Small is Not Always Beautiful

by Max Liniger-Goumaz

Equatorial Guinea is one of the horror stories of the post-colonial era in the developing world. Consisting of the continental territory of Rio Muni and the island of Fernando Po, it was a small but relatively prosperous Spanish colony until 1968. The successor regime of the Nguema clan is a bloody dictatorship, which has destroyed the economy and driven one-third of the population into exile. Today the country is among the world's poorest, and has dropped out of the international system. In recent years France has replaced Spain as the regime's chief economic backer, with no amelioration of its appalling human rights record. This is the first comprehensive monograph in English on Equatorial Guinea, and the Swiss author, Max Liniger-Goumaz, is the acknowledged international authority on the subject. Physical and Human Geography; The Colonial Period; Independence Miscarried; Demographic and Cultural Aspects of the Nguema Era; The Economy Under the Nguema Dictatorships; Present and Future; Conclusions; Postscript; Bibliographical Note; Short Bibliography of Post-Independence PublicationsàR

200 pages, Hardcover

First published November 6, 1988

Reviews

[Redmar Leeuwendal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book out of personal interest in Equatorial Guinea. The book is packed with data about the country’s industry, demography, political ties etc., which often makes it hard to read. It really is a reference work and not so much an engaging historical work. I did skip a couple of chapters/subchapters (eg. the exact numbers of cattle in a certain time period) but overall, I got quite a good idea of the countries situation up till the late 80s. I give this book 3 stars because I expected the book to be more of an engaging read but it was just a load of data put together. It is a very important book though because not a lot is written on the country and I admire the authors research. Finding data an EG is really hard.

Overall a good book to get an idea of EG’s history BUT do not expect it to be fun or engaging.

[Geoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Undoubtedly somewhat dated, but nonetheless the best English-language general history of the country I've seen so far.