SURVIVING THE LONG NIGHT - AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT OF A POLITICAL KIDNAPPING

• NCJ Number: 32724
• Author(s): G JACKSON
• Date Published: 1974
• Length: 226 pages
• Sale Source: Vanguard Press, Inc
• Publication Type: Biography
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

THE BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO URUGUAY TELLS OF HIS KIDNAPPING AND 244 DAY CAPTIVITY AT THE HANDS OF URBAN GUERRILLAS, PROVIDING INSIGHT INTO THE PSYCHOLOGY AND MOTIVATIONS OF POLITICAL KIDNAPPERS.

Abstract

THE AUTHOR RECALLS THE VARIOUS COPING METHODS HE DEVISED IN ORDER TO AVOID LETHARGY AND DESPONDENCY. EFFORTS BY HIS CAPTIVES TO DEHUMANIZE HIM OR RATIONALIZE THEIR ACTIONS WERE RESISTED. IDEOLOGICAL CONVERSATIONS WERE FEW; THE KIDNAPPERS WERE INTERESTED PRIMARILY IN THE AMBASSADOR'S VALUE AS A CAPTIVE RATHER THAN A CONVERT. THE AUTHOR HAD ASSUMED THAT IDEOLOGICAL MOTIVATION WOULD PROVE TO BE A SELECTIVE FORCE, SIFTING HARSH, DEDICATED, AND DEHUMANIZED INDIVIDUALS INTO TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS. HE FOUND INSTEAD A HOMOGENEOUS GROUP WHICH DEFIED STEREOTYPING. TWO INTERVIEWS WITH THE AMBASSADOR, ARRANGED BY HIS CAPTORS DURING HIS CAPTIVITY, ARE REPRODUCED IN APPENDIXES.