![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() In places the UN maintain a token presence, as do various NGOs, but this poor, internally divided country is difficult to travel in. The Congo never really ceased to be anything but a pawn of outside interests, and the country that Butcher decides to cross is far from safe terrain for outsiders. At the heart of much of this was the areas mineral wealth, desired by both superpowers. Butcher tells the story of the countries decline as it's initial post-colonial state was quickly consumed by coups, war and bloodletting. The Congo suffered greatly when the Europeans finally relinquished control. Slightly less famously, Stanley then set in motion the processes that would allow many of those same white Europeans to take control of, and make fortunes from the people, country and mineral wealth of the Congo. Stanley of course, famously found David Livingstone and made his fame bringing the story back to the world of the White European. As a journalist on the Daily Telegraph he takes the incredibly dangerous decision to follow in the footsteps of an earlier writer for that journal, Henry Stanley. However, it does seem, that Tim Butcher's fascination with the Congo river and the country that surrounds it is absolutely genuine. When I first looked at this book, I thought that it was a classic case of a journalist with a bit of knowledge about one part of the world, concocting an excuse to write a book about it. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |