"The Fate of Africa" by Martin Meredith (PublicAffairs, 752 pages, $35)
Africa owes a lot of its postcolonial misery to corrupt, tyrannical leaders.
Posted on 08/31/2005 5:46:01 AM PDT by OESY
"The Fate of Africa"... is a heavy book, but it is light reading because it is so unfashionably straightforward. Martin Meredith has written a narrative history of modern Africa, devoid of pseudointellectual frills, gender discourse or postcolonial angst. He takes each of the larger African countries and tells you what happened there after independence....
Mr. Meredith's critics will accuse him of cultural insensitivity. By knocking down Africa's heroes, he is denying Africans the right to be proud of their own heritage. This is piffle. If Africa is to prosper, the first step is for Africans to understand what has gone wrong in the past. And as Mr. Meredith's book so convincingly shows, it is bad leadership, first and foremost, that has held the continent back.
Given Africa's dire postcolonial history so far, it is easy -- perhaps too easy -- to imagine a dire future as well. Africa's prospects, Mr. Meredith says, are "bleaker than ever before." But surely not. Since the Cold War ended and the superpowers stopped propping up dictators for strategic reasons, Africa has grown more democratic. Electorates in several countries have been able to throw out bad leaders, something they were never able to do in the past. This trend could eventually force African governments to rule in a less predatory fashion, which in turn ought to make it easier for Africans to pull themselves out of poverty. The fate of Africa is anything but certain. It may even be benign. Africa owes a lot of its postcolonial misery to corrupt, tyrannical leaders.
...A lack of institutional checks has allowed an array of incompetent strongmen to rule as they pleased until the money ran out, at which point northern donors often tossed them an extra bundle of cash.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
I thought the UN was supposed to fix Africa. They fix everything they touch, don't they? (sarcasm)
Thomas Sowell also has some interesting things to say on this subject.
Yes they do. I'm going to look up this book at the library. Jared Diamond books are also good.
Thank you for posting this. It is posts such as yours that make Free Republic such a good source for information, facts and news.
self government only works in nations that honor God. period, end of story, no apologies.
So as anyone here actually read the book and can give a personal review?
I'm going to get it at the library today. I'll let you know what I think in about two days.
He has some excellent angles on things. You have to pick them out of a generally PC background, though.
For example, the spread of various ethnic/linguistic groups across the world, displacing the previous inhabitants, is described in morally neutral tones, as something that just happened.
When exactly the same thing was done by "the white man" rather more recently, suddenly Mr. Diamond saw a moral context to what happened to those displaced. Only Europeans (and, of course, Americans) ever do anything wrong in his world.
One should not have to read the book to understand what is happening to Africa, Muslims, Communists, Dictators, it is obvious regardless of the Editorials to the contrary.
This book will just fortify the obvious.
Library list bump, and a round of applause to a reviewer who says, "Piffle!"
Waitlisted at Mecklenburg Library, and it's not even in stock yet. Will have to try Union.
Bump for later.
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