The Wizard of the Nile: The Hunt for Africa's Most Wanted [Import] [Hardcover]

MATTHEW GREEN (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: PORTOBELLO BOOKS LTD (2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1846270308
• ISBN-13: 978-1846270307
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,695,058 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insight into a Hellish Conflict, March 28, 2008

By 

R. Hardy "Rob Hardy" (Columbus, Mississippi USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wizard of the Nile (Paperback)

If there is a religiously-inspired, insane, murderous fugitive leading a band of rebels hiding in the African jungle, what is the best thing to do? Why, interview him. That was the answer of Matthew Green, a young British journalist covering East Africa for Reuters. All that had to be done was to find Joseph Kony, the warlord of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) whose fanatical Christian militia had terrorized northern Uganda for over two decades and who is recognized as being among the world's worst of bad guys. Find him, and get the answer to the one simple question: "How could one maniac leading an army of abducted children hold half a country hostage for twenty years?" Getting the answer is not so simple, nor is finding Kony, but the outcome of Green's 2006 quest to find him and Green's attempt to understand an answer to the question are contained in his _The Wizard of the Nile: The Hunt for Africa's Most Wanted_ (Portobello Books). Suffice it to say that Green's history of the region and of Kony's movement does not fully explain the monstrosities the LRA has perpetrated, and he doesn't get the answers he wanted, but Green details how he was doing his job as a reporter, letting us know about the many frustrations therein and the broader explanations he obtained. There is journalistic bravado and curiosity on display here, but with self-deprecating humor, making this an enjoyably readable memoir and travelogue with dark themes.

The warlord was born a peasant to a witchcraft faith-healer within the Acholi, a tribe living in northern Uganda near the border with Sudan. They had been the victims of revenge killing and cattle theft by the Ugandan government, and were in the market for a messiah. Kony had gone to primary school (wearing his rosary) but was distracted by the spirit world which forced him to become a witchdoctor. He was successful at the trade, and even more so when a new spirit infested him; he explained that the Holy Spirit had come so he could fight the Ugandan government and he would make the Ten Commandments law. Ten Commandments or not, for three years the International Criminal Court has had out an arrest warrant for the warlord, charged with crimes against humanity. Kony had made the conflict descend into a bizarre hall-of-mirrors nightmare. Green writes, "It was a conflict in which the people who chopped off people's noses were also victims, having been abducted and forced to kill in Kony's name. It was a conflict in which people would give food to the very rebels who could wipe out their whole village, hoping it would help their lost sons and daughters to survive." What is remarkable about Green's book, though, is that although he concentrates on his own efforts to get to see and interview the monster, he also comes to the realization that the concentration of the western media upon Kony is a simplistic one-dimensional analysis.

It has to be said that Green does not make all this clear, but he has done an excellent job of describing the distressing and hellish conflict and its history. It wouldn't be fair to say whether he got that interview or not, but by the end of the book he has helped us realize it isn't very important, because the importance of Kony is overshadowed by how he is being used by others. "... as long as the conflict was portrayed as the result of one man's seemingly inexplicable `evil', there was no need for people to look any deeper." This remarkable book, a journalist's memoir not so much of "How I Got That Story" but more a look at a haunted land and a broader view of the history of its conflict, is the sort of deeper look that is needed.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars On the trail of Joseph Kony, February 18, 2010

By 

John Gibbs (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wizard of the Nile (Paperback)

For more than 20 years now, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has been waging war against innocent civilians in Northern Uganda and surrounding countries, pillaging, torturing, dismembering and murdering adults, and kidnapping children to brutalise, brainwash and use as recruits. Journalist Matthew Green set out to find and interview the LRA's leader Joseph Kony, and this book tells the story of his journey.

Kony claims to be representing the Acholi people of Northern Uganda in a war to overthrow President Museveni's government and install a government "based on the Ten Commandments". He does not seem to realise that his actions are diametrically opposed to every one of the Ten Commandments: 1. No other God and 2. No idols - Kony is a practising spirit medium; 3. Misusing God's name - Kony frequently purports to speak for God; 4. Sabbath Day - The LRA conducts raids on Sundays; 5. Honour parents - the LRA kidnaps children then forces them to kill their families; 6. No murder - Kony does plenty of that; 7. No adultery - Kony has 80 wives; 8. No stealing - the LRA constantly steals; 9. No lying - Kony engages in consistent deception; 10. No coveting - Kony is always coveting the possessions and positions of others.

The story of the LRA has not been well documented, and Green's book helps to remedy that. The writing is engaging, and the subject matter very interesting. However, the author's quest to meet Joseph Kony is ultimately more of a celebrity chase than a search to find the answer to any serious question. If and when Kony's war is finally ended, the trauma that he has caused will last for decades.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Trying to understand insanity, September 27, 2011

By 

kety - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Wizard of the Nile: The Hunt for Africa's Most Wanted (Paperback)

Very interesting first person look at the ongoing conflict in Uganda, which has also influenced Sudan and the Congo. Explains a little about Joseph Kony, who is responsible for so many kidnappings, mutilations and murders. It is very readable and engaging.