A review by clairealex
The Lumumba Plot: The Secret History of the CIA and a Cold War Assassination by Stuart A. Reid

5.0

I was surprised to find this book as much of a page-turner as promised, at least after the initial introductions and narration of education and early life. I was also surprised at how easily I could follow the unfamiliar, complex sequence of events and large cast of players. I knew very little about Congo history, so most of the information was new to me. I'd had an introduction having read a biography of Frank Church, so the CIA involvement wasn't new to me. The degree, however, was.

So much blame lies with Belgium, with its forbidding of higher education and absence of any intermediate positions that would have given Congolese experience in government and followed by its interference once the Congo was independent. So much blame lies with first impressions and then the interpretation of future actions to accord with those impressions--done frequently by US and UN personnel. Lumumba had his faults, but he deserved much better than he got, as did the Congo.