A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa
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In A Continent for the Taking Howard W. French, a veteran correspondent for The New York Times, gives a compelling firsthand account of some of Africa’s most devastating recent history–from the fall of Mobutu Sese Seko, to Charles Taylor’s arrival in Monrovia, to the genocide in Rwanda and the Congo that left millions dead. Blending eyewitness reportage with rich historical insight, French searches deeply into the causes of today’s events, illuminating the debilitating legacy of colonization and the abiding hypocrisy and inhumanity of both Western and African political leaders. While he captures the tragedies that have repeatedly befallen Africa’s peoples, French also opens our eyes to the immense possibility that lies in Africa’s complexity, diversity, and myriad cultural strengths. The culmination of twenty-five years of passionate exploration and understanding, this is a powerful and ultimately hopeful book about a fascinating and misunderstood continent. The New York Times There are several powerful set pieces, among them grim scenes in Kikwit, the Zairian heartland of the Ebola virus, in 1995, a narrow escape in Liberia and another in Zaire in the course of duty. There are also some well-judged and bitter remarks about Mobutu's state apparatus, including his dangerous and venal secret police, known as the SNIP; a few hours' detention in a SNIP guardhouse, as this reviewer can testify, are enough to unsettle all but the most intrepid or well-financed journalists. — Jeremy Harding
IntroductionCh. 1Prehistory3Ch. 2Leviathan25Ch. 3Plague48Ch. 4The golden bough69Ch. 5Greater Liberia88Ch. 6Falling apart111Ch. 7Where peacocks roam125Ch. 8Castles in the sand150Ch. 9Tough love170Ch. 10Long knives189Ch. 11Le Roi Est Mort (long live the king)229Notes259Acknowledgments265Index267
