In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in the Congo: Amazon.de: Michela Wrong: Englische Bücher

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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 -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verf�gbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.

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During Mobutu Sese Seko's 30 years as president of Zaire (now the Congo), he managed to plunder his nation's economy and live a life of excess unparalleled in modern history. A foreign correspondent in Zaire for six years, Michela Wrong has plenty of titillating stories to tell about Mobutu's excesses, such as the Versailles-like palace he built in the jungle, or his insistence that he needed $10 million a month to live on. However, these are not the stories that most interest Wrong. Her aim is to understand all of the reasons behind the economic disintegration of the most mineral-rich country on the African continent; in so doing, she turns over the mammoth rock that was Mobutu and finds a seething underworld of parasites with names like the CIA, the World Bank and the IMF, the French and Belgian governments, mercenaries, and a host of fat cats who benefited from Mobutu's largesse and even exceeded his rapaciousness.

Wrong turns first to Belgian's King Leopold II, who instituted a brutal colonial regime in the Congo in order to extract the natural and mineral wealth for his personal gain. Mobutu, with the aid of a U.S. government determined to sabotage Soviet expansion, stepped easily into Leopold's footsteps, continuing a culture built on government-sanctioned sleaze and theft. Under the circumstances, it's hard not to feel some sympathy for the people who survived in the only ways they could--teachers trading passing grades for groceries, hospitals refusing to let patients leave until they paid up, cassava patches cultivated next to the frighteningly unsafe nuclear reactor. What is less comprehensible--and rightly due for an airing--are Wrong's revelations about foreign interventions. Why, for example, did the World Bank and IMF give Mobutu $9.3 billion in aid, knowing full well that he was pocketing most of it?

In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz is a brilliantly conceived and written work, sharply observant and richly described with a necessary sense of the absurd. Wrong paints a far more nuanced picture of the wily autocrat than we've seen before, and of the blatant greed and paranoia of the many players involved in the country's self-destruction. --Lesley Reed -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verf�gbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.

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A griping account of a country in turmoil 24. November 2000

Von Ein Kunde

Format:Gebundene Ausgabe

Michela Wrong's "In the footsteps of Mr Kurtz" offers a fascinating account of a country in turmoil starting from the gruelling days of early colonial occupation to present day tribal revolts and upheavals. At its core the book chronicles the rise and fall of Joseph Désiré Mobutu, the charismatic leader who for the 30 years of his reign perfected the art of corruption and intrigue ruining in the process a potentially prosperous country. His reign would not have been possible however without the complicity of Western governments who pandered to the dictator's wishes, anxious to retain a faithful ally against Soviet communism. Flawlessly researched and informative the book's special merit however lies in its evocation of an African atmosphere and reality so alien and incomprehensible to European minds. Never boring, never dogmatic the book - despite its serious intent - is full of endearing humorous touches. Once started this book is impossible to put down.

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Gripping 16. Oktober 2002

Von "lexi777"

Format:Taschenbuch

The book is actually more about the Congo as a whole, and in particular about the Congo in the late 1990's, than about Mobutu himself. Nevertheless, Michaela Wrong's descriptions of the various people she meets, the "sapeurs" (a strange sort of pholosophical fashion victims), the never outsmarted handicapped, the weary guardian of Congo's sole nuclear reactor, is funny, gripping and saddening at the same time. Towards the end of the book, Mobutu apprears being as much a dictator as a victim, a opinion which in the light of what Mobutu did can be irritating. But apart from this point, "In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurz" is an absolutely fascinating and highly recommandable book.

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It you want to know about the Congo, red this book! 5. September 2002

Von anonymous

An excellent account of the younger history of the Zaire (now Congo)centering on the rise and fall of Mobutu Sese Seko (the man with the leopard hat, who staged "Rumble in the Jungle"). Well researched, never tedious and very good and gripping to read. I recommend to start with Hochshild's "King Leopold's Ghost" to know about the time the Congo was a Belgian Colony, go on with Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" and Kingsolver's "The Poisonwood Bible", an extraordinary and innovative novel about a Bapitist missionary family in the Congo at the time of the independence and end your Congo-education with this one.

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In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in the Congo [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

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