About book Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles (2008)
It is interesting, but it does rely a lot on his own personal experiences rather than being a more of a solid research-based book. He also tends to make the mistake that lots of Westerners do, of generalising about the continent or referring to it as if it was a single country, like "all Africans love music" "Africa needs to do x, y and z" . I also found it quite negative, despite stating at the beginning that the West should stop viewing Africa as a charity case, or a war torn continent, a lot of the book is about countries being war torn, or requiring charity. His chapter on South Africa came across as particularly negative. That being said - the chapter on Chinese-African relations was particularly enlightening, especially the differences in approach between the Chinese and Western nations; that the Westerners tend to put conditions in place, to be some what evangelical (they'll do business with African countries, but on their terms), whereas the Chinese don't as such. I enjoyed the book and think it is a pretty good intro to the topic but could only give three stars due to the uneven quality of the writing and analysis. Some chapters are really interesting and insightful but others are not so much. Political analysis was mostly excellent but when the author made statements on economy, culture, etc., I was wondering on what basis he did so as I didn't see much evidence backing him up in the book. I definitely plan to read more on Africa to gain more in-depth knowledge and understanding.
Do You like book Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles (2008)?
some chapters are better than others but all warrant reading
—chanuki
Great insight about Africa from a great Journalist.
—Accolilia
