making sense of africa, 24 Sep 2008
I have always been fascinated by Africa. My parents met there as vso volunteers in the 70s and that was how the author first experienced Africa. My parents talked often about their time there but they had such mixed views - love and hate. I bought this because of review and knew I was travelling to Australia so had time to read it. I have not been disappointed. It is passionately written yet highly informed. Above all it makes sense of something I never quite understood. It will be my parents' Christmas present! I must now go to Africa.

making sense of africa, 24 Sep 2008
I have always been fascinated by Africa. My parents met there as vso volunteers in the 70s and that was how the author first experienced Africa. My parents talked often about their time there but they had such mixed views - love and hate. I bought this because of review and knew I was travelling to Australia so had time to read it. I have not been disappointed. It is passionately written yet highly informed. Above all it makes sense of something I never quite understood. It will be my parents' Christmas present! I must now go to Africa.

Excellent, but strengths contribute to it's weaknesses.... , 14 Aug 2008
A fantastic book to serve as an introduction to the complex issue of Africa post World War 2. What makes it such a great book is how straightforward and easy to read it is. However this proves to be it's weakness at times as well, as often it feels like certain issues, in particular economic analysis feels like it is being brushed over in order to make the book easier to read.

Which is a harsh critique, but I cannot pay the book any more of a compliment then stating how much of an eye opener the book was and how it has asked many questions, questions I seek to answer by reading more books about topics covered in the text.

A Must Read!, 29 Jun 2008
I read this book earlier this year, and it is a must read for all people interested in African Politics in the past 50 years. I recomend it especially for the younger generation who want to know about a politics in a continent that so much as happened on from decolonization to war, famine, greed, hate but also progress.
It covers all the different parts of africa, the challenges that african countries posessed, the leaders that failed and succeded, the power of the armies in african politics and the subsequent result of all these actions.
It is important to read about all the different countries, the different individuals and political leaders and parties, the ideology of all these differen't leaders and their parties and the impact they still have in africa today.
A very important book that all africans should read!

Extremely well-written recent history that makes you sad and mad, 15 May 2008
In only 688 pages Martin Meredith succeeds in capturing the recent history of more or less the whole of (sub-Saharan) Africa, throwing in a few countries above the Sahara for good measure. After a brief introduction, he starts off at independence of most countries, and what you read does not make you happy. With only very few exception new rulers with initially good intentions turn within no-time into greedy, ruthless killers that divide the loot (read "the treasury"and "the natural resources of their countries") among themselves, their close familiy, their tribe and their cronies. When things get too obvious, a military coup follows, after which the new leaders do exactly the same. And in the meantime the common people suffer, be it from the lawlessness of Somalia, the genocide in Rwanda, the economic ruins in Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe, or the denial of Mbeki in South Africa that HIV causes AIDS. And these are only a few of the countless examples that make you feel quite depressed. Despite all the foreign aid that is being poured into a continent that has such rich resources (gold, diamonds, oil and a host of minerals), the economic situation of most people has only deteriorated since independence. and this is also in stark contrast to for example Southeast Asia that has gone through an economic explosion.

I regularly work in Africa in collaborative scientific research projects on infectious diseases and I see abysmal hospital facilities, people (including colleagues) dying from diseases that can easily be cured and hot-shots whose only attitude is "what is in it for me?" (and they are so shameless that they actually ask you that question). But I also see tons of very dedicated people -mainly in the lower echelons-, trying to make the best of the meagre resources they have available, people who thoroughly know how to enjoy life and are as hospitable as can be. I always tell them that they are too friendly and slightly naive in believing the promises made. If in the west we would have a ruler like Mugabe, we would have kicked him out years (and put him in prison for good measure).

In my opinion education is key to solving the problems of Africa: educated people are people who can make their own decisions, are able to critically evaluate their options and ultimately can decide together what is best for their country. And yes, maybe in some instances it will be necessary to re-consider borders so that they coincide better with historical delineations between tribes and religions. But it will ask for vision, courage and patience and the question is whether there will be sufficient time available...

The State Of Africa, 27 Apr 2008
'The State if Africa' is an extremely detailed account of African politics in the last 50 years. It looks at the whole continent in a roughly chronological order and has some wonderful photo plates to illustrate the various 'dictators' and issues explored. I found some chapters more engaging than others and these provided explanation of key events in good detail to provide an in-depth understanding. Other chapters sadly were bogged down in acronyms and detail that only true African scholars would find of interest (hence the 4 stars). Overall, this is a well researched and presented introduction to post independence Africa that sadly leaves you feeling not a great deal has changed and that this is a continent left ravaged by tyranny and corruption. Not a particularly positive book, but an in-depth and well articulated one.

The tragedy that is Africa, 25 Apr 2008
There was no shortage of information in this well researched book but more analysis of the unfolding situation would have been helpful. I'm glad i read it and i would recommend it as an important document establishing the details of the tragedy that is Africa. However, it raises many more questions than it answers.

Polish writer and foreign correspondent Ryszard Kapuscinski may be in the twilight of a golden career spanning more than 40 years but The Shadow of the Sun, an alternative record of his experiences of Africa and its stupefying white heat, is perhaps his finest hour. This for a writer who, to echo the sentiments of Michael Ignatieff, has turned reportage into literature. Drawn to the Developing World through an impoverished wartime upbringing, Kapuscinski arrived in Ghana in 1957 and was on hand to witness the tumultuous years in which colonial Africa was dismantled, resulting in born-again countries ripe for ransacking by despots. From the glare of Accra airport which greets him on first arrival, to the Tanzanian night of the final pages, he crosses savannah, desert and city by foot, road and train, searching out the two most important, yet inconstant commodities on the continent: shade and water. Threatened by an Egyptian cobra, cursed with cerebral malaria and tuberculosis, plagued by black cockroaches the size of small turtles, Kapuscinski intermingles the immediate and the reflective in 29 satisfyingly fragmented vignettes, encompassing historical narratives and personal experience across a host of countries, including Ethiopia, Uganda, Nigeria, Sudan and Liberia.

While acknowledging European colonial culpability, he refuses to rinse his words in guilt. The Shadow of the Sun is reminiscent of Gianni Celati's Adventures in Africa, employing similarly symphonic atmospherics that can bear poetic witness to both the tragic history of Rwanda and the Ngubi beetle, which toils in the desert to produce the sweat it drinks to survive. As much about the plastic water container as the warlord and preferring the African shanty town to the Manhattan skyscraper as a monument to human achievement, what Kapuscinski, the author of Shah of Shahs describes is not Africa, which he claims does not exist except geographically but a distillation of life itself, through its religiosity, its trees, the frightening abundance of youth, sun that "curdles the blood" and terrorising, ruling armies that fall in a day. The first in a projected trilogy pulling together Africa, Central America and Asia, The Shadow of the Sun is an exceptional and humbling work of imagination and experience by a writer intent on liberating truths from fact. --David Vincent

making sense of africa, 24 Sep 2008
I have always been fascinated by Africa. My parents met there as vso volunteers in the 70s and that was how the author first experienced Africa. My parents talked often about their time there but they had such mixed views - love and hate. I bought this because of review and knew I was travelling to Australia so had time to read it. I have not been disappointed. It is passionately written yet highly informed. Above all it makes sense of something I never quite understood. It will be my parents' Christmas present! I must now go to Africa.

Excellent, but strengths contribute to it's weaknesses.... , 14 Aug 2008
A fantastic book to serve as an introduction to the complex issue of Africa post World War 2. What makes it such a great book is how straightforward and easy to read it is. However this proves to be it's weakness at times as well, as often it feels like certain issues, in particular economic analysis feels like it is being brushed over in order to make the book easier to read.

Which is a harsh critique, but I cannot pay the book any more of a compliment then stating how much of an eye opener the book was and how it has asked many questions, questions I seek to answer by reading more books about topics covered in the text.

A Must Read!, 29 Jun 2008
I read this book earlier this year, and it is a must read for all people interested in African Politics in the past 50 years. I recomend it especially for the younger generation who want to know about a politics in a continent that so much as happened on from decolonization to war, famine, greed, hate but also progress.
It covers all the different parts of africa, the challenges that african countries posessed, the leaders that failed and succeded, the power of the armies in african politics and the subsequent result of all these actions.
It is important to read about all the different countries, the different individuals and political leaders and parties, the ideology of all these differen't leaders and their parties and the impact they still have in africa today.
A very important book that all africans should read!

Extremely well-written recent history that makes you sad and mad, 15 May 2008
In only 688 pages Martin Meredith succeeds in capturing the recent history of more or less the whole of (sub-Saharan) Africa, throwing in a few countries above the Sahara for good measure. After a brief introduction, he starts off at independence of most countries, and what you read does not make you happy. With only very few exception new rulers with initially good intentions turn within no-time into greedy, ruthless killers that divide the loot (read "the treasury"and "the natural resources of their countries") among themselves, their close familiy, their tribe and their cronies. When things get too obvious, a military coup follows, after which the new leaders do exactly the same. And in the meantime the common people suffer, be it from the lawlessness of Somalia, the genocide in Rwanda, the economic ruins in Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe, or the denial of Mbeki in South Africa that HIV causes AIDS. And these are only a few of the countless examples that make you feel quite depressed. Despite all the foreign aid that is being poured into a continent that has such rich resources (gold, diamonds, oil and a host of minerals), the economic situation of most people has only deteriorated since independence. and this is also in stark contrast to for example Southeast Asia that has gone through an economic explosion.

I regularly work in Africa in collaborative scientific research projects on infectious diseases and I see abysmal hospital facilities, people (including colleagues) dying from diseases that can easily be cured and hot-shots whose only attitude is "what is in it for me?" (and they are so shameless that they actually ask you that question). But I also see tons of very dedicated people -mainly in the lower echelons-, trying to make the best of the meagre resources they have available, people who thoroughly know how to enjoy life and are as hospitable as can be. I always tell them that they are too friendly and slightly naive in believing the promises made. If in the west we would have a ruler like Mugabe, we would have kicked him out years (and put him in prison for good measure).

In my opinion education is key to solving the problems of Africa: educated people are people who can make their own decisions, are able to critically evaluate their options and ultimately can decide together what is best for their country. And yes, maybe in some instances it will be necessary to re-consider borders so that they coincide better with historical delineations between tribes and religions. But it will ask for vision, courage and patience and the question is whether there will be sufficient time available...

The State Of Africa, 27 Apr 2008
'The State if Africa' is an extremely detailed account of African politics in the last 50 years. It looks at the whole continent in a roughly chronological order and has some wonderful photo plates to illustrate the various 'dictators' and issues explored. I found some chapters more engaging than others and these provided explanation of key events in good detail to provide an in-depth understanding. Other chapters sadly were bogged down in acronyms and detail that only true African scholars would find of interest (hence the 4 stars). Overall, this is a well researched and presented introduction to post independence Africa that sadly leaves you feeling not a great deal has changed and that this is a continent left ravaged by tyranny and corruption. Not a particularly positive book, but an in-depth and well articulated one.

The tragedy that is Africa, 25 Apr 2008
There was no shortage of information in this well researched book but more analysis of the unfolding situation would have been helpful. I'm glad i read it and i would recommend it as an important document establishing the details of the tragedy that is Africa. However, it raises many more questions than it answers.

Beautiful attempt to describe and understand Africa, 19 Oct 2008
It was the colourful front cover showing a map of Africa that made me pick up this book in the store.

Ryszard Kapuscinski was a polish journalist who spent long periods of time travelling in Africa, reporting for his paper. This book contains articles from the late 1950's until the 1990's.

He writes about sub-saharan Africa: The lands in the west, the centre and the east of the continent. North Africa and southern Africa are not covered.

He writes about the African concept of time. He writes about their spiritual world. He describes the way they greet each other and about their laughter. He describes how thieves could be deterred by a few feathers strategically arranged above the door. He writes about ancient feuds and modern power struggles. He describes the landscape, the heat, the plants and the animals. Yes he does write about the horrors. He does writes about Idi Amin, Rwanda, Liberia, slavery, extreme poverty and disease. But he describes what underpinned those wars, coups and dictatorships in such a way that although they are no less horrible, one can understand them a little better.

I got the impression that this man really sought to understand. He talked to the ordinary people. He lived and traveled with them.

And although he says: "European languages did not develop vocabularies adequate to describe non-European worlds. Entire areas of African life remained unfathomed, untouched even, because of a certain European linguistic poverty." I found the language in this book beautiful and hard to believe that I was reading a translation.

I can recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in understanding Africa. In my opinion this is a relatively objective report an that vast continent. In the author's own words: "The continent is too large to describe. It is a veritable ocean, a separate planet a varied, immensely rich cosmos."

If you enjoyed this book you might also find Out of America: a Black Man Confronts Africa (Harvest Book) interesting. It contains the views of a black american journalist.

awesome, 25 Jul 2008
Read this in Siberia recently. Awesome. K's descriptions of Africa went oddly well with snow and ice...

Vivid sketches of African life, 22 Jul 2008
Few people were better qualified to relate an outsider's understanding of the essence of Africa than Kapuscinski, a journalist who spent four decades covering assignments in the continent that he loved. The Shadow of the Sun represents a compilation of vignettes that either detail critical moments in African history - the rise and reign of dictators, numerous coups d'etat that befell them, genocides - or gently demonstrate how an African's mentality is not as rigid as our own: how time to him is a much looser concept, how he prefers community over individual, how he has different notions of culpability and cause and effect. That may sound crassly generalist but as narrated by Kapuscinski is not so: part of the book's resonance comes from its unifying themes, the ironic recognition that Africans, so often divided by tribalist politics, are a coherent people.

Yet although these universal themes appear, the scenes Kapusckinski draws simultaneously recognise the great variety of Africa; as he says in the foreword, "only with the greatest simplification, for the sake of convenience, can we say `Africa'". So we witness the midnight rituals of the paranoid Amba, who believe that witches live among them; the unattached, nomadic lives of Tuareg and Somali pastoralists; doomsaying sermons in evangelical sects in Nigeria; the obscene wealth of dictators and corrupt politicians. He relates each sketch through characters and communities, rather than wildlife, or landscapes, or metaphors of suffering, and this makes his tales richer: we see and hear Africa through Africans' voices and experience.

When I'd finished reading this book I was reminded that Africa is an incredibly demanding country, and that much there seems designed to wear a traveller down: public transport that only leaves when it is full to bursting; irrepressible heat; disease; con men or beggars at every corner; grinding bureaucracy; an unwillingness to repair what's broken. But at the same time I felt that I'd been naive to get annoyed by all these things. Everyday people were suffering much more than I was, yet while I was cursing, smiling faces greeted me everywhere. As Kapusckinski puts it: "their life is endless toil, a torment they endure with astonishing patience and good humour." His message is: get out there, meet and talk to Africans, understand how they see you, do your best to understand what life is like for them. It's a hugely important principle, and I'll have this book with me next time I'm there.

Ali Mazrui, 08 Jan 2008
i absolutely loved the book. though there was one hitch:

in the book, Ryzard refers to the intellectual 'Ali Mazrui' as 'Ugandan'. He is not Ugandan. He is Kenyan. To be specific from the Coastal Province of Kenya. I say this because:
1. i'm kenyan
2. i'm from the coast of kenya
... and more importantly
3. i am a distant relative of Ali Mazrui.

If the error can be corrected it would be great!

An Exerllent resource, 08 Dec 2007
Once in a while you come across a book both entertaining and loaded with useful information. Shadow of the Sun is one them - I found the author's interspersing of narrative with historical commentary very useful in understanding the present circumstances of many of the places he visited - it puts everything into context. The author has done an excellent and accessible account of his African experiences.

Africa is a big and complex continent as the author even admits and warns of failure at any generalization attempts. He however falls into this trap in some instances. I found some of his attempts at accounting the 'metaphysical African' completely unrecognizable as an African. For example in one of the chapters, he found himself in a Nigerian church in the Delta and goes on to explore African religions. He concludes that they incompatible with Christianity. He observed that Africans do not feel guilt and that to them, as long as a crime or an evil deed is undiscovered, it remains an innocent/normal action. I found that to be completely untrue. How else can one explain the forgiveness of bad thoughts in the practice of the traditional African religions I am aware, that includes am sure, the area of Nigeria he found himself. There are a few similar instances in the book, but overall, this author has an extraordinary interaction with Africans in a way most Europeans don't. He is an excellent observer and very detail in his accounts.

This is a great read and I am looking forward to reading more of his books

making sense of africa, 24 Sep 2008
I have always been fascinated by Africa. My parents met there as vso volunteers in the 70s and that was how the author first experienced Africa. My parents talked often about their time there but they had such mixed views - love and hate. I bought this because of review and knew I was travelling to Australia so had time to read it. I have not been disappointed. It is passionately written yet highly informed. Above all it makes sense of something I never quite understood. It will be my parents' Christmas present! I must now go to Africa.

Excellent, but strengths contribute to it's weaknesses.... , 14 Aug 2008
A fantastic book to serve as an introduction to the complex issue of Africa post World War 2. What makes it such a great book is how straightforward and easy to read it is. However this proves to be it's weakness at times as well, as often it feels like certain issues, in particular economic analysis feels like it is being brushed over in order to make the book easier to read.

Which is a harsh critique, but I cannot pay the book any more of a compliment then stating how much of an eye opener the book was and how it has asked many questions, questions I seek to answer by reading more books about topics covered in the text.

A Must Read!, 29 Jun 2008
I read this book earlier this year, and it is a must read for all people interested in African Politics in the past 50 years. I recomend it especially for the younger generation who want to know about a politics in a continent that so much as happened on from decolonization to war, famine, greed, hate but also progress.
It covers all the different parts of africa, the challenges that african countries posessed, the leaders that failed and succeded, the power of the armies in african politics and the subsequent result of all these actions.
It is important to read about all the different countries, the different individuals and political leaders and parties, the ideology of all these differen't leaders and their parties and the impact they still have in africa today.
A very important book that all africans should read!

Extremely well-written recent history that makes you sad and mad, 15 May 2008
In only 688 pages Martin Meredith succeeds in capturing the recent history of more or less the whole of (sub-Saharan) Africa, throwing in a few countries above the Sahara for good measure. After a brief introduction, he starts off at independence of most countries, and what you read does not make you happy. With only very few exception new rulers with initially good intentions turn within no-time into greedy, ruthless killers that divide the loot (read "the treasury"and "the natural resources of their countries") among themselves, their close familiy, their tribe and their cronies. When things get too obvious, a military coup follows, after which the new leaders do exactly the same. And in the meantime the common people suffer, be it from the lawlessness of Somalia, the genocide in Rwanda, the economic ruins in Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe, or the denial of Mbeki in South Africa that HIV causes AIDS. And these are only a few of the countless examples that make you feel quite depressed. Despite all the foreign aid that is being poured into a continent that has such rich resources (gold, diamonds, oil and a host of minerals), the economic situation of most people has only deteriorated since independence. and this is also in stark contrast to for example Southeast Asia that has gone through an economic explosion.

I regularly work in Africa in collaborative scientific research projects on infectious diseases and I see abysmal hospital facilities, people (including colleagues) dying from diseases that can easily be cured and hot-shots whose only attitude is "what is in it for me?" (and they are so shameless that they actually ask you that question). But I also see tons of very dedicated people -mainly in the lower echelons-, trying to make the best of the meagre resources they have available, people who thoroughly know how to enjoy life and are as hospitable as can be. I always tell them that they are too friendly and slightly naive in believing the promises made. If in the west we would have a ruler like Mugabe, we would have kicked him out years (and put him in prison for good measure).

In my opinion education is key to solving the problems of Africa: educated people are people who can make their own decisions, are able to critically evaluate their options and ultimately can decide together what is best for their country. And yes, maybe in some instances it will be necessary to re-consider borders so that they coincide better with historical delineations between tribes and religions. But it will ask for vision, courage and patience and the question is whether there will be sufficient time available...

The State Of Africa, 27 Apr 2008
'The State if Africa' is an extremely detailed account of African politics in the last 50 years. It looks at the whole continent in a roughly chronological order and has some wonderful photo plates to illustrate the various 'dictators' and issues explored. I found some chapters more engaging than others and these provided explanation of key events in good detail to provide an in-depth understanding. Other chapters sadly were bogged down in acronyms and detail that only true African scholars would find of interest (hence the 4 stars). Overall, this is a well researched and presented introduction to post independence Africa that sadly leaves you feeling not a great deal has changed and that this is a continent left ravaged by tyranny and corruption. Not a particularly positive book, but an in-depth and well articulated one.

The tragedy that is Africa, 25 Apr 2008
There was no shortage of information in this well researched book but more analysis of the unfolding situation would have been helpful. I'm glad i read it and i would recommend it as an important document establishing the details of the tragedy that is Africa. However, it raises many more questions than it answers.

Beautiful attempt to describe and understand Africa, 19 Oct 2008
It was the colourful front cover showing a map of Africa that made me pick up this book in the store.

Ryszard Kapuscinski was a polish journalist who spent long periods of time travelling in Africa, reporting for his paper. This book contains articles from the late 1950's until the 1990's.

He writes about sub-saharan Africa: The lands in the west, the centre and the east of the continent. North Africa and southern Africa are not covered.

He writes about the African concept of time. He writes about their spiritual world. He describes the way they greet each other and about their laughter. He describes how thieves could be deterred by a few feathers strategically arranged above the door. He writes about ancient feuds and modern power struggles. He describes the landscape, the heat, the plants and the animals. Yes he does write about the horrors. He does writes about Idi Amin, Rwanda, Liberia, slavery, extreme poverty and disease. But he describes what underpinned those wars, coups and dictatorships in such a way that although they are no less horrible, one can understand them a little better.

I got the impression that this man really sought to understand. He talked to the ordinary people. He lived and traveled with them.

And although he says: "European languages did not develop vocabularies adequate to describe non-European worlds. Entire areas of African life remained unfathomed, untouched even, because of a certain European linguistic poverty." I found the language in this book beautiful and hard to believe that I was reading a translation.

I can recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in understanding Africa. In my opinion this is a relatively objective report an that vast continent. In the author's own words: "The continent is too large to describe. It is a veritable ocean, a separate planet a varied, immensely rich cosmos."

If you enjoyed this book you might also find Out of America: a Black Man Confronts Africa (Harvest Book) interesting. It contains the views of a black american journalist.

awesome, 25 Jul 2008
Read this in Siberia recently. Awesome. K's descriptions of Africa went oddly well with snow and ice...

Vivid sketches of African life, 22 Jul 2008
Few people were better qualified to relate an outsider's understanding of the essence of Africa than Kapuscinski, a journalist who spent four decades covering assignments in the continent that he loved. The Shadow of the Sun represents a compilation of vignettes that either detail critical moments in African history - the rise and reign of dictators, numerous coups d'etat that befell them, genocides - or gently demonstrate how an African's mentality is not as rigid as our own: how time to him is a much looser concept, how he prefers community over individual, how he has different notions of culpability and cause and effect. That may sound crassly generalist but as narrated by Kapuscinski is not so: part of the book's resonance comes from its unifying themes, the ironic recognition that Africans, so often divided by tribalist politics, are a coherent people.

Yet although these universal themes appear, the scenes Kapusckinski draws simultaneously recognise the great variety of Africa; as he says in the foreword, "only with the greatest simplification, for the sake of convenience, can we say `Africa'". So we witness the midnight rituals of the paranoid Amba, who believe that witches live among them; the unattached, nomadic lives of Tuareg and Somali pastoralists; doomsaying sermons in evangelical sects in Nigeria; the obscene wealth of dictators and corrupt politicians. He relates each sketch through characters and communities, rather than wildlife, or landscapes, or metaphors of suffering, and this makes his tales richer: we see and hear Africa through Africans' voices and experience.

When I'd finished reading this book I was reminded that Africa is an incredibly demanding country, and that much there seems designed to wear a traveller down: public transport that only leaves when it is full to bursting; irrepressible heat; disease; con men or beggars at every corner; grinding bureaucracy; an unwillingness to repair what's broken. But at the same time I felt that I'd been naive to get annoyed by all these things. Everyday people were suffering much more than I was, yet while I was cursing, smiling faces greeted me everywhere. As Kapusckinski puts it: "their life is endless toil, a torment they endure with astonishing patience and good humour." His message is: get out there, meet and talk to Africans, understand how they see you, do your best to understand what life is like for them. It's a hugely important principle, and I'll have this book with me next time I'm there.

Ali Mazrui, 08 Jan 2008
i absolutely loved the book. though there was one hitch:

in the book, Ryzard refers to the intellectual 'Ali Mazrui' as 'Ugandan'. He is not Ugandan. He is Kenyan. To be specific from the Coastal Province of Kenya. I say this because:
1. i'm kenyan
2. i'm from the coast of kenya
... and more importantly
3. i am a distant relative of Ali Mazrui.

If the error can be corrected it would be great!

An Exerllent resource, 08 Dec 2007
Once in a while you come across a book both entertaining and loaded with useful information. Shadow of the Sun is one them - I found the author's interspersing of narrative with historical commentary very useful in understanding the present circumstances of many of the places he visited - it puts everything into context. The author has done an excellent and accessible account of his African experiences.

Africa is a big and complex continent as the author even admits and warns of failure at any generalization attempts. He however falls into this trap in some instances. I found some of his attempts at accounting the 'metaphysical African' completely unrecognizable as an African. For example in one of the chapters, he found himself in a Nigerian church in the Delta and goes on to explore African religions. He concludes that they incompatible with Christianity. He observed that Africans do not feel guilt and that to them, as long as a crime or an evil deed is undiscovered, it remains an innocent/normal action. I found that to be completely untrue. How else can one explain the forgiveness of bad thoughts in the practice of the traditional African religions I am aware, that includes am sure, the area of Nigeria he found himself. There are a few similar instances in the book, but overall, this author has an extraordinary interaction with Africans in a way most Europeans don't. He is an excellent observer and very detail in his accounts.

This is a great read and I am looking forward to reading more of his books


A White Boy in Africa, 29 Oct 2008
This is an excellent book - very interesting and instructive and a "must" for anyone wanting to know more about Zimbabwe/Rhodesia, and the background to its present problems. Well worth reading, too, is Peter Godwin's other book "When the Crocodile Eats the Sun" which explains further why Zimbabwe has so many problems and starving people at present

A sad and moving book, 23 Sep 2007
Peter Godwin certainly has a story to tell. It's a story of an idyllic, if unusual childhood, a disrupted but eventually immensely successful education, military service and then two careers, one in law, planned but aborted, and then one in journalism, discovered almost by default. Listed like this these elements might sound just a bit mundane, perhaps not the subject of memoir. When one adds, however, the location, Rhodesia becoming Zimbabwe, the result is a deeply moving, in places deeply sad, as well as quite disturbing account of a life lived thus far. Mukiwa, by the way, is Shona for white man.

The setting for Peter Godwin's early years was a middle class, professional and, crucially, liberal family living in eastern Rhodesia, close to the Mozambique border. I had relatives in that same area, near Umtali and Melsetter, and they used to do exactly what the Godwins did regularly which was to visit the Indian Ocean beaches near Beira. We used to get postcards from there every year, usually in the middle of our north of England winter. Envy wasn't the word...

Peter Godwin's mother was a doctor and this meant that his childhood was unusual in two respects. Not many youngsters in white households had liberal-minded parents and even fewer helped their mothers conduct post mortems. Unlike most mukiwa, Peter Godwin had black friends. He learned the local language and got to know the bush. He also grew up close to death and then lived alongside it during the years of the war of independence. He describes how the war simply took over everything and labels himself as a technician in its machinations. It's a telling phrase, admitting that he did not himself want to fight anyone. Like everyone else, he was caught up in the struggle, required to actively perpetrate the violence and that is what he did.

His education was disrupted. His family life was effectively destroyed. And how he managed to keep his sanity during the period I have no idea. He served most of the period in Matebeleland alongside other members of the Rhodesian armed forces and police who were not, to say the least, as liberal as he was. So in some ways he was already doubly a foreigner in that he was working in an area where he could not speak the language and was accompanied by fellow countrymen with whom he shared no beliefs or ideals. And yet he had to fight.

I have never served in a war and hope I never will. But my relatives from the same area as Peter Godwin were also called up into national service and also fought the war. I had not seen them for fifteen years or so when we met after they, along with many thousands of others, as recorded by Peter Godwin, had already fled south. But for them also memories of war were deep and resented scars. It was a bloody and dirty war where, if you were lucky, you could at most trust your closest colleagues. It was a vicious conflict at times and left everyone angry. No-one won. Everyone suffered.

Having eventually achieved the education he sought, Peter Godwin attempted to launch a legal career. But then, almost by default, he became a reporter. After independence, he learned of atrocities perpetrated by the Zambabwean army in the area where he had served during the war. He investigated. He reported. And then, on advice, he fled.

But he did eventually return to all of the areas he knew and the last part of the book is a moving and deeply sad account of how little he recognised in the places he loved as a child. But within this, there is a moment of hope as he meets a former freedom fighter and, with humour and new friendship, the two of them realise that they had not only been enemies, but had actually been two commanders trying to kill one another on opposite sides of the same skirmish.

But in the end, Peter Godwin is changed man, and his home and homeland, at least as he had experienced them, were no more. War had changed everything and everyone. No-one won.


You should read these TWO books!, 30 Mar 2007
Peter Godwin has written much, but "Mukiwa: A White Boy In Africa" and its follow-up, "When A Crocodile Eats The Sun," must surely be the volumes of which he is most proud. For anyone with even a passing interest in Africa and/or the present problems in Zimbabwe/Rhodesia, they are 'must-reads,' preferably in chronological order - Mukiwa (1996 and later paperbacks) first, and then Crocodile (2005 and 2007).

I confess straight away that my own knowledge of Africa is limited, but I have interested myself in the continent's affairs for as long as I can remember and I also nurtured enormous sympathy for Rhodesia, for its people, and for former Prime Minister Ian Smith.

Peter Godwin has little apparent sympathy for Smith and, for that and other reasons that are clear in his books, he can be looked upon as a liberal. Therefore, his two books are all the more potent for their description of 'the reversal of progress, the shocking decline, the descent into darkness' (Crocodile 2007, page 314) under the tyrannical and murderous regime of Robert Mugabe. These beautifully and movingly written but appallingly tragic books, based on first-hand experience and knowledge and Godwin's own family's declining circumstances, should be compulsory study for all liberals.

I was born before the Second World War. Therefore, I was around when Hitler's 'Third Reich' was crushed. I always hoped, but I never thought I would live long enough to see the collapse of Communism in 1989. I still hope that I live long enough to see Mugabe go and for the name of Ian Smith to be honoured again in Rhodesia!

In Memoriam: Ian Douglas Smith, died 20th November, 2007. Greatly missed.


Splendid, 16 Mar 2007
This is a triumph. Godwin's account of the beginnings of Rhodesia's move towards independence and its fruition is 1980 is a beautifully crafted, honest and at times terrifying read. I have never in my life finished a book and immediately turned back to page 1 and started all over again (although I did force myself to stop at page 18 when I realised what I was doing). Peter Godwin invites us to share the love he has for his family, friends and a country struggling to free itself from its colonial past. From childhood to adulthood Mukiwa charts the drastic changes of a country and its effect on the Godwin's. The companion piece, When A Crocodile Eats the Sun is even more profound. A work that lets us know more of the tragic situation in Zim. I wept.

A wonderful encaptivating insight to open your eyes, 12 Sep 2000
A fantastic book for everybody. It gave me an interresting insight into the colourful politics of the rhodesian war. Peter Godwin's experiences will change your views and open your mind. This charming story of his change from boy to man also dipicts a beutiful country that has since been shadowed.

Don't Let's go to the Dogs Tonight is a wonderfully evocative memoir of Alexandra Fuller's African childhood. Fuller regards herself "as a daughter of Africa", who spent her early life on farms in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia throughout the turbulent 1970s and 80s, as her parents "fought to keep one country in Africa white-run", but "lost twice" in Kenya and Zimbabwe. This is a profoundly personal story about growing up with a pair of funny, tough, white African settlers, and living with their "sometimes breathlessly illogical decisions", as they move from war-torn Zimbabwe to disease and malnutrition in Malawi, and finally the "beautiful and fertile" land of Zambia.

Central to Fuller's book is the intense relations between herself and her parents, a chain-smoking father able to turn round any farm in Africa, her glamorous older sister Vanessa, and the character who sits at the heart of the book, Fuller's "fiercely intelligent, deeply compassionate, surprisingly witty and terrifyingly mad" mother.

Fuller weaves together painful family tragedy with a wider understanding of the ambivalence of being part of a separatist white farming community in the midst of Black African independence. The majority of the book focuses on Fuller's early years in war-torn Zimbabwe, with "more history stuffed into its make-believe, colonial-dream borders than one country the size of a very large teapot should be able to amass." This is the most successful dimension of the book, as Fuller describes growing up on farm where her father is away most nights fighting "terrorists", and stripping a rifle takes precedence over school lessons. The sections on Malawi and Zambia are more prosaic, but this is a lyrical and accomplished memoir about Africa, which is "about adjusting to a new world view" and the author's "passionate love for a continent that has come to define, shape, scar and heal me and my family." --Jerry Brotton

making sense of africa, 24 Sep 2008
I have always been fascinated by Africa. My parents met there as vso volunteers in the 70s and that was how the author first experienced Africa. My parents talked often about their time there but they had such mixed views - love and hate. I bought this because of review and knew I was travelling to Australia so had time to read it. I have not been disappointed. It is passionately written yet highly informed. Above all it makes sense of something I never quite understood. It will be my parents' Christmas present! I must now go to Africa.

Excellent, but strengths contribute to it's weaknesses.... , 14 Aug 2008
A fantastic book to serve as an introduction to the complex issue of Africa post World War 2. What makes it such a great book is how straightforward and easy to read it is. However this proves to be it's weakness at times as well, as often it feels like certain issues, in particular economic analysis feels like it is being brushed over in order to make the book easier to read.

Which is a harsh critique, but I cannot pay the book any more of a compliment then stating how much of an eye opener the book was and how it has asked many questions, questions I seek to answer by reading more books about topics covered in the text.

A Must Read!, 29 Jun 2008
I read this book earlier this year, and it is a must read for all people interested in African Politics in the past 50 years. I recomend it especially for the younger generation who want to know about a politics in a continent that so much as happened on from decolonization to war, famine, greed, hate but also progress.
It covers all the different parts of africa, the challenges that african countries posessed, the leaders that failed and succeded, the power of the armies in african politics and the subsequent result of all these actions.
It is important to read about all the different countries, the different individuals and political leaders and parties, the ideology of all these differen't leaders and their parties and the impact they still have in africa today.
A very important book that all africans should read!

Extremely well-written recent history that makes you sad and mad, 15 May 2008
In only 688 pages Martin Meredith succeeds in capturing the recent history of more or less the whole of (sub-Saharan) Africa, throwing in a few countries above the Sahara for good measure. After a brief introduction, he starts off at independence of most countries, and what you read does not make you happy. With only very few exception new rulers with initially good intentions turn within no-time into greedy, ruthless killers that divide the loot (read "the treasury"and "the natural resources of their countries") among themselves, their close familiy, their tribe and their cronies. When things get too obvious, a military coup follows, after which the new leaders do exactly the same. And in the meantime the common people suffer, be it from the lawlessness of Somalia, the genocide in Rwanda, the economic ruins in Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe, or the denial of Mbeki in South Africa that HIV causes AIDS. And these are only a few of the countless examples that make you feel quite depressed. Despite all the foreign aid that is being poured into a continent that has such rich resources (gold, diamonds, oil and a host of minerals), the economic situation of most people has only deteriorated since independence. and this is also in stark contrast to for example Southeast Asia that has gone through an economic explosion.

I regularly work in Africa in collaborative scientific research projects on infectious diseases and I see abysmal hospital facilities, people (including colleagues) dying from diseases that can easily be cured and hot-shots whose only attitude is "what is in it for me?" (and they are so shameless that they actually ask you that question). But I also see tons of very dedicated people -mainly in the lower echelons-, trying to make the best of the meagre resources they have available, people who thoroughly know how to enjoy life and are as hospitable as can be. I always tell them that they are too friendly and slightly naive in believing the promises made. If in the west we would have a ruler like Mugabe, we would have kicked him out years (and put him in prison for good measure).

In my opinion education is key to solving the problems of Africa: educated people are people who can make their own decisions, are able to critically evaluate their options and ultimately can decide together what is best for their country. And yes, maybe in some instances it will be necessary to re-consider borders so that they coincide better with historical delineations between tribes and religions. But it will ask for vision, courage and patience and the question is whether there will be sufficient time available...

The State Of Africa, 27 Apr 2008
'The State if Africa' is an extremely detailed account of African politics in the last 50 years. It looks at the whole continent in a roughly chronological order and has some wonderful photo plates to illustrate the various 'dictators' and issues explored. I found some chapters more engaging than others and these provided explanation of key events in good detail to provide an in-depth understanding. Other chapters sadly were bogged down in acronyms and detail that only true African scholars would find of interest (hence the 4 stars). Overall, this is a well researched and presented introduction to post independence Africa that sadly leaves you feeling not a great deal has changed and that this is a continent left ravaged by tyranny and corruption. Not a particularly positive book, but an in-depth and well articulated one.

The tragedy that is Africa, 25 Apr 2008
There was no shortage of information in this well researched book but more analysis of the unfolding situation would have been helpful. I'm glad i read it and i would recommend it as an important document establishing the details of the tragedy that is Africa. However, it raises many more questions than it answers.

Beautiful attempt to describe and understand Africa, 19 Oct 2008
It was the colourful front cover showing a map of Africa that made me pick up this book in the store.

Ryszard Kapuscinski was a polish journalist who spent long periods of time travelling in Africa, reporting for his paper. This book contains articles from the late 1950's until the 1990's.

He writes about sub-saharan Africa: The lands in the west, the centre and the east of the continent. North Africa and southern Africa are not covered.

He writes about the African concept of time. He writes about their spiritual world. He describes the way they greet each other and about their laughter. He describes how thieves could be deterred by a few feathers strategically arranged above the door. He writes about ancient feuds and modern power struggles. He describes the landscape, the heat, the plants and the animals. Yes he does write about the horrors. He does writes about Idi Amin, Rwanda, Liberia, slavery, extreme poverty and disease. But he describes what underpinned those wars, coups and dictatorships in such a way that although they are no less horrible, one can understand them a little better.

I got the impression that this man really sought to understand. He talked to the ordinary people. He lived and traveled with them.

And although he says: "European languages did not develop vocabularies adequate to describe non-European worlds. Entire areas of African life remained unfathomed, untouched even, because of a certain European linguistic poverty." I found the language in this book beautiful and hard to believe that I was reading a translation.

I can recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in understanding Africa. In my opinion this is a relatively objective report an that vast continent. In the author's own words: "The continent is too large to describe. It is a veritable ocean, a separate planet a varied, immensely rich cosmos."

If you enjoyed this book you might also find Out of America: a Black Man Confronts Africa (Harvest Book) interesting. It contains the views of a black american journalist.

awesome, 25 Jul 2008
Read this in Siberia recently. Awesome. K's descriptions of Africa went oddly well with snow and ice...

Vivid sketches of African life, 22 Jul 2008
Few people were better qualified to relate an outsider's understanding of the essence of Africa than Kapuscinski, a journalist who spent four decades covering assignments in the continent that he loved. The Shadow of the Sun represents a compilation of vignettes that either detail critical moments in African history - the rise and reign of dictators, numerous coups d'etat that befell them, genocides - or gently demonstrate how an African's mentality is not as rigid as our own: how time to him is a much looser concept, how he prefers community over individual, how he has different notions of culpability and cause and effect. That may sound crassly generalist but as narrated by Kapuscinski is not so: part of the book's resonance comes from its unifying themes, the ironic recognition that Africans, so often divided by tribalist politics, are a coherent people.

Yet although these universal themes appear, the scenes Kapusckinski draws simultaneously recognise the great variety of Africa; as he says in the foreword, "only with the greatest simplification, for the sake of convenience, can we say `Africa'". So we witness the midnight rituals of the paranoid Amba, who believe that witches live among them; the unattached, nomadic lives of Tuareg and Somali pastoralists; doomsaying sermons in evangelical sects in Nigeria; the obscene wealth of dictators and corrupt politicians. He relates each sketch through characters and communities, rather than wildlife, or landscapes, or metaphors of suffering, and this makes his tales richer: we see and hear Africa through Africans' voices and experience.

When I'd finished reading this book I was reminded that Africa is an incredibly demanding country, and that much there seems designed to wear a traveller down: public transport that only leaves when it is full to bursting; irrepressible heat; disease; con men or beggars at every corner; grinding bureaucracy; an unwillingness to repair what's broken. But at the same time I felt that I'd been naive to get annoyed by all these things. Everyday people were suffering much more than I was, yet while I was cursing, smiling faces greeted me everywhere. As Kapusckinski puts it: "their life is endless toil, a torment they endure with astonishing patience and good humour." His message is: get out there, meet and talk to Africans, understand how they see you, do your best to understand what life is like for them. It's a hugely important principle, and I'll have this book with me next time I'm there.

Ali Mazrui, 08 Jan 2008
i absolutely loved the book. though there was one hitch:

in the book, Ryzard refers to the intellectual 'Ali Mazrui' as 'Ugandan'. He is not Ugandan. He is Kenyan. To be specific from the Coastal Province of Kenya. I say this because:
1. i'm kenyan
2. i'm from the coast of kenya
... and more importantly
3. i am a distant relative of Ali Mazrui.

If the error can be corrected it would be great!

An Exerllent resource, 08 Dec 2007
Once in a while you come across a book both entertaining and loaded with useful information. Shadow of the Sun is one them - I found the author's interspersing of narrative with historical commentary very useful in understanding the present circumstances of many of the places he visited - it puts everything into context. The author has done an excellent and accessible account of his African experiences.

Africa is a big and complex continent as the author even admits and warns of failure at any generalization attempts. He however falls into this trap in some instances. I found some of his attempts at accounting the 'metaphysical African' completely unrecognizable as an African. For example in one of the chapters, he found himself in a Nigerian church in the Delta and goes on to explore African religions. He concludes that they incompatible with Christianity. He observed that Africans do not feel guilt and that to them, as long as a crime or an evil deed is undiscovered, it remains an innocent/normal action. I found that to be completely untrue. How else can one explain the forgiveness of bad thoughts in the practice of the traditional African religions I am aware, that includes am sure, the area of Nigeria he found himself. There are a few similar instances in the book, but overall, this author has an extraordinary interaction with Africans in a way most Europeans don't. He is an excellent observer and very detail in his accounts.

This is a great read and I am looking forward to reading more of his books


A White Boy in Africa, 29 Oct 2008
This is an excellent book - very interesting and instructive and a "must" for anyone wanting to know more about Zimbabwe/Rhodesia, and the background to its present problems. Well worth reading, too, is Peter Godwin's other book "When the Crocodile Eats the Sun" which explains further why Zimbabwe has so many problems and starving people at present

A sad and moving book, 23 Sep 2007
Peter Godwin certainly has a story to tell. It's a story of an idyllic, if unusual childhood, a disrupted but eventually immensely successful education, military service and then two careers, one in law, planned but aborted, and then one in journalism, discovered almost by default. Listed like this these elements might sound just a bit mundane, perhaps not the subject of memoir. When one adds, however, the location, Rhodesia becoming Zimbabwe, the result is a deeply moving, in places deeply sad, as well as quite disturbing account of a life lived thus far. Mukiwa, by the way, is Shona for white man.

The setting for Peter Godwin's early years was a middle class, professional and, crucially, liberal family living in eastern Rhodesia, close to the Mozambique border. I had relatives in that same area, near Umtali and Melsetter, and they used to do exactly what the Godwins did regularly which was to visit the Indian Ocean beaches near Beira. We used to get postcards from there every year, usually in the middle of our north of England winter. Envy wasn't the word...

Peter Godwin's mother was a doctor and this meant that his childhood was unusual in two respects. Not many youngsters in white households had liberal-minded parents and even fewer helped their mothers conduct post mortems. Unlike most mukiwa, Peter Godwin had black friends. He learned the local language and got to know the bush. He also grew up close to death and then lived alongside it during the years of the war of independence. He describes how the war simply took over everything and labels himself as a technician in its machinations. It's a telling phrase, admitting that he did not himself want to fight anyone. Like everyone else, he was caught up in the struggle, required to actively perpetrate the violence and that is what he did.

His education was disrupted. His family life was effectively destroyed. And how he managed to keep his sanity during the period I have no idea. He served most of the period in Matebeleland alongside other members of the Rhodesian armed forces and police who were not, to say the least, as liberal as he was. So in some ways he was already doubly a foreigner in that he was working in an area where he could not speak the language and was accompanied by fellow countrymen with whom he shared no beliefs or ideals. And yet he had to fight.

I have never served in a war and hope I never will. But my relatives from the same area as Peter Godwin were also called up into national service and also fought the war. I had not seen them for fifteen years or so when we met after they, along with many thousands of others, as recorded by Peter Godwin, had already fled south. But for them also memories of war were deep and resented scars. It was a bloody and dirty war where, if you were lucky, you could at most trust your closest colleagues. It was a vicious conflict at times and left everyone angry. No-one won. Everyone suffered.

Having eventually achieved the education he sought, Peter Godwin attempted to launch a legal career. But then, almost by default, he became a reporter. After independence, he learned of atrocities perpetrated by the Zambabwean army in the area where he had served during the war. He investigated. He reported. And then, on advice, he fled.

But he did eventually return to all of the areas he knew and the last part of the book is a moving and deeply sad account of how little he recognised in the places he loved as a child. But within this, there is a moment of hope as he meets a former freedom fighter and, with humour and new friendship, the two of them realise that they had not only been enemies, but had actually been two commanders trying to kill one another on opposite sides of the same skirmish.

But in the end, Peter Godwin is changed man, and his home and homeland, at least as he had experienced them, were no more. War had changed everything and everyone. No-one won.


You should read these TWO books!, 30 Mar 2007
Peter Godwin has written much, but "Mukiwa: A White Boy In Africa" and its follow-up, "When A Crocodile Eats The Sun," must surely be the volumes of which he is most proud. For anyone with even a passing interest in Africa and/or the present problems in Zimbabwe/Rhodesia, they are 'must-reads,' preferably in chronological order - Mukiwa (1996 and later paperbacks) first, and then Crocodile (2005 and 2007).

I confess straight away that my own knowledge of Africa is limited, but I have interested myself in the continent's affairs for as long as I can remember and I also nurtured enormous sympathy for Rhodesia, for its people, and for former Prime Minister Ian Smith.

Peter Godwin has little apparent sympathy for Smith and, for that and other reasons that are clear in his books, he can be looked upon as a liberal. Therefore, his two books are all the more potent for their description of 'the reversal of progress, the shocking decline, the descent into darkness' (Crocodile 2007, page 314) under the tyrannical and murderous regime of Robert Mugabe. These beautifully and movingly written but appallingly tragic books, based on first-hand experience and knowledge and Godwin's own family's declining circumstances, should be compulsory study for all liberals.

I was born before the Second World War. Therefore, I was around when Hitler's 'Third Reich' was crushed. I always hoped, but I never thought I would live long enough to see the collapse of Communism in 1989. I still hope that I live long enough to see Mugabe go and for the name of Ian Smith to be honoured again in Rhodesia!

In Memoriam: Ian Douglas Smith, died 20th November, 2007. Greatly missed.


Splendid, 16 Mar 2007
This is a triumph. Godwin's account of the beginnings of Rhodesia's move towards independence and its fruition is 1980 is a beautifully crafted, honest and at times terrifying read. I have never in my life finished a book and immediately turned back to page 1 and started all over again (although I did force myself to stop at page 18 when I realised what I was doing). Peter Godwin invites us to share the love he has for his family, friends and a country struggling to free itself from its colonial past. From childhood to adulthood Mukiwa charts the drastic changes of a country and its effect on the Godwin's. The companion piece, When A Crocodile Eats the Sun is even more profound. A work that lets us know more of the tragic situation in Zim. I wept.

A wonderful encaptivating insight to open your eyes, 12 Sep 2000
A fantastic book for everybody. It gave me an interresting insight into the colourful politics of the rhodesian war. Peter Godwin's experiences will change your views and open your mind. This charming story of his change from boy to man also dipicts a beutiful country that has since been shadowed.

Evocative but unpalatable, 31 Aug 2008
This was Englishmum.com's book club book for June. First off, I would say that this is not my usual reading material, which tends to be either cookery books or nasty, grisly Mark Billingham-esque murder mysteries. Having said that, the whole point of a book club is to challenge oneself to read books outside one's `comfort zone' shall we say. I suppose I enjoyed this book; I liked Fuller's honest, nostalgia-free style of writing and found her descriptions of her childhood Africa highly evocative. I found the way she wrote of the loss of two of her siblings incredibly moving. I didn't, however, find it a page-turner and felt that I was forcing myself through it. I also found some of the language and opinions unpalatable (well, we're talking white settlers in 1970s Rhodesia with the inevitable black household staff, to be fair). She relates all this, however uncomfortable, without judgment or criticism, and I like the fact that the reader is left to draw their own conclusions.

Read what our book club members thought about this book:

http://englishmum.com/2008/07/05/ems-bookish-club-our-june-book/

A real scratch and sniff book!, 27 Aug 2007
The narrative is so engaging and descriptive that your senses are brought alive and you are almost transported to Africa.
The child's eye view on events is refreshing, and adds another dimension to the unfurling events.
She has a lovely comic timing which sits comfortably, although often excruciatingly, with the harrowing tales of war, sadness and poverty.


Fascinating and funny, 14 Aug 2007
The true story of an eccentric white family living in Southern Africa through the wars of the 70s.Told from a child's point of view it's very honest & funny and is a brilliant insight into a fascinating time and place.

Once you have smelled the African bush, 20 May 2007
Intensely evocative.

There is an African saying that once you have recognised the smell of the bush it will never be forgotten...and that your heart will never leave Africa.

The terrs (terrorists) might have won the battle but have lost everything else.

Remember, Old Rhodies never die and this book explains why, but perhaps without the author really realising - but she certainly conveys the smell of the bush.

John Bell

A Great account of a unique upbringing., 12 May 2007
As an avid reader of alot of African non-fiction, this book was unique in that I read it in two days without ever feeling as though I was become bored of it.

I really enjoyed her unique style, successfully used in her second book as well, with short chapters and anecdotes that were always interesting, if at times heart renching.

Where this book succeeds, and others in this genre fail, is in her "no-holds barred" approach which never leads to nostalgia.

Fuller's story itself is a unique one, in that it covers so much of Southern Africa's turbulent history, she was brought up in Rhodesia, Zambia and Malawi, which means that the reader gets both an interesting story and the history of this troubled region.

So, I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in modern history or in unusual biographies.

making sense of africa, 24 Sep 2008
I have always been fascinated by Africa. My parents met there as vso volunteers in the 70s and that was how the author first experienced Africa. My parents talked often about their time there but they had such mixed views - love and hate. I bought this because of review and knew I was travelling to Australia so had time to read it. I have not been disappointed. It is passionately written yet highly informed. Above all it makes sense of something I never quite understood. It will be my parents' Christmas present! I must now go to Africa.

Excellent, but strengths contribute to it's weaknesses.... , 14 Aug 2008
A fantastic book to serve as an introduction to the complex issue of Africa post World War 2. What makes it such a great book is how straightforward and easy to read it is. However this proves to be it's weakness at times as well, as often it feels like certain issues, in particular economic analysis feels like it is being brushed over in order to make the book easier to read.

Which is a harsh critique, but I cannot pay the book any more of a compliment then stating how much of an eye opener the book was and how it has asked many questions, questions I seek to answer by reading more books about topics covered in the text.

A Must Read!, 29 Jun 2008
I read this book earlier this year, and it is a must read for all people interested in African Politics in the past 50 years. I recomend it especially for the younger generation who want to know about a politics in a continent that so much as happened on from decolonization to war, famine, greed, hate but also progress.
It covers all the different parts of africa, the challenges that african countries posessed, the leaders that failed and succeded, the power of the armies in african politics and the subsequent result of all these actions.
It is important to read about all the different countries, the different individuals and political leaders and parties, the ideology of all these differen't leaders and their parties and the impact they still have in africa today.
A very important book that all africans should read!

Extremely well-written recent history that makes you sad and mad, 15 May 2008
In only 688 pages Martin Meredith succeeds in capturing the recent history of more or less the whole of (sub-Saharan) Africa, throwing in a few countries above the Sahara for good measure. After a brief introduction, he starts off at independence of most countries, and what you read does not make you happy. With only very few exception new rulers with initially good intentions turn within no-time into greedy, ruthless killers that divide the loot (read "the treasury"and "the natural resources of their countries") among themselves, their close familiy, their tribe and their cronies. When things get too obvious, a military coup follows, after which the new leaders do exactly the same. And in the meantime the common people suffer, be it from the lawlessness of Somalia, the genocide in Rwanda, the economic ruins in Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe, or the denial of Mbeki in South Africa that HIV causes AIDS. And these are only a few of the countless examples that make you feel quite depressed. Despite all the foreign aid that is being poured into a continent that has such rich resources (gold, diamonds, oil and a host of minerals), the economic situation of most people has only deteriorated since independence. and this is also in stark contrast to for example Southeast Asia that has gone through an economic explosion.

I regularly work in Africa in collaborative scientific research projects on infectious diseases and I see abysmal hospital facilities, people (including colleagues) dying from diseases that can easily be cured and hot-shots whose only attitude is "what is in it for me?" (and they are so shameless that they actually ask you that question). But I also see tons of very dedicated people -mainly in the lower echelons-, trying to make the best of the meagre resources they have available, people who thoroughly know how to enjoy life and are as hospitable as can be. I always tell them that they are too friendly and slightly naive in believing the promises made. If in the west we would have a ruler like Mugabe, we would have kicked him out years (and put him in prison for good measure).

In my opinion education is key to solving the problems of Africa: educated people are people who can make their own decisions, are able to critically evaluate their options and ultimately can decide together what is best for their country. And yes, maybe in some instances it will be necessary to re-consider borders so that they coincide better with historical delineations between tribes and religions. But it will ask for vision, courage and patience and the question is whether there will be sufficient time available...

The State Of Africa, 27 Apr 2008
'The State if Africa' is an extremely detailed account of African politics in the last 50 years. It looks at the whole continent in a roughly chronological order and has some wonderful photo plates to illustrate the various 'dictators' and issues explored. I found some chapters more engaging than others and these provided explanation of key events in good detail to provide an in-depth understanding. Other chapters sadly were bogged down in acronyms and detail that only true African scholars would find of interest (hence the 4 stars). Overall, this is a well researched and presented introduction to post independence Africa that sadly leaves you feeling not a great deal has changed and that this is a continent left ravaged by tyranny and corruption. Not a particularly positive book, but an in-depth and well articulated one.

The tragedy that is Africa, 25 Apr 2008
There was no shortage of information in this well researched book but more analysis of the unfolding situation would have been helpful. I'm glad i read it and i would recommend it as an important document establishing the details of the tragedy that is Africa. However, it raises many more questions than it answers.

Beautiful attempt to describe and understand Africa, 19 Oct 2008
It was the colourful front cover showing a map of Africa that made me pick up this book in the store.

Ryszard Kapuscinski was a polish journalist who spent long periods of time travelling in Africa, reporting for his paper. This book contains articles from the late 1950's until the 1990's.

He writes about sub-saharan Africa: The lands in the west, the centre and the east of the continent. North Africa and southern Africa are not covered.

He writes about the African concept of time. He writes about their spiritual world. He describes the way they greet each other and about their laughter. He describes how thieves could be deterred by a few feathers strategically arranged above the door. He writes about ancient feuds and modern power struggles. He describes the landscape, the heat, the plants and the animals. Yes he does write about the horrors. He does writes about Idi Amin, Rwanda, Liberia, slavery, extreme poverty and disease. But he describes what underpinned those wars, coups and dictatorships in such a way that although they are no less horrible, one can understand them a little better.

I got the impression that this man really sought to understand. He talked to the ordinary people. He lived and traveled with them.

And although he says: "European languages did not develop vocabularies adequate to describe non-European worlds. Entire areas of African life remained unfathomed, untouched even, because of a certain European linguistic poverty." I found the language in this book beautiful and hard to believe that I was reading a translation.

I can recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in understanding Africa. In my opinion this is a relatively objective report an that vast continent. In the author's own words: "The continent is too large to describe. It is a veritable ocean, a separate planet a varied, immensely rich cosmos."

If you enjoyed this book you might also find Out of America: a Black Man Confronts Africa (Harvest Book) interesting. It contains the views of a black american journalist.

awesome, 25 Jul 2008
Read this in Siberia recently. Awesome. K's descriptions of Africa went oddly well with snow and ice...

Vivid sketches of African life, 22 Jul 2008
Few people were better qualified to relate an outsider's understanding of the essence of Africa than Kapuscinski, a journalist who spent four decades covering assignments in the continent that he loved. The Shadow of the Sun represents a compilation of vignettes that either detail critical moments in African history - the rise and reign of dictators, numerous coups d'etat that befell them, genocides - or gently demonstrate how an African's mentality is not as rigid as our own: how time to him is a much looser concept, how he prefers community over individual, how he has different notions of culpability and cause and effect. That may sound crassly generalist but as narrated by Kapuscinski is not so: part of the book's resonance comes from its unifying themes, the ironic recognition that Africans, so often divided by tribalist politics, are a coherent people.

Yet although these universal themes appear, the scenes Kapusckinski draws simultaneously recognise the great variety of Africa; as he says in the foreword, "only with the greatest simplification, for the sake of convenience, can we say `Africa'". So we witness the midnight rituals of the paranoid Amba, who believe that witches live among them; the unattached, nomadic lives of Tuareg and Somali pastoralists; doomsaying sermons in evangelical sects in Nigeria; the obscene wealth of dictators and corrupt politicians. He relates each sketch through characters and communities, rather than wildlife, or landscapes, or metaphors of suffering, and this makes his tales richer: we see and hear Africa through Africans' voices and experience.

When I'd finished reading this book I was reminded that Africa is an incredibly demanding country, and that much there seems designed to wear a traveller down: public transport that only leaves when it is full to bursting; irrepressible heat; disease; con men or beggars at every corner; grinding bureaucracy; an unwillingness to repair what's broken. But at the same time I felt that I'd been naive to get annoyed by all these things. Everyday people were suffering much more than I was, yet while I was cursing, smiling faces greeted me everywhere. As Kapusckinski puts it: "their life is endless toil, a torment they endure with astonishing patience and good humour." His message is: get out there, meet and talk to Africans, understand how they see you, do your best to understand what life is like for them. It's a hugely important principle, and I'll have this book with me next time I'm there.

Ali Mazrui, 08 Jan 2008
i absolutely loved the book. though there was one hitch:

in the book, Ryzard refers to the intellectual 'Ali Mazrui' as 'Ugandan'. He is not Ugandan. He is Kenyan. To be specific from the Coastal Province of Kenya. I say this because:
1. i'm kenyan
2. i'm from the coast of kenya
... and more importantly
3. i am a distant relative of Ali Mazrui.

If the error can be corrected it would be great!

An Exerllent resource, 08 Dec 2007
Once in a while you come across a book both entertaining and loaded with useful information. Shadow of the Sun is one them - I found the author's interspersing of narrative with historical commentary very useful in understanding the present circumstances of many of the places he visited - it puts everything into context. The author has done an excellent and accessible account of his African experiences.

Africa is a big and complex continent as the author even admits and warns of failure at any generalization attempts. He however falls into this trap in some instances. I found some of his attempts at accounting the 'metaphysical African' completely unrecognizable as an African. For example in one of the chapters, he found himself in a Nigerian church in the Delta and goes on to explore African religions. He concludes that they incompatible with Christianity. He observed that Africans do not feel guilt and that to them, as long as a crime or an evil deed is undiscovered, it remains an innocent/normal action. I found that to be completely untrue. How else can one explain the forgiveness of bad thoughts in the practice of the traditional African religions I am aware, that includes am sure, the area of Nigeria he found himself. There are a few similar instances in the book, but overall, this author has an extraordinary interaction with Africans in a way most Europeans don't. He is an excellent observer and very detail in his accounts.

This is a great read and I am looking forward to reading more of his books


A White Boy in Africa, 29 Oct 2008
This is an excellent book - very interesting and instructive and a "must" for anyone wanting to know more about Zimbabwe/Rhodesia, and the background to its present problems. Well worth reading, too, is Peter Godwin's other book "When the Crocodile Eats the Sun" which explains further why Zimbabwe has so many problems and starving people at present

A sad and moving book, 23 Sep 2007
Peter Godwin certainly has a story to tell. It's a story of an idyllic, if unusual childhood, a disrupted but eventually immensely successful education, military service and then two careers, one in law, planned but aborted, and then one in journalism, discovered almost by default. Listed like this these elements might sound just a bit mundane, perhaps not the subject of memoir. When one adds, however, the location, Rhodesia becoming Zimbabwe, the result is a deeply moving, in places deeply sad, as well as quite disturbing account of a life lived thus far. Mukiwa, by the way, is Shona for white man.

The setting for Peter Godwin's early years was a middle class, professional and, crucially, liberal family living in eastern Rhodesia, close to the Mozambique border. I had relatives in that same area, near Umtali and Melsetter, and they used to do exactly what the Godwins did regularly which was to visit the Indian Ocean beaches near Beira. We used to get postcards from there every year, usually in the middle of our north of England winter. Envy wasn't the word...

Peter Godwin's mother was a doctor and this meant that his childhood was unusual in two respects. Not many youngsters in white households had liberal-minded parents and even fewer helped their mothers conduct post mortems. Unlike most mukiwa, Peter Godwin had black friends. He learned the local language and got to know the bush. He also grew up close to death and then lived alongside it during the years of the war of independence. He describes how the war simply took over everything and labels himself as a technician in its machinations. It's a telling phrase, admitting that he did not himself want to fight anyone. Like everyone else, he was caught up in the struggle, required to actively perpetrate the violence and that is what he did.

His education was disrupted. His family life was effectively destroyed. And how he managed to keep his sanity during the period I have no idea. He served most of the period in Matebeleland alongside other members of the Rhodesian armed forces and police who were not, to say the least, as liberal as he was. So in some ways he was already doubly a foreigner in that he was working in an area where he could not speak the language and was accompanied by fellow countrymen with whom he shared no beliefs or ideals. And yet he had to fight.

I have never served in a war and hope I never will. But my relatives from the same area as Peter Godwin were also called up into national service and also fought the war. I had not seen them for fifteen years or so when we met after they, along with many thousands of others, as recorded by Peter Godwin, had already fled south. But for them also memories of war were deep and resented scars. It was a bloody and dirty war where, if you were lucky, you could at most trust your closest colleagues. It was a vicious conflict at times and left everyone angry. No-one won. Everyone suffered.

Having eventually achieved the education he sought, Peter Godwin attempted to launch a legal career. But then, almost by default, he became a reporter. After independence, he learned of atrocities perpetrated by the Zambabwean army in the area where he had served during the war. He investigated. He reported. And then, on advice, he fled.

But he did eventually return to all of the areas he knew and the last part of the book is a moving and deeply sad account of how little he recognised in the places he loved as a child. But within this, there is a moment of hope as he meets a former freedom fighter and, with humour and new friendship, the two of them realise that they had not only been enemies, but had actually been two commanders trying to kill one another on opposite sides of the same skirmish.

But in the end, Peter Godwin is changed man, and his home and homeland, at least as he had experienced them, were no more. War had changed everything and everyone. No-one won.


You should read these TWO books!, 30 Mar 2007
Peter Godwin has written much, but "Mukiwa: A White Boy In Africa" and its follow-up, "When A Crocodile Eats The Sun," must surely be the volumes of which he is most proud. For anyone with even a passing interest in Africa and/or the present problems in Zimbabwe/Rhodesia, they are 'must-reads,' preferably in chronological order - Mukiwa (1996 and later paperbacks) first, and then Crocodile (2005 and 2007).

I confess straight away that my own knowledge of Africa is limited, but I have interested myself in the continent's affairs for as long as I can remember and I also nurtured enormous sympathy for Rhodesia, for its people, and for former Prime Minister Ian Smith.

Peter Godwin has little apparent sympathy for Smith and, for that and other reasons that are clear in his books, he can be looked upon as a liberal. Therefore, his two books are all the more potent for their description of 'the reversal of progress, the shocking decline, the descent into darkness' (Crocodile 2007, page 314) under the tyrannical and murderous regime of Robert Mugabe. These beautifully and movingly written but appallingly tragic books, based on first-hand experience and knowledge and Godwin's own family's declining circumstances, should be compulsory study for all liberals.

I was born before the Second World War. Therefore, I was around when Hitler's 'Third Reich' was crushed. I always hoped, but I never thought I would live long enough to see the collapse of Communism in 1989. I still hope that I live long enough to see Mugabe go and for the name of Ian Smith to be honoured again in Rhodesia!

In Memoriam: Ian Douglas Smith, died 20th November, 2007. Greatly missed.


Splendid, 16 Mar 2007
This is a triumph. Godwin's account of the beginnings of Rhodesia's move towards independence and its fruition is 1980 is a beautifully crafted, honest and at times terrifying read. I have never in my life finished a book and immediately turned back to page 1 and started all over again (although I did force myself to stop at page 18 when I realised what I was doing). Peter Godwin invites us to share the love he has for his family, friends and a country struggling to free itself from its colonial past. From childhood to adulthood Mukiwa charts the drastic changes of a country and its effect on the Godwin's. The companion piece, When A Crocodile Eats the Sun is even more profound. A work that lets us know more of the tragic situation in Zim. I wept.

A wonderful encaptivating insight to open your eyes, 12 Sep 2000
A fantastic book for everybody. It gave me an interresting insight into the colourful politics of the rhodesian war. Peter Godwin's experiences will change your views and open your mind. This charming story of his change from boy to man also dipicts a beutiful country that has since been shadowed.

Evocative but unpalatable, 31 Aug 2008
This was Englishmum.com's book club book for June. First off, I would say that this is not my usual reading material, which tends to be either cookery books or nasty, grisly Mark Billingham-esque murder mysteries. Having said that, the whole point of a book club is to challenge oneself to read books outside one's `comfort zone' shall we say. I suppose I enjoyed this book; I liked Fuller's honest, nostalgia-free style of writing and found her descriptions of her childhood Africa highly evocative. I found the way she wrote of the loss of two of her siblings incredibly moving. I didn't, however, find it a page-turner and felt that I was forcing myself through it. I also found some of the language and opinions unpalatable (well, we're talking white settlers in 1970s Rhodesia with the inevitable black household staff, to be fair). She relates all this, however uncomfortable, without judgment or criticism, and I like the fact that the reader is left to draw their own conclusions.

Read what our book club members thought about this book:

http://englishmum.com/2008/07/05/ems-bookish-club-our-june-book/

A real scratch and sniff book!, 27 Aug 2007
The narrative is so engaging and descriptive that your senses are brought alive and you are almost transported to Africa.
The child's eye view on events is refreshing, and adds another dimension to the unfurling events.
She has a lovely comic timing which sits comfortably, although often excruciatingly, with the harrowing tales of war, sadness and poverty.


Fascinating and funny, 14 Aug 2007
The true story of an eccentric white family living in Southern Africa through the wars of the 70s.Told from a child's point of view it's very honest & funny and is a brilliant insight into a fascinating time and place.

Once you have smelled the African bush, 20 May 2007
Intensely evocative.

There is an African saying that once you have recognised the smell of the bush it will never be forgotten...and that your heart will never leave Africa.

The terrs (terrorists) might have won the battle but have lost everything else.

Remember, Old Rhodies never die and this book explains why, but perhaps without the author really realising - but she certainly conveys the smell of the bush.

John Bell

A Great account of a unique upbringing., 12 May 2007
As an avid reader of alot of African non-fiction, this book was unique in that I read it in two days without ever feeling as though I was become bored of it.

I really enjoyed her unique style, successfully used in her second book as well, with short chapters and anecdotes that were always interesting, if at times heart renching.

Where this book succeeds, and others in this genre fail, is in her "no-holds barred" approach which never leads to nostalgia.

Fuller's story itself is a unique one, in that it covers so much of Southern Africa's turbulent history, she was brought up in Rhodesia, Zambia and Malawi, which means that the reader gets both an interesting story and the history of this troubled region.

So, I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in modern history or in unusual biographies.

A hard hitting view on Africa, 17 May 2008
By its own admission, this book sets out to answer the problem, "Why is Africa poor?". The writer makes no apologies for his answer. It has little to do with any of the usual suspects- geography, slavery or colonialism. In the most part, the poverty of the continent can be traced to the greed or/and ineptness of its leaders. Pages of first hand evidence are laid out in support of this view- Mugabe's politics in Zimbabwe, Mbeki's passive attitude towards HIV/AIDS, Nyerere's policy of socialism. Bad governance has conspired to create an environment be-devilled by violent trbal conflicts, failing infrastructure and a strong dis-incentive to productivity.

Guest is adamant in his insistence that Africa's long term development hinges on its ability to grow its economy and until the proper policies are put in place by Africans themselves to do this, no amount of foreign intervention would help. He is not altogether negative. He points out that, where Africa has made progress, it has been because the leaders in question practised good governance. He gives the example of Botswana's economic record, Uganda's success with dealing with HIV/AIDS and recent democratic developments in Nigeria.

On the whole, it is a cutting analysis which emphatically states what many Africans hate to hear- Africa is poor because of Africa.

A fascinating one by one examination of Africa's challenges, 18 Apr 2008
Chapter by chapter, Guest takes up a number of the challenges facing Africa and examines them. Beginning with the rapacious and rabidly corrupt power lechers who have headed up the governments of many, if not most African countries since independence, he then moves through topics such as how abundant mineral wealth and foreign arms supplies have lengthened the violent power struggles that have wracked the continent, the social and economic devastation of the AIDS plague, how tribal loyalties have been exploited by those wishing to seize or maintain power, why Western aid policies have largely failed and how trade would be a better alternative.

The book's portrait of Africa is not all negative. The remarkable economic growth of Botswana and the huge (though belated) success by Uganda and Senegal in tackling the AIDS problem are discussed. The post-apartheid successes and challenges in South Africa are examined and some cautious reasons for hope are put forward.

Within each of the topics examined, Guest uses a mixture of illustrative historical examples and stories from his own personal experience as a journalist for The Economist in Africa to support his arguments. His style is engaging and very easy to read and his comments are perceptive and enlightening. If I have one criticism of the book, it would be that each of the topics discussed is largely self-contained with few threads connecting the various arguments. Overall an extremely informative read, however.

ok, a little wishy-washy at times, 29 Sep 2007
This is a synopsis of only a few of the major trials and tribulations of the African continent but its style is simplistic and this is not a book which should be read in isolation.

Guest makes sweeping statements such as pg19 when he talks about South Africa's problems he says "....re-polarized South African politics along racial lines. This is unlikely to lead to violence; whites who don't like it can emigrate."

Really, South Africans (of any racial background) can just up and leave like that? And is that an effective solution, a minority group must just leave? Rwanda is still paying the price now for the international community supporting the Hutu majority for 30 years which then lead the 1994 genocide - should the Tutsis who didn't like the Hutu racial policies (i.e. 9% of school and unversity places, etc. only for Tutsis) have just up and left?

This is just one example of Guest's sweeping statements, not to mention his mass generalisations.

The book does give someone who hasn't been to Africa or hasn't studied Africa a flavour, but don't take it all as fact. He is a journalist, and while at times entertaining, a lot more opinion than fact makes it on to the pages.

Sharp and entertaining analysis of Africa's problems, 05 Jun 2007
Why is Africa the only continent that has not seen economic growth in the last 40 years? It is all too easy to blame just AIDS and the legacy of colonialism for all the problems. In this razor-sharp analysis Robert Guest uses examples from his experience as a traveling journalist for The Economist to explain his view on Africa's problem. Sure, AIDS and other infectious diseases is one of them, but far more important are corrupt leaders, warlords fighting for the raw mineral reserves in many countries and the enormous amount of red tape in combination with the impossibilities to get loans when you want to start a company. The appalling infrastructure (especially roads) together with policemen and other officials one has to bribe along the way do not help either to get from A to B. And often it is in the interest of the political leaders to steer up tribalism to divert people's attention from the misdeeds of the government.

Robert Guest not only describes the problems, but also discusses possible solutions, which in his opinion mainly lie in giving people opportunities to develop themselves and trade freely. A very well-written book with a lot of recognizable examples for a regular Africa traveller like myself. It's not often that I read a book like this in 1 day, but this one I did.

Very Wothwhile, 30 Apr 2007
This is a beautifully written book written with immense authority and insight; combined with compassion. I bought it to contrast with the novels I'd chosen for my holiday reading, and found it very rewarding, if often, inevitably, depressing. Having said which Robert Guest cites enough examples of things working in parts of Africa, to keep the reader from total despair. I only wished he'd written about Namibia, like Botswana a peaceful and successful country, and as he'd spent so much time in south Africa I was surprise that he did not. Thoroughly recommended.