In the Land of Magic Soldiers: A Story of White and Black in West Africa

by Daniel Bergner

An Los Angeles Times Best Book 2003

A chilling, beautifully written narrative of African war

Sierra Leone is the world's most war-ravaged country. There, in a West African landscape of spectacular beauty, rampaging soldiers--many not yet in their teens--have made a custom of hacking off the hands of their victims, then letting them live as the ultimate emblem of terror. The country is so anarchic and so desperate that, forty years after independence, its people long to be recolonized. And the West wants to save it.

Daniel Bergner's In the Land of Magic Soldiers follows both a set of white would-be saviors--a family of American missionaries, a mercenary helicopter gunship pilot, and the army of Great Britain--and also a set of Sierra Leoneans, among them a father who rescues his daughter from rape, loses his hands as punishment, then begins to rebuild his life; a child soldier and sometime cannibal; and a highly Westernized medical student who claims immunity to bullets and a cure for H.I.V.

A story of black and white, of the First World and the world left infinitely behind, of those who would nation-build and those who live in a land of fire and jungle, In the Land of Magic Soldiers is an unforgettable work of literary reportage by "a terrific reporter with a novelist's eye" (Peter Applebome, The New York Times Book Review ).

Genres: Africa, Nonfiction, History, Sierra Leone

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Daniel Bergner is a staff writer for the New York Times Magazine and the author of two previous books of nonfiction, IN THE LAND OF MAGIC SOLDIERS: A STORY OF WHITE AND BLACK IN WEST AFRICA, a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year, and GOD OF THE RODEO: THE QUEST FOR REDEMPTION IN LOUISIANA’S ANGOLA PRISON, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.

Bergner’s writing has also appeared in Granta, Harper’s, Mother Jones, Talk, the New York Times Book Review, and on the op-ed page of the New York Times.

Reviews

[Greg Heynen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I spent the better part of 1983 in Sierra Leone. This book chronicles the spread of the civil war and the effects on individuals throughout the country. Powerful.

[H Wesselius · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure what the point of the book was other than to inform the reader that Sierra Leone was/is fucked up. Well written but utterly without purpose.

[Leigh Collins]

This book was easy to fall into, but hard to digest in some parts. The people that Bergner chose to write about have phenomenal stories and it feels like he dives really deeply into who they are and the roles they play in the Sierra Leone that he explores. There is a lot of violence in their histories--an unusual violence. This type of violence that is just unfathomable and surely unhuman. It is sickening and shocking, but, and this seems to be one of his points, these people just keep going despite all that has happened to them and the people around them.

Bergner's own perspective and the opinions of those that he meets, are honest, brutally honest. He brings to the forefront a very modern discussion of race and prejudice in a post-colonial land.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I decided not to finish this book for several reasons. I feel it's important to note that the author/journalist is a white American. that doesn't mean there is anything wrong with his writing and for the most part I think he does a good job of pointing out the white savior complex in the people he has interviewed. But there were a few places where I wondered if he could see it in himself. The book contains sexual violence and torture as well as other war time atrocities. and that is mostly why I decided not to finish the book. I do feel it is important to understand how colonialism and corporate exploitation has affected so many African nations so I will have to find another source to learn more about it.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read as Soldiers of Light.

[Bailey Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

rare depth and in deep about what truly happens on sierra leone

[Megan Doney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went after this book when I finished Bergner's book The Other Side of Desire. This one is a look into Sierra Leone through the perspectives of a white missionary family, a former child soldier, a Rhodesian mercenary, and an aspiring physician. Granted, I will read anything about Africa, but I found this book especially brave in that Bergner was willing to ask uncomfortable questions about his own race and how that influenced his writing and perceptions, the legacies of colonialism, and foreign aid. Very thought provoking and discomfiting.

[JOHN SHANE · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author takes a long look at the civil war ravaging Sierra Leone and the toll it took on the people who lived through it. Their stories tell the horrors of war and the struggle that still continues to this day. A very thought provoking read to be sure.

[Dirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not exactly "Shadow of the Sun" or "We Wish to Inform You That ..." but well worth a read.

[Delwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

amazing insights but some were obviously made up.
To a Sierra Leonean untrue parts are glaringly obvious

[Nathalie]

He just wrote an article for the NYT Mag about American activist for Africa John Prendergast. More of my fascination with the DARK CONTINENT.