Livingstone's Tribe: A Journey from Zanzibar to the Cape |
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Stephen Taylor
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Pages: 272 (Paperback)
ISBN: 000655069X
Pub: Flamingo
Pub date: 2000-10-16
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 115938
Editorial Review:
Stephen Taylor grew up a white South African until, "sickened by the dour resentful racists" in charge of his country's destiny, he emigrated to Britain. "Livingstone's Tribe" traces a fascinating journey he took from Zanzibar in Eastern Africa through Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and back down to his former home, South Africa. The title refers to the white Africans who have stayed on in post-independence Africa-- but Taylor meets and talks with a wide range of both white and black Africans.
The book is part travelogue (Taylor describes the wonders he encounters), part historical accounts of whites in Africa (the "great explorers" of the 19th century are very well covered) and part personal memoir of black and white Africa--a place that's far from black and white in the moral sense, Taylor powerfully argues. Throughout his journey Taylor is sensitive to ambiguity, a quality that's rare in travel writing. His Kenya, for instance, captures both the lyrical beauty of Karen Blixen's Out of Africa and "the other Kenya, of state-sanctioned murder and glue-sniffing street children." Taylor grew up as a white South African, but his English provenance set him apart from both the natives and the Afrikaners. He is conscious of being marginal to Africa in a way that neither of these cultures is, and that self-consciousness gives his writing a subtlety and penetration lacking in other work on the same topic. The passages in which Taylor reflects on his childhood in South Africa, giving lucid insights into the divisions of that country, are the real triumph of the book. --Adam Roberts
Reader Reviews:
Intriguing glimpse of Modern Day Africa (5/6 people found this helpful)
I was fascinated by this book. It looks at the attitudes of people who have weathered the storm of independence in ex-colonies. As someone who is visiting Africa for the first time, I am intrigued by the people, politics and history of this continent, and this book echoed much of what I have learnt. A thoroughly good read.
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Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> Travel & Holiday -> General
Books -> Subjects -> Travel & Holiday -> General AAS
Books -> Subjects -> Travel & Holiday -> Countries & Regions -> Africa -> General AAS
Books -> Subjects -> Travel & Holiday -> Guidebook Series -> General AAS
Books -> Subjects -> History -> General
Books -> Special Features -> Bargain Books
Books -> Refinements -> Language (feature_browse-bin) -> English
Books -> Refinements -> Age (feature_two_browse-bin)
Books -> Refinements -> Format (binding_browse-bin) -> Paperback
Books -> Refinements -> Condition (condition-type)