The Elements of Power: A Story of War, Technology, and the Dirtiest Supply Chain on Earth

The Elements of Power: A Story of War, Technology, and the Dirtiest Supply Chain on Earth by Nicolas Niarchos

There always seems to be a catch with technological solutions to environmental problems. Batteries help us use cleanly produced electrical power. However, modern batteries require rare earth metals which are primarily found in the Congo. A corrupt political regime is keen to extract bribes and kickbacks. Poor miners work in unsafe conditions and are willing to ransack te environment for a few more elements. The government has almost no money and provides little public service. Chinese companies are heavily involved and working to extract value. The few western companies are stuck between a rock and a hard place. If they play by all the western rules, the Chinese will corner the market for the elements. If they play by the unwritten Congo rules, they run afoul of the west. There is even an Israeli businessman who is often involved. The whole situation somewhat reminds me of how early America did what it wanted to achieve technological dominance over Great Britain. Now it is China's turn, with the Africans failing to reap the rewards, even as their leaders become rich. 

Atlantic Cataclysm: Rethinking the Atlantic Slave Trades

Atlantic Cataclysm: Rethinking the Atlantic Slave Trades by David Eltis

This book objectively explores the history of Atlantic slave trade within the context of the day. Slavery was a fairly normal part of the world. However, some restrictions had come into play, such as Christians not enslaving other Christians. This left Africans as a common source of slaves. Africa was far from homogeneous. It was often one group selling off their enemies to be slaves. The names of slave ships showed the gradual change in feelings towards slavery. The slaves were treated less humanely and the slavers begin to acknowledge it. The practice of slavery became more and more repugnant and more open to calls for abolition. 

The author also explores the economic impact of slavery and came to the conclusion that it likely hurt development more than it helped. Places with the most significant slave culture often stalled developmentally compared to similar places with stronger embedded slavery. This book is able to present powerful arguments against slavery without retrofitting modern values onto the past.

The Lumumba Plot: The Secret History of the CIA and a Cold War Assassination

The Lumumba Plot: The Secret History of the CIA and a Cold War Assassination by Stuart A. Reid

Democratic Republic of the Congo had a rough start. The region was originally the Belgian King's private realm. It covered an area including many different ethnic groups. White Belgians helped build up the economy with western industrialization. However, the natives were for the most part left out. Only low-level service jobs were open to them. Eventually Belgium was encouraged to turn over power. Alas, things didn't go rail. Many people expected the benefits of the "good life" that the Belgians had without putting forth the effort. There were different people competing for power. Eventually voters selected a prime minister. Alas, things went downhill. The military revolted against their low pay and Belgian leadership. The leader also got caught in cold war machinations and internal conflict. The prime minister and president both relieved each other of their office. The CIA was concerned that the prime minister may be a Soviet tool and plotted his assassination. Eventually he was killed in a plausibly deniable way. A UN plane with the secretary general also crashed around the same time (most likely due to natural causes, but rumoured to have other factors involved.) A new strongman leader was installed and the country stagnated.

The book paints a compelling narrative. However, some of the key names sound similar, make it difficult to keep track of who is who. There is extensive coverage of the UN and the challenge of keeping legitimacy with many competing forces. The CIA plot doesn't come until the end.

I Hope You Find What You're Looking For: A Novel

I Hope You Find What You're Looking For: A Novel by Bsrat Mezghebe

The narrator of the book sounded like a Nigerian (actually an American of Nigerian ancestry), yet the book was primarily about the Eritrean fight for independence. This is like having a German narration for a book on Britain. Sure, they might live relatively close, but they don't sound at all alike. This book primarily deals with a woman and her quest for identity and family and how that related to the fight for Eritrean independence and the lives of African immigrants in the US. There are seeds of an interesting story, that just couldn't surmount the wrong voice.

The Forgotten Era: Nigeria Before British Rule

The Forgotten Era: Nigeria Before British Rule by Max Siollun

Nigeria was an administrative unit created by the British when they colonized Africa. The area had many different groups with different languages. They had grouped together in different ways in the past. There had been some fairy extensive kingdoms. The area was also one of the first places outside of Arabia to adopt Islam. It was a diverse area with diverse history. Much of the history has not been very well documented, and much of the documentation was by colonizers or missionaries who had a negative view of the history. This book explores some of the history and spends time jumping around at the key points, but doesn't present a compelling narrative. It also comes to a conclusion that Nigeria could have been many different states, yet it may have consolidated to its current form eventually.

100 Goats and Granny!

100 Goats and Granny!  by Atinuke and Lauren Hinds

The kids count 100 of Granny's goats. They go off and do ruckus. The police are mad at this, but defer to Granny. They get all the goats and return them to Granny's farm (with one goat off to ruckus.) It is set in an urban/rural boundary area in Africa, and seems to be most interesting in showcasing the region. The story and illustrations have some potential, but don't quite live up to it.

The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa

The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa by Neil Peart

Rush drummer Neil Peart went on an "adventure cycling" tour of Cameroon. There were just a small handful of people cycling with him in the rout. One woman lacked the enthusiasm and would cycle very slowly, much to chagrin of the guide. One of the party was a black man from California. Many of the Africans would be amazed that there were black people in America. (At one time, the fact that he was black helped bail them out of trouble with a drunken police officer.) The time in Africa involved many encounters with officials and pseudo-officials, along with regular people. Peart had only rudimentary French, so had challenges communicating. He also observed a difference between poverty and happiness. Many people did not have much, yet there were few homeless or other vagrants you commonly see in western cities. The families seem to help care for them. Infrastructure was a different story. Water or electricity may be cut off at any time if they do exist. There are huge number of "checkpoints". Some actually serve purposes. Others are manned by illiterate officials. And some are "popups" by regular folks trying to extort a few dollars. He also has time to muse on religion, life, happiness and other things. A bike tour through Africa is much different than that through the developed world.

A Fistful of Shells: West Africa from the Rise of the Slave Trade to the Age of Revolution

A Fistful of Shells: West Africa from the Rise of the Slave Trade to the Age of Revolution by Toby Green

In the forward, the author details why is writing the history and the challenges of doing so. Then the introduction repeats the same points. Then the history gets started. West Africa was once fabulously wealthy. However, much of the historical records for the last half-millenia is spread all over the world. The details of Africa were seen as secondary to other colonial endeavors. Africa has had many small groups that have been in conflict with each other. Slaves, like shells and metals have all served as units of trade.

In the transatlantic slave trade, most of the slaves were African sold by other Africans to Europeans. However, this was often one group selling their captured enemies, no their compatriots. One political leader was sold into American slavery and was able to free himself and return back home. That provides one first-hand story of the trade.

The culture in Africa was later influenced by both American and European culture and agriculture. Slavery had been used by Europeans as justification for interacting in Africa. Europeans helped propagate widespread slavery, then later felt they were the ones that would help end slavery.

This book has some interesting paragraphs, but feels much too long and disorganized.

The Red Pencil

The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney

A family lives in a part of Darfur, Sudan. They are traditional farmers and Muslims. One of the girl's friends is going to move to the city. There she can attend a school and sell to others. The girl's family want her to maintain a traditional role and don't want to move. The girl has a sibling with some deformities and a sheep. One day some of another group come in and burn their farm. The sheep were burned. Some people die and the family needs to move to a refugee camp. The conditions were not great, but they are alive. They do see a TV and see the school that the girl's friend had attended. They have hope of improving their condition and having peace.

Guinea Voyage

The Guinea Voyage by James Field Stanfield

The bulk of the Guinea Voyage is told in verse, with some prose at the end. The theme is that slave voyages  were inhumane. The crew were treated horribly. The conditions were deplorable and they essentially had to sign their lives away before going on these slave voyages. And the condition of the crew was better than the conditions of the slaves. They were treated as less than human - possibly even less than animals would be treated. The author deplored slavery and saw the conditions of the slave trade as something awful.

Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

People live their life in Africa. Things are different than what we are used to. There are rituals for taking people out to die and multiple wives are the norm. People have heard of "white people", but think of them as sick, abnormal people. Then the white men and the missionaries appear and things change. It is an interesting glimpse into the "contact-era" African culture. It is not idealized or daemonized, but just "culture".

Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown

Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown by Paul Theroux

The author had spent some time teaching in sub-Saharan Africa earlier in life. This time he wanted to travel from the north to the south of the continent. He prefered to interact with the people of the bush. However, in the cities he would try to be with the "real" people rather than the foreigners. He observed that most of the Africans were unemployed and that those that had public jobs tended to not do much work. Many businesses were run by foreigners.

Aid workers and missionaries often have noble intentions. However, the results have been lacking. Aid workers often live in the nicer areas, while those that they help are in greater squalor. Schools are often created with foreign teachers. The students that succeed are often likely to leave Africa for greater opportunities. Without continued foreign investment, the institutions tend to fail, rather than being continued by locals. Aid money is just as likely to get siphoned away by government kleptocrats than it is to reach individuals. The aid may even make things worse as it limits the growth of internal industry.

Each country in Africa has its own culture. Some are better off than others. They often present a different face to tourists than they do to the locals. Infrastructure in general is lacking and not reliable. Some are still using early colonist railroads. Schedules come and go as available. Crime is in general a serious problem in many places. However, in spite of all the challenges, there are many positives in the continent. Perhaps the rapid western industrialization and urbanization is not what they need.

Door of No Return

Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander

A boy is in Africa playing around as boys do. He goes to school and has an English teacher that expects him to speak proper English. He has typical struggles as a kid. Then he and some others captured by some other Africans who take him to some white people that treat him poorly. They are no longer treated like humans, but are to launched into the life of slavery.

The Bite of the Mango

Mariatu grew up peacefully in Sierra Leone. Then war happened. She got caught in the crossfire and saw young boys toting guns. Friends were killed before her eyes. She had her hands cut off. She resorted to begging in the capital. Eventually she made it to England and then to Canada. She got a chance to learn and grow up and tell her story. 

Afterlives: A Novel

People in colonial East Africa lived their lives. There were German troops that tried to enforce a colonial presence. While these changed some of the details about how lives were lived, they were also people. The Africans lived their lives as best they good. There were some conflicts between German instruction and African customs, but people remained people. The Africans did observe the switch from German to English. However, the details of this were more of a far away influence. Later there were opportunities to go to Germany and further study as part of the "decolonization" efforts of the Germans after World War II. Africans served in the German military. Africans also deserted the military. They had contacts in Germany as well as family living there. The colonial experience caused plenty of changes in the what and the where, but only a little in the who. They had some interactions with colonializers, but most remained with their close family and friends.

The Door of No Return

People have mostly lived locally within Africa. They don't understand why a teacher would want them to speak English. It can at times be unclear whether or not parts are dreams or real. There are expected family relationships and conflicts with some type of wrestling match. In the end people are hauled away in a boat. (Is it a slave ship? Or something similarly bad.) It was a little bit difficult to figure out what is going on.

The Fires of Vengeance

The Fires of Vengeance is a fantasy story set in a fantastical version of Africa. The names sound a little more familiar than the "middle-earth" style fantasy. However, it is still a tough read for me. This does not seem to be as violent as the first book, though it is still fairly violent. There are some political battles involved and battles. One person gets hit by poison so they threaten to amputate. He instead asks to just have part taken out. Some sisters battle over position in the queendom. The champion fights. There is loyalty and disloyalty. 

River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile

Victorian England controlled a vast empire. However, there were many parts of the world that were not well known. Map makers would make guesses and outright fantastical fabrications as they were creating maps. There remained a strong desire to know the truth and the details.

River of Gods recounts the exploration of the source of the Nile by Richard Burton and John Speke. Burton was had an ability to pick up languages and adopt other cultures. He was able to appear as a Muslim Pilgrim to enter Mecca and get details of sites there. He was perhaps too good at learning languages and would get in trouble at school. He knew the value of local guides and employed them in his quest to find the source of the Nile. Speke had gone with Burton on an expedition. Both had health problems on the trip. 

Speke later led a group to find the source. He is portrayed in a much more negative light in the book. He came across as much more "British", not caring to learn details of local language and culture like Burton. He was also a very poor writer. He did manage to lead his own expedition to set eyes on lake Victoria. The two had some conflicting ideas about what the source of the Nile was. They were set to debate them. However, shortly before, Speke died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. (It was ruled accidental, though it may have been a suicide.) 

Burton lived for many years later, getting married and obtaining a diplomatic appointment. He had respect for other cultures and religions, from Mormons to Muslims. He didn't like slavery. He was willing to explore controversial topics such as slavery. He had translated different "sex manuals" from other cultures. He is now best known for translating the Arabian Nights stories.

The epilogue mentions Stanley and Livingstone, two of the well known British African explorers. There experiences are briefly mentioned, but the focus is primarily on the Burton and Speke.

Children of Blood and Bone

I can never seem to get into fantasy books. The books tend to be long, and the characters all meld into one for me. They typically take place in some far away land somewhat rooted in reality, but with many differences. 

Children of Blood and Bone mixes things up a little bit. The action is in Africa with some places that can be identified. The quest here is to restore magic. Some people have suppressed it. Others want to restore it. There is some magical way to do it. There is a great deal of violence as everyone fights.

The point of view changes regularly. However, the audiobook was narrated by a single person. Multiple narrators would have greatly helped in distinguishing the characters. 

In the end the author said that this was a work meant to condemn police violence. The connection did not seem obvious to me. However, like most fantasy books, I found it difficult to get engaged with any of the characters.

Do Not Disturb: The Story of a Political Murder and an African Regime

Rwanda is messed up. The leaders have tried to put a nice face on things, but underneath, the country is ruled by a bunch of bullies. There has been a history of genocide and deaths of political dissenters. People are not safe outside the country. Diplomats are liable to spread viruses and dissenters are killed in first world hotels.

There is not a whole lot of positive in this book. The author is going full on for exposing all the dirt possible. There is a culture of doing what is best for oneself in the country. Thus accounts of the same event can be vastly different depending on who is telling it. The leaders make things appear to be "peaceful" to attract foreign donors. However, can a people that had just completed a huge genocide be really peaceful? There remains extreme animosity and distrust on both sides.