An Intelligent Book about Africa

 This review is copied from Barnes and Noble's website. Author unknown.

The Last Rhino

This book has a bit of a mystery in it and a lot of adventure. It is well written and an engaging read. What struck me most, however, was that it is about the real Africa. Judging from the “About the Author” page it makes sense that this would be a story about the authentic Africa told with intelligence and knowledge. Robert Gribbin has spent much of his life in Africa and this came shining through.

The book helps you to see, feel and understand Africa. (At times the descriptions make you feel as if you can also hear and smell it as well.) It describes some of the true ravages of the Lord’s Resistance movement and the complexities of environmentalism on this continent. The characters are well drawn, there are strong women and sensitive men and also conniving politicians. It captures the dialogues and motives of real people one would meet in Africa today. There are people wanting to give back to society and others intent on destroying the wildlife in it.
Make no mistake that this is a novel. It is a compelling read for the plot alone, but the reader feels as if they are learning things about Africa and about life as they are enjoying the story. If I were teaching a course on Africa I would assign this as a very enjoyable text for my students. One that is also accurate and enlightening.

This book exceeded my expectations on three levels: it is an intelligent look at conservationism as it works in Africa today; it is a realistic, accurate view of contemporary Africa; and it is an engaging well-written novel with bits of wisdom throughout. An excellent read.

Life and Death in the Sahara

 

A review of Sahara Unveiled – A Journey Across the Desert by William Langewiesche, Pantheon Books, NY, 1996.

 

I found this interesting book in the library, a branch that I don’t normally visit. It appealed to me because I drove across the Sahara in 1970.  Twenty years later during Langewiesche’s trip the physical challenge of the terrain remained immutable. Roads were terrible to non-existent. There was scant vegetation, mostly thousands of miles of a moonscape of rock and sand. The nights were clear and chilly. However, other things, i.e. bureaucracy, corruption, politics, danger, hostility, the size of settlements, the nature of trade, had changed for the worse in the time between our respective journeys.

Langewiesche starts his chronicle in Algiers, noting several times on his southward jaunt, that he had been there before. However, he never explained how or why he had travelled the desert before. In any case, prior knowledge allowed him to connect or reconnect with friends or acquaintances from earlier times. Through them he painted a realistic portrait of life in the oases of the Sahara.  Life was hardscrabble. Heat overwhelming.  Women were cloistered.  Male dominated Islamic society prevalent. The economy in shambles. Yet, the outside world, especially dreams of it, filtered in. In the central Sahara, Tuareg nomads strove to continue their traditional lifestyle, but trucks were replacing camels and modern weapons permitted banditry and rebellion to reach new heights.  Berber Arabs, Tuaregs and black Africans from the south were united by Islam, but tensions of eons old clashing cultures prevailed.

The author described the horrors – and gave numerous examples - of individuals being lost, abandoned, and dying of thirst.  Such afflictions were visited upon the desert dwellers through miscalculations. More than one of the author’s acquaintances lost relatives to the desert.  At least Saharans knew the risks, but outside visitors – trans Saharan tourists - often died because of ignorance. 

Langewiesche digressed to describe the desert’s devolution from green well-watered grasslands tens of thousands of years ago to today’s aridness which is still increasing. He also related the impact of 19^th and 20^th century French colonialism on the region, especially as it generated lingering hatred of France on the part of Algerians.  The author detailed how French romanticism of the “noble savage” Tuareg people precluded them from achieving a more balanced role in contemporary Saharan nations. Langewiesche’s discussion of the causes of Tuareg rebellion in the 1990s was excellent but even more useful in explaining conflict in the region during the years since.    

In sum, Sahara Unveiled is a fascinating and still valid portrait of a little-known corner of the world. Langewiesche told it as it was, warts and all. He certainly became part of the story but remained objective to the end. This book is an entertaining adventure story in and of itself. However, it is also an extremely useful read for anyone concerned with ongoing conflicts in the Sahara in Algeria, Mali, Niger, and Libya.