Châu Phi Books

Truly the most comprehensive book on Africa I've ever read, The Fate of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence by Martin Meredith, takes you through post-colonial African history in detail. It covers pretty much the whole continent. The unique thing about the book is its structure. It does not follow a single country or even a region, chronologically going through history. Instead it follows a sort of thematic structure, simultaneously looking at different places where similar or related events happened. While this can make the book confusing if you set it aside for a couple weeks and then jump back into it, it is also a real strength in helping the reader see historical events in their contemporary context. This is particularly important in a place where state boundaries are frequently arbitrary, not accurately reflecting geographic features or ethnic groupings. So I liked the book a lot, but it took me a couple months to slog through it!

The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur by Daoud Hari is a personal memoir of the experiences of a Darfur native working as a translator and guide for journalists and aid workers. I loved the storytelling tone of this book, his voice is consistently respectful and often humourous, even in the face of the atrocities happening in his homeland. It is this kind of story that gives a human perspective to the news articles. And speaking of news articles, the events in Darfur are of course on-going, and in something new under International Law, the ICC has just issued an arrest warrent against Sudan's current President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Clearly that will not solve the problem, indeed it may complicate the solving of the problem, but at least it adds some personal responsibility into the equation. Anyway, the book is a great read, like three days, no slogging required!