Review
"Authoritative books in English on the Congo are scarce, so this work by a leading Congolese academic is welcome."--Gail M. Gerhart, Foreign Affairs 3-4/01/03
"Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja is one among those very few intellectuals who possesses the background, the knowledge, the commitment and the vantage point from which to assess the historical possibilities for contemporary Congo." --Mahmood Mamdani, Herbert Lehman Professor of Government, Columbia University
"This book could not be more timely. It throws new light on the past struggle for democracy in the Congo while indicating possible directions for the future." --Mbaya Kankwenda, UNDP Resident Representative in Nigeria
It is refreshing to have a well-written popular history of the Congo by a Congolese scholar and sometime activist.
-Choice
"Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja is one among those very few intellectuals who possesses the background, the knowledge, the commitment and the vantage point from which to assess the historical possibilities for contemporary Congo." --Mahmood Mamdani, Herbert Lehman Professor of Government, Columbia University
"This book could not be more timely. It throws new light on the past struggle for democracy in the Congo while indicating possible directions for the future." --Mbaya Kankwenda, UNDP Resident Representative in Nigeria
It is refreshing to have a well-written popular history of the Congo by a Congolese scholar and sometime activist.
-Choice
Book Description
As this book shows, the People of the Congo have suffered throughout the past century from a particularly brutal experience of colonial rule, and a series of post-independence political conflicts. But as this insightful political history of the Congolese democratic movement of the 20th century decisively makes clear, its people have not taken these multiple oppressions lying down. Instead, they have struggled both to establish democratic institutions at home and to free themselves from exploitations abroad.
