''The State of Africa: A History Of Fifty Years Of Independence'' (also published under the title ''The Fate of Africa: From the Hopes of Freedom to the Heart of Despair''; republished in 2011 as ''The State of Africa: A History Of The Continent Since Independence'') is a 2005 book by British writer
Martin Meredith
Martin Meredith is a historian, journalist, and biographer. He has written several books on Africa and its modern history.
Meredith first worked as a foreign correspondent in Africa for ''The Observer'' and ''Sunday Times'', then as a research ...
.
Background and synopsis
The book is an in-depth investigation into the history of Africa since European decolonisation. Meredith examines the many challenges much of Africa has faced including civil conflict and lawlessness, government corruption and dictatorships. Africa is described as a continent where "bad-news stories (famine, genocide, corruption) massively outweigh the good (
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
)."
Reception
Australian ''
The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'' newspaper writer Pamela Bone wrote that in "this big, exhaustive history Martin Meredith leaves us in little doubt as to what he believes is the primary cause of Africa's pain: its corrupt, tyrannical, incompetent, thieving, "vampire-like" leaders... It documents, country by country, decade by decade, a depressing litany of wars, revolutions, dictatorships, famines, genocide, coups and economic collapse".
While Bone wrote that the book is an "impressive history, well told" she criticised the fact that "the book misses the spirit of Africa, the joyfulness and strength of the people, which persists despite their appalling hardships, and which gives hope".
Writing in ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
,'' Alex Duval Smith described ''The State of Africa'' as a "dispassionate analysis" that "does more than perhaps he (Meredith) realises to set the past 50 African years in a continuum"
Chris Nkwatsibwe, a human rights activist from
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...
praised the book. Nkwatsibwe wrote that "Meredith works with the colossal spatial and temporal span of this subject with ease, weaving chapters together in a loose chronological order to present the narrative as a patchwork quilt of Africa, rather than as a rigid country-by-country timeline".
See also
* ''
Elephant Destiny'', another book by the same author
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:State of Africa
2005 non-fiction books
Books about Africa
Free Press (publisher) books
History books about colonialism
Simon & Schuster books