I have always been fascinated by Africa. I first visited the continent on honeymoon 14 years ago, have visited a total of 7 African countries to date and have now been living in Kenya for nearly 3 years.
I was attracted by the wild beauty of many of the countries, the vast swathes of empty space and of course the iconic wildlife. As I grew older and a social and political consciousness began to kick in I became interested in the development of the nations on the continent, their move from colonialism to independence and their current economic situation. I also began thinking about the history and the future of Europeans in Africa - a difficult, emotive and politically sensitive area.
The books I have chosen below touch on all these areas and have all moved me and left a lasting impression on me. I am not normally a lover of non-fiction but these books are all very readable - in fact more than that they are highly addictive and totally unputdownable. Please read them. You will want to talk about them (and the issues they raise) with everyone you know once you have finished!
And if you have read any other great non-fiction books about Africa, please comment and recommend them - I am always looking for more to read!
Blood River, by Tim Butcher
It is a few years now since I read this book, but I still think about it. It tells of the author's journey through the Democratic Republic of Congo, a journey that he was warned was madness to attempt as the country was in an on-off state of civil war and one of the most dangerous countries in the world. Alongside this journey the reader also learns the story of the intrepid Victorian explorers who first travelled the length of the Congo River, and of the heartbreaking history of the country. Butcher's journey is contrasted by details of a journey along the river that his mother took in the 1950s. The comparison between the Congo of the 1950s and the Congo of the early 21st century were the most fascinating and eye opening parts of the story for me. The idea of the jungle claiming back all the previous development is a powerful one, and one that has certainly stayed with me.
The story of Butcher's journey is gripping and he does not shy away from acknowledging his fear and vulnerability when reflecting on the dangers he may face. He describes his interactions with the ordinary Congolese with warmth and empathy and the reader is left really feeling for these people who are forced to go about their every day lives under immense hardship.
Of course the reader is forced to think about colonialism and its impact on the state of the nation today and is left wondering what can be done to help these ordinary Congolese people. It is certainly bleak at times but if you like a book to get you thinking and inspire you to find out more then you will really enjoy this book.
Alexandra Fuller is my absolutely favourite discovery of the last year. I just love her writing - the warmth, humour and love that infuse her prose and make you feel as if you are really there alongside her, seeing and feeling the things she describes. Her family begin to feel like old friends and I was very sad to finish both of these books, knowing I would actually miss the people in them!
These books are both memoirs. The first deals with Alexandra's childhood growing up in war-torn Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and her memories of this period are so sharp and her childhood voice completely authentic, even though she is writing many years after the events. Some truly shocking events are described and I could not believe that all this was such recent history and yet I had no real idea of the war fought as Rhodesia became Zimbabwe, let alone how people on both sides of the conflict were affected. After I finished I was left with the feeling that I simply must find out more about the history of Rhodesia and Zimbabwe. It is perhaps the only book I can think of that I have read more than once in the space of a year. I am just totally in love with the author's writing and her voice. I really feel as if she is an old friend I have known all my life. That explains why upon finishing I had to immediately embark upon the second of these memoirs "Cocktail Hour Under The Tree of Forgetfulness".
This book concentrates much more on the author's mother, and complements the first book brilliantly as many of the same events are described, but this time from the adult perspective of her mother instead of her own childhood voice. Again the beautiful writing is incredibly evocative of time and place and the sights, sounds, people and scenery of central Africa just come alive for the reader. This is a desperately sad book but also full of humour, and most of all, love. Fuller's love for Africa and her parents, and their love for each other are the real stars of this book. It is much more reflective in tone than "Don't let's go to the dogs tonight " and as such I found myself examining my own conscience and attitudes much more, particularly as a white person currently living in Africa.
Very powerful and thought provoking books. Please read them. Then you will want to tell everyone you know about them too!
The Last Resort, by Douglas Rogers
I devoured this book in one sitting - completely hooked from the very first page. This is an account of the author's parents struggle to stay on their farm in Zimbabwe in the first decade of the 21st Century amid Robert Mugabe's land reform policies. It is utterly gripping as there are many times in the book where real danger is faced by the author and his family, particularly as they go on the election campaign trail with the opposition party; exchange money on the black market; try to secure a new passport on the black market when his mother's passport is cancelled by the government, effectively rendering her stateless; and never knowing whether their farm will be the next one to be forcibly seized.
It is a powerful example of ordinary life continuing in extraordinary circumstances. And the circumstances certainly are extraordinary! At times it is hard to believe that these things were (and still are) actually happening and the documentation of the economic decline of Zimbabwe is terrifying. There is much food for thought here, particularly surrounding identity and whether these white farmers who have lived in Africa for generations really have the right to call themselves African. I would urge everyone to read it... and then discuss it.
The Shadow of the Sun, by Ryszard Kapuscinski
Ryszard Kapuscinki, a Polish foreign correspondent with forty years experience of Africa has written an engaging, atmospheric and insightful book consisting of a series of snapshots from his time on the continent. We travel with him from Ghana at the dawn of independence through places as diverse as Uganda, Tanzania, Liberia, Mali and many others, trying to understand the essence of Africa, whilst also pointing out that trying to think of "Africa" and "Africans" is an unhelpful generalisation. All the time, the emphasis is on the small details, the everyday struggles of life for the average citizen, coping with poverty, corruption and revolution. His incredible writing make the people and places leap off the page and the reader truly becomes immersed in Africa and all its vibrant, noisy and colourful details. It is obvious that the author feels a real affection for the continent. The reportage is good but his analysis is what sets this book apart and really got me thinking and questioning my assumptions as a reader. Never, have I underlined so many passages and made so many notes in a book!
Here are a couple of quotes that really sum up the book for me. First describing how the world often views this continent:
Today, as in the past, Africa is regarded as an object, as the stomping ground of colonisers, merchants, missionaries, ethnographers, large charitable organisations...
And secondly the author's observations about the little things:
The world of the average African is different indeed. It is a lean world, of the very simplest, most elementary sort, reduced to several objects: a single shirt, a single bowl, a handful of grain, a sip of water.
There is so much food for thought in this book and so much to gain from reading it - not least you will be completely transported to the Africa Kapuscinki describes. Read it and savour it.
I wanted to end with this quote from another book by Alexandra Fuller: "Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier", which sums up for me how my vision of Africa will always be different to the majority of Africans and reminds me that although I live here, my views and opinions will always be those of a privileged outsider.
It was a land of almost breathtaking beauty or of savage poverty; a land of screaming ghosts or of sun-flung possibilities; a land of inviting warmth or of desperate drought. How you see a country depends on whether you are driving through it or living in it. How you see a country depends on whether or not you can leave it, if you have to.
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