The definitive story of African nations after they emerged from colonialism -- from Mugabe's doomed kleptocracy to Mandela's inspiring defeat of apartheid.
The Fate of Africahas been hailed by reviewers as A masterpiece....The nonfiction book of the year (The New York Post); a magnificent achievement (Weekly Standard); a joy, (Wall Street Journal) and one of the decade's most important works on Africa (Publishers Weekly, starred review). Spanning the full breadth of the continent, from the bloody revolt in Algiers against the French to Zimbabwe's civil war, Martin Meredith's classic history focuses on the key personalities, events and themes of the independence era, and explains the myriad problems that Africa has faced in the past half-century. It covers recent events like the ongoing conflict in Sudan, the controversy over Western aid, the exploitation of Africa's resources, and the growing importance and influence of China.
Martin Meredithis a journalist, biographer, and historian who has written extensively on Africa. His books include
Mandela: A Biography;
Mugabe;
Diamonds, Gold and War;
Born in Africa; and, most recently,
Fortunes of Africa. He lives near Oxford, England. Though today an independent scholar, Meredith was one of those now-too-rare journalists who knew his beat intimately, having lived on and off (mostly on) in Africa for 40 years, informing a keen and humane mind with all things African. It shows here in the depth and fluid familiarity of his narrative, light on its feet for so wildly complex a picture. Meredith isn't afraid of venturing an opinion, but what he dines on are basic realities: who did what when, and the consequences. These he spreads before his readers, for them to draw their own, now also informed, conclusions.
San Francisco Chronicle
For the author, even organizing this informlâ
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