Scan barcode
susanlawson's review against another edition
5.0
A collection of articles on the many and varied parts of Africa visited by this Polish journalist, who clearly loved the continent and its people. The themes are of inhospitable environment, crippling heat and extreme poverty and listlessness. The evils of colonialism and slavery appear to underpin everything that has gone awry in recent decades.
carmelitasita's review
5.0
I now realize that whatever I knew of Africa was a sham, and I will never truly comprehend the continent. What a talented writer.
nickfourtimes's review
4.0
1) ''One day I summoned my strength and set off on a walk from hut to hut. It was noon. In all the dwellings, on the earthen floors, on mats, on bunks, lay silent, inert people. Their faces were bathed in sweat. The village was like a submarine at the bottom of the ocean: it was there, but it emitted no signals, soundless, motionless.''
2) ''They raise the president. Doe sits propped by a soldier's boots, swaying, his earless head flowing with blood. Johnson simply doesn't know what to do next. Order that his nose be cut off? His hand? Leg? He has clearly run out of good ideas. The whole thing is beginning to bore him. 'Take him away!' he commands the soldiers, who carry him off for further tortures (also filmed). Doe lived for several hours more, and died from loss of blood. When I was in Monrovia, the video showing him being tortured was the hottest ticket in town. However, there were few video cassette players in the city, and, furthermore, there were frequent power outages. To see Doe's torment (the entire film lasted two hours), people had to invite themselves to the homes of their more well-to-do neighbours or go to those bars where the tape was playing nonstop.''
2) ''They raise the president. Doe sits propped by a soldier's boots, swaying, his earless head flowing with blood. Johnson simply doesn't know what to do next. Order that his nose be cut off? His hand? Leg? He has clearly run out of good ideas. The whole thing is beginning to bore him. 'Take him away!' he commands the soldiers, who carry him off for further tortures (also filmed). Doe lived for several hours more, and died from loss of blood. When I was in Monrovia, the video showing him being tortured was the hottest ticket in town. However, there were few video cassette players in the city, and, furthermore, there were frequent power outages. To see Doe's torment (the entire film lasted two hours), people had to invite themselves to the homes of their more well-to-do neighbours or go to those bars where the tape was playing nonstop.''
jill's review
I quite enjoyed this book, which offers a journalist's perspective on Africa over a 40 year span (starting in the '50's). Covering the tumult of countries' revolting against their colonial overlords, to traveling an open desert and risking death by snake bite, to everyday life in West Africa, the book showed me countless scenes I could never have imagined. Not a page-turner, though, and it was recalled to the library before I could finish it.
yaz20100's review
5.0
Amazing read for the hot summer. Each chapter is a new story from another corner of Africa.
msoolong's review
4.0
Kapuściński takes you on a lifelong journey through Africa. From the desert to the mountains and all the varying changes (or lack there of). It seems that the only constant on that continent is war. Poverty, disease, death are all continual components. His insights and descriptions bring the hard truth that survival will come from education, not killing. His real life experiences are not clouded even for a journalist. For those who know nothing of Africa you will gain insightful knowlegdge on a variety of the countries that exist there, for those that have some knowledge you will find the hard truth.
miguel_ocana's review against another edition
5.0
Me ha encantado. Me ha transportado completamente a África