Plays: 'Ghost of Valparaiso' and 'Conversations with James'

by André Vltchek

PLAYS consists of 'Ghosts of Valparaiso' - a Play in Two Acts and 'Conversations with James' - a Comedy in Six Acts. About the “I was moved by the plays. There are so many images that are alive and they fill us with a desire to begin immediately, playing with the words. The work is powerful and beautiful at the same time.” - Anna Maria Lopez Rozas, Director of Compania de Teatro El Riel, Chile “Vltchek’s impassioned accusations of political crimes against humanity perpetrated by the USA, the West, NATO come through clear, as they should, in the words of both the ghosts and the survivors, as well as the author’s hopes for and appeals to the rest of the world to resist and to be ready to answer the call to go to the barricades in defense of the rest of mankind.” - Gaither Stewart About the “Andre Vltchek tells us about a world that few know, even when they think they do. That is because he tells the truth, vividly, with a keen sense of history, and with a perceptive eye that sees past surfaces to reality…” - Noam Chomsky “André Vltchek is a writer, the real thing, of the same calibre and breed as Hemingway and Malraux.” - Catherine Merveilleux “André Vltchek offers an unsparing portrait of the world we live in. With his provocative outlook, he lays bare a situation that is really quite simple, and did not begin a small group of nations whose economic system has nothing to do with humanism, solidarity or compassion, governs the world, exploiting the poorest countries, making a mockery along the way of the democratic principles humanity has been struggling to uphold for centuries. He also recounts the innumerable excesses that accrue as a result, and touches on the subject of religion, which teaches submission.” - Françoise Bachelet “A serious piece of writing endowed with great sincerity, portraying a unique life experience that leaves us feeling forlorn even as it pulls us along in its wake.” - Nathalie Zylberman “Once again, it’s the context that makes the book. It is quite simply mind-boggling. Andre Vltchek knows very well what he’s talking about…” - Yves Mabon “Vltchek, previously unknown to me, consistently and calmly held his own during the conversations, speaking with comparable authority and knowledge about an extraordinary assortment of topics that embraced the entire global scene, something few of us would have the nerve to attempt, much less manage with such verve, insight, and empathy.” - Richard A. Falk “…despite all the terror and despite somber analyses about the battle between ‘market fundamentalists and religious fundamentalists’ being the main contradiction of our time, Vltchek’s novel projects the same desperate hope that once emanated from Man’s Fate by André Malraux or To Whom the Bells Toll by Ernest Hemingway, and it is presumably not by accident that French critic Catherine Merveilleux has compared Vltchek with these very same authors. And as a matter of fact, Vltchek evokes strong memories of them, but not just because of his reawakening of the buried tradition of political fiction, but also because of his immense narrative talent.” - Michael Schiffmann “Andre Vltchek is one of a few noble knights of investigative journalism. He travels to all the dangerous places in the world, “speaks truth to the power,” and reports on the events on the ground. All of this in the hope people could open their eyes and minds and learn the seemingly incongruent fact that there are millions and millions of innocents, people like you and me, who were and still are being sacrificed in the name of the western-style democracy.” - Alevtina Rea

228 pages, Paperback

Published December 11, 2014

About the author

André Vltchek (Russian: Андре Влчек, [ɐnˈdrɛ ˈvɫ̩t͡ɕɛk], December 29, 1963 – September 22, 2020) was a Soviet-born American political analyst, journalist, and a filmmaker. Vltchek was born in Leningrad but later became a naturalized U.S. citizen after being granted asylum there in his 20s. He lived in the United States, Chile, Peru, Mexico, Vietnam, Samoa, and Indonesia.

Vltchek covered armed conflicts in Peru, Kashmir, Mexico, Bosnia, Sri Lanka, Congo, India, South Africa, East Timor, Indonesia, Turkey, and the Middle East. He traveled to more than 140 countries, and wrote articles for Der Spiegel, Japanese newspaper The Asahi Shimbun, The Guardian, ABC News and the Czech Republic daily Lidové noviny. From 2004, Vltchek served as a senior fellow at the Oakland Institute.

Commenting on Vltchek's book Oceania, published in 2010, American linguist Noam Chomsky said that it evoked "the reality of the contemporary world" and that "He has also not failed to trace the painful — and particularly for the West, shameful realities to their historical roots".