The Wonga Coup and over 360,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle – Amazon’s new wireless reading device. Learn more

38 used & new from $0.75
See All Buying Options
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
 
The Wonga Coup: Guns, Thugs and a Ruthless Determination to Create Mayhem in an Oil-Rich Corner of Africa
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book
Start reading The Wonga Coup on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.
 
  

The Wonga Coup: Guns, Thugs and a Ruthless Determination to Create Mayhem in an Oil-Rich Corner of Africa (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: corporate army, coup plot, investor agreements, Equatorial Guinea, South Africa, Wonga Coup (more...)
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


9 new from $5.98 29 used from $0.75

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
  Kindle Edition, August 7, 2006 $9.99 -- --
  Hardcover, August 6, 2006 -- $5.98 $0.75
  Paperback, Bargain Price $5.98 $5.98 $3.32
  MP3 CD, Audiobook, CD, MP3 Audio $18.99 $15.02 $9.99

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Dogs of War

The Dogs of War

by Frederick Forsyth
3.9 out of 5 stars (45)  $7.99
Untapped: The Scramble for Africa's Oil

Untapped: The Scramble for Africa's Oil

by John H. Ghazvinian
4.4 out of 5 stars (31)  $10.20
Tropical Gangsters: One Man's Experience With Development And Decadence In Deepest Africa

Tropical Gangsters: One Man's Experience With Development And Decadence In Deepest Africa

by Robert Klitgaard
4.6 out of 5 stars (11)  $20.25
Poisoned Wells: The Dirty Politics of African Oil

Poisoned Wells: The Dirty Politics of African Oil

by Nicholas Shaxson
4.0 out of 5 stars (3)  $14.21
I Didn't Do It for You: How the World Betrayed a Small African Nation (P.S.)

I Didn't Do It for You: How the World Betrayed a Small African Nation (P.S.)

by Michela Wrong
4.4 out of 5 stars (25)  $12.44
› Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. The most terrifying thing about this chronicle of a failed coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea is that it's not a Graham Greene novel but a true story. Roberts, an Economist staffer, chronicles the plot by foreign mercenaries and merchants to topple the country's brutal dictatorship solely for the "wonga" (British slang for "money, usually a lot of it"). An irresistibly lurid tale is peopled with bellicose profiteers, particularly of the neocolonialist sort from Europe and South Africa, with long histories of investment in oil, diamonds and war-for-profit. Among these self-styled gentleman adventurers are Margaret Thatcher's son, Sir Mark Thatcher, and "rag-and-bone intelligence men" who linger in hotel bars, "picking up scraps of information... selling them on to willing buyers, whether corporate or government." The audacity of the coup's planners is almost admirable, though Roberts rightly chastises them for their oil-soaked greed. As he lifts the curtain to the backrooms of power in postcolonial Africa, the reader finds that not much has changed on the continent since 1618, when the "Company of Adventurers of London Trading to the Ports of Africa" became the first private company to colonize Africa for profit. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


Review

"A real-life pulp thriller, sardonic, riveting." -- Dallas Morning News

"A remarkable piece of reporting told in lucid prose. As in so many African stories, no side emerges unsullied." -- Entertainment Weekly

"Roberts's account dutifully traces the paper trail of this 'rent-a-coup,' which implicated associates including [Margaret Thatcher's son]." -- The New Yorker

"The book gets inside the world of African mercenaries, arms suppliers, and intelligence traders." -- Seattle Times

"[Roberts] draws a convincing picture of wholesale corruption and brutality on the part of the country’s ruling class." -- New York Times Book Review
See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: PublicAffairs (August 7, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1586483714
  • ISBN-13: 978-1586483715
  • Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #178,065 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

    #3 in  Books > History > Africa > Equatorial Guinea
    #17 in  Books > History > Africa > West Africa
    #44 in  Books > History > Africa > Central Africa

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

Adam Roberts
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Adam Roberts Page
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
corporate army, coup plot, investor agreements, mercenary activity, other plotters, oil firms, forward team
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Equatorial Guinea, South Africa, Wonga Coup, Executive Outcomes, Crause Steyl, Simon Mann, United States, Cape Town, Mark Thatcher, Canary Islands, Black Beach, Severo Moto, Niel Steyl, Greg Wales, Sao Tome, Johann Smith, Logo Logistics, Nick du Toit, Gulf of Guinea, James Kershaw, Nigel Morgan, David Tremain, Karim Fallaha, King Air, Ely Calil
New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:

Books on Related Topics (learn more)
 
 

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Wonga Coup: Guns, Thugs and a Ruthless Determination to Create Mayhem in an Oil-Rich Corner of Africa
91% buy the item featured on this page:
The Wonga Coup: Guns, Thugs and a Ruthless Determination to Create Mayhem in an Oil-Rich Corner of Africa 3.5 out of 5 stars (15)
Tropical Gangsters: One Man's Experience With Development And Decadence In Deepest Africa
3% buy
Tropical Gangsters: One Man's Experience With Development And Decadence In Deepest Africa 4.6 out of 5 stars (11)
$20.25
Untapped: The Scramble for Africa's Oil
2% buy
Untapped: The Scramble for Africa's Oil 4.4 out of 5 stars (31)
$10.20
Poisoned Wells: The Dirty Politics of African Oil
2% buy
Poisoned Wells: The Dirty Politics of African Oil 4.0 out of 5 stars (3)
$14.21
Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(4)
(3)
(3)
(2)
(1)
(1)
Agree with these tags?

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags
 

Customer Reviews

15 Reviews
5 star:
 (4)
4 star:
 (5)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (3)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (15 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Lessons from a Failed Coup, August 5, 2006
By R. Hardy "Rob Hardy" (Columbus, Mississippi USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Equatorial Guinea isn't much of a nation, even for Africa. "In most atlases, the country lies hidden under the staple," writes Adam Roberts. But it has oil, and that makes quite the difference. In _The Wonga Coup: Guns, Thugs and a Ruthless Determination to Create Mayhem in an Oil-Rich Corner of Africa_, Roberts has told the story of an attempted coup by international businessmen and mercenaries in March 2004. The aim was not to gain political power, or to help the blighted nation's poor start claiming some of their country's riches. The aim was simply to get "a large splodge of wonga" as one of the plotters called a big infusion of cash. (Surprisingly, the _OED_ says that "wonga" is British, not African, slang.) The plot, for many reasons explained here, did not work, and plenty of the plotters and their henchmen suffered, but it has had some effects on Equatorial Guinea, and also reflects the current larger problems in the economic development of Africa. The book is well researched, and at times reads like an adventure novel, sort of a failed _The Dogs of War_.

This is no coincidence. _The Dogs of War_ was written by Fredrick Forsyth, who has recently, after formerly secret British documents were unsealed, admitted his own role in financing a similar, and similarly failed, coup against Equatorial Guinea in 1973. In some ways, it is a shame that the 1973 coup didn't succeed; it was less for riches than for removal of the deranged dictator Macias Nguema, who went on for a further six mad years. He was succeeded by his nephew, Obiang Nguema, about whom the best that can be said is that he is not as crazy as his uncle. Torture and death were his ways of getting things done, but he has successfully brought foreigners and oil companies of the west into his little country, which now gets about six billion dollars a year for the very good and pure oil beneath it. The benefits do not go to the citizens, for whom spending on education is less than any country and for whom public health efforts are so stunted that the average life expectancy is fifty years. Obiang did have an opponent in exile, Severo Moto. The old Etonian and former Special Air Service Officer Simon Mann thought that he could put Moto in but run things commercially himself. Such a coup requires plenty of money, and Mann had it, but he was also competent at finding investors who were interested in the potential gains in a regime change. One was Sir Mark Thatcher, son of the former Prime Minister, who helped pay for a rental combat helicopter. Mann recruited black Angolan soldiers and Afrikaner thugs for the proposed action and plenty of armaments and aircraft. The plotters may have thought that South Africa and Zimbabwe supported their plans, but it was these two countries that stopped the coup while the forces were gathering. Hapless mercenaries, 64 of them, were arrested from their airplane in Zimbabwe and were consigned to the bad prison there, while the rest of the crew were captured in Equatorial Guinea and went to the even worse prison there. The descriptions of the prisons and the active and passive tortures that were used on the men are difficult reading.

Many of the participants in the coup have been released by now. Sir Mark Thatcher is sure that the retribution extracted against him was revenge against his mother, but he did plead guilty to financing the helicopter. He cooperated with prosecutors, had to pay a fine, became a convict who cannot return to the US, and his marriage broke up. Many of the other plotters struck deals as well, implicating their fellow conspirators deeper, but Mann has not done this, and remains in jail in Zimbabwe, hoping never to be extradited to Equatorial Guinea. Ironically, the plot has helped Obiang, as the US came to the realization that he was at least a known force and could be reliably counted upon to receive millions in exchange for allowing the oil companies to make their extractions. He has since visited Washington, and was told "You are a good friend and we welcome you" by Condoleeza Rice. He has made new friends in Spain and South Africa, who have argued that coups would be less likely if he would help the ordinary citizens of his country, but few changes have happened. Among the background villains of this piece are the oil companies themselves, which wash their hands of responsibility to make sure that some of the money they spend goes to causes better than enriching the powerful, and the US banking system that allows those powerful ones to sock away tainted millions. Roberts himself writes, "It is hardly appropriate to draw sweeping lessons about the whole of modern Africa as a whole from a story of a failed coup in a single small country," but still, there are so many layers of rot revealed in this often exciting story that it is clear the world should be behaving better.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating story- How many lives for Obiang?, January 10, 2007
I first heard news of Simon Mann's arrest in Zimbabwe breaking over the BBC while living in neighboring Zambia. Couldn't imagine a fate much worse than a Zim prison cell- until I read Wonga Coup and learned of the conditions of the Black Beach prison in E.G. Pity for Simon's colleague...

It's strange to feel pity for mercenaries, except that the utterly corrupt rule of Obiang and cronies can only encourage this. Siphoning off $350mm of the national wealth of E.G. into a personal bank account in the US is a crime greater than any that might be committed by would-be coup-makers. Given the stultifying poverty in E.G., this level of graft is disgusting and unforgivable. Add to this flagrant human rights abuses, and I find myself very disappointed the coup failed.

Even more so after reading "Tropical Gangsters", which gives some perspective of the lives of ordinary E.G. citizens, and those locals and foreigners who have made real efforts to improve the situation in E.G. Even if Mann's coup was financially motivated, it's hard to imagine how things could be any worse in E.G. for the average person. Perhaps a shake up (any shake up) might offer the possibility for positive changes.

Despite the very real problems that the world oil/gas enonomy has caused certain underdeveloped countries whose major resource is petroleum (and whose near-sighted and corrupt governments can't see fit to invest this wealth into the futures of their countries), in the case of E.G., rule in the country was despotic before they even discovered they had oil. Can't blame this particular demon on Western oil consumption. Seems to be cultural and even geographical, engendered by tribal disparities and the isolating and strange borders of the territory.

Of course, the book can't answer these questions or outline a hopeful future for E.G. It was a nail-biting read nonetheless, even if it left the reader anxious for a more definitive and dramatic resolution than long prison sentences in Zim/E.G. jail cells (and business as usual in E.G.). Sadly, this is not an Executive Outcome.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastical Story, February 17, 2007
This is a quite amazing story, told with wit and verve. The greed and arrogance of the coup plotters is matched only by their fecklessness and stupidity. Beyond the complexities of the botched plot, the book provides a fascinating portrayal of the political, economic and military dynamicss of contemporary Africa -- it is a thoroughly engrossing read. I read the book cover-to-cover on a long-haul flight between London and Singapore and can thoroughly recommend it to anyone with 13 hours on a 747, time will fly by!
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars 3.5 Stars for a great story that was re-told minimally...
I just finished reading this book a few moments ago. This book is well detailed and covers all of the players involved both fairly and accurately. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Chris

5.0 out of 5 stars As of May 2008, this Saga STILL continues.....
I will not recite the many details already cited by the publishers and reviewers. What should give this book its second life (its first was not bad) is this ongoing saga STILL... Read more
Published 18 months ago by AmazonLoyalist

3.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable read, hampered by poor editing
Although generally quite enjoyable, the book has distracting repetitions and irrelevancies. We'll often get the same, not-particularly-important quote twice. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Larry OBrien

4.0 out of 5 stars Good effort by Adam Roberts to synthesize a wide-ranging tale
"The Wonga Coup" is a fascinating piece of investigative journalism from Economist journalist Adam Roberts. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Andy Orrock

2.0 out of 5 stars Good story, Written Boringly.
It really is quite an interesting story. I just personally feel that it is a little slow and overly detail oriented - semi repetitive, slightly lacking. Read more
Published on June 30, 2007 by Christopher Sensabaugh

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read
Fascinating, humorous, and ultimately human and touching look into a world few of us ever see.

Ok, just up front, let's mention in bold type: being in prison in... Read more
Published on May 24, 2007 by John

4.0 out of 5 stars The Pups of War
This is a fun book about a group of aging white mercenaries who plotted to overthrow the dictator of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. Read more
Published on March 20, 2007 by Reader

2.0 out of 5 stars Terrific story, poorly told. 2-3 stars
The Wonga Coup has all the ingredients of a sensational story - conspiracy, action, drama, celebrity names, glamorous lives and terrible misfortune - all true. Read more
Published on February 4, 2007 by Gillian A

1.0 out of 5 stars annoyingly boring book
I bought this book hoping for a nice story and some insights into a dark corner of Africa. Instead, I found a dull story that couldn't quite decide whether it is a factual account... Read more
Published on January 11, 2007 by another end user

4.0 out of 5 stars Modern day colonialism.
This was an interesting read about a little known event in the Western world. A bunch of South Africans and Brits decided to take down the despot who rules Equatorial Guinea... Read more
Published on December 14, 2006 by Kevin M Quigg

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

So You'd Like to...

Create a guide

Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)

Look for Similar Items by Category

Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:



















i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...
 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.



Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.