Island of Shame

"Until I read this book, why had I heard almost nothing about the Chagossians? Their forced relocation from Diego Garcia is a disgraceful violation of human rights that should be far better known. I hope that David Vine's painstakingly researched account is widely read, and that it makes its readers furious."--Anne Fadiman, author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
"The sorry tale of Diego Garcia--a saga of duplicity and collusion involving countries and politicians who should have known better--is impeccably and thrillingly told by David Vine, in a book that should be required reading for defense and human-rights officials in the new American administration. Vine can be justly proud of his tireless efforts to bring justice to a forgotten corner of the tropical world."--Simon Winchester, author of The Professor and the Madman
"Island of Shame illuminates the interior workings of the American empire as it penetrated and shattered the lives of the people of the tiny island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. David Vine turns his anthropological lenses not only on the victims, the people who were expelled to make room for a military base, but on the perpetrators as well, the American officials who oversaw the tragedy."--Frances Fox Piven, author of Challenging Authority
"This is a very good, original book on an important and intellectually challenging subject--the ruthlessness and hypocrisy of the American government in its forced expulsion of an indigenous people in order to build the supersecret military base at Diego Garcia. Vine has done a brilliant job of reconstructing the history of Diego Garcia and America's interest in it."--Chalmers Johnson, author of Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republicv1 "The story of the U.S. base on Diego Garcia, and the cruel displacement of the island's people, has long been hidden from the American public. We owe a debt to David Vine for revealing it to the larger public."--Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States
"Provocative. This book is the first significant look at how the Chagossians' fate has been tied to the needs of empire. Vine convincingly connects the U.S. military's relocation of the Chagossians with a larger historic program of military imperialism and prolonged efforts to establish strategic bases in key geographical locations around the globe. This is a story that will find a wide audience."--David H. Price, author of Threatening Anthropology

List of Illustrations and Tables ix Foreword by Michael Tigar xi Abbreviations and Initialisms xvii A Note to the Reader xix Introduction 1 Chapter 1. The Ilois, The Islanders 20 Chapter 2. The Bases of Empire 41 Chapter 3. The Strategic Island Concept and a Changing of the Imperial Guard 56 Chapter 4."Exclusive Control" 72 Chapter 5."Maintaining the Fiction" 89 Chapter 6."Absolutely Must Go" 99 Chapter 7."On the Rack" 112 Chapter 8. Derasine: The Impoverishment of Expulsion 126 Chapter 9. Death and Double Discrimination 137 Chapter 10. Dying of Sagren 149 Chapter 11. Daring to Challenge 164 Chapter 12. The Right to Return and a Humanpolitik 180 Epilogue 197 My Thanks 199 Further Resources 203 Notes 205 Afterword to the Paperback Edition 249 Index 255