Congo: The Epic History of a People by David Van Reybrouck (PDF)

Description

From the beginnings of the slave trade through colonization, the struggle for independence, Mobutu’s brutal three decades of rule, and the civil war that has raged from 1996 to the present day, Congo: The Epic History of a People traces the history of one of the most devastated nations in the world. Esteemed scholar David Van Reybrouck balances hundreds of interviews with a diverse range of Congolese with meticulous historical research to construct a multidimensional portrait of a nation and its people.Epic in scope yet eminently readable, both penetrating and deeply moving, Congo—a finalist for the Cundill Prize—takes a deeply humane approach to political history, focusing squarely on the Congolese perspective, and returns a nation’s history to its people.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “This is a magnificent account, intimately researched, and relevant for anyone interested in how the recent past may inform our near future… Van Reybrouck’s bibliography alone is worth the cover price. But what distinguishes the book is its clearheadedness.” — New York Times Book Review“Balancing research with personal testimonies, Van Reybrouck . . . presents a panoramic account of Congo’s turbulent past.” — New York Times Book Review: Paperback Row“A vivid panorama of one of the most tormented lands in the world… A valuable addition to the rich literature that Congo has inspired.” — Washington Post“Van Reybrouck’s carefully researched and elegantly written book takes in the reader with compelling portraits of ordinary people that enrich what would otherwise be a fairly conventional historical narrative.” — Foreign Affairs“A magnificent, epic look at the history of the region… A monumental contribution to the annals of Congo scholarship.” — The Christian Science Monitor“[A] detailed and well-researched biography, thoroughly rooted in the lived experience of the Congolese… It is clear that the author is not your typical historian dryly publishing his findings, but a literary artist with a pen almost as sharp as Lumumba’s tongue.” — ThinkAfricaPress.com“… a compelling mixture of literary and oral history that delivers an authentic story of how European colonialism, African resistance, and the endless exploitation of natural resources affected the lives of the Congolese.” — Booklist“Van Reybrouck’s extensive account reveals the depth and breadth of exploitation, particularly under Belgian colonial rule, and how Congo’s story is one fraught with the toxic cycle of ‘desire, frustration, revenge.’” — Publishers Weekly“Van Reybrouck makes a good case for the importance of Congo to world history and its ongoing centrality in a time of resurgent economic colonialism, this time on the part of China. — Kirkus Reviews“a monumental history . . . more exciting than any novel.” — NRC Handelsblad“An unbelievable tour de force.” — Humo“An absolute masterpiece!” — VPRO Radio“Breathtaking.” — Trouw“Van Reybrouck tells his story . . . through numerous astute and intelligent voices of the Congo citizens and storytellers. . . . [Van Reybrouck] is not just an historian but a significant ethnographer who deeply cares about the people whose history he is narrating.” — Rain Taxi“If you are looking to read one book on Congo this year, this is it. David Van Reybrouck combines deep historical investigation with extensive ethnography. The result is an illuminating narrative.” — Mahmood Mamdani, Director of the Makerere Institute of Social Research and author of Good Muslim, Bad Muslim“A well-documented and passionate narrative which reads like a novel. [..] As an eye, a judge, and a witness, a talented writer testifies.” — V.Y.M. Mudimbe, author of The Invention of Africa“Congo is a remarkable piece of work. Van Reybrouck [keeps] a panoramic history of a vast and complex nation accessible, intimate and particular.” — Michela Wrong, author of In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz About the Author David Van Reybrouck is an award-winning author, acclaimed playwright, reporter, and poet who holds a doctorate from Leiden University. He has traveled extensively throughout Africa and has been actively involved in organizing literary workshops for young Congolese writers. He lives in Brussels.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐DAVID VAN REYBROUCK. CONGO: THE EPIC HISTORY OF A PEOPLE.NY: HarperCollins, 2014.David van Reybrouck has created an excellent history of Congo that is intimate, thorough, and accurate.I. INTIMATE HISTORY The many Congolese, whose words from interviews (mostly from 2008) are introduced in the appropriate historical events he is relating, give a great intimacy to the book. The author quite correctly calls this “bottom-up” history.There are fascinating bits of information one doesn’t usually find in general histories of Congo, such as a description of the travels to Europe and back of Butungu, recorded in Boloki, his own language—the only known text by a Congolese from the nineteenth century.The stories of the Congolese who accompanied the foreigners who dominate the pages of colonial histories give new insights into those happenings. For instance, Disasi Makulo was with George Grenfell when he set off with 400 soldiers of the colonial army to “chart and pacify the region.” (76) Martin Kabuya told about his grandfather who served in World War I, in a Belgian-led army fighting Germans in what is today Tanganyika. Albert Kudjabo, prisoner of the Germans during WW I, gave recordings that are of the only soldier from WW I whose voice we know is Congolese.Even events known only from written documents are given an intimate twist. For example, concerning the creation of what became Congo: “No one knew exactly where the borders of Leopold’s empire lay….There was no natural entity, no historical inevitability, no metaphysical fate that predestined the inhabitants of this area to become compatriots. There were only two white men, one with a mustache [Stanley], the other with a beard [Leopold], meeting on a summer afternoon somewhere along the North Sea coast to connect in red pencil a few lines on a big piece of paper.” (38-39)The author integrates visits to Congolese sites and interviews with Congolese with historical facts. For instance, on the section on Kimbanguism, he went himself to Nkamba, headquarters of the movement, and interviewed people there. And as usual, the author has a nuanced and insightful understanding of the growth of this movement.Sometimes he wanders a bit far from strict history telling, as when he describes in long detail his visit to a popular music concert in Kinshasa.He describes incredibly fascinating bits of intimate detail, such as that of Mobutu and Lumumba riding about Leopoldville on a motor scooter on Jan. 4, 1959, on their way to check out the ABAKO meeting that the Belgian mayor had cancelled with such grave consequences.Van Reybrouck personalizes history: “My father was looking out the window. He saw a white Volkswagen Bug coming up the road…Suddenly, a volley of shots rang out…the Volkswagen careened to a stop….The two women—…Madeline and her friend Aline—did not get out. Across the fronts of their floral dresses, huge red spots were spreading…The Indian blue helmets had apparently taken them for white mercenaries…My father had been an eyewitness to the most famous photograph of the Katangan secession.” (317)With great fortitude, he enters the horrendous and frightening Makala prison to interview a man associated with the murder of the former president Laurent Kabila.II. THOROUGH HISTORYSecondly, this is a thorough history. And as Van Reybrouck comes closer to the present, he becomes more detailed. After an introduction to the country and his methods of 16 pages, the prehistorical section is only 12 pages, the early explorations and the Congo Free State 72, the Belgian Congo 166, the First Republic 54, the Mobutu era 114, and Congo since then 162, Then there are notes of the sources, endnotes, an index, and a huge bibliography of 22 pages small print, all adding up to a massive 639 pages. There are nine clear and simple maps. He covers all aspects of the past—economic, political, religious, artistic, sociological, etc. There is even a section on pop music, and its relation to power politics.The description and analysis of the Belgian Congo period, for example, is excellent. He presents the impact of Belgian concepts of “tribe” on the implementation of the control of the colonized population. The impact of ethnographers and medical personnel is explained. After detailed descriptions, the economic aspects are succinctly summarized: “There is no other country in the world as fortunate as Congo in terms of its natural wealth. During the last century and a half, whenever acute demand has arisen on the international market for a given raw material—ivory in the Victorian era; rubber after the invention of the inflatable tire; copper during full-out industrial and military expansion; uranium during the Cold War; alternative electrical energy during the oil crisis of the 1970s; coltan in the age of portable telephonics—Congo has turned out to contain huge supplies of the coveted commodity… As a rule, not a drop of fabulous profits trickled down to the larger part of the population…Nkasi, who once worked by the sweat of his brow to empty sacs of jewel-laden earth, profited very little indeed from the entire diamond business. Today he is poor as a pauper.” (119-120).The list of people in the acknowledgment section covers many, many of the most illustrious names in the study of Congo, and in the sources and references (bibliography) sections one sees just about every possible credible book on Congo of use to his history of the nation from A to Z.And in presenting a description of sources in the “sources” section, he demonstrates a fine ability to distinguish the strengths and weaknesses of sources concerning the same subject. For instance, of the many books on the subject, he states “No one out to make a serious study of the [Mobutu] era should omit the bulky study by Crawford Young and Thomas Turner, The Rise and Decline of the Zairean [Zairian] State.” (p. 575)III. ACCURATE HISTORYThirdly, this is accurate history. The author pointed out the key reality of the Belgian Congo: that in spite of some reforms of the CFS regime, “Belgium was not answerable to the people of the country. The government was not elected by them, nor did it consult them in any way.” (106) There is a thorough presentation of both the bad and the better parts of life in the Belgian Congo, the Belgian colony. .Of the leaders at the time of independence, Kasavubu, Lumumba, Tshombe, and Mobutu: “none of these men had ever lived under a democracy in their own country…The colonial regime itself was an executive administration.”(283) The following pages read like a murder mystery, as one by one these men are killed or dying, leaving only Mobutu. There is a delicate fine-tuning of how things were going in Congo, contrasting for instance the first decade of Mobutu’s presidency to later years. We lived through those years 1964-1993, and Van Reybrouck’s assessment is right on. It is not only accurate about events, but he captures the atmosphere of the period, and its evolution, with all the nuances.Concerning the devastating impact of structural adjustment programs of the IMF, “The IMF was out to reorganize the country, but in fact dismantled it.” (379) The excessive spending on himself by Mobutu is detailed. “Mobutu was a political schemer par excellence….He could be charming, friendly, and funny, but also manipulative, treacherous, and vicious.” (384)Van Reybrouck has a good handle on the broad picture and its essential ingredients. For example, of the 2nd Congo War starting in 1998: “the conflict was characterized by the aftershocks of the Rwandan genocide, the weakness of the Congolese state, the military vitality of the new Rwanda, the overpopulation of the area around the Great Lakes, the permeability of the former colonial borders, the growth of ethnic tension due to poverty, the presence of natural riches, the militarization of the informal economy, the world demand for mineral raw materials, the local availability of arms, the impotence of the United Nations, and so on…” (442)There is a fascinating portrait of Kinshasa up until 2010 in the latter sections of the book.For example, on buying off police: “Call it extortion or a form of ultradirect taxation, as long as the government doesn’t pay the policeman’s wages it won’t stop…A police uniform…guarantees its wearer a regular income, not from on high, but from the bottom up.” (487)There are all sorts of interesting insights, such as the rivalries between the various musical groups, and their supportive relation with the beer companies, and to the powerful politicians, including Mobutu and Kabila. And too, there are insights on the many churches, including those started or influenced by American evangelists, including Jimmy Swaggart. “At l’Armée de l’Eternel, young women paid ten, twenty or fifty dollars to have the preacher, Général Sony Katua ‘Rockman,’ perform the laying on of hands and so help them to find a husband, become pregnant, or get a visa for Europe. Wasn’t that brazen money-grubbing at the expense of desperate people?” (492) The leader of one Pentecostal church urged his members: “Let everyone who loves Jesus and Kabila stand up and clap…The Catholic Church watched it all from a distance and shook its head.” (496) “The ‘post-colonial trinity’ consisted of a corrupt political caste that entered an alliance with newfangled religions and pop stars raised on high by the business world.” (494)He described how Kabila, since 2006 election has followed the path of Mobutu, using violence and repression. In the final sections, Van Reybrouck visited the war zone of eastern Congo, and the Congo community in China, where a constant going and coming of merchants takes place. He compares the Lower Congo of yesterday with its current influx of Chinese and their impact.The tremendous amount of Chinese involvement in Congo is detailed. And the final chapter actually takes place in China, in the town of Guangzhou. There the huge Congolese population, estimated at two or three thousand, is involved mainly in trade with Congo in ways picturesquely outlined by the author.Unchauvinistic authorIn all this, Van Reybrouck is an unchauvinistic Belgian. For instance, “Leopold had sworn to put an end to the Swahilo-Arab slave trade, but in essence there was no difference between the life of a Central African domestic slave on the Arab peninsula and a boy in the household of a European official in Congo.” (62) After heart-wrenching descriptions of the atrocities of the Congo Free State, the author states “Leopold II had, at least nominally, set out to eradicate Afro-Arabic slave trading, but had replaced it with an even more horrendous system.” (94)The terrible work conditions in the mines and in the fields of Congo in the earlier colonial period are described (as well as better conditions later). On the disorder right after independence: “Belgium had granted Congo independence in order to avoid a colonial war, but it got one anyway. And it was its own stupid fault.” (296)The writing of this bookVan Reybrouck’s father arrived in Congo the first time in 1961, to work on the railroad in Katanga (Likasi). The author’s first trip to Congo was in 2003. He eventually took ten trips to Congo. He finished writing and had the book published in the original Flemish in 2010, so unfortunately does not cover the 2011 elections and events since then. The excellent English translation (by Sam Garrett) was published in 2014.Small ErrorsNo book can avoid an occasional slip-up, but in these 639 pages errors of either content or typos are almost impossible to find. He does use some passé vocabulary: native, Pygmy, tribe, and jungle. That may be the fault of his translator, though not necessarily so.This is the first time to hear Mt. Ruwenzori called Mt. Stanley (12). A vestige of the Belgian educational system?It is doubtful that manioc was “more nutritious” than plantain or yams. (23)The Lualaba is not “unnavigable” except in certain parts (34)The Belgian Congo shared no border with Cameroon. That was Congo (RC). (130)The Kwilu revolt lasted until 1965, not 1964 (321).The analysis of Tutsi/Hutu sociology is a bit old school (p. 350 ff), and could be refined by the studies of Vansina and Newbury among others.I think the Air Zaïre joke on p. 390 was a play on the word “vole” as steal and fly.Using the initial rather than the full first name of the author in the bibliography led to some possible mistaken identities. For example, I doubt that Janssens, E 1905 and 1979 are the same. (606) He confounds Stengers and Stearns (613)Minor typos/errors (page/paragraph)Bandundu (14/2)Ndombe (155/1)century (308/1) nzadi (332/1)Resume should be recourse (351/5)Tshisekedi was (434/2)Lyrical, dramatic, colorful historyVan Reybrouck is gifted with descriptive charm in the recounting of his adventures: “The jeep rattles its way through the demilitarized zone…We see more people out on the road. Women carrying yellow water tubs on their back, men leading reddish-brown cattle, boys with wooden bicycles loaded with sugarcane, bananas, or charcoal…” (518)He waxes lyrical at the end, summarizing centuries of Congolese culture and history: “It is no longer the sound of the slit drum that spread the news from village to village, no longer the dull thump of the tom-tom, no longer the crack of the whip, not the pealing of the mission bells, not the thunder of the train or the rattling of the drill in the mineshaft, no, it is no longer the ticking of the telegraph, the crackle of the radio or the cheering of the people that sounds the nation’s heartbeat today. It is not in the stamping of manioc in the mortar, not in the slap of water against the canoe’s hull. The heart of this country is not in the rattle of weapons in the jungle, not in the table pounding against the wall while a woman screams that she never wanted this, no….The new Congo reverberates to a different tone, the new Congo sings in the arrival hall of an airport thrumming with noise. It is the sound of tape, brown rolls of tape around packages and boxes, tape that screams as it is unrolled and grunts as it is torn….” (554)ConclusionAs Van Reybrouck returns at the end to Congo from China, he underlines the importance of Congo in world history: “In the early twentieth century the rubber policies gave rise to one of history’s first major humanitarian campaigns. During both world wars Congolese soldiers contributed to crucial victories on the African continent. In the 1960s it was in Congo that the Cold War in Africa began, and that the first large-scale UN operation was held…Congolese history has helped to determine and form the history of the world. The wars of 1998 and 2003 prompted the biggest and most costly peacekeeping mission ever, as well as the first joint military effort by the European Union…the 2006 elections were the most complex ever organized by the international community. The International Criminal Court is currently establishing invaluable jurisprudence with the prosecution of its first defendants—three men from Congo. Clearly, the history of Congo has on any number of occasions played a crucially important role in the tentative definition of an international world order. The contract with China, accordingly, is a major milestone in a restless world in motion.” (555-6)Thus David Van Reybrouck ends a book on Congo’s history with flourish, a history that is intimate, thorough, and accurate.

⭐I gave this book four stars. The author provides an historical account of the people of the Congo; initially exploited by the Portuguese, Arabs, and Afro-Arabs for slave trade and ivory. During the slave trade, four million Congolese were shipped to the Americas.Ultimately, the Belgium’s King Leopold II discovered the Congo, a land so vast its eastern border would sit at Moscow and its western border would be at Paris: 905,000 square miles.Leopold had treaties drawn up and written in English and French, which the chieftains did not understand. Naïvely, they gave up their land, their rights to fishing, trade, raw materials and their freedom. They signed with an ‘X,’ probably believing they accepted ties of friendship. They did not know the meaning of sovereignty, perpetuity, and exclusivity. For their land, the chieftains received bales of cloth, crates of gin and trinkets.In 1885, Leopold became the sole owner of what he named the “Congo Free State.” Of course, leading up to taking this vast land, he pretended he wanted only free trade and would use scientific measures there to research the land.Rubber proved a goldmine when discovered. The Congolese were ordered to drain rubber trees. They had to provide a certain quota, and if the quota was unmet, they were beaten or limbs hacked off. By 1896, the Congo produced 1,450 tons of rubber. Leopold amassed a fortune. Over 15 million people died during Leopold’s reign of terror and greed.International opposition and criticism from their countrymen abounded concerning Leopold’s brutal behavior in the Congo. The Belgian Parliament forced Leopold to relinquish the Congo Free State to Belgium in 1908. Parliament transformed Congo Free State into a Belgian colony known as the Belgian Congo. Leopold’s reign of cruelty, terror, and bloodsucking greed ended in November 1908.Yet the Congolese were not freed. Belgians restricted their freedom and movement in a malicious, authoritarian way. They colonized the people with brutal force, maimed and flogged children and adults almost to the point of death.Congolese, known as an évolué, had “evolved” through education or assimilation, accepting European values and patterns of behavior. They usually held white collar jobs, no higher than clerks and lived in urban areas. Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu were considered évolués. But Lumumba was a nationalist and believed in pan-Africanism.After an uprising by the Congolese people, their independence was granted around April 1960.In June 1, 1960, independence was gained, and the country renamed Republic of the Congo. Patrice Lumumba became Prime Minister and Joseph Kasavubu, President.Although Congo became independent and known as Republic of Congo, the Belgians controlled the economy and upheld the military system.The military’s foot soldiers mutinied one month later, understandably disgruntled over discrimination, no equitable income, barracks without furnishings or electricity, forbiddance to read newspapers such as Emancipation, compared to Belgian commissioned officers who had a very high standard of living.The soldiers could not be placated although Lumumba dismissed Belgian General Janssens and appointed a Congolese, Victor Lundula, as chief commander, with Lumumba’s confidant, Joseph-Desiré Mobutu, as his Chief of Staff.According to the author, in hindsight, Lumumba refused to believe suspicions that Mobutu spied on him for the Belgians and American intelligence.Thousands of Belgians returned to Belgium. This affected the country’s economy. The Belgians took the money and possessions they had sacked for decades, and their European know-how with them. Tens of thousands of Congolese became unemployed. Factories, refineries and breweries were closed, farming land was not plowed or sowed.Most Congolese évolués had degrees in psychology, education or philosophy. Belgian colonial rule forbade Congolese, young men to study law. In addition, they did not have degrees in engineering or business administration.There appeared to be bitter dissension and rivalry between Lumumba and Kasavubu. As president, Kasavubu fired Lumumba, and Lumumba in turn fired Kasavubu.Lumumba was murdered seven months later, In January 1961. According to the author, Mobutu, Tshombe, and the Belgians played a role in his death.Tshombe became Prime Minister from 1964 to 1965. Kasavubu remained President until 1965. He retired when Mobutu became President.From 1965 to May 1997, Mobutu was President and dictator of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which he renamed Zaire. And like the Belgians, Mobutu was a fierce, malevolent, cruel dictator. He decimated all rivals. Instituting no democracy, no free will of the people, no free speech, but tyrannical rule. He gave so-called friends gifts of cars and cigar boxes filled with diamonds.Mobutu stole from the coffers of his country, buying up villas in Europe and having an entire town built in the interior of the Congo. His wife owned an enormous amount of jewels and couturier wear. In other words, Mobutu treated his people like the colonists had. He too lived in on a grand scale. He died September 1997.There were four players in the Congo, Lumumba, Kasavubu Mobutu and Moise Tshombe, without a communal sense of brotherhood.If they loved one another, their people, and country, were united, and had not pulled each other down like crabs in a barrel, they could have created an amazing country, sans deceit and murder.I believe the four players were not ready to take over the Congo. Education and training should have been instituted. The colonists held the people in servile positions; they knew nothing about running a country within two months of their independence. They were set up to fail. Hence the tumultuous infighting and rioting.Today, there is still greed, infighting, death of human life and wild life, displaced families, and hunger. The mean age of living is about 56 years.In a country rich with raw materials and natural resources such as timber, gold, diamonds, copper, rubber, coltan, which is used in cell phones, tantalum, which is also used in cell phones, DVD players, video game systems and computers, and niobium, which is used in jet engines, there should be no hunger or health problems. Yet, there is still greed and an uncaring attitude by those in power.I believe the author had his own reasons for writing such a massive history and study of the Congo. The Congo appears to be vulnerable to those in power. I question if he wrote from those who knew the four players personally and provided unbiased opinions.The author provided testimonies by those who live or lived in the Congo, one from Mr. Nkasi, who was over 100 years old. Some of the accounts from people revealed the horrid brutality imposed upon them by the colonists. Once the Belgians were gone they talked of the vicious treatment perpetrated by their own

⭐That’s a masterpiece. A must for anyone willing to approach the subject of the DRC, a very complex subject that can be understood with this book.

⭐This is a compelling journey through the history of a fascinating country very often seen through the eyes of its people. The author avoids employing the shock tactics that some author’s writing about the Congo have used to awaken interest in a complex and often tragic story. He relies on the complex narrative of facts, observations and the voices of its people to bring home the enormity of the calamity that has befallen the Congolese people over the past two hundred years. The DRC has become synonymous with both the excesses of brutal and exploitative colonialism as well as the most extreme violence and greed of its post colonial elites, plunging ordinary people into a spiral of suffering and hardship. The sheer scale of the killing in what had been described as Africa’s world war in which over 2.5 million people have died has largely escaped the collective consciousness of the western world, the rapacious kleptocracy of the Congo’s own elites was compounded by the predation on the rich resources by the country’s neighbour’s who fell on it like wolves in a orgy of rape, slaughter and pillage “colonizing “its people and resources. Out of the story of horror and sadness van Reybrouk cautiously shows us a glimpse of the other Congo, its rich culture, its incredible resilience, capacity for innovation and the optimism of its people. A wonderful book and a great read.

⭐From the explorer and colonial operator Stanley’s activities until 2010, David Van Reybrouck’s book covers 140 years of life and, it must be said, a horrific amount of death in the Congo. Almost as epic as the history of its subtitle, ‘Congo’ is a thrilling and informative read.As you’d expect, the book includes all the tropes of Central Africa down the years: the violence and corruption; the exploitation and the greed; institutional frailty and the fecklessness of politicians; the cruelty, chaos and waste. But there is much more here, and a lot of it surprising right up to the last chapter, a coda set in the Chinese powerhouse metropolis of Guangzhou.Van Reybrouck’s approach has been to overcome acronym-fatigue by personalising his account as far as possible, so that his impressive sifting of secondary sources is leavened with episodes from his travels to the four corners of Congo over several years. In fact the glory of the book is the author’s first-person interviews with a whole string of engaging Congolese characters, of all ages and from all walks of life.It would be churlish to deduct a star for the numerous typographical errors and occasional clunkiness of the English version (surely not down to the translator, who has also produced wonderful renderings of Otto de Kat’s novels). This is a piece of work that transcends such gripes. Africa’s second largest country is increasingly receiving the historiographical and literary attention it deserves and this book is a glittering addition to the canon.

⭐Having raced through a number of books on the Congo, I can say for completeness this has the title pipped. For particular epochs of the Congolese history there are however better. David van Reybrouck ‘beginning to end’ story gives you – in a large volume – a real A-Z of Congo and the FULL story. The pre-Mobutu part (60% of the book) is as good as you will find, with the chapters covering the process of independence to Mobutu taking full control the notably highlight in writing, research scope and narrative. From there onward into the civil wars and Congo today the book becomes in part a series of interviews and observations. All very readable with first class writing and insights.For a shorter history and better starter I would recommend In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz. For Congo post Mobutu there is no beating Dancing in the Glory of Monsters. If you want it all in one volume and are not put off by the size, go with David van Reybrouck brilliant work.

⭐Don’t get afraid of the sheer size of this volume.. once you start digging in you will be hooked! The author master the art of combining well-researched historical facts with a human touch on each chalter. I have been living in DRC for 4 years and I totally see the reminiscence of some traces of character and the psyche of a very complex country with a terrible past and a constant crave to move forward on spite of the many adversities..

⭐This is an extra ordinary account of perhaps Africa’s most unfortunate country. The Congo should be the richest country on the continent (If not the world). The author delves deep to try and explain what went wrong. Refreshing because the accounts are given by the Congolese themselves. We are spared the usual narrative written by the likes of Stanley and Belgian missionaries. Bravo.

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