A Rope from the Sky

October 15, 2018
Vertin, a former NGO analyst and adviser to the U.S. special envoy to Sudan and South Sudan, brings an insider’s knowledge to this gripping, well-written account of South Sudan: its independence from Sudan in 2011, its descent into a brutal civil war, and ongoing international efforts to mediate an end to that war. Based on more than 100 interviews, the story follows such major personalities as South Sudan’s first president Salva Kiir, deposed vice president Riek Machar, other Sudan People’s Liberation Movement government notables, and foreign dignitaries. Especially cogent is Vertin’s analysis of the decades-long, unwavering, and largely uncritical support for the SPLM from American evangelicals, the Congressional Black Caucus, advocacy groups, and proponents of “drop-in Hollywood activism” like George Clooney, a visible supporter of the Darfur campaign and South Sudan secession movement. He observes that the SPLM has been weakened by “factionalism, narrow self-interest, and a lack of direction” and recounts the five-year-long and counting struggle among former SPLM allies. The inclusion of stories from ordinary people the author came to know over his time in South Sudan rounds out the book and makes it much more nuanced. This work will appeal to the general reader interested in African politics, conflict resolution, and international diplomacy. Agent: Robert Guinsler, Sterling Lord Literistic.

November 1, 2018
A keen observer of the unfolding South Sudan crisis and participant in the peace effort chronicles the making of the fledgling state and its subsequent disintegration.Having worked in Sudan and South Sudan between 2009 and 2017, specifically as a government envoy on behalf of President Barack Obama's Department of State during the crucial South Sudan peace process of 2014-2016, Vertin displays enormous affection and concern for the fate of this fragile new state. Seceding from Africa's then-largest country, Sudan, by overwhelming popular referendum on July 9, 2011, after "generations of repression and neglect," South Sudan was created in a blur of U.S.-supported optimism. However, the new country, dominated by the ethnic groups Dinka and Nuer and led by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, suffered the "resource curse" of many oil-rich African countries and descended quickly into corruption and poor nation-building strategies. Employing numerous interviews with key players, the author divides his work into two parts. In the first part, he chronicles the forging of the young country, initially under the Marxist rhetoric of "national liberation" formulated by the SPLM's founder, John Garang, whose first commitment was to the Soviet Union before its fall and subsequent reorienting of power dynamics. Following Garang's sudden death in a helicopter crash in 2005, there was "an eight-year factional battle inside an ethnically, ideologically, and professionally heterogeneous SPLM," henceforth steered by the "accidental president" Salva Kiir. The SPLM power struggle and continuing tension with Sudan propelled South Sudan into chaos and violence by the summer of 2013. The second part of the book examines the peace talks begun in January 2014, which lasted two years, largely forged by diplomats in the U.S., Ethiopia, and the U.N. The author deftly explores how the "deal left much to be desired" in terms of state formation.Despite daunting challenges facing the new nation, Vertin offers hope that a viable state can prevail.

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Starred review from January 1, 2019
In this extensively detailed history of South Sudan achieving independence from Sudan in 2011, and its tragic collapse back into violence since 2013, Vertin makes an ardent effort to shine light onto the young nation's internal politics, external influences, and larger-than-life personas involved in this complex and precarious situation. Much of the world's preconceived notions of Sudan and South Sudan, Vertin argues, come from an oversimplification of reality, and the strength of his argument is rooted in his years spent with both regional leaders and citizenry as a former senior advisor to the U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan. Vertin offers unprecedented access to the full story of the South Sudanese independence hero Dr. John Garang and the perspectives of U.S. representatives who supported his struggle against violent oppression from Sudan's capital, Khartoum. Vertin also details meetings with Garang's vacillating successor, Salva Kiir, and his political rival, Dr. Riek Machar, as their regional disagreements plummeted the country into unspeakable carnage. The gut-wrenching effort of the South Sudanese to escape or endure is especially revealing. Vertin provides a vitally important, expert account of the little-understood founding of a struggling nation.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)