In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz

Incredible-revealing of "the horror, the horror" of Congo's history, political oppression, and also includes great insight and humor into the country due to Michaela's fantastic writing ( )

Whew. A book you read, thinking, I wish this had never happened….please don’t let this be true. So jarring it leaves you despairing about Africa. Surely there must be happy stories there; not all can be tales of greed and corruption. ( )

easy to read history of the Congo from precolonial with a focus on the Mobutu's time. good start on the topic ( )

The story of the fall of both Joseph Mobutu and the Congo (formally called Zaire).

The book describes how Mobutu used the profits from the copper and diamond mines and the help of the indifferent West to pay his political cronies for political support and to purchase numerous lavish items, including mansions, champagne, boats and many flights on the Concorde super jet for his family.

Obviously this had an enormous effect on the Zairian economy. Mobutu's style of raping the state for his and his cronies benefit created an everyman for himself mentality, where soldiers pillaged the citizens, diamond were smuggled, mail stolen and sold on the black market, farms and businesses nationalized and given to "Big Vegetables" to rape and destroy for their own gain.

Mobutu’s “policies” also had lasting effects on the population. For nearly a century, the people of the Congo had to survive under the brutal force of King Leopold and the Force Publique. Then, a short time later, the country was taken over by Mobutu and ruled in the style of Leopold’s henchmen. This has left the population feeling helpless against the state and never reaching beyond survival.

Wrong’s style is clear, vivid and concise. She does a great job giving the reader enough information to understand the sad destruction of one of the largest nations in Africa, while also giving the story a very personal voice. ( )

Congo (Democratic Republic) > Politics and/government > 1960-1997/government > 1997-/Mobutu Sese Seko, 1930-/Kabila, Laurent-Désiré/Wrong, Michela, 1961-