Customer Reviews

Africa: Dispatches From a Fragile Continent

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Blaine Harden's Africa: Dispatches From a Fragile Continent is as at once fascinating and sobering. A former Washington Post bureau chief in sub-Saharan Africa from 1985 to 1989, Harden grabs the reader with his vivid prose which weaves together a clear grasp of depressing and repressive African politics; eye-catching facts that plague the continent, diligently dug up; and tales of one character after another that together provide a sharp snapshot of Africa in the eighties.

With a region as vast as sub-Saharan Africa, containing almost 50 countries, focus is needed to make any account manageable. Harden ably does this by zeroing-in on seven countries: Kenya, Sudan, Zaire (recently re-named Congo), Zambia, Nigeria, Ghana, and Liberia. To immerse oneself into each chapter is to be right at Harden's side clearly sensing the local color and human commotion in which Africans struggle "between an unworkable Western present and a collapsing African past. Their loyalties are stretched between predatory governments and disintegrating tribes, between arbitrary demands of dictators and incessant pleadings of relatives, between commandments of the Bible and obligations to the ancestors."

This book should be read by anyone with an interest in Africa or a desire to explore a new world region through the eyes of a curious journalist. Most memorable is the profile that Harden sketches of the typical African Big Man ruler: "His every pronouncement is reported on the front page. He sleeps with the wives and daughters of powerful men in his government. He shuffles ministers without warning, paralyzing policy decisions as he undercuts pretenders to his throne. He scapegoats minorities..." And the list continues. The resulting image casts a long, haunting shadow on the continent. Though there's much in it that disturbs, the book holds the reader's attention from beginning to end.

Simply put this is the best book on Africa dealing up to the 1990's. As an African living in Europe I found this book an excellent read and spot on in its findings. Students of political science, and those who have an interest in Africa such as western governments, aid agencies and miltinationals would do well to read this book. By better understanding Africa real progress could be made to solve the problems of Africa.

I cant recommend this book more strongly.

A friend gave me this book, and said "you gotta read this". And you know what, I'm really happy she did, because I learned a lot from Dispatches. Harden does a great job of weaving different short stories, each with a unique slant and look at African life. Both entertaining and educational, I'm now fascinated with Africa and ready to read more!

Harden brings one of the least reported parts of the world to light, but his reporting is now a bit out of date. It is hard to give a book this good less than five stars, but many things have happened in Africa in the last five years. I would purchase an update in a minute.

It's a pity that the book was written in the early nineties, since the only drawback I can point out of this work is the lack of information about the last fifteen years in the different countries (Sudan, Nigeria, Zambia, etc.) the author describes (this is not his fault, obviously!). Deeply educational, this is phenomenal journalism. If I had to pont out a chapter, the most interesting one is the one that deals with the Turkana tribe in Kenya.

From page one, I was hooked, and I'm looking forward to learning more about Africa, the forgotten continent. This was the perfect starting point.

Blaine Harden's Africa: Dispatches from a Fragile Continent is by far the most interesting book out there about Africa. It is a series of vignette-like true life examples of how the continent is imploding, thanks to "big daddies" and the west's lack of understanding about the people, cultures, values, and even geography of this underdeveloped continent. Truly a masterpeice. It should be required reading in all universities across the country. One of the BEST books I've ever read.

Harden, a first rate writer, researcher and observer, does an excellent job demystifying the African political diaspora with insightful anecdote and personal experience. For anyone that has lived or loved Africa this is a must read - it will remind you of everything that is wrong with Africa and everything that is unforgetable about Africa.

When I first read Dispatches some years ago, I was astounded at how a 'parachuted journalist' from the Washington Post could manage to be so empathetic to his new surroundings. Harden displays a questioning and understanding of all the places he reported on in Africa that many who've lived for decades in Africa do not have.

In his travels, it's clear that Harden tries to stick his nose in and experience Africa. He is often more than an observer - he participates first-person - and is therefore able to tell a complete story without having resorting to hollow theorizing and trite conclusions as filler. His trip on the Kisangani-Kinshasa riverboat is a good example where the story and experience tells all - Harden doesn't need to tell the reader what to conclude. Same with his experiences with then President Moi of Kenya. He had the chance to talk to Moi, not just for an interview, but to discuss his deportation! Harden was always personally involved in his stories.

Coincidentally, a few years after Harden's Africa tenure, another Washington Post Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Keith Richburg, wrote his memoirs on Africa - Out of America: A Black Man Confronts Africa. Though Out of America is a very good book, Dispatches is in another class entirely. It's a must read.