Brown 319

4 Speed 320

5 Marijuana Abroad 325

6 A Swan Lexicon 326

7 Columbia and Big Business 327

8 Airline Security 329

9 Day of Judgment 330

Author's Note 331

Afterword 335

Index 345

What People are Saying About This

Nora Ephron

One of the most dazzling and spectacular pieces of reporting I have ever read.

Hunter S. Thompson

A flat-out ballbuster. It moves like a threshing machine with a fuel tank full of ether....Sabbag is a whip-song writer.

Susan Brownmiller

The ultimate slide down the precipice of hip.

Norman Mailer

One of the first books about the cocaine trade and it is still among the best.

Robert Stone

One of the best books about drugs ever written.

Editorial Reviews

“One of the first books about the cocaine trade and it is still among the best.” —Norman Mailer

“A flat-out ballbuster. It moves like a threshing machine with a fuel tank full of ether. . . . Sabbag is a whip-song writer.” —Hunter S. Thompson

“One of the best books about drugs ever written.” —Robert Stone

“One of the most dazzling and spectacular pieces of reporting I have ever read.” —Nora Ephron

“An extremely rare cut of dry wit, poetry, rock-hard fact and relentless insight.” —Rolling Stone

“A triumphant piece of reporting.” —The New Yorker

“A witty, intelligent, fiercely stylish, drug-induced exemplary tale.” —Los Angeles Times

“The ultimate slide down the precipice of hip.” —Susan Brownmiller

“A classic.” —The National Review

“After reading Robert Sabbag’s Snowblind, one is overcome with a sense of having finally understood America. It is that rare kind of book that compels a reader to call up all of his friends and read passages to them over the telephone. It is destined to become an American classic.” —Claude Brown, Jr.

“A beautifully written book.” —Rita Mae Brown

“The most authentic story of the big-time cocaine trade that has hit print, and Sabbag tells it with novelistic razzle-dazzle, setting down knife-sharp scenes as the action moves: Mexico, New York’s big hotels, Harlem streets, Bogota’s high and low-life . . . scenes and characters that make your skin crawl. A compelling read.” —Publishers Weekly

“It’s excellent . . . characters leaping to life right out of Hemingway and Damon Runyon, and everywhere, supercharging, that fine electric dust of Cordilleran snow. I hate to think of what Sabbag must have gone through to write it.” —Richard Rhodes

“An immensely entertaining book.” —Newsweek

“Alternately scary and funny, wherein an incident or an insight is compressed and polished to an impressive sheen.” —Baltimore Sun

“This is a glorious and glittering piece of craftsmanship—like good surgical steel . . . an exciting, living story—beautifully told, addictively readable, and as urgent as a siren coming to a sinister stop in front of where we all live.” —Davis Grubb

“Fascinating.” —Houston Chronicle

“Rip-roaring . . . a marvelous, cheerful adventure of modern times.”—Washington Star

“It’s a challenge to put the book down.” —Florida Times-Union

“The style is charged with energy.” —Boston Phoenix

“Robert Sabbag is one beautiful writer.” —Nashville Banner

“An impeccably researched, carefully written book that reads at times like an adventure story.” —Worcester Telegram

“A meticulous study . . . fascinating.” —Library Journal

“Hip and often very funny . . . provocative . . . and utterly convincing.” —Miami Herald

From the Publisher

A triumphant piece of reporting.

New Yorker

A classic.

National Review

A witty, intelligent, fiercely stylish, drug-induced exemplary tale.

LA Times

An extremely rare cut of dry wit, poetry, rock-hard fact and relentless insight.

Rolling Stone