The Skull Beneath The Skin: Africa After The Cold War

By Mark Huband

Book Overview

In The Skull Beneath the Skin: Africa After the Cold War award-winning journalist Mark Huband argues that foreign involvement in Africa - whether by colonialists, financial donors, armies, political... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813335981
• ISBN13: 9780813335988
• Release Date: September 2001
• Publisher: Westview Press
• Length: 408 Pages
• Weight: 6.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.8" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

The Ramifications of the Cold War Upon Africa

Huband's investigative book on the travails of post-Cold War Africa is a good demonstration of the evolution, especially within the journalistic environment, that has occurred over the past decade; the discussions on touchy issues such as "ethnic" conflict (especially in Rwanda) and corruption are more refined, and the accusations of "great powers'" meddling more scathing.The chapters are arranged in a way which cannot fail but to reveal to the reader how Africa, as an idea, is really more a series of loosely connected "sub-regions" - North Africa, the Great Lakes, Southern Africa.I found that reading Mahmood Mamdani's enlightening, though slightly repetitive When Victims Become Killers (Princeton UP) before tackling Huband's book was quite helpful, as it, too, addresses the concepts of "race," "ethnicity," and lack of democracy (with the attendant corruption within state institutions). Reading both around the same time is sure to provide the reader a nuanced and in my opinion honest perspective on Africa.What I find utterly annoying in Huband's book, however, are the numerous quotes in French, most of which are plagued with misspelled words, over capitalization, and bad syntax. These quotes are superficial (the translations, which always follow within parentheses, would have sufficed) and give the reader the impression that the author is attempting to impress us with his (amputated) command of the French language. A consequence of this is that the errors they contain are downright distracting to those who, like myself, know French.There are better, more complete, books in which to learn the histories of the various conflicts that have plagued the African continent since the Cold War. But as an analysis of the political ramifications of the great power chess game upon the African people, Huband's book is worthy of our undivided attention. Moreover, his emphasis on corrupt, undemocratic governments in Africa is a powerful corrective (though he doesn't address this issue directly) to those in favor of debt forgiveness for highly indebted poor countries (HIPC).