The Fortunes of Africa

Starred review from August 25, 2014
In a mammoth tome that’s as comprehensive as a single volume on an entire continent can be, Meredith (The State of Africa) looks at Africa through the lens of its native wealth. He begins, appropriately enough, with the statement that “ever since the era of the pharaohs, Africa has been coveted for its riches.” Working his way forward from that premise, he concentrates on one geographic area after another, up to the present day. Mansa Musa, the 14th-century emperor of Mali and the richest man the world has ever seen, and King Leopold II of Belgium, “owner” of the Congo and one of the world’s most despicable despots, make their requisite appearances alongside scores of other rulers, explorers, and generals. Meredith places the Atlantic slave trade in the context of the slave trades with other markets, including the enslavement of Europeans in North Africa. Gold, ivory, diamonds, and oil also receive their due as sources of wealth and conflict. Colonialism’s arc is traced, as are the disappointments, setbacks, and outright horrors of the postcolonial era. The completist will note absences, but this is the new standard against which future histories will be considered. Maps & 16-page photo insert. Agent: Felicity Bryan, Felicity Bryan Assoc. Ltd. (U.K.).

Starred review from September 1, 2014
In Belgium's colonization of the Congo, Joseph Conrad sees the vilest scrabble for loot in human history. However, as Meredith surveys the last five millennia, he identifies many other episodes when hungry opportunists have scrabbled for Africa's loot just as vilely as the Belgians ever did. Readers trace a dark strand of voracity connecting ancient Pharaohs, who slaughtered their Nubian neighbors for their copper and ebony, with modern titans who exploited the native Zulu, Xhosa, and Ndebele tribes for their gold, diamonds, and ivory. But no avarice inflicted greater pain than that of slave traders making merchandise out of Africa's most priceless resource: its people. Even after missionaries and other activists ended the international slave trade, the great powers of EuropeBritain, France, Italy, Germany, and Belgiumcontinued to oppress native African peoples, fighting each other for primacy in doing so. Sadly, Meredith discerns no end of rapacity when European colonizers withdrew, as home-grown dictators soon imposed their own corrupt and brutal regimes. In the concluding chapters, readers confront the challenges now facing progressive forces striving to bring democracy and justice to lands vulnerable to the violence of Muslim insurgents and the intrigues of Chinese entrepreneurs. A gripping tale of insatiable greedpersonal and collective.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)