- Author: Tim Butcher
- Publisher: Grove Press
- Published: September 1, 2009
- Pages: 384
- ISBN: 978-0802144331
This is a travelogue where the author tries to re-create a journey that Henry Stanley took through the Congo in the 1870s. He mapped the river for the first time, starting oj the east coast of Africa, finding the source of the Congo, and traveling all the way to the Atlantic. Stanley then helped Belgium take over the region, which turned into a genuine disaster.
I have mixed feelings about this book. It kept me turning the pages and gave a solid introduction to the history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I’ve visited North Africa, grew up in England surrounded by people from south-east Africa, and I’ve been fortunate to know and work with many great people from West Africa. But I knew next to nothing about the Congo area, and this book filled that gap. I didn’t realize how often the area appeared in Western culture: the author covers everything from books including Heart of Darkness and The Poisonwood Bible to movies like The African Queen.
On the negative side, there was a “ruin porn” vibe. At some points, the eastern part of the DRC felt like a place from a dystopian novel, a real-life version of “The Last of Us”. Was that overblown? I wasn’t there on the author’s journey, but the whole approach matched the subtitle “The Terrifying Journey Through The World’s Most Dangerous Country”. The author aims to show that this was a high-functioning region until the 1950s, but that it has suffered multiple decades where that development was thrown into reverse.
The author’s history lesson was more interesting than his journey (which he didn’t complete). I don’t know enough to judge if the bleakness of the book is fair.
Update
A while after reading this book, I was still interested in the topic, but felt like I wanted to learn more. Here’s what else I was able to find so far:
- King Leopold’s Ghost: The most useful book on this list. The author was a journalist in the DRC in the 1960’s and really gives perspective on the country’s issues.
- The Siege of Jadotville: Medicore movie and better book about an Irish regiment in the DRC just after independence.
- Anthony Bordain: Watchable but definitely some ruin-porn in the style of Blood River.
- When We Were Kings: Great movie about the Rumble in the Jungle between Ali and Foreman, not too much on Zaire.