Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart

click here for more details, find new or used items	Tim Butcher Our price £5.49 (£8.99) New from £0.72 Used from £0.01 Pages: 272 (Paperback) ISBN: 0099494280 Pub: Vintage Pub date: 2008-01-03 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 5337

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Reader Reviews:

As good as Raban (1/1 people found this helpful)

As a piece of travel writing this is every bit as good as Jonathan Raban, and I haven't found a book on Africa this compelling since reading the brilliant King Leopold's Ghost (Adam Hochschild) a decade ago. Exciting, horrifying, rich in insights about the current state of Africa yet full of fascinating historical detail it is an outstanding piece of work by somebody who knows exactly what he is doing. 10/10.

A Happy Christmas (3/4 people found this helpful)

I found this book on the shelf when I visited my son and family but didn't have time to read it then so took it to my daughter's for Christmas reading. Both my daughter and son-in-law saw it and asked to read it after me so I ordered another copy from Amazon to be sent to my son.
I thought it was a great story full of interesting historical, political and geographical facts but woven into the story which kept me focussed and wanting to read on. It really made my Christmas and I thoroughly recommend it.

Blood River - a journey today, but travelling back beyond the past (2/3 people found this helpful)

Tim Butcher was Africa correspondent for the UK's Daily Telegraph when he decided to follow Stanley's route of 1874-77 down the Congo from central Africa to the Atlantic. Butcher's story is both riveting and depressing. Riveting as he writes well of his travels and is able to punctuate his story with relevant historical outlines of a regions past and with well chosen and revealing interviews (he is a journalist after all) with local individuals.

However it is also a depressing tale of a country which, in Butcher's words is not underdeveloped, but is un-developing. It is clear that it's post Stanley colonial period under the Belgians was far from pleasant but even the limited gains of this period have vanished in the post-colonial chaos largely instigated not just by ex colonial powers and African neighbours keen to control the Congo's vast resources, but also by a failure of indigenous leadership which has appeared happier to exploit rather than govern the peoples of the Congo. To me it seemed, to use the parallels of the continent just across the ocean, that the Congo has resources & potential like Brazil, but the self-destructive politics of late 19th century Paraguay.

On a personal level Butcher's trip appears a unique event. The Congo no longer has cross country links - by road or river. Cities, towns and settlements survive on their own in isolation, retreating into the bush when trouble comes, as it often has. The United Nations has a tenuous presence, often providing the only sense of order, but even then this appears to be restricted to isolated key towns.

Butcher was really only able to travel because of outside agencies such as the UN from whom he hitched lifts on UN ships and aircraft. Although there is a telling remark by one UN official who describes him not as journalist, historian or tourist but as an "adventurer". The real heroes are the (very few) local aid agencies, such as Care International and International Rescue Committee, working in great danger and difficulty and who offer both lodging and transportation to Butcher across the Bush. At times I felt the "adventurer" in the author was unnecessarily endangering the lives (and work) of these people as he strove to accomplish his journey. It is noticeable that little real help was offered by those few Congolese companies and agencies in a position to assist.

It is clear that Stanley would still recognise the vast region if he were to return today - that is what ultimately is most depressing to the author, as well as the reader.

Enthralling and tragic... (2/3 people found this helpful)

This book harks back quite deliberately to the days of the 19th century colonial explorers like Henry Stanley, whose journey through the heart of the Congo Butcher sets out to emulate. It's an incredibly compelling read, the kind of adventure that just doesn't happen anymore, and Butcher is a very engaging and sympathetic travel companion.

But the Congo and its people is the real heart of this book, encompassing tragedy, brutality, corruption - a country that seems to be slipping backwards in time as the rest of the world moves forwards. Time and again Butcher talks about roads on maps that are no longer there, cities being reclaimed by the jungle, armoured cars and railway lines hidden beneath grass and ivy - the images are incredibly haunting. I couldn't put this down.

Easily read yet deep and satisfying (2/3 people found this helpful)

The title of the book left me cold, but I had been given it by a friend so I started to read it anyway.

I was very impressed! It is more than a simple travel story, Tim uses the narrative of his journey to tell the history of the Congo from the time of Stanley (only 140 years ago), through the brutal colonial period, the incompetence (and evil) of the Mbutu regime to the present anarchy where grandparents who were educated in normal cities now live with grandchildren who have never seen a motorbike or car.

His respect for the normal people of the Congo - and especially the local Aid workers who helped him - really comes through.

The book is the result of the combination of a good author with a deep knowledge of the history of the Congo and an exciting travel adventure. I highly recommend it.

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