Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles

by Richard Dowden

The finest living Africa correspondent delivers, after a lifetime's close observation of the miraculous continent, a landmark book on life and death in modern Africa.Dowden has now, after 35 years on the continent, written a memoiristic history of its peoples' experiences in the wake of the European withdrawal and the superpowers' arrival. He has been present at each of the continent's major crises and writes illuminatingly about them, but he is as passionate about the warmth, wisdom and joy he has encountered in peacetime, and the diversity of habits, attitudes and purposes to which he has been Britain's best witness. His book is no less than a benchmark publication on this most misunderstood and mishandled of continents.

Genres: Africa, Nonfiction, History, Politics, Travel, Sociology, Cultural

448 pages, Hardcover

First published December 31, 2007

Reviews

[Hana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two and a half stars. When Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles is good it is wonderful. There is a five star book hidden in here, but alas, too much of the book is confusing, repetitive and poorly organized. Largely at fault, I think, are over-ambitious goals coupled with very poor editing.

As an example I’ll take Chapter 10 on Senegal: God, Trust and Trade. It starts off splendidly, with a short biography of Amadu Bamba, the Sufi mystic founder of Senegal’s Mouride movement. Dowden describes Mouride as “a global African trading company based on Islamic principles.” Amadu Bamba “believed that prayer, study and work would protect people from the corrupting and dehumanizing influence of France and French culture. Among his followers he promoted the values of humility, endurance and sharing.”

Mourides are required to pay a tithe that is used to help fellow members in trouble and the dahiras or prayer circles help brotherhood members find places to live and work. “The Mouride brotherhood offers a secure bridge from rural to urban, from ancient to modern. The wealth it gathers from all members provides a welfare system.”

Since its founding in the 1920s, the movement has grown to over three million members. Mourides are entrepreneurial by training and their world-wide network of street vendors and merchants send an estimated $15-$20 million per year back to the movement’s capital in Touba, Senegal’s second largest city.

Touba runs itself quite independently of Senegal and pays no federal taxes. One Touba shopkeeper tells Dowden

“If there is a problem that requires money the Marabout calls a committee and they ask everyone to contribute….They give because…people know the road will be fixed and the water will run again. This is not like Dakar [Senegal’s capital city]….It’s all one family here….There is no corruption, none. Everything is transparent. But yes, there are thieves here sometimes. We don’t cut hands off, we believe in tolerance, but if someone steals we form a committee to judge the person. If they are guilty we beat them. If it is serious we might consider taking them to a law court in another town but it’s better to just beat them.”

Only about a third of Senegalese are Mouride, but the emphasis on hard work and order, and the considerable political clout the Mourides wield, seems to have had a more general beneficial effect on national life. Although Senegal was a French colony since the mid nineteen century it remains untouched by the violence rife in other Francophone African nations. “There has never been a hint of a military coup. Nor have there been bad rulers…in Senegal there is justice, a police force and a tax system.”

So far, so fascinating. Seven pages of exceptionally interesting first-person reporting and a provocative example of how things can go very right in Africa. Yes, YES! Tell me more! Go to Dakar and interview people in the government. Figure out how they are doing it and why it all works.

But, no. In the middle of page seven of the Senegal chapter Dowden appears to forget what story he is telling and, while still in the chapter on Senegal, he spends the next twenty-one pages regurgitating World Bank and UN statistics about poverty in Africa; compares Africa unhelpfully with Ireland (Ireland?); goes on about the slums in Kinshasa and Nairobi; lectures on colonial extraction-economics; discusses raw material pricing and lack of Africa manufacturing capability; diverts to an interesting but out of place discussion of palm oil production in Nigeria being supplanted by Vietnam; then he talks about Kenyan farming and “Men like Kaunda and Nyerere” [Who are they? Help me out here, Dowden!] and the negative influence of Christian missionaries.

Oh. Finally, a page later I discover that Kaunda is the president of Zambia. From Zambia we leap to “socialist-orientated countries like Tanzania” and their huge state-run companies. And another leap to Zimbabwe. Then it’s off to paranoid rulers in Malawi and Sierra Leone. And a strange out of context joke by a former US assistant Secretary of State, coupled with a discussion of Lebanese and Asian merchants and then a move to cold-war US policy.

And that was only the first ten pages of the discursion. We never do get back to Senegal and Dowden ends the chapter with rape, pillage and war in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Sudan, Angola and the Congo and mentions that the Economist dubbed Africa ‘The Hopeless Continent’.

Clearly, Senegal proves that Africa is far from hopeless, but here, at the halfway point in a 550 page book I nearly declared Dowden hopeless.

I did finish the book and I’m glad I did since there are plenty more interesting little gems like his report on the Mourides, but it sure wasn’t easy and the gems were buried in more and still more repetitive information dumps like the discursion I just described.

In the forward Dowden thanks his editors; instead he should have exiled them to Lagos without any bribe money. Philip Gwyn Jones, editor at Portobello, and Jonny Geller and Gordon Wise editors at Curtis Brown—shame on you!

Modern Africa: Great Africa group read. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an author and activist, I am generally optimistic about Africa's future, but Richard Dowden tempered my hope with a sobering dose of reality based on his decades of reporting on the continent. His powerful guide to sub-Saharan Africa is a must-read for anyone who hopes to understand why Africa is the mess it is.

Dowden is the director of the Royal African Society and spent two decades as Africa editor of the Independent and the Economist. His book is filled with both studied thoughts on the forces that have shaped Africa's history and pertinent personal tales of his experiences there. His message is ultimately fairly simple: Africa's problems can only be solved by African people.

The depressing counterweight to that conclusion that I drew from Dowden's accounts is that corruption is so ingrained throughout the power structure of most nations in Africa that it is unlikely that solutions can ever be implemented.

Having set my latest novel in the Democratic Republic of Congo, I was particularly interested in his conclusions about that beleaguered nation:

"In December 2005 a new constitution was confirmed by a referendum and elections were held in July 2006. The assumption of outsiders was that, forced to govern together, the warlords would check each other's theft and violence. The opposite happened. They keep the country divided, cut deals with each other and filled their pockets."

Dowden makes another observation which mirrors my own experience:

"Despite the politics of theft, violence and patronage, Congo still inspires great patriotism among its long-suffering citizens. They may have little loyalty to institutions or a ruler, but Congolese believe desperately in the Congolese nation and a few are prepared to fight its looting bosses."

Africa - Altered States, Ordinary Miracles reveals Dowden's great love for the continent he has spent his life discovering. It is no dewy-eyed romance, however. He reveals all his lover's warts and blemishes, bad breath and occasional frequent bouts of ill-temper in a paean to her beautiful potential.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok, i will start the review by noting that I have never been to Africa, and while I was a history major and an am an avid global news reader, i don't have any particular specialized knowledge of Africa. That is, of course, why I checked out the book, and of course, it doesn't make me particularly qualified to criticize or fact-check things he says in the book. I did check the book out from the library with an air of skepticism that an author could cover such a vast and diverse continent in one book. With those caveats, I think he did a pretty magnificent job. He doesn't purport to cover every piece of modern African history, or even try to touch on every country in this huge continent. He does however, provide a stunning amount of modern African history, mixed in with stories of his personal experiences as a journalist in Africa for several decades. I consider myself fairly well-informed about world events, but I learned a massive amount of modern African history, and the book made me think a lot about aid agencies, global power relations and economics, etc. It was well worth it if you are all interested in feeling more knowledgeable about Africa, and though it's a hefty book, it's super readable and I got through it in a surprisingly short amount of time.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book to read on a trip to Kenya – as recommended by the travel firm for “the story behind the safari”.

Written by an African-correspondent journalist (Times, Independent and Economist) and 15 year Executive Director of the Royal Africa Society it is a very comprehensive mainly country by country (although with chapters on the end of colonialism/early independence, AIDS, Asia/China – the first of which I found strongest) guide to sub-Saharan Africa written very much from first hand experience. This is both a strength and weakness of the book – a strength in that it gives the book authenticity and readability (this is no Economist style guide account) but a weakness in that the chapters can read like standalone essays (both in terms of their sometimes being repetition of trans-country themes and in that the countries are not always captured up to date).

But overall an enjoyable and very informative book.

[Nirmal · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I've read recently!!! HIGHLY recommended!!! It is so engrossing that you don't feel like putting down.

[Edalma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very interesting.

[Naomi · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got this book as I am preparing to visit Senegal, not with super high expectations but hoping for it to be a reasonably light read that would still give me some interesting background in the continent. Admittedly, I did not finish this book because it is terribly written, disorganized, and sometimes bordering on offensive. Dowden goes on and on in the first chapter about how the West views Africa as one unified geographical area, as a chaotic disaster zone, as filled with nothing but violence and poverty. He argues that instead we should take a closer look at the people and cultures of individual ethnic groups and nations. Ok, agreed. But then he goes on to do just that, making sweeping generalizations about African people, mostly based on his impressions and heresay, and relentlessly steering the focus back to African poverty and violence again and again, without any original insights or even well-placed facts.

Here are some gems just from the chapter on Senegal, which, mostly, is not about Senegal but the whole continent of Africa:

“They [the Mourides] possess in great abundance a commodity that much of Africa lacks: trust.” Well, I guess we’re supposed to infer that no one trusts anyone else in the rest of Africa.

“There is little depression [in Africa], no loneliness. Sunshine makes life more open and shared. It’s not such a bad life.” Then slightly down the page: “Africa’s margin of safety when it comes to poor harvests, disease, war or other disasters is narrow. Africa has done less well than Asia, and I always have the feeling in Africa that it could be— should be— a lot better.” Oh, interesting that you feel that way Mr. Dowden, I thought the sunshine would solve everyone’s problems.

“The external factors [of Africa not doing so great] begin with bad geography and bad history.” For people who do not recognize these as academic terms, by “bad geography” Dowden means “colonialism.” By “bad history” he also means “colonialism.”

If you find this style of writing as irritating as I did, do not read this book because there’s more where that comes from. To be fair, this book was written ten years ago and I’d now outdated. But I’m guessing based on the author’s attitude and lack of solid research that it was probably already outdated at the time it was written.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is interesting, but it does rely a lot on his own personal experiences rather than being a more of a solid research-based book. He also tends to make the mistake that lots of Westerners do, of generalising about the continent or referring to it as if it was a single country, like "all Africans love music" "Africa needs to do x, y and z" . I also found it quite negative, despite stating at the beginning that the West should stop viewing Africa as a charity case, or a war torn continent, a lot of the book is about countries being war torn, or requiring charity. His chapter on South Africa came across as particularly negative.

That being said - the chapter on Chinese-African relations was particularly enlightening, especially the differences in approach between the Chinese and Western nations; that the Westerners tend to put conditions in place, to be some what evangelical (they'll do business with African countries, but on their terms), whereas the Chinese don't as such.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book took me forever to finish, but it was worth it. I don't know much about African history besides well-known events/places (i.e. Rwandan genecide, South African apartheid, Darfur, ect.). I enjoyed learning about Africa's history/way of life through the eyes of a journalist.

[Hanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gibt sicher bessere und auch schlechtere Bücher über Afrika. Mir persönlich hat geholfen, dass ich über viele Länder einen kleinen Überblick bekommen habe, über was so in den 1960ern bis 1980ern und teilweise bis 2005 so passiert ist. Viele Namen von Herrschern habe ich zum ersten Mal gehört. Das Buch war trotzdem etwas all over the place, manchmal autobiographisch, manchmal der Versuch, eine neutrale Berichterstattung der damaligen Ereignisse zu sein. Letztendlich gefällt es mir persönlich mehr, ein Buch über ein Land oder einen Konflikt zu lesen, anstatt solche Übersichtswerke, aber es war ein Anfangspunkt für weitere Recherche und dafür ganz gut.

[Cooper Word · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was expecting this to be very academic and historical and it ended up reading much more like a travelogue. It was pretty cool for what it is, though.

[Toon Timmers · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is probably a bit outdated by now but it gives interesting insight in why Africa is what it is, based on personal experience on the continent. It looks mostly at the problems and rarely focuses on solutions that have been found or progress that has been made. Overall a thoroughly enjoyable and interesting read.

[Arno · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art adorning the cover of "Africa" highlights a key paradox in the enlightening if often unfortunately simplistic book. Pictured is a young, shirtless boy holding a soccer ball as the sun sets behind him. A note on the back of the book tells the reader the boy’s name, adding that he is a fan of the British football club Arsenal, like Dowden himself. In providing this information, Dowden counters the potential for the cover portrait to merely serve as an anonymous face of poor, sub-Saharan Africa, an image which the media has a tendency of presenting. But the back of the book also features a different photograph, this one of a row of acacia trees silhouetted by the setting sun. The acacia tree has been used as a stand-in on book covers for all things Africa so often that a collage of acacia-clad covers of books on totally disparate topics—save being written by an African or set somewhere in the continent—recently went viral, highlighting the absurdity of the cliché (Ross). In the book itself, Dowden does many things well in his survey of the continent’s problems and promise, but he also has difficulty escaping the very clichés that he allegedly sets out to dispel.

[Russell Chee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not quite the work I was expecting - I was thinking more The State of Africa by Martin Meredith, a kind of sweeping, wide-ranging continental history, but it was really more like a personal memoir or a series of articles each relating to an African country and mildly edited to attempt some kind of coherence and narrative structure. Still, the book proclaims Dowden to be "the finest living African correspondent" - and you do kind of see why. He delivers his dispatches with a depth of perspective and feeling that most reporters struggle to devote even to their home countries; one gets the sense that even if he doesn't understand or ultimately hasn't integrated himself into the continent, he feels deeply and intimately for its countries. We share his evident greyscale disillusionment with certain countries - the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for instance, which seems never to have achieved anything remotely like successful state functionality - and his love for uniquely African traits that he celebrates.

I don't normally enjoy these essay compendia - but the writing was very compelling; the initial chapter, set in Uganda, tells us not about its history nor its politics but merely about the warmth and welcoming nature of its culture - we learn through charming anecdotes of the interesting nature of the Ugandan greetings (which are typically repetitions of the same words in different tones, something Dowden convincingly argues embodies mutual respect and listening) and the insidious Western influence that a young-ish, socialist Dowden laments, telling us of students who want to lead Western lifestyles; who steal and ruin their lives simply for a single day of appearing wealthy and Western.

A recurring theme in the chapters is the idea of Big Men in African culture. One of the most depressing recurrences in African politics is the unshakeable prevalence of corruption - whether particularly egregious examples like Congo's Mobutu Sese Seko and Kenya's Daniel arap Moi or more systemic instances like Nigeria, where every dictator (Sani Abacha being the worst offender) - billions of dollars are repeatedly funneled out of these countries and laundered through the international financial system back into dictators' personal accounts. The book stunned me with the adducement of arap Moi's intricately designed money-laundering system, one that literally drained something like 25% of economic growth out of the economy. Yet while many in the West - in particular, the good-governance freaks at the World Bank and the IMO - are quick to hold up principles of good and clean governance as something to strive toward, Dowden insightfully argues that corruption and wealth by leaders are almost welcomed, in a sense, by Africans - for in their culture, to become rich and successful when in a position of power is a sign of success; he points to the example of a feckless minister in Nigeria who sought to set a precedent for clean politics, only to be laughed out of governance by voters unconvinced by his ability to gain benefits either for himself or his constituency.

Dowden has an astonishing mastery of the cultures of Africa - I especially enjoyed reading his thoughts on Somalia and the Somalis, who reside in one of the world's most consistently violent and powerless states yet prove to be some of the most entrepreneurial globally; it turns out, this is rooted in Somali culture. Of course, Dowden is never naive enough to suggest that culture explains all problems, but it is certainly refreshing to have an evidently carefully considered, bottom-up examination of the continent rather than a clinical, sterilised report from a distant international organisation.

Chapters on Amin, Sese Seko and Bashir prove way above the typical level in reportage; while each twenty-page chapter may not cover the same breadth as an average book on these subjects, Dowden never fails to equip us with a stunningly intricate level of detail and consciousness - the uniqueness of the terrain in Southern Sudan, the evils of over-reliance on aid in Uganda, and the horrific deliberate strategy of Sese Seko in deliberately allowing the roads in Eastern Congo to fall into disrepair to prevent an internal rebellion.

Particularly enjoyable chapters were those on Angola - who ever knew that the FNLA was in fact run by Portuguese settlers? - and the AIDS epidemic, where Dowden deftly marries stunning, horrific statistical realities with heart-wrenching personal narratives. Less enjoyable were those on Ethiopia and Senegal - the former is simply too complex a country to fit in a single chapter, while the latter chapter seemed slightly misguided and incongruent, starting with a gorgeous anecdote about an African success story then suddenly becoming a wistful reflection on Africa as a whole.

I thought more could have been said about the increasing role China is playing in Africa, and especially the disproportionate impact climate change will wreak on Africa. I wished that instead of merely bashing aid, Dowden would suggest alternative solutions. I hoped that Dowden would examine the quasi-colonial mindset and relationship Britain and France continue to hold with their former colonies. I would have liked a more analytical outlook and greater emphasis on causality - only by focusing on past issues that continue to recur today can Africa genuinely escape its vicious cycle of poverty and war. But his conclusion, that only Africans can fix Africa, was extremely sobering: it reminds us of how much trouble the West has caused, but also of how much Africa is depending on the materialisation of good leadership in its coming decades. Even an internationally popular leader like Paul Kagame does not get let off the hook lightly here, and so having adopted a shade of Dowden's affections and hopes for the continent, I too hope that Africa will find its way.

[Maryam Talakoob · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came across this book on the Economist's book review list. I started reading it a while ago, put it down and now reading parts of it. Dowden goes from East to South to West to North Africa. His observations are really astute as a reporter but mostly on the political level. I didn't find a deep immersion or impression in rural societies where he covers a specific country. Altogether, his analysis of the war torn regions like Somalia, Sudan, Zimbabwe and Uganda is very impressive. Dowden really believes that there is 'hope' even in the worst parts of Africa suffering from political and economic misfortune. At least his views are not dim or pessimistic. As a foreigner he spent a great deal of his life in Africa although this is definitely not something written by an social anthropologist on a cultural mission.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book in the Amsterdam airport in October on the way to Tanzania for my second trip teaching in a medical school there. I just finished it (12/14/09). Although there is very little specific to Tanzania, the one African country I am familiar with, I found it to be an excellent overview of how Africa got to be where it is today. For all the terrible stories of bloodshed and corruption, it ultimately is a hopeful book. It is a very personal story and as such I found it to be gripping and very readable, despite its 550 pages. There is a lot here to interest anyone with an interest in Africa.

[Caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good but not great book with some wonderful stories and some flawed sections. Dowden has been in many of Africa's hot spots over the last thirty years and had great stories (and history) on many countries. That said, there were sections that got whiny and the entire epilogue was redundant to the point of being a waste of time. Nevertheless, for a deep look into Africa, into places like Angola and Sierra Leone, this is worth the warts.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great reference book, not one to be read completely or ever "finished."

[CTEP]

For the month of April I read Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles, which was a fascinating read. The book was written by journalist Richard Dowden, who has spent the last 30 years reporting in Africa. He truly understands the continent and he brings Africa to life in this book. Dowden divides the book between chapters on13 different African nations and chapters on the biggest challenges facing the continent. You not only get a sense of Africa as a continent, but you also begin to understand all of the little pieces that make Africa what it is. Somalia is dry and arid, different from the game parks of Kenya, and the corruption of Nigeria. Despite these stark differences, there are still traditions that weave all of the countries of Africa into one continent, like that of hope.

For decades, aid agencies and Westerners have gone into Africa and have tried to fix what they know nothing about. Africa’s problems cannot be solved by outsiders who do not understand the problems of Africa or Africa itself. I feel this lesson is very pertinent to me because of my work with the Promise Neighborhood. While working on this project I have heard countless stories of how people have made promises to the Frogtown and Rondo neighborhoods that have amounted to nothing but disappointment. Organizations would come into these neighborhoods and would tell them what needed to be fixed, but they would never suggest viable solutions. Dowden writes that the exact same thing has happened throughout Africa and his solution is education and awareness from the Africans themselves. In the end, only Africans can fix Africa. If we want the Promise Neighborhood to work, we need people from the neighborhoods as advisors and educators who can create the positive change.

There is so much that can be learned from this book, both on the surface and looking in depth. Many of us work with the Somali population, including myself, and the chapter on Somalia not only describes Somalis and Somali culture but it explains why so many immigrated to the United States. Many Somalis came to this country because they had no other choice, their country was devastated and war-torn, leaving the people nothing. Also, education is one of the main themes in this book. Dowden stresses that education and awareness are need for Africa’s future, not just within Africa but around the world because most people do not really know what Africa is. This theme of education pervades all aspects of CTEP and the work that we do, so it just enforces what we do everyday. If you have any interest in Africa at all then you should read this book to better understand the beauty that is Africa.

For the month of June I read Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles by Richard Dowden, who is a British journalist who covered events in Africa for more than 30 years. I grew interested in this book when one of my co-workers recommended it to someone because they were interested in the cultural differences between people from Ethiopia that speak Amharic and Oromo.

Dowden’s book does not go into too many specifics for certain countries but it does a great job at addressing some larger issues that many people won’t know about. One argument of his is that foreign aid doesn’t help nearly as much as rock stars and politicians think it does. He also adds that journalists and the news agencies have sensationalized African news so much so that the only thing the world hears about is genocides, diseases and famine. He argues that the absolute most effective way to help Africa is by having Africans help Africa, local grass roots organizations have a far more positive effect than any decisions made by a foreign committee. He also makes comparisons between the differences between Asia and Africa and how they have developed over the last 50 years. All signs pointed towards Africa to be the more successful continent due to natural resources but there were so many different problems, many stemming from leadership issues.

I work closely with many people from Somalia and Ethiopia, they enjoy talking about their countries with me, but I was lacking in my knowledge about Africa and its recent history. This book allowed me to get started in exploring the very diverse background that each and every African country has. I learned about the differences between two ethnic groups in Ethiopia and how that has changed who emigrates from that country to the US.

I would definitely recommend people that are interested in how Africa got to where it is today to read this book. It will give you a broad start to learning about Africa and I would be sure to have Wikipedia open while reading because you’ll constantly have to be looking up different leaders names or wars if your background was lacking like mine.

[Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned a lot from this book; unfortunately most of it was about the horrors and atrocities that have afflicted the countries of Africa. Dowden, at times, seems to be either a cock-eyed optimist or so naive as to be blind--to the realities that he himself eye-witnessed--so as not to provide an objective, honest presentation of the facts, that I started questioning what I was reading. For example, "...gangs armed with machetes, spears and sharpened bamboos stabbed and hacked...women and children are not spared...not even babies"; "African peoples do not like fighting and avoid it whenever possible." Come on, man. It wouldn't kill you to point some fingers and hold people accountable.
After getting through all the horror stories of bloodbaths and genocides, which requires extreme patience and even tenacity, we finally get to the good part: what works for Africa.
The author spent many years of his life all over sub-Saharan Africa, and this is the Africa his book deals with. It is written very matter-of-factly from his many experiences. He is unquestionably an authority on the subjects, having spent much time, made friends along the way, and interviewed innumerable people in his travels. He has also (gladly?) risked his life innumerable times in his travels. Volumes can certainly be written on even one of the countries he's spent time in--Nigeria, Congo (Zaire), South Africa--and provide a compelling picture of tragedy and devastation every time.
He finally provides a light at the end of the terrible tunnel: what works for Africa. Dowden could have more clearly titled his book "Africa: what doesn't work and what does" (the does being in the minority here). It's about 80% horror stories and 20 some actual progress that has been made in recent decades with China.
The "what works" part is more compelling than the "what doesn't". China's attitude with the Africans, Dowden explains, is what is working. "African rulers like the way in which China presents itself", and "where the West sees Africa as the place to make poverty history, the Chinese see it as a place to make money." Of course problems still exist, but I like the Chinese attitude of respect and honesty. For example, the Chinese are reluctant to hire Africans (they bring in Chinese workers) and when asked why not Africans, they say the Africans don't want to work weekends, and the Chinese are more proficient workers, often finishing ahead of time and under budget. Honesty. Not standoffishness or painting a pretty picture that social media in the Western world will not be offended by, as Dowden explains. "Had a Western company made such a remark, the sky would have fallen" Dowden says. Also, the Chinese are content to live modestly, according to Dowden, and not demand high salaries and other goodies such as cars and other perks with their compensation, as Westerners do. But the business and economy China is bringing to Africa and the African people is what's important here. It is real progress.
In an imperfect world, and after tragic centuries of no growth, or stunted growth, or sabotage among African peoples, the Chinese have made an approach so simple, and yet so great, that the rest of the world should want to kick themselves for not having done so.

[Wiom biom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heartrending and heartwarming. Dowden's writing is both sympathetic and critical at once, and so sympathy does not slide into patronising pity, critical detachment into aloofness. This book opened my eyes to the continent's bountiful humanity, especially within the snapshots of life in villages, even areas torn by war. One particular incident left an indelible impression on me: in the aftermath of a stolen election in Nigeria, Dowden (in his car) found himself surrounded by an angry crowd of young men waving machetes and iron bars, yet they did not attack him. Dowden writes, "I wonder if a couple of black people would be as safe if they drove into an angry white crowd in Europe or America. There is still humanity in Nigeria." What a pithy comparison of Western and African civilisation! It is a shame that even though the West is largely responsible for much of Africa's (and the world's) problems during the years of imperialism and the spread of capitalism, the only path for African recovery seems to be exactly what the West has done best -- industrialise, urbanise, modernise. Yes, there are alternatives to modernisation but what are the chances of African development being environmentally sustainable, socially responsible, and politically accountable when the economic giants of China, and increasingly the USA, are failing to offer such a vision and lead global economic development in that direction? I must declare that I do not view Africa like the colonialists did, seeing it as a backward idyll deserving of protection from the ills of modernisation. But I am emphatically against the kind of modernisation that is happening right now. Polluted and overcrowded cities. The disintegration of traditional social orders. Violent policing and military conflicts. Widening wealth gaps and cultural gulfs. Domination of the economy and politics by elites most of whom do not represent the interests of the masses, especially when considering the bewildering diversity of ethnic groups. Throughout the book, Dowden unites the various chapters with one of Achebe's metaphors. Let me quote from Achebe directly: "We had all been in the rain together until yesterday. Then a handful of us -- the smart, and the lucky and hardly ever the best -- had scrambled for the one shelter our former rulers left, and had taken it over and barricaded themselves in." Other than extending shelter in the form of better governance, perhaps a bolder alternative would be reviving the possibility of communal self-sufficiency.

[Chloe Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Africa is an incredibly written novel covering all political and social aspects of south-Saharan Africa. Although it can be repetitive at times, this helped me understand and soak in the information given, later helping me draw connections between significant events and the effect they have had on present-day Africa.
I was originally drawn to this book because Dowden does not label Africa as one large, uncivil country, but instead views it as a continent filled with history and ethnic boundaries drawn in the sand. Africa discusses present-day imperial influences on the continent that generally go unnoticed, but are extremely significant in the industrialization of rural Africa and the waning transformation between Less Developed Countries to More Developed Countries.
The only downsides to this book would be the publishing timeframe. I was excited to read about the effect Arab Spring had on sub-Saharan Africa, but, unfortunately, the novel was published in 2008, prior to the event and the split of Sudan and South Sudan. Also, the science geek in me wishes that there had been more information regarding health and healthcare in the region, but that would have probably pushed the book to 800+ pages, so maybe it was for the best.
Overall, Africa is an engaging book that would interest those studying International Relations, Political Science, African Studies, International Business, Gender Studies, Anthropology, and any other geographical or cultural studies. Africa would also interest the travel-junkie in all of us. Dowden did a great job.

[Christopher McDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles" is a must read for any and all 'westerners' to help better understand the history, sentiments and cultures of the vast continent that is Africa. All too often people, especially 'westerners,' lump the countries and people of Africa into one category. That misconception is ignorance on the highest level. I too have been guilty of it in the past. This book won't fully be a fix-it-all in comprehension, but it's a good launchpad.

I almost gave this book 4 stars because I had some qualms with Richard's focus on the volatile history of many of Africa's nations. Though the book is bookended by chapters of praise and optimism for the continent, the bulk of the book is a bit pessimistic. But I guess I can chalk it up to Richard simply reporting with honesty about what he's learned firsthand from his nearly half century of visitation to several countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. I still wish he spent some time telling the rich and beautiful stories that we do know actually exist, but instead he seems to graze over the positive.

That being said, Richard does an amazing job mixing his personal experiences in with the history of a certain country, which he outlines in separate chapters. And like I mentioned above, he does begin and end the book with hope for the most misunderstood continent in the world. I'm dying to get there some day... if only I can get over my hatred of being cooped up in a fuselage for more than 6 hours.

[Raph Kazidule · Rating 4 out of 5]

Africa; Altered states, Ordinary Miracles.
By Richard Dowden

Review by Raph Kazidule
"Everytime you try to say Africa is....the words crumble and break. From every generalisation, you must exclude at least five countries. For every certainry, the opposite is also true. "

Richard makes one of the most accurate analysis about africa and the countries within. While his main point has been that african countries are different, in parts of the book he goes to make the same generalisations by making statements that judge the continent as one.

In this book, I have read (although not verified) a distasteful side of the current Rwanda, while at the same time read about a town living tax free in Senegal but fully functional.
Several countries, have been given a separate analysis of their state. Although not even half of the African countries were analysed, I wonder if the book should be called what it is called.

It is a great book, an important book. I was annoyed by how much he repeats certain points. If you are teaching in a class room, you can repeat statements to emphasize a point, but not in a book.

Historical events are best presented in chronology, which was not always the case in this book. At a point he was talking about 1994 Rwanda while simultaneously talking about 2002 Rwanda. Confusing!!

All in all, not many have come close to analyse Africa the same way.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very informative. I read it mostly to educate myself about a continent and countries about which I was woefully ignorant. It was slow going - especially at first - partly due to how many times I had to stop and check a map or turn back a few pages to check a name. It was depressing much of the time and covered difficult topics in history and current affairs (current as of the 2007 date of writing). We hear about these things on the news only sporadically; in the book it was a constant barrage of violence - or so it seemed. Yet it did end on a promising note - makes one wonder if the publisher said to put something hopeful at the end or no one will like the book.
It was sometimes hard to follow the chronology as it is written in a conversational style, not necessarily following one event to conclusion but adding side-stories to fill out the details. It is also very full of the author's viewpoint - which is really all we can expect of any book that tries to explain something this large and complicated.

[Sameer Kesava · Rating 5 out of 5]

A revelatory book on Africa (yes, it has been more than 10-15 years since it's publication but still relevant) and the continent's story post WW2. Have to truly applaud the author (from England) for sincerely trying to understand Africa and it's people by walking and living amongst them. Helps understand why Africa is what it is/was.

Also, the book gave a clear perspective why India, gratefully, didn't turn out like most of the African nations. Lots of so-called nationalists, without an ounce of critical thinking, blame the leaders of the Indian National Congress, Gandhi and Nehru, for the current problems India is facing. They should read this book, hopefully they will understand the significance of what those leaders did. They united the country which is as disparate as Europe and the tribes and nations of Africa. Yes, it took time but this time was needed to develop a strong, hopefully unbreakable, bond and identity amongst the peoples of different regions of India. Without this unity, I dread to think where India would have been.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I learned a lot about Africa reading this book, having known very little beforehand other than the general history of the continent and its relationship to the outside world. Some of the chapters are better than others. My favorites were the ones on Somalia, Sudan, Congo and South Africa. Other chapters were vague and devolved into general discussions about Africa, such as the one on Senegal. There was some awkward prose at times (including patronizing stereotypes) and as another reviewer mentioned, this book would have been much improved with some further editing. The book was published in 2009 so a lot has happened since then. However, there is still value in Dowden's work, including the role of Chinese investment in Africa and its economic relationship with the nations of the African continent since the end of the Cold War. In sum, this book is a decent introduction to Africa since independence from a non-academic point of view.

[Maxfield Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want to understand sub-Saharan Africa, this is about the best introduction you could get. Dowden's writing is superbly addictive; he weaves gripping personal anecdotes from decades of journalism throughout the continent together with an exhaustively researched political-economic history of the region. Rather than beginning at the colonial period the way most Western scholars explain the continent, Dowden provides precolonial background on each country and situates colonialism as a critical intervening variable with heterogenous effects that endure today. The country case studies are the primary substance of the book and provide an invaluable resource for scholars and history buffs alike. However, in addition to the case studies are two excellent chapters focusing on China in Africa and the future of the continent. While no single book could capture the expansive and dynamic history of this complicated region, Dowden's volume certainly comes close.

[Fred Culley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating insight into the history of sub-Saharan Africa. Country by country, Richard Dowden explores how the continent has been shaped by its colonial and post colonial past.
The book delves into the differences and methods of colonialism by European powers and how the newly independent Africa became the battleground of the Cold-War. This felt a balanced account of the issues present in Africa, contrasting the influence of Western (and eastern) powers, post independence leaders who have pillaged and raped their own countries, as well as big institutions such as World Bank and IMF whose policies in the 80-90s caused so much damage without accountability.
Dowden never loses sight of the stories of local people with their capacity for hope, strength and positivity running through the book. At times can drift into tropes and generalisations which is why it loses a star.
An excellent book for anyone interested in the African continent.

[Kevin Considine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me by a British expat, married to a Malawian for almost 50 years and living most of his adult life in Africa. He suggested if you want to understand Africa this is one book you should read. I visited here in the 80's and '90's and have been trying to understand the changes. This book seemed dead on in explaining the poor leadership, corrupt governments, outside influences that operated with goals in conflict with Africans.

I am halfway through a 4 month journey and feel the first two months was ridding my brain of ignorance and misinformation. Now with the help of this book I am in position to delve into Africa more deeply and perhaps get to understand her to a degree.

One negative is the book is about 10 years old now so not current.