- Paperback: 120 pages
- Publisher: Pluto Press (20 Dec 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0745312470
- ISBN-13: 978-0745312477
- Product Dimensions: 21.2 x 13.6 x 1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 196,253 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
‘Tells the miserable story of a revolution destroyed, analysing the moves of the mighty and speaking up for the millions who have suffered as a result.' Guardian
‘Few journalists know Angola better than Victoria Brittain. This is an excellent and timely account of a conflict for which we in the West share much of the blame.' Jon Snow
‘Few journalists know Angola better than Victoria Brittain. This is an excellent and timely account of a conflict for which we in the West share much of the blame.' Jon Snow
About the Author
Victoria Brittain lived and worked as a journalist in Washington, Nairobi, Saigon, Algiers and London, and has travelled extensively in Africa and the Middle East. She worked at The Guardian for 20 years. She is co-author of Moazzam Begg’s Guantanamo memoir, Enemy Combatant, and author and co-author of two verbatim plays.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book cogently makes some very important points about the recent history of Angola, from the perspective of an eyewitness. The points have added significance against the scanty and partial reporting of the country in the western media.
It must be right to call attention to the role of the United States, South Africa, Zambia and Zaire in supporting the murderous UNITA organisation with money and arms, downplaying its atrocities and contriving to present it as in some way democratic (contrary to all known facts). It must also be right to discuss the role of resources (especially diamonds and oil) as a significant factor driving the conflict.
Although some passages stretch the credulity a bit (one about the spontaneous "love" of the MPLA government by those under its jurisdiction springs to mind) there seems no reason to doubt that the general picture presented by the author is accurate - the MPLA did have a popular base, and, as the 1992 elections showed, the best claim to be the representative government of the country. Those elections were of course immediately repudiated by Savimbi, plunging the country into a further devastating round of fighting from which it has not yet recovered. The "softly softly" approach with Savimbi by the United States and United Nations even in these circumstances (with untold thousands slaughtered) is striking, and in a less cynical and self-interested world would surely have led to searching public criticism.
This book (although brief) raises questions that ought to be raised and discussed - some of which have profound implications for the role of the US and UN in this and other countries. It should be read for that reason alone. To dismiss it as "woeful" is, I think, very unfair.
2 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The book attempts to be a brief history of Angola since independence, but it is distorted by glaring pro-government bias. There is neglible discussion of the contentious period of government rule immediately after independence and the reports of atrocities during that period. Hence the discussion of deterioriation of the governance of the country in the nineties is portrayed as an aberation from revolutionary ideals rather than a continuation of a pattern of abuse of human rights into the post cold-war political economy. The lack of balance in the book also means that any proper discussion of the horrors perpetrated by UNITA, the rebel movement, lacks credibility.
In sum the book does not provide any dependable insight into the history and politics of Angola. For Angola to emerge into a just society, one where the oil and diamond revenues are used to benefit the many rather than the few, requires (among other things) journalism that tells the truth about the entirity of the society rather than making excuses for or ignoring the horrors perpetrated by any single faction. Unfortunately this book fails utterly in that test.
In sum the book does not provide any dependable insight into the history and politics of Angola. For Angola to emerge into a just society, one where the oil and diamond revenues are used to benefit the many rather than the few, requires (among other things) journalism that tells the truth about the entirity of the society rather than making excuses for or ignoring the horrors perpetrated by any single faction. Unfortunately this book fails utterly in that test.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Portrays typical bias toward Angolan opposition.
21 Feb 1999
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
At least Ms. Brittain acknowledges her prejudices early in the book. She freely admits a bias toward the MPLA government. Unfortunately, she repeats the same falsehoods and half-truths which MPLA partisans have spouted for years.
I was an observer to the 1992 Angolan national elections. Along with others we did witness voter intimidation and ballot box tampering. Thirteen parties, including UNITA, protested to the UN about fraudulent activities of the MPLA. The UN and U.S. had spent too much money to allow for such problems to derail the peace process.
Untruths have attained mythical status. For example, under the Bicesse Accords, UNITA was allowed 600, not 3000, soldiers in Luanda. How could 600 UNITA soldiers attempt a coup in the heart of MPLA Angola? Ms. Brittain, in other places, has written that over 20,000 UNITA supporters were massacred by the MPLA in October 1992 in Luanda alone.
Several times the author mentions UNITA documents, "Operation Timber, and the Chitunda diaries, produced by the MPLA which seem to implicate UNITA in some fashion. Ms. Brittain accepts the authenticity of these documents without question.
THE DEATH OF DIGNITY is well written. Too bad it is so biased. In the Angolan civil war blame can be cast on all, not just UNITA.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Woeful
19 Dec 2011
Format:Paperback
The book attempts to be a brief history of Angola since independence, but it is distorted by glaring pro-government bias. There is neglible discussion of the contentious period of government rule immediately after independence and the reports of atrocities during that period. Hence the discussion of deterioriation of the governance of the country in the nineties is portrayed as an aberation from revolutionary ideals rather than a continuation of a pattern of abuse of human rights into the post cold-war political economy. The lack of balance in the book also means that any proper discussion of the horrors perpetrated by UNITA, the rebel movement, lacks credibility.
In sum the book does not provide any dependable insight into the history and politics of Angola. For Angola to emerge into a just society, one where the oil and diamond revenues are used to benefit the many rather than the few, requires (among other things) journalism that tells the truth about the entirity of the society rather than making excuses for or ignoring the horrors perpetrated by any single faction. Unfortunately this book fails utterly in that test.
In sum the book does not provide any dependable insight into the history and politics of Angola. For Angola to emerge into a just society, one where the oil and diamond revenues are used to benefit the many rather than the few, requires (among other things) journalism that tells the truth about the entirity of the society rather than making excuses for or ignoring the horrors perpetrated by any single faction. Unfortunately this book fails utterly in that test.
3 of 6 people found the following review helpful
VERY bias
8 April 2004
Format:Hardcover
Though informative, this book is VERY partial to MPLA's organization. I think it's great that Bittain was able to go to Angola, and see the civil war and its effects first hand, but she went with a division of MPLA (OMA) and only saw one side of the war. She presnst this angle wonerfuly, but i woul like to see a non bias, informative approach.
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