Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles [Paperback]

Richard Dowden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 9, 2010

After a lifetime’s close observation of the continent, one of the world’s finest Africa correspondents has penned a landmark book on life and death in modern Africa. It takes a guide as observant, experienced, and patient as Richard Dowden to reveal its truths. Dowden combines a novelist’s gift for atmosphere with the scholar’s grasp of historical change as he spins tales of cults and commerce in Senegal and traditional spirituality in Sierra Leone; analyzes the impact of oil and the internet on Nigeria and aid on Sudan; and examines what has gone so badly wrong in Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Congo. Dowden’s master work is an attempt to explain why Africa is the way it is, and enables its readers to see and understand this miraculous continent as a place of inspiration and tremendous humanity.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Times UK
“This book is anecdotal, engaging, realistic, and delightfully up-to-date.”

About the Author

Richard Dowden is director of the Royal African Society. He spent a decade as Africa Editor of the Independent, and then another decade as Africa Editor of the Economist. He has made three television documentaries on Africa, for the BBC and Channel 4.

Product Details

• Paperback: 592 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs; Reprint edition (March 9, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586488163
• ISBN-13: 978-1586488161
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.7 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #37,851 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #33 in Books > History > Historical Study > Civilization & Culture

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Concise introduction to a complex continent, March 18, 2009

By 

David Kobia (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles (Hardcover)

This book is almost 600 pages long, and still feels like an abridged account of Africa. I actually thought it was pretty bold to call the book 'Africa' - like a little boy with a toy gun calling himself a cowboy, so I approached the book expecting to disparage it immediately. Having grown up in some of the countries written about in the book, I realized Dowden had actually lived through it enough to warrant telling the tale. I believe this book far outranks many of the history books on Africa, and should be required reading for all high school kids.

Post colonial Africa evokes different types of emotions depending on which side of the railway line you grew up on, so its easy to understand why descendants of the colonialists themselves might not find this an easy read. Dowden places a great deal of the blame for Africa's woes squarely on them and other factors like foreign aid. My opinion is biased because I tend to agree.

Those without any type of bias will find the book extremely fascinating. Discovering Africa through Dowden has left me feeling that I should make the same commitment and re-discover the beautiful continent of Africa.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive, Cohesive, and Steeped in Fact, March 30, 2009

By 

Tom Sawyer (Washington.D.C.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles (Hardcover)

This is by far the most balanced analysis on the challenges faced by sub Saharan African societies. It is unpretentious in that the author confesses his limited exposure/ experience (in the few instances) where it matters and provides a dispassionate analysis of his specific experience before he projects those specific community/ country experiences onto the continent or rather the sub Saharan portion of Africa in general.

The writer obviously benefits from an extended exposure and dispassionate, unbiased discourse with intelligent indigenes which allows an in depth knowledge of both rural and urban circumstances (both historic & current) of diverse sub Sahara African countries.

The author also has the benefit of viewing and experiencing sub Sahara Africa extensively from his Anglo-Saxon value system and you can tell that the narrative is his way of rationalizing multifaceted influences and their projection on current circumstances.

Being that I am African myself and have lived in the US and UK for an extended period, as well as traveled and lived in several West, East, and Southern African countries, I agree with a lot of the inferences he draws.

The only problems I had were that some parts of the book feel like literally reading from his diary and the impression that the author is consciously or unconsciously magnanimous in discussing Britain's role in creating and bolstering a myriad of problems.

Based on the number of 30+ years sub Saharan Africans from East/West/ Central/Southern Africa, whom I have had the need to educate with regards to the source of SSA's woes, I think this book is a MUST HAVE for all sub Sahara Africans and should be recommended reading for all the hapless development professionals who wonder why and how their best efforts may actually be making a bad situation worse.

I must confess however that I stumbled across this book a couple of days ago while searching for Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo in the bookstore and I have hardly put it down since. I am currently on the 4th chapter (after 2 days), but this is a most compelling book, which I may likely buy more of, if only to give out as gifts in lieu of relentless questions I have to answer in my profession as a development finance practitioner focused on SSA.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the better works on Africa, September 4, 2009

By 

Obi O. Emekekwue (Elmont, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles (Hardcover)

Richard Dowden draws on his extensive experience covering Africa as a journalist to write one of the most informative and, I might add, most accurate piece of work on the continent. He rightly points out that Africa is much more than the portrayals seen daily on the media where Africa is seen as a continent of perpetual conflict, wars, famine and other disasters and pestilence. Instead, he shows that it is also a vibrant continent where those brave enough to invest have earned unimaginable wealth; a continent witnessing some of the highest growth rates and a place where modern innovations like the mobile phone and the internet have transformed life in ways never anticipated. It is a pity that he continues the practice of separating Africa south of the Sahara from North Africa. Africa is a geographic entity that encompasses both the north and the south. He is, however, to be forgiven since most of his work had been in the sub-Saharan region.

I give the book four stars primarily because of the many typographical and editing errors I found. I also noted a number of factual errors that he might want to correct in future editions. On page 470, he writes that the late Nigerian dictator, Sani Abacha, overthrew Ibrahim Bagangida to become head of state after Babangida annulled the elections that he had organised. The reality is that after he annullled the elections, Babangida set up an Interim National Government headed by Ernest Shonekan. It was that Interim National Government which purportedly "handed" over power to Abacha.

Also, in page 472, Dowden, describes Beko Ransome Kuti as a human rights lawyer. Kuti, although a human rights activist, was no lawyer. He was a medical doctor.

Aside from these minor drawbacks, Mr. Dowden's book is perhaps the best read for a non-African trying to get a solid and unbiased understanding of the continent. He deserves to be commended for writing such an excellent boo.