Patrick Marnham

Road to Nowhere

Congo: The Epic History of a People

By

Fourth Estate 639pp £25 order from our bookshop

Stringer: A Reporter’s Journey in the Congo

By

Atlantic Books 265pp £12.99 order from our bookshop

Whether the Democratic Republic of Congo should properly be described, even today, as a country is open to question. Most readers probably regard the DRC as a land of exotic disease, extreme poverty, political chaos, massacres, rape and drug-crazed child soldiers. But in an area roughly the size of Western Europe, where there is no national road or rail system, there are many levels of daily reality. And if you say ‘war’ in the streets of Kinshasa, the capital city, the people are quite likely to hear ‘beer’ and expect the latest news of a different battle.

Follow Literary Review on Twitter

  • Last Tweets

    • Here's reviewing Rachel Kushner's novel about a woman caught in the injustice of the US prison system,… ,
    • 'Hart sets out to unsettle, startle and disturb. In this strange, disconcerting, radical version of a strange, disc… ,
    • Here is @MannJessica's June crime fiction round-up, discussing books by Georges Simenon, Jack Grimwood,… ,
    • John Stubbs reviews Stephen Greenblatt's latest, 'Tyrant: Shakespeare on Power' ,
    • RT : What happened when US military strategist Herman Kahn - one of Kubrick’s three models for Dr Strangelove - took LSD… ,
    • 'Pollan has no doubt that the use of psychedelics could have a powerfully beneficial effect on a range of condition… ,
    • A memoir about an Untouchable family and the 'formation of modern India': 'Ants among Elephants' by @gidla_sujatha… ,
    Follow Us