Sunday Book Reviews

Two of them for you today. And neither of them written by me. Which automatically ups the credibility of this blog post. Significantly.

Over at the NYT, Nick Kristof today reviewed Richard Dowden's Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles, currently ranking #3749 on Amazon. Dowden, a veteran British journalist currently heading the Royal African Society, aims to correct the negative stereotypes associated with Africa--stereotypes often perpetuated by the popular press. He asserts

“The media’s problem is that, by covering only disasters and wars, it gives us only that image of the continent,” Dowden writes — and 90 percent of the Africans reading this are now nodding at that line. “Persistent images of starving children and men with guns have accumulated into our narrative of the continent.”

“The aid industry too has an interest in maintaining the image of Africans as hopeless victims of endless wars and persistent famines,” Dowden continues. “However well intentioned their motives may once have been, aid agencies have helped create the single, distressing image of Africa. They and journalists feed off each other.”

Kristof takes issue with this point, particularly referring to his own coverage of the DRC's civil war, which has been the most lethal conflict since WWII, and counters that such conflicts have not been written about enough (something I am inclined to believe). Nonetheless, I find Dowden's overall point still valid, but the media is changing and covering more than just disasters and wars. In particular, fair-trade and governance issues have started to take more prominence. (Be sure to check out this link from Kristof's review.)

Dowden and Kristof agree that Africa needs to be developed more by the Africans, rather than messianic outsiders--Dowden takes some hard shots at Tony Blair and Bono. I certainly find this a valid point, particularly after seeing the numerous entrepreneurs (textiles, electronics, services, etc.) lining the streets of Accra and Kumasi. However, I take issue with Kristof's assertion that "[o]ne of Africa’s problems to this day is that there is very little manufacturing of the kind that is powering Asia’s industrial revolution." First off, world norms have changed quite a bit since Asia started state-led industrialization in the 1960s--most African states lack the global support and domestic capacity to do such a thing. And, secondly, technology has changed quite a bit since then. Chile, for instance, underwent industrialization and then moved to non-traditional agricultural exports but is now primarily a services economy. India has a strange gap between agriculture and services, without their being a huge industrialization push. All around the world technology such as cell phones is revolutionizing the ways in which agriculture is brought to market and the ways farmers can now organize against governments. I'm not saying that Africa doesn't need industrialization but rather that the economic future is a bit more nuanced now.

All in all, a great review. Might have to put this on the summer reading list.

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Shelby presents a candid review of Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's humbly named memoir, This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa's First Woman President, currently ranking #498 at Amazon. The first half of the book is especially enlightening:

I learned that Sirleaf has been sophisticated in using her indigenous ancestry and Americo-Liberian upbringing to her advantage. Her parents are from Bomi and Sinoe County, but both were raised in Americo-Liberian families. (Similar to the way Helene Cooper’s family took in Eunice in The House at Sugar Beach.) Sirleaf grew up as a part of the Americo-Liberian elite, yet she is technically correct in saying she is not Americo-Liberian. She took advantage of her Americo-Liberian background to join the Tolbert government, and of her indigenous background for her current job.

I was very interested in the description of Sirleaf's personal touch in handling situations where she was pretty close to being killed. Much of it seems to be her skill in making her adversary's men see her "as a person, as a human being, as a woman old enough to be his mother or his aunt." I'll have to remember that one the next time my life is on the line.

I was about to sign off but then I noticed this gem:

One scene was classic Liberia: Sirleaf describes her daily police-escorted walks from prison (she called Doe and co. idiots, which led to 9 months in prison) to court. She says she had become a folk hero, with festive crowds watching her as she walked to court. "Even the policemen enjoyed it. They would walk alongside me, smiling and waving to the crowds as if they were heroes themselves.”

Simply priceless. A very insightful review, and I recommend you all read it. No shortage of books for this summer.