State of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independance
by Martin Meredith
published
July 1st 2005
by Jonathan Ball Publishers
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binding
Paperback
isbn
1868422208
(isbn13: 9781868422203)
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 538)
recommends it for:
History junkies and everyone with an interest in Africa
There are history books written by historians, and there are history books written by journalists. Martin Meredith is first and foremost a journalist, and this book focuses on telling stories and bringing the expansive personalities of African big men to the fore. Yet Meredith doesn't skimp on the statistics and the "hard facts," although I do wish he had a few more citations. And many of the standard criticisms of history can be leveled against this work: it tells the story of the eli...more
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Read in January, 2008
This is a fascinating and well written overview of African history in the post-colonial era. It is not a happy story, just an accurate one. In general, Africa has gone downhill since the colonial powers left. While the author doesn't hesitate to point out the negative effects that both the colonial powers and the Cold war US/soviet rivalry had on the development of African states, his basic premise is that the Africans have themselves to blame for the sorry state of their nations. Or rather,...more
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Read in November, 2005
Martin Meredith's Fate of Africa couldn't have come out at a better time. With so much attention given to Africa with Live 8 mega concerts and wrangling between politicians and hopeful development experts, finally there is a book that gives historical context to the continent. Meredith, a 40-year journalism veteran on African affairs, has written the first comprehensive study of post-colonial Africa's first fifty years. Just under 800 pages, this book is not for the casual reader, but rather for...more
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Read in November, 2005
A Very Powerful Book
This is a history of Africa since the end of the colonial era. The author does not tread lightly on Africa's rulers' since that time. The level of brutality and corruption is exposed and elucidated relentlessly. Crimes against humanity are so common that one wonders why the cycle is so self-perpetuating. Although statistics and trends are analyzed the main focus is primarily on the personalities - history is made by people.
Chapters are well sectioned and the w...more
This is a history of Africa since the end of the colonial era. The author does not tread lightly on Africa's rulers' since that time. The level of brutality and corruption is exposed and elucidated relentlessly. Crimes against humanity are so common that one wonders why the cycle is so self-perpetuating. Although statistics and trends are analyzed the main focus is primarily on the personalities - history is made by people.
Chapters are well sectioned and the w...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
folks interested in africa/world affairs
A well written book that details the issues that have surrounded Africa for the last 50 years. Its scary when the history of a collection of countries can be grouped so easily (post colony, one party democracy, big man democracy, etc...), but its important to know that this is the case. Understandably, rwanda and apartheid are given very large sections in the book (towards the end). I did feel that AIDS was covered only slightly, which was unfortunate. Thats more a pan-African problem i supp...more
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Read in September, 2008
An incredibly dense account of the last 50 years in Africa. This book is a natural follow-on to "The Scramble for Africa", and shares the same dense, factual writing style with little-to-no commentary. It was hard to keep in memory all of the people, locations, and events that are mentioned throughout the novel. I had to keep referring back to early sections of the book, a quick reference guide at the end would be helpful.
The style is easy to digest (easier than "The Scramb...more
The style is easy to digest (easier than "The Scramb...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
anyone who wants to know more about our world
clueless as i was about virtually all of african history, this was a good (if completely depressing) introduction to the last 50 years or so. meredith's thesis is decidedly that it is bad leaders who have caused africa's problems... and they certainly seem to contribute. but i have a feeling there are other factors involved as well. some are hinted at, others not so much. the way he jumps around from country to country makes it difficult to keep things straight, especially when the stories a...more
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I'm only half-way through but it's brilliant so far. Fascinating stuff. He covers the post-colonial history of Africa country by country. It's a little confusing sometimes, since he spends 5 years in this country, then 10 years in the next, then jumps to yet another country for 2 or 3 other years. Consequently the reader has to pay a bit of extra attention to know what country and what decade we're in, but it's worth it. It's a fat book, but it's covering a lot of history and, so far, doing...more
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A truly disheartening chronicle of abuse of power in virtually every country that has become independent in the last 50 years. Not so much an account of the failure of democracy given that it never really had a chance to begin. In almost all of the countries described, there were no democratic institutions in place in the first place. The colonizers had little interest in developing a cohesive society from the various tribal groups and, in fact, they prefered to keep people divided on tribal lin...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
history lovers.
A very thorough overview of African history since independence. Creates a familiarity with the actors and movements that characterize post-colonial Africa, and frames well the pitfalls and challenges in Africa's future.
What is most interesting and is in the mind of the reader at all times, is that African independence is still a new phenomenon. Africans truly have no history of fair, just, democratic rule, and despite the efforts of several fathers of independence, the African state is sti...more
What is most interesting and is in the mind of the reader at all times, is that African independence is still a new phenomenon. Africans truly have no history of fair, just, democratic rule, and despite the efforts of several fathers of independence, the African state is sti...more
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Read in February, 2008
Goodness, this one took me a long time to read. Perhaps not the best book when one's free time is limited, but quite lively reading, with lots of anecdotes and personalities that enrich the narrative. The author's focus on broad trends across the continent rather than details of each country gave me a more holistic view, rather than just knowing bits and pieces from Economist articles about one nation or another. The downside of coherent narrative is its inherent subjectivity; I'm not sure I ...more
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What amazes me is the lack of knowledge most have about this continent. It's only been 50 years since its release from British colonial rule. It is an under-developed, often forgotten country, especially by those who own over 50% of the world's wealth yet make up only 6% of its population: the United States. An important work, one all of the privelaged minority should learn, for as most successful athletes tell us that after they've "made it" it's important to give back. When over 50% ...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
traditionalists, anarchists, world puzzlers
I read this over 2 trips on planes and on trains. It is impressive to carry as it quite large, but tiring.
It's a well crafted, clearly written history of each country's move towards independence and autonomy. It gives the good and bad, the imperialist overlords actions etc.
the sentence explaining that 10,000 different tribes etc became 40 protectorates/nation's explains much.
Sad, uplifting, puzzling- just like the continent itself.
What my thought after reading was nations, ummm no....more
It's a well crafted, clearly written history of each country's move towards independence and autonomy. It gives the good and bad, the imperialist overlords actions etc.
the sentence explaining that 10,000 different tribes etc became 40 protectorates/nation's explains much.
Sad, uplifting, puzzling- just like the continent itself.
What my thought after reading was nations, ummm no....more
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ok, i didn't put a date on this thing because i've been "currently reading" it for ages. i think since xmas. it's quite daunting in length and scope, but there's enough there for a total amateur like me to latch onto---well-told stories of fascinating leaders, thematic links between countries with similar postcolonial experiences, etc. i wonder what someone w. more knowledge of the subject would think of it, though, and all the endorsements from right-leaning pubs makes me wonder if th...more
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Read in June, 2008
I've only gotten halfway through this book, that is, up to around the 1980s. The author is certainly knowledgable, but he is also by no means a progressive. He talks about Kenya when it gained independence and doesn't mention Kimathi. Up to halfway through the book, there is no mentoin of Burkina Faso. Generally, the view he has is very pessimistic. Every country has a dictator who, whether out of personal greed or misguided good intentions, screws things up and costs people their lives and the ...more
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recommends it for:
people with strong stomachs
Five stars for this plain, urgent, and very comprehensive account of Africa since the colonial powers packed up and left, or were booted out. And as far as I know, this is the only book which covers all of Africa in the last 50 years. But I think readers should be issued with a very strong warning. You have to ask yourselves if you have a strong stomach. Because make no mistake, this is a horror story, and it has left me, after all the Geldoff-inspired euphoria, after the recent debt-cancellatio...more
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I must admit this is not at all a beach read. However, I had always been interested about Africa and quite ignorant about its history and so when someone recommended this book as a story of the past 50 years of post colonial Africa, I went straight to the bookstore. The material is dense, but Meredith does a good job of weaving in stories to make the facts and circumstances more real. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning about Africa and how it got to the state it currently is ...more
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An absolute must read for anyone interested in the fate of the world today. Meredith focuses on post independence, last fifty or so years of African history. He doesn't spend a lot of time on colonial experience except to show how the colonial experience has effected many African country's difficulties at self governance. This large history is told through the stories of the leaders of the newly independent countries which makes for a really enjoyable read.
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This book was a great introduction into modern African history. As someone who's always had an interest in Africa and its plights and struggles, I was in search of a book that would bring my knowledge on the history of such a complex continetn up to speed. This book definitely achieved. Though a bit dry, it covered a lot of territory. I would recommend this book if you're looking for the same or similar things I was looking for when I chose it.
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Read in September, 2007
Great political overview of Africa from the second half of the XX century up to our days. How the hope in prosperity and freedom independence though to bring, quickly gave way to corrupted governments where greed for power and the tribal factor soon managed to destroy the economic tissue of most countries and the populations living conditions. As a Portuguese, I expected a bit more of depth regarding Portugal's former colonies tough.
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