Part I, and Part Two, Chapter 1 Summary and Analysis

Marching Powder, by Rusty Young and Thomas McFadden, is the non-fiction story of McFadden's incarceration in Bolivia for trafficking in cocaine. In Part I: Rusty, the author of the book, Rusty Young, is leaving San Pedro prison in La Paz, Bolivia, when the guards discover several micro-cassette tapes he has hidden in his pants. The cassettes are intended to assist in the production of a book that he is writing about the prison's most well-known inmate, Thomas McFadden, who is credited as the co-author of Marching Powder. Three days later, Rusty is arrested on bribery charges and ordered to leave the country. He does not know if the authorities have learned that he is writing a book. He thinks it ironic that his arrest is for bribery, because every week for...