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Summary: A superb picture and analysis of contemporary Africa
Comment: Ryszard Kapuscinski (d. 2007) was one of the great journalists of the last half of the 20th Century. In the English-speaking world, he may be the most famous and highly regarded journalist who wrote in a language other than English. Kapuscinski characterized his craft not as journalism but as "literary reportage." THE SHADOW OF THE SUN certainly exemplifies the distinction.
THE SHADOW OF THE SUN is the product of four decades of work in Africa as a reporter for Polish media. But it is not the typical journalist's account. It is written with artistry, skill, and a very keen literary sensibility. (For my taste, however, Kapuscinski resorts to rhetorical questions to keep his narrative going far too frequently.)
As fine as the writing is, the real reason for reading THE SHADOW OF THE SUN is for its content. It consists of about thirty chapters, a few of which follow one another in a continuous narrative, but most of which stand alone as vignettes or accounts of discrete incidents or journalistic missions in spearate countries across the African continent. Among the countries visited are Ghana, Tanzania, Nigeria, Mauritania, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Sudan, Somalia, Senegal, Ethipia, Liberia, Cameroon, Mali, and Eritrea. The composite effect is a compelling and sobering picture of Africa in the third of a century after the sudden dismantling of the colonial political structure. Although now ten years old (it was first published in Polish in 1998), I doubt that either the general picture or Kapuscinski's analytical insights are dated.
Probably the single most memorable "take" from the book is that in that third of a century, Africa became even "poorer and more wretched." The book is replete with snapshots of that poverty and misery, replete with examples that lead Kapuscinski to write that "Life here is a constant struggle, an endlessly repeated effort to tilt in one's favor the fragile, flimsy, and shaky balance between survival and extinction." Kapuscinski also offers, analytically and almost dispassionately, many reasons why Africa remains so poor and wretched, most of which, of course, have their roots in the colonization and exploitation by the West.
I second the opinion of others that THE SHADOW OF THE SUN is one of the very best books on Africa. Indeed, taking into account its readability and literary merit, it is, to my knowledge, the single best short book on that continent.
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Summary: One of my all-time favorites on Africa!
Comment: As always, Kapuscinski sheds a unique and insightful light on African conflicts - from the civilian perspective.
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Summary: The best short book if you want to understand something about Africa
Comment: This in my view is by far the best insight into what Africa is produced by a white man. Kapuscinski's perspective is different in that he is not from Britain, or France or other colonial power, or white man of Africa. He brings a different perspective to the usual selection of post-colonial literature. His skill of observation is incredible. After visiting and working in quite a few countries in Africa, I still find his perspective very insightful. His writing grabs you and you can't put down the book. If you want a short wise book, which reads easily and gives you a good idea of what Africa was/is ... this is the book.
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Summary: Mesmerizing
Comment: I could not put this book down. Poetic, persistent, compelling, a beautiful and sobering book about the African experience in recent history. Based on this book I am eager to read every book he has published.
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Summary: Excellent if sober portrait of Africa
Comment: Shadow of the Sun
Excellent introduction to the African continent. The author's writing is clear and beautiful. He writes in a way that richly evokes the images and experiences that he is going through, but his writing is light and to-the-point, not burdened with unnecessary or long-winded description. A master of writing style.
What also helps is that Kapuchinski truly has great insight into the people, systems, and cultures he encounters, and his experiences are truly unique and exciting because he was courageous enough to go where most white people did not.
The only "flaw" of this book was, for me, the fact that the overall picture of the African continent and its people was rather depressing. One finishes this book and despairs a bit for the future of Africa. It is all understandable: such great poverty, such unjust leadership systems, such corruption and rule of brute force, such lack of education and learning...how can things ever get better?
This feeling of desolation is what is leaning me against reading another of Kapuchinski's books, at least anytime soon. Moreover, although he wrote about lots of different places, the stories to some extent begin to sound very similar - they are mostly stories of brutality, oppression, injustice, poverty and hunger, lack of security, and random violence. Sure, the details of the "how" differ - but the "what" is quite similar. While I suppose that is the reality for a large part of Africa, I can't help feeling that once I have read one book like that, I already know to some extent what the next one will say.
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