A strong interest in travel narrative, or a background in West African history, would come in handy as well. Barbara Greene's book is harder to get a hold of, but I'd recommend (at least) reading Graham's book before tackling this one. Thus, the author manages to work in the Greenes' experience, as well as his own, filtered by the stories and visual evidence of warfare. swashbuckling, in that Liberia's chaos, while initially directed at the Americo-Liberian elite, quickly became a violent tale of inter-tribal conflict. The second half of the book, through Liberia with a brief cut through Guinea (as the Greenes had done) proved more. Stanleys famous expedition - but travelling alone. When Daily Telegraph correspondent Tim Butcher was sent to cover Africa he quickly became obsessed with the idea of recreating H.M. Sierra Leone proved a bit tricky to interpret, however, as the Greenes traveled via a railway that hasn't existed for over a generation, leaving Butcher to give impressions as best he could. Summary A compulsively readable account of an African country now virtually inaccessible to the outside world and one journalists daring and adventurous journey. At first, I felt that the story seemed a bit padded, as the actual trip didn't begin until he and his companions left Freetown almost a quarter of the way through the book. Graham Greene, along with his cousin Barbara and a host of bearers, traveled through Sierra Leone and Liberia in the mid-thirties seventy five years later, Tim Butcher followed their route (as closely as he could) to see what traces of their journey remain.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |