Snowblind (book)

Snowblind

The cover of a recent edition of Snowblind.
Author	Robert Sabbag
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Semi-biographical novel
Publisher	Bobbs-Merrill
Publication date	1976
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN	0-8021-3589-7
OCLC	39307412
Dewey Decimal	364.1/77 21
LC Class	HV5810 .S23 1998
Followed by	Smokescreen

Snowblind: A brief career in the cocaine trade written by American author Robert Sabbag in 1976 is a non-fiction account about an extraordinary character named Zachary Swan who turned his hand to smuggling cocaine from Colombia into the US. Set in the 1970s before organised crime took over the cocaine trade, it is based primarily in New York City and Bogotá and features a variety of colourful characters. Unlike other smugglers at the time Swan concocted a vast array of scams designed both to evade customs officials and protect his 'employees' from prosecution, all of which are highly imaginative and entertaining.

Trivia

• Howard Marks wrote an introduction for the UK 1998 Canongate reprint.
• Damien Hirst designed a repackaged version limited to 1000 copies with sleeve, reinforced mirror hard backed cover, imitation credit card, (in the name of Zacharie Swan), and a rolled up $100 bill hidden in a cut away trench in the middle of the book. All three conspirators, Sabbag, Marks and Hirst hand signed all 1000.