Buying Options
Kindle Price: | $12.99 |
includes tax, if applicable | |
Sold by: | Macmillan (AU) This price was set by the publisher. |

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer – no Kindle device required. Learn more
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle Cloud Reader.
Using your mobile phone camera, scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
The Cage Kindle Edition
Gordon Weiss (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
The Cage is a brilliant yet harrowing account of Sri Lanka's fall into darkness. Since independence in 1948, Sri Lanka has been marred by a toxic mix of religion, nationalism and xenophobia. Post-colonial governments ruled with an iron fist, and democracy crumbled. Extremist Buddhist monks preached bloodshed. Pogroms and death squads killed tens of thousands in the 1970s and 1980s.
The Cage unravels the compelling history that led to the horrific events of 2009, when government forces surrounded the brutal Tamil Tiger guerrillas and hundreds of thousands of civilians on a tiny sand spit. Were tens of thousands of innocent people killed in the first months of that year? Was the government's destruction of the Tamil Tigers justified? Were war crimes committed in the process? And why is it that unlike recent events in Libya, Sri Lanka escaped detection and the censure of the watching world?
The Cage analyses the serious questions thrown up by Sri Lanka's "war on terror" for the liberal international order. It examines how it was that on the strategically vital island, the three Indian Ocean super powers - the US, China, and India - jostled for supremacy, while the 21st century's first major war crime unfolded.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPicador Australia
- Publication date1 June 2011
- File size1363 KB
Product description
Review
Foreign Affairs Book of the Day
Spectator & Intercept Summer Reading List selection
Mr. Weiss accurately lays out the central challenges that regional actors, nongovernmental organizations and the international community face in Sri Lanka: ensuring accountability for possible war crimes, and a life of dignity and equality for all Sri Lankan citizens. . . . This powerful book is a haunting reminder of the price countries in the developing world pay for the flawed choices of their founders. --Wall Street Journal
An excellent account of how [the government] victory was won, and of the price paid for the present peace by Sri Lankans. . . . Scrupulously fair. --Economist
The general outlines of this story are familiar. But Weiss, a UN official in Colombo at the time, provides harrowing details, as well as insight into the decades of brutal conflict that brought the two sides to the point where they were willing to commit war crimes. --Foreign Affairs
Gripping. . . . [The Cage] is not only a good starting point for understanding contemporary Sri Lankan history, but also offers a beautifully articulated insight into the human experience. --Intercept
[The Cage] raises . . . the question of how witnesses should respond to alleged war crimes, human rights violations, and the breakdown of the rule of law. A sweeping discussion. . . . Weiss deftly sketches the main issues for a general audience while also providing a solid bibliography and detailed endnotes. The book will appeal to readers interested in Sri Lanka, South Asia, political science, military history, and international relations. --Asian Ethnology
A potent analysis. --Los Angeles Review of Books
Weiss excels at chronicling the changes in attitude of the post-9/11 world and the changing geopolitical landscape. . . . For those interested in this modern human rights tragedy and how basic political rights get shredded by both the government and the freedom fighters, then The Cage is a must read. --CCLaP: Chicago Center for Literature and Photography
[A] painstakingly researched and referenced study. --Scotsman
A courageous document that holds to account the brutality of a rogue state that is all too often simply seen as a beautiful tourist destination. --Sydney Morning Herald
A striking account of the ruthless terror wreaked by both sides on the innocent civilians. --Sunday Times
An accessible and compelling narrative of Sri Lanka's often violent and tortured history. . . . Weiss pulls no punches in tackling the atrocities committed by the Tigers. But he is equally scathing about the failure of the successive Sri Lankan administrations to deal with the aspirations of the Tamil minority and brutal tactics employed by the Sri Lankan Army to quash the rebellion. --Australian
One of the best books published by an Australian this year . . . Himself the grandson of a man who was murdered in Auschwitz, Weiss is aware of the thin line that separates civilised societies from those that sink into collective madness governed by hatred. --Spectator
The Cage is a tightly written and clear-eyed narrative about one of the most disturbing human dramas of recent years. . . . A riveting, cautionary tale about the consequences of unchecked political power in a country at war. A must-read. --Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker staff writer and author of The Fall of Baghdad
Some of the best coverage of Sri Lanka right now is coming from Gordon Weiss." --Nick Bryant, BBC News correspondent
This shattering, heartbreaking tale of savagery and suffering not only lifts the veil that conceals one of the most awful tragedies of the current era, but also helps us understand what should be done, not just in this sad and beautiful land, but long before other such horrors spiral out of control. --Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor & Professor of Linguistics, MIT, and author of Hopes and Prospects
The Cage is a comprehensive and compellingly readable account of one of the very worst atrocity stories this century. Weiss is scrupulously evenhanded in describing the terrible excesses of the Tamil Tigers as well as the Sri Lankan authorities. His book is a timely prod to the world's collective conscience. --Gareth Evans, former Foreign Minister of Australia, Co-Chair of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, and author of The Responsibility to Protect: Ending Mass Atrocity Crimes Once and For All
When I was commissioned to do this report, the first thing I was handed was a copy of The Cage. Weiss's scrupulously balanced account should serve as a guidepost for decision-makers and scholars of international affairs. A book can change the world. --Charles Petrie, diplomat and author of the United Nations "Petrie Report" on the UN's role and responsibilities during the Sri Lankan conflict
A fair and brilliantly written tour de force of this long forgotten war. A book that is long overdue. --Roma Tearne, author of The Mosquito
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.Book Description
From the Back Cover
Once known for its exquisite tea, drowsy climate, and amiable people, Sri Lanka was the Indian Ocean jewel of the British Empire. After independence, the island enjoyed a booming economy and a liberal parliamentary democracy. It had a judiciary, a lively independent press, and a stability envied by emerging nations. The world expected a leader amongst nations.
Instead, in pursuit of power and fundamentalist Buddhism, an oligarchy of Sinhalese political leaders and monks hijacked democracy. In response a ruthless enemy was born: the Tamil Tigers. The result - one of modern history's longest civil conflicts - spawned a host of horrific innovations: suicide bombers, child soldiers, death squads, violent Buddhism and murdered journalists.
But ethnic conflict is only part of the story.
Twenty-seven years on, with Iran, Burma, Libya, and China as its closest allies, democracy has been reduced to a cabal of brothers who control the economy, the courts, and the media. Today they tout their bloody victory over of the Tamil Tiger guerrillas as an example for other nations with 'terrorist' problems.
Gordon Weiss, a veteran journalist and UN official for two decades, was firmly entrenched in the conflict as spokesperson for the United Nations in Colombo. He was a close observer as, in just four months in 2009, tens of thousands of civilians perished along with the last of the Tamil Tigers. His account unravels the compelling history that leads up to that horrific episode, peeling back the Sri Lankan government's cloak of silence to reveal the truth of those tragic events.
The Cage offers a rare glimpse into the reality behind the daily headlines: the inner workings of media manipulation, and the plight of international aid workers struggling to provide humanitarian assistance to those caught in the crossfire of a deadly civil conflict.
Gordon Weisswas the United Nations Spokesman in Sri Lanka for two years during the recent civil war. For two decades he worked as a journalist and for international organisations in numerous conflict and natural disaster zones. He is currently a Visiting Scholar at the University of Sydney, Australia.
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.About the Author
Gordon Weiss has lived in New York and worked in numerous conflict and natural disaster zones including the Congo, Uganda, Darfur, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Syria, and Haiti. Employed by the United Nations for over two decades, he continues to consult on war, extremism, peace building, and human rights. The Cage: The Fight for Sri Lanka and the Last Days of the Tamil Tigers is his first book.
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.Product details
- ASIN : B005CEUCHK
- Publisher : Picador Australia (1 June 2011)
- Language : English
- File size : 1363 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 474 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: 162,736 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 66,412 in Textbooks & Study Guides
- 153,877 in Kindle eBooks
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

My objective in writing The Cage was to challenge the myth that few civilians had been killed during the crushing of the Tamil Tigers by Sri Lankan government forces in 2009. I wanted to argue that given the nature of the long civil war, it was in some sense predictable that the conclusion of the war would be extremely vicious.
I had also been thinking about, or dealing with, many of the matters I discuss in this book in my daily work with the United Nations: human rights, international law, war, insurgency groups, nationalism, idealism, historical events, global currents, and the media, so The Cage was also an opportunity to distill some of those ideas, and bring them to bear on the topic at hand.
Since the war itself was reasonably obscure, apart from occasional horrific images flashing across TV screens over three decades, I knew that the book had to be a fluid read, and could not afford to bore. I wanted to include a close reconstruction of the final battles of 2009, including the siege of more than 300,000 civilians, which is really the fulcrum on which the whole book balances.
But I needed to include a contextual history of the rise of Buddhist nationalism from the 19th century, and a wider history of ancient Sri Lanka, as well as 20th century Sri Lanka—its move to independence from Britain, as well as its troubled post-independence. There was an excruciating amount of detail to be boiled down into chapters that not only moved fairly swiftly along, but also which dealt evenly with the subject at hand.
Because the book tries to do a number of very different things, and to do them at varying speeds and depths—to analyze, to bring to life, to narrate, and to inform—I tried to bridge any gaps with what I hope is some solid, good writing. And in the final chapter, I tried to answer a very critical question—so what?
My hope is that it has supported a clearer view among international decision-makers about what happened in the final days of the war and among all its readers, that to really understand conflict, one needs to know the country and its people to be able to put that conflict in proper context. There is no single set of facts, but instead a series of conflicting complexes of facts, often contradictory, but heading in a single trajectory.
Please do share your thoughts with me on my website, or by writing to info@gordonweissauthor.com
Customers who bought this item also bought
Customer reviews
Top reviews from other countries




