Product Description

In 1975, Angola was tumbling into pandemonium; everyone who could was packing crates, desperate to abandon the beleaguered colony. With his trademark bravura, Ryszard Kapuscinski went the other way, begging his was from Lisbon and comfort to Luanda—once famed as Africa's Rio de Janeiro—and chaos.

Angola, a slave colony later given over to mining and plantations, was a promised land for generations of poor Portuguese. It had belonged to Portugal since before there were English-speakers in North America. After the collapse of the fascist dictatorship in Portugal in 1974, Angola was brusquely cut loose, spurring the catastrophe of a still-ongoing civil war. Kapuscinski plunged right into the middle of the drama, driving past thousands of haphazardly placed check-points, where using the wrong shibboleth was a matter of life and death; recording his imporessions of the young soldiers—from Cuba, Angola, South Africa, Portugal—fighting a nebulous war with global repercussions; and examining the peculiar brutality of a country surprised and divided by its newfound freedom.

Translated from the Polish by William R. Brand and Katarzyna Mroczkowska-Brand.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #52247 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04-17
• Released on: 2001-04-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Review
?A completely compelling bookÉfull of subtle truths and oblique insights.??The New York Times Book Review -- Review

Review
?Despite Kapuscinski?s insistence that 'the image of war is not communicable.' He has done just that and done it very well.??Newsweek

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Polish

Customer Reviews

Another day of life is a blessing !

Another Day of Life

These are in fact memories of the author's days having been spent in Angola as this African country , the size of Portugal and former West Germany combined , was on the eve of proclaiming independence in 1975 from its colonial master , Portugal ; Mr Kapuscinski was one of few western journalist , living there , having befriended many whites , mostly Portuguese , who are now waiting in fear and trepidation of the inevitable fate , that is grim and ominuous , where blood is in the air , and the carnage cannot be stopped by anyone or anything , mullatos .and blacks themselves , who are somehow expectant of a better life after 300 years of servitude, but still careful , as the same uneasy feeling of impeding chaos is at the door step . Mr . Kapuscinski perfectly shows the prelude to one of the longest lasting wars in human history ( over twenty years ! ) , and the proclamation of independence not being something to rejoice but just the last nail in the coffin , another tragedy on the African soil , where ancient tribalistic and religious divisions , political inexperience and sheer naivity , illiteracy at its worst ( over 90 % ) and rich natural reserves of oil and diamonds had to lead to a calamity . He goes , as is his main characteristic, to great lenghts to explain the reasons , feelings and , first and foremost , fates of ordinary people ( ' I have lived here for thirty years , and now I have to leave , for whom have I worked here , for what ? ' ) - his description of an unusual , world's unique refugees 's wooden city , made of cardboard , built while waiting for the rescue ships , and even here the status and wealth of their owners comes to the fore , the virtual ghost towns left behind , complete stillness , utter doom and despair , cats eating refuse and soon dying with bellies inflated , bizzare with the sad , the best cars being left intact by the blacks , as they are not theirs and it is not right to steal from the former white masters , as they might soon be back , all these mixed in this gloomy tableau . He goes to the front , where the same feelings remain , where most of the soldiers in the various armies and units are children , or teenagers , who had even volunteered to go to the front , as here you can at least get something to eat , and the way they fight is singularly childish , and so humanly innocent ; they shoot in the air without watching , just making noise , and thus firing off all the ammunition , and then it turns out that a target village was already abandonded long time ago . The soldiers , besides being scared to the bones , and totally inexperienced , also lead the fight against the worst sort of enemy , namely , thirst , and the fronts are consequently moving where the water springs are , so today they are here , tomorrow there , nowhere , everywhere , all encapsulated in the universally used word : ' confusao ' ! The book ends with the most appropriately titled chapter ABC , where a reader can learn about the history of Angola , from where the greatest number of world's slaves originate , thus the country having suffered one of the greatest depopulization in history ! There is no positive thinking or some other sort of self-proclaimed post-modernistic remedies or philosophies of equality and secular definition of love that could fix the tragedy in Angola or in Africa in general !

Important historical document
Kapuscinski was the only journalist in Angola during that time. He arrived there in september, I left that country (my country) in august. Besides being the only witness of a "word's forgotten war" he was able to accurately catch what was going on there at the time.

Mondo Cane - with apologies to my five happy dogs
Anything goes when it comes to the raw greed and clan warfare that characterizes human behavior. Kapuscinsky's reportage is brilliant, relentless and focused. He describes the roots of the human condition in Angola at eye level. You can draw your own moral conclusions - and in case you are left wondering, this scenario is applicable wherever Western and/or European cultures operate in Africa...it's cynical exploitation in the name of Mamon all the way to the bank. Read this and ponder about the future of mankind. Thank you Ryszard, you deserve a Pulitzer prize for your reportage!