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    The State of Africa: A History of the Continent Since Independence
    Unavailable
    The State of Africa: A History of the Continent Since Independence
    Unavailable
    The State of Africa: A History of the Continent Since Independence
    Ebook1,144 pages21 hours

    The State of Africa: A History of the Continent Since Independence

    By Martin Meredith

    4.5/5

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    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this ebook

    'Meredith has given a spectacularly clear view of the African political jungle' – Spectator

    'This book is hard to beat... Elegantly written as well as unerringly accurate'     – Financial Times

    The fortunes of Africa have changed dramatically since the independence era began in 1957. As Europe’s colonial powers withdrew, dozens of new states were born. Africa was a continent rich in mineral resources and its economic potential was immense. Yet, it soon struggled with corruption, violence and warfare, with few states managing to escape the downward spiral.

    So what went wrong? In this riveting and authoritative account, Martin Meredith examines the myriad problems that Africa has faced, focusing upon key personalities, events and themes of the independence era. He brings his compelling analysis into the modern day, exploring Africa’s enduring struggles for democracy and the rising influence of China. It is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the continent’s plight and its hopes for a brighter future.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster UK
    Release dateSep 1, 2011
    ISBN9780857203892
    Unavailable
    The State of Africa: A History of the Continent Since Independence
    Author

    Martin Meredith

    Martin Meredith is a journalist, biographer and historian who has written extensively on Africa and its recent history. He is the author of many books about the continent, including The State of Africa: A History of the Continent Since Independence; Diamonds, Gold and War: The Making of South Africa; The Fortunes of Africa: A 5000-Year History of Wealth, Greed and Endeavour;  and Mandela: A Biography. He lives near Oxford.

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    Reviews for The State of Africa

    4.5/5

    28 ratings13 reviews

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    • 3/5
      It was engaging to read but the level of Afro pessimism and pro colonialism was so unreasonable it made the book seem a personal vendetta.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Great analysis
      to meredith for the concise write up
    • 5/5
      Ok
    • 5/5
      A beautiful piece of work and enabler in making us see our past
    • 5/5
      Outstanding........lol
    • 5/5
      Long and sobering history of tragedies. The evil people can do to each other is revealed fully here. The scope of the work is also very impressive, as I'm not sure there are too many other works which even attempt to go on this scale while are intended for the general public.
    • 5/5
      I've been waiting for this subject matter to be covered in a single volume for ages - this book hasn't disappointed. I do not need to describe the scope of the text in detail, except to say than many aspects of the history of the African countries are covered (e.g. economics and development, health etc) in addition to the political and military history.The writing style is accessible and occasionally cutting and / or humorous. It is an achievement that such a large volume is so easy to read and not at all dull. The progression is largely chronological but the author has skilfully managed to group issues, e.g. US involvement in Somalia, into chapters that can serve as interesting stand alone 'mini-histories'. This has been achieved without the loss of between-chapter continuity.This book is what I really wanted when I purchased and read 'Africa: A Biography of the Continent' by John Reader - very dry by comparison but worth a look if you want history from year zero.'The State of Africa' is highly informative, almost unique in coverage, good value and very enjoyable - what more can you ask of a history book?
    • 2/5

      Seven out of ten.

      A history of the continent of Africa - focusing on the period after independence. Sadly, full of war, corrupt officaldom and tales of incompetence.

    • 4/5
      “The Fate of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence” by Martin Meredith left me feeling very sad and frustrated about the condition of most countries in Africa. This is a very big book, over 700 pages long if you count the notes and index. But in spite of its’ size, it’s readable. And that’s a good thing, because I think this is a book that people should read.At the end of the nineteenth century, many European powers laid claim to various parts of Africa, and cut it up in various countries without much thought to tribal placement. For example, boundaries between two countries might be based on something arbitrary such as lines of latitude and longitude– even though doing so would split apart African cultural groups. So you might say colonialism was the beginnings of doom for Africa.Fifty or so years ago, after years of colonial rule, many of the African countries were given independence (of course, this book goes into detail about this) – mostly at a cost of native lives. For instance, Belgian Congo became the Democratic Republic of Congo, and French West Africa was divided up into smaller countries that included Mauritania and Niger. Unfortunately, after an initial honeymoon period when many of these countries under independent rule seemed to show promise, things continued to go downhill. The reasons are varied — and Meredith details them very well; and it’s difficult for me to attempt to summarize. One thing I hadn’t realized is that during the Cold War, even when a country’s rule was known to be blatantly corrupt, in spite of that, it would be propped up by the West (or the Soviet Union, whichever the case might be) in hopes to keep it from going to the other side.Billions of dollars have been poured in these African countries over the years, with very little to show for it. It is shocking to realize the sheer numbers — millions — of Africans who have died because of starvation, of AIDS and other illnesses, of civil wars, of genocides, and so forth. It is depressing to realize that most of this world has now pretty much given up on Africa.Meredith documents all of this in great detail, from discussing leaders of countries such as Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta (he was a Moscow-trained revolutionary) and King Leopold (who helped ruin The Congo) and Nelson Mandela in South Africa — to the economies of Africa (i.e. all the money that ended up into corrupt hands). Religious issues are also covered, such as radical Islam in the northern African countries such as Sudan. Also, many genocides were and are based on religious differences in Africa. After a while, I felt I was reading the same thing over and over because it seemed like history kept repeating itself. Meredith does not provide any real answers on how to solve Africa’s problems, but that is probably because they just can’t be solved overnight.
    • 5/5
      I finished reading The State of Africa by Martin Meredith the other day. It’s a political history of post-independence Africa, and is it ever depressing.The book itself is fantastic, a really in-depth look at just about every African country and how each has evolved politically in the last fifty years. From apartheid in South Africa to radical Islam in the north, via tribal genocides in the centre of the continent, nary a stone is left uncovered.But it makes for a thoroughly downbeat assessment. Essentially, the European countries who colonised the continent and then abandoned it post-WWII fucked it over at first. Then Cold War struggles meant ruthless dictators were kept in power by the superpowers, as long as they didn’t turn to the other side.Many military coups took place, with each takeover followed by promises to open up the country to democracy and the rule of law. Of course, each military-backed ruler merely consolidated his position, and used ethnic/tribal tensions to maintain it. This led to horrific numbers of deaths, most notably in Rwanda and Sudan.Then there was the rampant racism in countries like South Africa (whites on blacks) and Sudan (Muslims on blacks), as well as more general tensions between the north and south. The onset of HIV in the 90s and 00s added to the generally sombre tone.There were positive points, especially towards the end. Democracy is arriving there, in leaps and bounds, but it is still held back in places like Zimbabwe.Meredith is utterly exhaustive in his coverage, and there are some great snippets of information throughout, as well as some truly disturbing anecdotes from what can only be called “survivors”. This book is brilliant, and I highly recommend it to anyone who has even the vaguest interest in Africa, African politics and modern African history.
    • 4/5
      Had I been asked to review this work midway through, I would have given it at least four stars. However, the second half of the book began to read like a repeat of the first. I guess it is not the author's fault that the history of African development since independence has been the political equivalent of Groundhog Day (the movie). This book is not a bad beginning for anyone just beginning to study recent African history, especially post colonial sub-Saharan Africa. When you consider that in just under 700 pages, the author covers virtually every country on the continent, you begin to get an idea of just how cursory the analysis is in many instances. The recipe for this book is as follows: Begin with a region sporting literally thousands of disparate tribes and cultures. Mix in colonial powers who create political subdivisions without any regard for these cultures. Remove the colonial powers and entrust governance to native populations with no education and no experience in self government. Add the emergence of local "strong men" and the inevitable ethnic cleansing, corruption and large scale looting of government assets. Lather, rinse and repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat. You get the idea. Almost without exception, despite in many cases the presence of abundant natural resources and even on ocassion (though extremely rarely) honest politicians, each and every independent sub-Saharan African country has regressed since independence, and usually by an extremely wide margin. It is little wonder that most nations have begun to suffer from foreign aid fatigue in the face of failure after failure. The author of this work is not without his biases. He doesn't pretend neutrality in most instances and for that I was grateful. There is evil in the world and evil is abetted in an effort to display moral relativism. The author also heaps generous scorn on the United Nations and in particular Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Secretary General during much of the period in question. All in all a very depressing work. I suspect that after finishing the book, you will be glad you are done because the capacity for misery is finite and after about 400 pages, I had reached mine.
    • 5/5
      Excellent history of modern Africa and how it got here!
    • 5/5
      Breathtakingly painful history. What can we do? Its unbelievable in how much of a pattern there is.