Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Nov 2015
448 pages
Genre: History, Current Affairs and Religion
Publication Information
A vivid, powerful and controversial look at how the world gets Africa wrong, and how a resurgent Africa is forcing it to think again.
Africa has long been misunderstood--and abused--by outsiders. Correspondent Alex Perry traveled the continent for most of a decade, meeting with entrepreneurs and warlords, professors and cocaine smugglers, presidents and jihadis. Beginning with a devastating investigation into a largely unreported war crime - in 2011, when the US and the major aid agencies helped cause a famine in which 250,000 Somalis died - he finds Africa at a moment of furious self-assertion. To finally win their freedom, Africans must confront three last false prophets - Islamists, dictators and aid workers - who would keep them in their bonds.
Beautifully written, intimately reported, and sure to spark debate, The Rift passionately argues that a changing Africa revolutionizes our ideas of it, and of ourselves.
"Starred Review. Candid, smart, and self-aware, this work is an impressive accomplishment that does more to give Western readers context for Africa's current condition than any book in recent memory." - Publisher's Weekly
"This in-depth, investigative report will intrigue readers concerned with U.S. policy and its impact on African nations." - Library Journal
"A welcome addition to our understanding of Africa that occasionally overpromises and underdelivers." - Kirkus Reviews
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: burlisonphotography.com
Alex Perry has written for The New Yorker, Time magazine, Newsweek, The Daily Beast, Roads & Kingdoms, and others. He is the author of several nonfiction books and e-books including The Rift, Lifeblood, and Falling Off the Edge. He has earned numerous journalism awards, including honors from the Society of Publishers in Asia, the Foreign Press Association in London, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund in Washington. A native of Philadelphia, he lives with his family near London.
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