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In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in the Congo

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In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in the Congo (Paperback)

by Michela Wrong (Author)

4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)

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Product details

Paperback: 324 pages
Publisher: Fourth Estate; New Ed edition (2 Jul 2001)
Language English
ISBN-10: 1841154229
ISBN-13: 978-1841154220
Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.2 x 2.2 cm

Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 6,811 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in this category:
#11 in Books > History > Countries & Regions > Africa

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
Towards the end of Michela Wrong's highly readable debut, she quotes a military analyst wryly observing that so many mercenaries live to write their memoirs. The same could be said of foreign correspondents. Wrong separates herself from the hack pack by hitting the ground running, to apply a military metaphor, with her absorbing history of the country currently known as the Democratic Republic of Congo. Colonised by King Leopold II of Belgium (the only European monarch to personally own an African country), durable foundations for kleptocratic rule paved the way for Mobutu's "authentic" Zaire, the Leopard following Leopold. Clad in his trademark leopardskin toque and Buddy Holly sunglasses (purest African dictator kitsch, thus the ironically tacky cover), Wrong uncovers all the qualities of an autocrat: formidable memory, demagogic charisma, chameleon-like pragmatism, and a disastrous disdain for economics. In one memorable incident, Mobutu agreed a price for a neo-classical French villa, before casually enquiring whether the currency was US dollars or Belgian francs--the 39-fold difference being of no consequence. Tales of hidden Mobutu fortunes are tantalising, but hide a more prosaic truth: the most significant legacy taken up by his rotund ouster, Laurent Kabila, is Mobutuism, exemplified by a strong security force, "divide and rule", and a strangulated economy.

Perhaps more modest of intent than Adam Hochschild's King Leopold's Ghost,Wrong's account excels at scrutinising a nation as abundant as the mineral and ore deposits beneath its troubled soil. Gently drawing out testimonies from a former Belgian administrator, a former CIA man, ex-pats, Mobutu'sex-son-in-law, the disabled peddlers of Kinshasa, and the immaculately costumed sapeurs with their Lingala music, her sympathetic manner belies a keen intelligence and sensitivity to environment, whether it's Mama Yemo hospital, with guards to protect against non-paying patients escaping, or a terrifying White Elephant of a nuclear reactor. "In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz" teases out the nuances of a complicated, haunted country in a wonderfully clear, uncluttered manner, while remaining sympathetic to its entrancing, troubled rhythms. --David Vincent --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Economist
'This book will become a classic.'

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	66% buy the item featured on this page: In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in the Congo 4.9 out of 5 stars (14) �6.99
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Customer Reviews

14 Reviews

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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Average Customer Review

4.9 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tales from one of the world's most enigmatic dictators, 2 Jan 2002

By A Customer

This brilliantly written, easy to understand account of life in the Congo, is a must for anybody interested in African politics. The book goes way back into the Congo's history, accurately describing the colonnial days in which King Leopold of Belgium presided over the country up to the rise and fall of Mobutu.

Laced with humour, wit, elegance, conspiracy and treachery, it is and interesting read throughout. Not a single page does not have its own little story to tell.

Particularly powerful are the insights into Mobutu's personality and the birth of the leopard and later on his paranoia. Additionally the political intervention from the CIA and other interested parties that would like a hand in the Congo's resources is revealing and the extreme lengths to which they protected their interest is both clever and frightening.

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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent account of a crazy and forgotten country, 19 Dec 2000

By	simonkuper@hotmail.com (London, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Footsteps of Mr.Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in the Congo (Hardcover)

Congo is possibly the hardest country in the world to write about, and Michela Wrong has spoken to hundreds of people across the world as well as living in the place for years and come up with an account that isn't sentimental or finger-wagging or scornful. It's fascinating, moving and often funny. It's about everything in the Congo: the craze for Western fashions among very poor men, how the super-rich live, how Mobuto could hang on for 35 years and why there doesn't seem any hope of improvement. Books on Africa are rare nowadays, but perhaps because they demand so much effort to write, they tend to be labours of love and thus excellent.

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ditto with Mr. Brokesley, 19 Sep 2000

By	Antonio Nunez (Bogot�, Colombia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: In the Footsteps of Mr.Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in the Congo (Hardcover)

I was goig to write a review of this most amusing book, but found that Mr. Brokesley had beaten me to it. Following his cogent and penetrating review I find there isn't much left to say. However, in the best tradition of reviewers everywhere, I would like to refer to other parts of the book, which I found to be very entertaining. In the Constitution of a region of Zaire that wanted to secede from Mobutu's Kinshasa government there was an article (article 15) suggesting to anyone who wanted the government's protection or support to "take care of your own business" ("debrouillez-vous"), which essentially the legal form of Mobutu's dictum that corruption was OK so long as it wasn't excessive (President Turbay of Colombia said the same thing in 1978, although he didn't manage to hang around as long as Mobutu did). There is an operating nuclear reactor in Zaire. An enriched uranium core disappeared recently, only to resurface in the hands of the Sicilian mafia. A profet jailed by the Belgians who believed himself to be the incarnation of the Holy Ghost created a church complete with hierarchy and miracles and Holy Writ. Mobutu kept twins as lovers, to ward off malignant influences from his defunct first wife's spirit. I agree with Mr. Brokesley that the soul of the story is Mr. Mobutu. A cunning man, he had that rare combination of shamelessness and grandeur. One would need to go back to Mussolini or Napoleon III to find a similar European mindset. He wasn't a psycopath like other African leaders (such as Francisco Macias NGuema, Idi Amin Dada or Jean-Bedel Bokassa), and while he robbed the country of its lifeblood, bringing it back into the middle ages, he did it much more amusingly than other leaders ever did (who ever heard of a good anecdote about Robert Mugabe or Daniel Arap Moi, who are just as big crooks as Mobutu ever was?). Mobutu shared in the spoils of corruption, and allowed even non-family members to take part in the feast. This is much more than other tyrants (such as Somoza, Trujillo, Khadaffi, Saddam Husseim or Suharto) ever did. So, if you ever want to see what happens when the rule of law is absent and all social constraints implode, this is the book for you.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars 'In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz' by Michela Wrong, is a classic
This book should be on the reading list of anyone interested or concerned with the problems of African development (or the lack of it), from the most powerful to those who can... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Kate Nivison

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book I have read for ages
This is a truly excellent book. I found the whole story of Mobutu and the Congo utterly compelling. Each chapter is a finely polished essay and there is none of the jarring... Read more

Published 16 months ago by Christine Wallace

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent analysis and narrative
Michela Wrong has written a very good study of General Mobuto's place in Congolese/Zairois history. Her analysis is as good as that of Frederick Cooper in AFRICA SINCE 1940 and... Read more

Published on 12 May 2007 by Charles Vasey

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written (and interesting)
An interesting and well treated story, but what makes me write a review here is the beauty of the sentences which Wrong produces. Read more

Published on 7 Mar 2007 by B. In -t Veld

5.0 out of 5 stars Colonialism and it's aftermath
A Highly insightful investigation into the consequences of European colonialism at its most rampant, and a clear and well illustratted indictment of the world banking system as it... Read more

Published on 13 Sep 2006 by G. Smith

4.0 out of 5 stars Helpful insight into corruption self-delusion.
Well researched and smoothly written, this book helped me better understand how corrupt leadership allied to perhaps more manipulative activity from western countries shaped this... Read more

Published on 22 Jul 2006 by D. W. Miller

5.0 out of 5 stars A case of reckoning
The Congo basin is the most cruelly raped part of Africa. It and its immediate northern and southern neighbors were the principal source of slaves for the American plantations. Read more

Published on 3 May 2006 by Philip

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb
Wrong's account of the history of Zaire is both fascinating and disturbing. All of the reader's emotions are stimulated with seamless convergence. Read more

Published on 14 Nov 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars A grimly entertaining account of an African kleptocrat
After three decades in power, Mobutu Sese Seko, the kleptocratic president of Zaire who died in exile three years ago this month (September 1997), came to personify corruption... Read more

Published on 9 Sep 2000 by NMS Holman

5.0 out of 5 stars A lively story which is a pleasure to read
Michela has produced an excellent history full of pithy descriptions of the individuals who were touched by Mobutu. Read more

Published on 31 Aug 2000

› See all 14 customer reviews...

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