In 1935 the author Graham Greene and his cousin Barbara Greene set out on a walking tour from Sierra Leone through the unmapped interior of Liberia and parts of Guinea to the Liberian coast. Some 60 years later, after Liberia had recently emerged from two decades of civil war, Tim Butcher set out to re-create the Greenes' journey, and the story of his travels is told in the present book.
In certain areas of Liberia there exist secret societies for men and women, known as Poro and Sande respectively. These societies are connected with the use of masks, initiation ceremonies and animistic beliefs. Charles Taylor, the man who led a rebel movement in the bloody civil war and subsequently became president, is said to have taken advantage of such animistic beliefs, and the civil war featured many stories of ritualistic killing, cannibalism, and the use of bizarre and terrifying costumes. The "Devil" in the book's title is a reference to members of the Poro society who are appointed to a witchdoctor-type office and perform dances while wearing a full-body mask.
If you want to learn about the local people and culture in Africa, then an extended walking tour is a good way to come into contact with a lot of different people. If you want to add a bit of colour and adventure to your journey, choosing a country which is recovering from an unspeakably brutal war will certainly do that for you. Tim Butcher's book is disturbing in parts, moving in others, but all in all a captivating adventure.