Product Description
An epic biography of postcolonial Africa illuminates its current devastating problems. What happened to this vast continent, so rich in resources and history, to bring it so close to destitution and despair in the span of two generations?

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 57 reviews)

Comprehensive History of Post-Colonial Africa.

Being a Historian with an emphasis in African history I have read many books on the subject but, "The Fate of Africa" has been the most impressive and comprehensive of them all. Meredith has a clear command of the subject and despite all my studies in African history I learned some new things through him. Often history books can be rather dry and hard to read but Meredith writes in away that brings the history to life to where it almost reads like a novel. He includes little cultural and personal tidbits about the subject that spice up the book so that it doesn't bog down too much in all the dates and facts to the point where you want to stop reading. It is a good read and I never found myself bored with the book at anytime. I highly recommend this book to teachers looking for a comprehensive history book on post-colonial African history. That said it is a wonderfully accessible book for anyone interested in the subject. My only disappointment with this book is that there isn't another one written by the author about the colonial and pre-colonial era. Let's hope he writes that book.
December 01, 2008

A thorough and compelling survey of post-Colonial Africa

Anyone clinging to the notion that Africa's current ills are primarily the legacy of Western colonialism needs to read this book ASAP.

From Ghana, where the post-colonial era began in 1957, to Zimbabwe, which is currently circling the drain with 230 million per cent inflation, a narrative has played out over and over that points to a different culprit.

Meredith tracks the advent of independent governance in one African nation after another and manages to keep things from collapsing into a blur of equally disastrous rulers and sinilarly choatic President-for-Life scenarios.

In a sense this is a disturbing book, as it makes you wonder if Africa's problems might not be permanently intractable. I for one prefer this sort of unbiased catalog of events over "We Are the World" sentimentality or rheteoric from agenda-driven dissemblers like Jeffrey Sachs. You know the drill: whatever the problem, America is either the prime causal agent or at best a callously indifferent bystander.

This book fundamentally changed my outlook. I grew up with a romanticized notion of Africa informed by little more than Edgar Rice Burroughs and Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. The romantic view is gone but I am as fascinated as ever by Africa, and I still hope to visit.

In the meantime, I've read a handful of related books of widely varying scope. "When a Crocodile Eats the Sun," "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight," "Dark Star Safari," "King Leopold's Ghost," "Blood River,"
"Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone;" all of these were compelling to one degree or another. But "The Fate of Africa" is just about indispensable, and it's at least as entertaining as the more personal accounts I just mentioned.

Buy this book if you care at all for the topic. If nothing else, you'll be able to hold your own in cocktail party debates on the relative hideousness of Bokassa versus Nguema versus Amin, to name just a few notables on the nightmare continuum of African Big Men.

November 17, 2008

Instant classic

It is understandably difficult to write a one-volume history of a continent as diverse as Africa. Nonetheless, I think Mr. Meredith has written a fine example. In the process, he avoids the pitfalls commited by many Third Worldist ideologists who paternalize Africa and place the majority of the blame for its current state on external actors. Although Cold War rivalries certainly played a part, the reality, as Mr. Meredith ably documents, is that the continent's problems since independence have been first and foremost an indigenous leadership class often displaying stunning incompetence, greed, and bloodthirstyness.
August 21, 2008

Amazing Book

This is by far one of the best books I have ever read on African politics. It is the perfect book for someone who is starting to learn about African politics, wants to improve their knowledge, or just wants to learn about African history. This is a passionate, well-written book that I strongly recommend reading-you will not be sorry you did.
July 30, 2008

Africa

A compendium of African history from the partition to present day. If you are interested in knowing about African leadership and economic issues - this is the book.
July 07, 2008

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

Africa: A Biography of the Continent
by John Reader

The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It
by Paul Collier

Africa Unchained: The Blueprint for Africa's Future
by George B.N. Ayittey

The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good
by William Easterly

King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
by Adam Hochschild