"This is a book I have been waiting to read, and the author is the person I have been longing to talk to. Guillaume, you raise very pertinent issues that are not new to the world but rather have been ignored by the world." —Ezekiel Ole Katato, Maasai elder and culturalist "For three decades, photographer Guillaume Bonn has traversed East Africa, documenting how civilization’s quintuple threats of modernity, development, population growth, armed conflict, and climate change have imperiled the region’s wildlife, habitats, and human communities […] The result is an epic new book, Paradise Inc. […] The photographs, often in jarring juxtaposition, underscore the cruel bargain of Western 'progress'—and the paradoxical damage brought on by a half century of conservation and preservation efforts.” —David Friend, Vanity Fair “[…] Photojournalist Guillaume Bonn’s haunting images expose the dark side of Africa’s wildlife havens, which are increasingly falling victim to unchecked industrialism […] Bonn’s images expose the failure of our conservation model—one that isolates wildlife instead of integrating it.”—Elena Clavarino, Air Mail
Author Biography
Guillaume Bonn is a documentary photographer with over 20 years of experience capturing the complexities of conflicts, social issues, and environmental challenges across Africa. A contributor to publications such as The New York Times and Vanity Fair and a current fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in London, Bonn has authored five books, including Mosquito Coast: Travels from Maputo to Mogadishu, Le Mal d’Afrique: A Journey into Old and New Africa, and Peter Beard: Scrapbooks from Africa and Beyond. His work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions, earning him accolades such as The CAP Prize for Contemporary African Photography, the American Photography prize, PDN Photo prize, a Pulitzer grant, and nominations for the Pictet Prize. Jon Lee Anderson is an American author and journalist who began his career in the early 1980s, reporting on Central America’s civil wars. As a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1998, he has reported from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Somalia, Angola, Liberia, Libya, Central African Republic, Mali, South Sudan, Zimbabwe, Brazil, Cuba, Venezuela, Sri Lanka, and many other countries. Anderson has also profiled a number of international public figures, including Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Augusto Pinochet, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and King Juan Carlos. One of the most respected American journalists of his generation, Anderson is also the author of a biography on the iconic Marxist revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara. He has written several other books, including Guerrillas: Journeys in the Insurgent World, The Lion’s Grave: Dispatches from Afghanistan, and The Fall of Baghdad. Anderson is currently writing his next book, a biography of Fidel Castro. Ezekiel Ole Katato is a Maasai elder and culturalist working to secure the future of the Kenyan environment, wildlife, and Maasai generations to come. For three decades, he has supported the education of Maasai girls, promoting and facilitating access to stable and long-term schooling. He is also dedicated to establishing a peaceful coexistence between the Maasai and their elephant neighbors, securing and protecting 1.2 million hectares of land that not only protects the elephants and the environment, but also generates direct and sustainable income to rural villagers. Ole Katato conceptualized managed “Walking with the Maasai,” a six-day walking expedition through Maasai land following the footsteps of Joseph Thomson, the first European explorer to cross Maasai land in 1883. Women, girls, and youth groups have been supported through these walks.
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