Author Description

Born in Ireland in 1864, Roger Casement acted as British Consul in Africa and Brazil, where he denounced atrocities among Congolese and Putumayo rubber workers. He was knighted in 1911 and retired from the consular service two years later. In 1914, he attempted to enlist support, in America and Germany, for the Irish nationalist cause. Convicted of high treason, he was executed in London at the age of 51. A compulsive diarist, his so-called "Black" diaries were finally released into the public domain in 1994. At the time of his trial, these diaries--detailing his promiscuous homosexual activities in Brazil--were used to discredit and condemn him. Now an accurate transcript of the "Black" Diary, published here for the first time--as is his more public "White" Diary--offers the reader the opportunity to judge its authenticity--still a matter of heated debate. Together, they take us deep into the mind of the bravest, most selfless humanitarian of the Edwardian age.