Book Description
In a heartrending and astonishing novel, Eggers illuminates the history of the civil war in Sudan through the eyes of Valentino Achak Deng, a refugee now living in the United States. We follow his life as he's driven from his home as a boy and walks, with thousands of orphans, to Ethiopia, where he finds safety — for a time. Valentino's travels, truly Biblical in scope, bring him in contact with government soldiers, janjaweed-like militias, liberation rebels, hyenas and lions, disease and starvation — and a string of unexpected romances. Ultimately, Valentino finds safety in Kenya and, just after the millennium, is finally resettled in the United States, from where this novel is narrated. In this book, written with expansive humanity and surprising humor, we come to understand the nature of the conflicts in Sudan, the refugee experience in America, the dreams of the Dinka people, and the challenge one indomitable man faces in a world collapsing around him.
Customer Reviews:
Unusual mashup of real and fiction.......2007-10-16
There are a number of really excellent non-fiction autobiographies of the Lost Boys currently available, at least 5 of them. "What Is the What" is the only fictionalized account I am aware of. I've read some of the non-fiction accounts, and they are just as compelling, fascinating and dramatic as fiction; in many ways more so because they are factual and have a sense of "otherness" and level of specific detail. Although the novel has plenty of violence, it seems somewhat sterilized and made more palatable for the sensibilities of a middle class American audience - Deng's "voice" (really Eggers?) is confident and optimistic about the future, rarely did I sense the utter loneliness, despondency, hopelessness, weakness and fear that is palpable in the real autobiographies.
This is not a bad book, Eggers has created an entertaining work of art, not unlike what Charles Dickens did for the poor in "Oliver Twist", it serves to advance a social cause. But the real autobiographies are just as page-turning readable and even more emotionally moving because of their truthfulness. Literary critic Lee Siegel in "The New Republic" took the problem even further saying the novels "innocent expropriation of another man's identity is a post-colonial arrogance.. How strange for one man to think that he could write the story of another man, a real living man who is perfectly capable of telling his story himself -- and then call it an autobiography. Where is the dignity in that?" Francis Prose in "The New York Times" said the novel is very popular among younger readers in their 20s and I guess this is not surprising since fiction is usually more approachable and accessible than non-fiction, but there are some excellent real-life accounts, told in the actual words and voice of someone from Sudan, it is a challenge to step into someone else's world, but can be a transformative experience.
a powerful telling of one refugee's story and how it fits into a broader disaster.......2007-09-29
Over several years, a refugee (named Achak) from Sudan who has resettled in the United States (one of the "lost boys of Sudan") told his story to Dave Eggers. Eggers wrote a novel based on the story, and the result is excellent. Leaping back and forth through time, the fictional Achak tells of how he is forced from his village by the Sudanese civil war, travels hundreds (thousands?) of miles on foot from country to country and refugee camp to camp, and then how he arrives in the United States and adjust to life there.
Several times early in the reading I wondered, Why didn't Eggers just write the story of this guy's life rather than a novel "based" on it? Eventually I could see that the novel allowed Eggers to bring in characters, sub-stories, and dialogue to teach us not only Achak's story but also about the broader conflict, the other Sudanese conflict in Darfur, and the problems encountered by a broader net of re-settled refugees. Eggers seeks to (and I believe manages to) give enthrall us with Achak and convey an impressive amount of information at the same time.
I found one of his narrative devices mildly distracting: Achak narrates from the present-day, resettled in the USA, and most of flashbacks are in the form of his mentally telling people around him his story. For example, he meets someone at his work and imagines telling them about the time his buddy got eaten by a lion. But that's a quibble.
The audiobook reading by Dion Graham (published by BBC Audiobooks America) is very well done.
Note on content: Much of this book takes place in a war zone, so we see violence and intense human suffering. And in the USA, there is a mugging that involves lots of strong language (all in the book's first 50 pages).
Straightforward, Unpretentious Memoir.......2007-09-27
I'm a fan of Eggers, and even though I'm not crazy about how the precious and overly self-aware syle of writing in AHWOSG has seeped into literature, I think he has been an important influence. I was pleasantly surprised at how well he avoided his trademark style in this novel -- not that it's a bad thing in other contexts -- but because it wouldn't have worked here. As a result, this is a kind of sparsely (and well) written story. The only thing I thought was a little contrived was the device used to tell the story, which is that Valentino is telling his story to his captor in a robbery, and then some others. They aren't listening, so he's kind of recounting the story to the reader as though he was talking to the captor. I suppose it makes it more interesting than a simple straight-out memoir, but it's a little contrived. The fact that the modern day asides are so short is evidence that they could have just been cut out altogether. (One could say it's just creative, I suppose).
I found the story very interesting, and I would not have made it through any form of nonfiction about the same topic. THis is a credit to Eggers. The character development is credible, and the way he weaves the question "What is the What" through the novel is compelling and profound. It's very well constructed and told, and could be read by a wide age range. It's also fairly evenhanded in its treatment of the politics, and never gets preachy or self-important. (He in fact debunks many of the exaggerated stories of the Lost Boys, which I thought was a pretty brave thing to do).
If you are a fan of Eggers, you will appreciate this book unless you're just in love with his schtick, which is absent. If you're one of the haters (people love to hate AHWOSG, it seems), you might want to give this a try. I think Eggers will go down as a very important writer and this is very well done. And the profits go to charity!
A good book that gets better with diatance.......2007-09-08
There have been enough African horror stories in recent years to constitute a genre - the heart of darkness narrative. Most readers turn to these tales with a mixture of humane concern and prurient fascination. Back in Conrad's day, the European or American narrator generally found himself caught between warm fuzzy liberalism and the horror. In recent years, African narrators, often children, have been the ones whose innocence has been challenged by horrendous deeds and bestial actions done in the name of liberation but in the service of greed. The thin line between naivete and cynicism is particularly treacherous for writers who lived to tell the tale, but haven't had enough time to fully see their experience in perspective. By working with Dave Eggers, Valentino Achak Deng filters the story of his years as a lost boy, and thus provides the reader a chance to get close to him. I tend to shy away from confessional narrators like Ismael Beah, whose A Long Way Gone was too direct for my taste. I appreciated his tale, but it seemed too naïve.
The magic of What is the What is impressive. By creating creaky framing devices (the break-in of Part 1) and historical coincidences (the death of Diana Spencer and the destruction of the twin towers occur on significant days in Valentino's life), Eggers reminds us that this is a fiction based on a real life and actual incidents in Sudan's history. In the process of peeling off the artifice, the reader paradoxically draws closer to the young man who narrates the story. He preserves some mystery because we know that we don't know all that he might have said. We long to see him more clearly, just as we gaze at the drawing on the cover and wish that his eyes and features weren't obscured by shadow. But Valentino is himself trying to uncover the mysteries of fate, self, and the elusive "What," which seems both mystical and concrete.
There were times when I wanted more historical detail - religious conflicts and the promise of oil wealth explain the problem in broad terms, but Sudan has been part of public discourse for so long that one longs for more nuance. However, Valentino is not a political scientist, and the balance between naivete and knowledge is delicate. Eggers provides promising leads for the reader who wants more history. I loved the way the past and present narratives intertwined to make us sympathetic to Valentino's need for love and affection. His relationship with Tabitha was particularly affecting because we first experienced her in America and only gradually learned about the origins of their relationship. After he leaves his hometown to journey across Sudan with the Lost Boys, we forget about his parents for a long time, but we feel their absence keenly. Deng and Eggers have created a story rich in emotion and human feeling, no small task when facing the horrors of Sudan. In the end, we only know a little more about the situation in Sudan and Darfur, but we feel as if we have a Sudanese friend. And yet we can't even recognize his face or say for sure if his name is really Valentino Achak Deng.
A thought provoking and enjoyable read.......2007-09-05
Dave Eggers' What is the What is a fictional, yet truthful account of Sudanese refugee Valentino Deng and his life throughout civil war stricken Sudan and the United States of America. Eggers' retelling of Deng's life is not one of a robotic biography, but rather a fluid reminiscence interspersed with moments of the present and laced throughout with Eggers' own voice. The story is simultaneously frightening and beautiful, a feeling created by a combination of Deng's personal strength and Eggers' unique sense of timing and dark humor. This voice pokes fun at the ironies between Deng's life in America and Sudan. For example, the American Deng works the front counter at a health club in a county where almost 60 million people are overweight but while in Sudan he tried to get an extra ration card because food was scarce. There doesn't seem to by any anger at these ironies, Deng appears to be more confused by them then anything.
The plot is exciting enough to hold one's interest and be fun, yet still contains enough truth and soul to it to make you really think about Deng's plights during his journey. It is the ability to maintain this balance which truly takes the book from an interesting tale to a piece of literary art. The story itself is not only beautifully written, but expertly paced; on multiple occasions I found myself ready to put the book down for the night and turned the page to discover that I was at the end of a chapter. It is those little things that make the book an absolute joy to read. Also, I feel that I must mention the hardcover art is absolutely beautiful and protected the book from harm when I spilled a cup of tea on it, which is something I was pleasantly surprised by. What is the What is an great thought provoking, yet very accessible read, and I would recommend it to everyone.
Book Description
This unforgettable book is the first-person account of a miracle—indeed, a whole series of miracles. A tale of suffering, tragedy, and sorrow redeemed by indomitable resolve and a stubborn refusal to despair, it's set in a Sudan shadowed by unrelenting war and ruthless violence, yet illuminated by faith, generosity, and steadfast commitment to the human spirit's finest instincts. It's also the eloquently plain-spoken self-portrait of a young man who has looked death in the face many times and come away with an inner strength as impressive as it is modest and a wisdom as inspiring as it is matter of fact.
One of the uprooted youngsters known as the Lost Boys of Sudan, John Bul Dau was 12 years old when civil war ravaged his village and shattered its age-old society, a life of herding and agriculture marked by dignity, respect, and the simple virtues of Dinka tribal tradition. As tracer bullets split the night and mortar shells exploded around him, John fled into the darkness—the first terrified moments of a journey that would lead him thousands of miles into an exile that was to last many years.
John's memoir of his Dinka childhood shows African life and values at their best, while his searing account of hardship, famine, and war also testifies to human resilience and kindness. In an era of cultural clashes, his often humorous stories of adapting to life in the United States offer proof that we can bridge our differences peacefully. John Bul Dau's quiet pride, true humility, deep seriousness, compassionate courage, and remarkable achievements will take every reader’s breath away.
Customer Reviews:
Incredible will to survive combines with determination to go further.......2007-08-26
The subtitle of this excellent book ,i.e."the heartbreaking and inspiring journey of a lost boy of Sudan" is such that nothing could be more appropriate. And so does the illustration in the book's jacket design(credits to Newmarker films and Melissa Farris).
After the heart-wrenching feeling of losing their families, the incredible journey of John and the tens of thousands of lost Sudanese boys through a thousand or so miles of unknown and ferocious landscape is beyond human understanding! Yet, it was accomplished, with all those miserable conditions they carried, when they reached Ethiopia. From that land, they were again cruelly driven to the same misery until they reached the Kakuma Refugee Center in Kenya.
Perhaps in order to truly comprehend the essence of what the book narrates, the reader should imagine him/her self to be with the lost kids in their terrifying exodus. That these are YOUNG CHILDREN some as young as 8yrs and 6yrs!That they are NOT adults,like the MOSTLY ADULT refugees we hear about or the ADULT prisoners of war on their death march for a hundred miles more or less. Can anyone truly see a THOUSAND OR SO MILES of terrain associated with desolation,nakedness,terror,hunger,thirst,fear
disease,sorrow,despair and death by wild animals or hostile human beings?Immersed in this predicament,you LISTEN TO and HEAR their sobs,cravings for missing or dead parents,lament for dead or dying companions,cries from their wounds and broken bodies,slow death by starvation and the more
horrible sensation of dying of thirst leading to drinking their own or their friends'urine for survival,their fear of the night and the searing daytime. Then suddenly,gunshots,machine guns,mortars aimed at them!They panic and scatter in different directions to hide.
The aftermath of all these sufferings?-->dead bodies to bury.CHILDREN BURYING CHILDREN with sharp sticks from the bush and their bare hands for lack of axes or shovels. Can anyone comment if there is such a scenario elsewhere in the world,
past or present? Children burying children in a MASSIVE scale.
John's faith in God and himself made it possible to attain his goal from rural Africa to an American university.The adjustments and adaptations to an ultramodern world from a "stone age" type of existence by John and his Sudanese companions in America is fascinatingly told in the book.From there,he is resolved to accept the challenge to go FURTHER to help himself,his family and his people back in Sudan. He has also given us a gift which serves as an example that in the face of unbearable adversity, hope and success are still attainable with a strong faith and will. I'm sure that John Bul Dau has also spiritually added to the title of his book"God Grew Tired of Us" ...the words "But He Did Not Really Abandon Us."
This is a highly recommended reading for everone but perhaps particularly to our youth.
Inspiring.......2007-07-19
I've seen the movie twice and have met John Dau professionally a few times. The book goes into much more detail than the movie and is simply inspiring. His spirit and his honest insight into life is truly wonderful. After reading this book and learning about the horrors he has gone through in his life in Southern Sudan you wonder how he is not bitter or angry, which he does not seem to be in the least. He is simply moving forward. I'd recommend reading this book. His perspective on our country is refreshing and honest. We could all learn something from this man's integrity.
Amazing story of Grace in Tragedy.......2007-07-03
The author's experience in childhood rates among the all-time records of extremes of human suffering. The story is, however, much more than a record of suffering. It is a story of triumph and faith in the goodness of God without being trite or over-simplifying very complex paradoxes and inconsistancies in life. John Bul Dau is a living demonstration of the superiorty of faith, optimism, and determination over despair.
God Grew Tired of Us: A memoir.......2007-05-30
This book showed the human side of this tragic war in this country and how they survive. This made you aware of others and their struggles during the war in Africa. A must read on your list.
Mixture of Humor and Sadness.......2007-05-10
A daunting story of survival. Somehow the author though obviously scarred by the experience still finds humor, compassion and optimism with life. If you liked "Kite Runner" then give this one a try.
Book Description
This intense, vivid report and call to action from the heart of violent Darfur, by a former Marine working as an unarmed military observer for the African Union, is a powerful memoir of a young man's awakening to conscience and the first extensive on-theground account of the genocide in Sudan.
Former United States Marine Brian Steidle served for six months in Darfur as an unarmed military observer for the African Union. There he witnessed first-hand the ongoing genocide, and documented every day of his experience using email, audio journals, notebook after notebook and nearly 1,000 photographs. Gretchen Steidle Wallace, his sister, who wrote this book with Brian, corresponded with him throughout his time in Darfur. Fired upon, taken hostage, a witness to villages destroyed and people killed, frustrated by his mission's limitations and the international community's reluctance to intervene, Steidle resigned and has since become an advocate for the world to step in and stop this genocide.
The Devil Came on Horseback depicts the tragic impact of an Arab government bent on destroying its black African citizens, the maddening complexity of international inaction in response to blatant genocide, and the awkward, yet heroic transformation of a former Marine turned humanitarian. It is a gripping and moving memoir that bears witness to atrocities we have too long averted our eyes from, and reveals that the actions of just one committed person have the power to change the world.
Customer Reviews:
"welcome to hell".......2007-09-14
After four years as a captain in the Marines, in September 2004 Brian Steidle moved to Darfur, in western Sudan, where he joined an international team from the African Union to monitor the unfolding tragedy "where Arab Muslims kill African Muslims because the Africans are 'too black.'" Their team was unarmed and officially impartial to all sides; their duty was to "observe, inquire, and write reports," although by the end of his stint Steidle realized that of the 80 reports his team wrote only four reached the American Embassy by normal channels. When he left six months later he had assembled a comprehensive documentation of the Darfur genocide, including a photo archive of 3,000 pictures (twenty of which are included in the book), an audio journal he made on an MP3 player, personal notes, emails, and intelligence collected from some 30 NGOs.
Steidle's book is his eyewitness account of the horrors he documented on a daily basis-- children who had been shackled together, raped, and then burned alive; gang rape of women and girls of all ages; grotesque dismemberment of victims; the total burning of dozens of villages; the bull-dozing of camps for internally displaced victims; starvation; mass graves; jets and helicopter gunships slaughtering civilians; and endless cases of pillage and plunder. "Welcome to hell," one of his colleagues said when he first arrived. Estimates vary, but about 300-500,000 black African Muslims have been killed by the Sudan government (both army and police) and the janjaweed militia (literally "devil on a horse") that they have funded, trained (complete with graduation exercises), armed, and closely collaborated with in attacks. Another 2-3 million have been internally displaced. One of the most chilling pieces of evidence in his book, if anyone needed more evidence, is a government document specifying the steps they were taking to execute an official policy of ethnic cleansing. Most disheartening of all, Steidle understood that the Sudanese government knew that it could continue the genocide unabated because the international community would do nothing at all. Violence has spilled over into neighboring Chad and also threatened NGO and humanitarian workers. In addition to his book, Steidle has made a film that was released in the summer of 2007 (see www.thedevilcameonhorseback.com).
Open your eyes and raise your voices.......2007-09-10
Last night I saw the film `The Devil Came On Horseback'. Through the efforts of Brian and Gretchen Steidle, I was able to sweat in the baking sun and travel the raw dirt roads of Africa to bear witness to outrageously evil and willful acts of violence. I was also able to sit and sob with the victims of these horrendous acts - those who had lost their homes, their families and some their very flesh during this still ongoing genocide in Darfur. I was given the opportunity to see their beautiful souls as well as their great and dire need. To say that `The Devil Came On Horseback' was a wonderful and awe-inspiring film may sound strange. But as I watched the stories of individual survivors and the atrocities they had suffered, I felt my own sleeping spirit rise and a deep desire to help these people with whom I now felt so connected. I felt alive and blessed, strong and powerful and more fully awake than I had in years. Ironically, I am able to empathize with some of the individuals in the film. I believe we all have faced tragedy and loss in our lives. We all have scars from our personal battles - we have all felt alone and scared. The people of Darfur are right now fighting for their very existence. Why? Because they had the audacity to be born on a particular piece of land that some insane people think they should own exclusively? And doesn't this all sound awfully familiar? Haven't we seen these same hideous events way too many times in the past? Did you have the nerve to be born brown or Jewish or female? We are born into our various shapes, colors and beliefs. We are all different and yet so very much the same. We cannot be silent and accept the torture and murder of our fellow humans. We must tell all those who seek to harm others and specifically now those committing genocide in Darfur - WE SEE WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND IT IS NOT OKAY. YOU WILL STOP AND YOU WILL PAY. Please help open the eyes and raise the voices of everyone you know.
Hate to disagree but..........2007-08-16
While the topic is an absolute shocker and eye-opener for anyone, the book fails to deliver. I picked up the book to understand the conflict in Darfur. The book was more like a journal and I felt I was reading the same chapter over and over. I was looking for a better understanding of the steps that were taken to stop the conflict, the hurdles and the blockades. But I couldn't get that from this book. Probably has to do with the frustration I went through after chapter after chapter giving the brutality of the killings but The AU's lack of showing absolutely any progress than just making reports and taking pictures. Captain Brian has done a good job documenting all his research and findings but in my opinion this book is a very tunnel-eyed view of the conflict.
A Compelling Must Read.......2007-08-07
Of the many books written on Darfur, none is as compelling as Brian Steidle's book and video of the same name, THE DEVIL CAM ON HORSEBACK.
He does not pull punches. He makes you feel the suffering of the Darfur people and his own justified anger at a world that is doing precious little to stop this genocide. It is a book bravely written.
Highly recommended.......2007-06-06
I just got The Devil Came on Horseback, Bearing witness to the genocide in Darfur by Brian Steidle and Gretchen Steidle Wallace.
OH MY GAWD!!!
I read an article in the Calendar section about a documentary that was playing in Laemmle theaters either based on this book, or based on the same experiences that the book is based on. I followed a link or two on the internet and found this book. Basically, the author was assigned to Darfur to monitor a cease fire, and to document any violations (which were apparently rampant). I'm only 19 pages into the book so far, and
OH MY GAWD!!!
Well it's eye-opening. I've been listening to the news about Darfur, and was curious to know about what is behind the conflict (or who more particularly), and why is it persisting. I thought a first-hand account of someone who was actually there would be the best way to find out.
I have to give you a little snippet here that evoked the most emotion from me so far:
As far as I could tell, for women life was extremely difficult. Sudan was primarily a patriarchal society, yet the women were the laborers. They might walk five or six hours with huge bundles of firewood or five-gallon buckets on their heads to collect their daily water. Girls could be sold by their fathers into marriage for as little as two cows--roughly $400--and human trafficking was not uncommon. Women were stoned to death in some places if they cheated on their husbands, but men were legally allowed to take up to four wives. In almost all circumstances, men would not even stand next to a woman. The men would sit, and the women would stand behind them. I had heard that approsimately 90 percent of Sudanese women still undergo female genital mutilation, and I learned that there are two methods. The first removes only the clitoris, but the second procedure involves sewing the vagina closed, often using thorns.
I have certainly heard about the first form of mutilation, but not the second. I just think it is something no human should have to experience. And then a little later on the next page there is this little tidbit, "... there was a broadly believed myth that having sex with a virgin would cure you of AIDS." My goodness. No wonder AIDS is such an epidemic! Confronted with the same risks, I might want to sew up my vagina too. But I suppose it doesn't really stop the rapes.
I remember in school learning about things like the Holocaust and thinking, "Those were the olden days. The world is civilized now." Naive doesn't even begin to cover it.
No, I think atrocities like these will never really end unless and until we can confront the evils within ourselves. What can lead a human to do to another human such inhumane things?
Book Description
In February, 2003, the Sudanese Liberation Army in Darfur (the western region of Sudan) after years of oppression took up arms against the Sudanese government. The government and allied militias answered the rebellion with mass murder, rape and the wholesale destruction of villages and livelihood, resulting in one of the world's largest humanitarian and political crises. Up to 2 million people were displaced; 400,000 people killed.
In October and November, 2004, after watching woefully inadequate media coverage on the crisis in Darfur, a team of three independent filmmakers trekked to Darfurian refugee camps in eastern Chad and crept across the border into Darfur. They met dozens of Darfurians, and spoke with them about their history, hopes and fears, and the tragedy they are living.
Refugees and displaced peoples, civilians and fighters resisting the Sudanese government, teachers, students, parents, children and community leaders provide the heart of Darfur Diaries. Their stories and testimonies, woven together through the personal experience of the filmmakers, and conveyed with political and historical context, provide a much-needed account to help understand Darfur. These are people whose lives, homes, safety and rights deserve to be protected as vigilantly as those of peoples all over the world.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent book.......2007-08-24
This is unlike any other documentary type book. This is what happened around the documentary (the film). Behind the scenes story that is just so touching and wonderful. It's a must read!
"flattened... against the scarce shadow of a mud-brick wall".......2007-05-17
In 2003, the Sudanese government and Janjaweed dramatically escalated their campaign of violence against the people of Darfur, killing thousands, forcing millions from their villages, and turning the once-stable region into a wasteland of starvation and disease. Upon arriving in Darfur, Marlowe writes: "I had been to other scenes of large-scale devastation. In all those places, people seemed to spring up out of the remnants the way weeds stubbornly grow in cracks of a sidewalk... But here, it was different. It was almost entirely depopulated... Even the birds had left. The only sound was the wind and the hard sand crunching beneath our feet" (75-6).
I was prepared for either a detached historical report driven by dates and events, or a gutwrenching depiction of hunger, sickness, and mass graves. On the contrary, Darfur Diaries consists of a series of interviews and conversations with displaced people, refuges, and members of the makeshift Darfurian rebel army, interwoven with the author's impressions of the landscape, the people, their customs, and their challenges. How do they live? How do they survive dispossession, lack of food and water, familial fracture, lack of medicine, and the intense desert heat and cold? How do they cope with the brutalities of rape, injury, mass murder, and widespread material destruction? How do they sustain their sanity? Where do they find hope?
I was impressed with the openness of the questions asked, which allowed the interviewees to speak from the depths of their own experiences, rather than responding to some pre-set agenda on the part of Marlowe and fellow documentarians Adam Shapiro and Aisha Bain. The result is a complex weave of human personality: dignity, humility, anger, humor, gentility, forgiveness, desperation, and hard endurance.
Most amazing to me was the persistent emphasis on education. Education is a priority held as high among the Darfurian people as life itself. Volunteer teachers work with children in refuge camps in clusters under the leafless skeletons of trees, sand blowing in their faces--no books, nothing to write with, or on. Some of these children sit through a day of lessons without food or water.
In fact, Marlowe's striking insights into the impact of the hardships and violence on the Darfurian children demonstrate a piercing depth of empathy. Towards the beginning of her journey, she writes: "Knowing what I did, I wanted to find some way to protect them: from their pasts, which I could scarcely imagine when looking at their quick smiles, and from their futures, which were so precarious" (33). In a Chadian refuge camp on the border of Sudan, she recalls "A small boy, around four years old, settled into the sand next to me... He rested his hand on my arm. He wanted to make sure I knew he was there" (34). Indeed, Marlowe knows they are there. She never fails to notice the tiny silent faces peering on from behind the torsoes of their remaining family members.
Darfur Diaries is an incredible effort to bridge the gap between the dire realities of genocide and America's resistance to fathom the atrocities that are steadily eroding Darfurian society and culture. One thing I did not realize until I read this book was that the government is actually bombing its own people!! The situation is utterly intolerable, especially given the luxuries we Americans take for granted on a daily basis, and yet, life goes on, and this is the story of the lives left behind.
After 4 years of crisis in Darfur, this book is a must-read.......2007-03-26
"Darfur Diaries" not only provides a clear, accurate, and understandable roadmap to the conflict in Darfur, it introduces the reader to an engaging group of Darfurians. As individual characters, they are likeable, idiosyncratic, and even humorous, despite the tragic circumstances in which they are caught.
Because the authors care about the Darfurians they meet as individuals, their portrayal of the broader crisis in Darfur is all the more urgent and compelling.
Darfurians speak for themselves.......2007-03-12
This is a multi-layered, extremely readable and informative book. It is first and foremost a vehicle through which the authors allow Darfurians to speak for themselves regarding their travails, fears, hopes and dreams. It is also a fascinating travelogue of the authors' adventure, their experiences in eastern Chad and Darfur -- They had to overcome enormous logistical obstacles and take great risks to sneak into Darfur and document the havoc wrought by the Government of Sudan and its Janjaweed proxies. The book also includes rich reflections on technical challenges and ethical issues involved in creating a documentary film about events in Darfur.
Darfur Diaries is tender, thoughtful, and thought-provoking. It reflects the authors' courage without being self-glorifying, and it never loses sight of its most important objective, which is to allow Darfurians to speak for themselves. The Darfurians that the reader meets are eloquent and vulnerable, courageous and surprisingly positive in light of the living hell that most have experienced. Jen Marlowe and her collaborators do an outstanding job at putting very human faces on the victims of the ongoing Darfur tragedy and thereby giving them back their dignity. In the course of the narrative, the reader also meets a fascinating supporting cast, including United Nations staff and NGO workers, among others. While it is not a central focus of the book, one gets a sense of some of the challenges in conducting humanitarian work in a conflict zone.
The authors do a very good job of weaving in historical and social context and a bit of political analysis without undermining the book's readability, and the foreword by Francis Deng is helpful in this regard. As a result, this is a rare book through which one can get a rich, up-close idea of what is happening on the ground while also receiving a useful introduction to the big picture, the context in which the story unfolds. The book also has a number of decent, provocative photos as well as a simple but useful map.
In sum, I heartily recommend this well-written, engaging, and accessible book. This said, I have one major criticism and one minor criticism of Darfur Diaries. The major criticism is that the authors do a great job of depicting the rich humanity of the "African" Darfurians who are the primary victims of the current conflict, but "Arab" Darfurians who have historically been almost as exploited, manipulated and neglected by Sudan's central government remain two-dimensional. The authors recognize this failing, and it seems largely a consequence of limited time and lack of access, given that they had entered Sudan illicitly, with support from SLA rebels. Nonetheless, to fully understand the complexity of Darfur, it is important to understand that Arabs and Africans in the zone have tended to get along historically, and a big part of the current tragedy is the wedge that has been driven between them.
My minor criticism is that the book has no index -- there is enough contextual detail that it would have been quite useful.
Brings humanity to faceless statistics.......2007-02-19
Darfur Diaries puts a human face on the statistics we read about each day. The writing is fluid, accessible, sometimes sad and engrossing. The writer eloquently paints a picture of the situation in Darfur and those who are most affected by it. Recommended reading for anyone seeking a better understanding of the effect of genocide on its victims.
Book Description
In mid-2004 the Darfur crisis in Western Sudan forced itself onto the center stage of world affairs. Arab Janjaweed militias, who support the Khartoum government, have engaged in a campaign of violence against the residents of Western Sudan. A formerly obscure `tribal conflict' in the heart of Africa has escalated into the first genocide of the twenty-first century. In sharp contrast to official reaction to the Rwandan massacres, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell called the situation in Darfur a "genocide" in September 2004. Its characteristics-Arabism, Islamism, famine as a weapon of war, mass rape, international obfuscation, and a refusal to look evil squarely in the face-reflect many of the problems of the global South in general and of Africa in particular.
Journalistic explanations of the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe have been given to hurried generalizations and inaccuracies: the genocide has been portrayed as an ethnic clash marked by Arab-on-African violence, with the Janjaweed militias under strict government control, but neither of these impressions is strictly true. Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide explains what lies behind the conflict, how it came about, why it should not be oversimplified, and why it is so relevant to the future of the continent.
Gérard Prunier sets out the ethnopolitical makeup of the Sudan and explains why the Darfur rebellion is regarded as a key threat to Arab power in the country—much more so than secessionism in the Christian South. This, he argues, accounts for the government's deployment of "exemplary violence" by the Janjaweed militias in order to intimidate other African Muslims into subservience. As the world watches; governments decide if, when, and how to intervene; and international organizations struggle to distribute aid, the knowledge in Prunier's book will provide crucial assistance.
Customer Reviews:
Clarity Triumphs Over Cliche.......2007-08-05
If you will read just one book about Darfur, I can't imagine a better choice. Nothing else I've read so deftly sorts through Darfur's complex history, making clear how geographic, economic, social and political strands of the region's past made it vulnerable to the crimes perpetrated there. Prunier takes a seemingly incomprehensible story and makes it almost perfectly comprehensible. Prunier shatters all the myths and cliches that pervade media accounts of the conflict and so vex critical thinkers, who know that it can't be that simple- that there is more and at the same time, less to the story. His analysis of the Sudan's history is concise, compelling and dead on. Moreover, though the North-South war which raged for over 40 years is not the book's focus, he brilliantly analyzes how that struggle relates directly to Darfur. Chillingly, he explains how, for the Khartoum government, its actions ( and inactions ) in Darfur are perfectly logical and, from their perspective, quite effective. As one reads Prunier, he can imagine how readers years ago must have been sickened and yet, oddly "reassured "( I can't find the right word ) when they realized that the Holocaust was explainable. I say this not to compare Darfur to the Holocaust. Prunier doesn't do that either. What I refer to is the provision of explanation for events so mind-bogglingly horrible that one wants to grasp the causes, yet fears that this can't be done. If you are compelled to understand the historical roots of this horror, order Prunier now.
Poor Editing Harms Presentation.......2007-07-27
I'm not an expert on Darfur nor do I spend much time reading about Aftrican politics. I came to this book in the hopes of understanding the Darfur crisis better. Parts of this book are excellent, but the poor editing and confused chronology for the updated section at the end nearly make the book useless for the uninformed reader. The first section on historical background is fascinating and for the most part clearly written, although it would have been useful to offer a clearer chronology of events in Chad, which have an important impact on Darfur.
Unfortunately, the editors did not take the time to correct numerous spelling, syntax and grammatical errors that existed in the 2005 version. I'm not a good copy editor with my own work, but these errors were so numerous and obvious as to be a bit disheartening.
But this is a mere annoyance compared to the confusing additional text added in this "revised" edition. (1) The glossary of Arabic terms is useful, but incomplete. (2) The list of abbreviations is incomplete, and quite often the abbreviations are not even spelled out with their first use. Try to figure out what AMIS stands for. (3) There are numerous mistakes and inconsistencies in the use of abbreviations. On page 161 the Common Peace Agreement (CPA), which one does not find in the list of abbreviations, is misspelled as DPA! Or does the author mean the DPA, another unlisted acronym?! Try sorting this out as a non-specialist. The author switches randomly between the use of the abbreviation SLA and SLM for a key rebel group - it's the same group, but again very confusing. I was only able to understand this based upon other outside reading. No explanation is given in the text.
Finally, the constant temporal shifts that occur in the "new and revised text," which should take the reader through 2005 and 2006 is almost on the edge of being useless, unless the reader is so familiar with the material that the reader can sort out the confusion. Read the final pages and tell me, if you can, when the DPA, another abbreviation not listed at the front, was signed, in 2005 or 2006? You'll have to look elsewhere for the answer to this important and basic question.
The editors of the Cornell University Press series Crises in World Politics, have done much better elsewhere with "Peace at Any Price - How the World Failed Kosovo," a far superior work on a similar topic. This book does not live up to that standard. - Mark A. Wolfgram
"...simple killing is boring, especially in Africa,".......2007-04-17
writes author and "renowned analyst of East Africa, the Horn, Sudan, and the Great Lakes of Africa," Gérard Prunier in his explanation (Pp 155, 156) of why he believes that the situation in Darfur does not qualify as genocide - (because there was not an attempt to "destroy a racially, religiously, or politically predefined group in its entirety,") although he admits that it actually makes no difference how exactly it is defined. His explanation of this one point is clear; however, the rest of the book is extremely difficult to follow due to its concise, complex, research paper-like style. In the first paragraph, he states that the introductory chapter, "...aims at giving...an overview to enable the non-specialist reader to grasp the context in which the crisis developed." That may be the case, but this reader felt only minimally enlightened on the subject of Darfur after having read Chapter 1 (twice), and the remaining five, even having taken notes along the way. Prunier's attempt to explain the situation in Darfur to everyman types is no better than that of Julie Flint and Alex de Waal in their Darfur: A Short History of a Long War - an equally tough read.
Two lies and two truths.......2007-02-10
This book makes to bold faced lies. First it claims the British governate of the Sudan tried to keep the people 'stupid' and underdeveloped. This is a blatent lie. The British administration was the one that outlawed slavery and the one that rolled back a thousand years of Arab-white Islamic colonialism and freed the African people of Sudan from bondage. The second major lie of this work is that the genocide supposedly comes out of a mere 'competition' for resources. This is like saying all genocides are just about 'resources' a typical marxist intepretation that is short sighted and wrong. The fact is that white Muslim Arab slavers dominated and colonized Sudan and through many 'jihads' extended their influence deep into Africa, destroying and depopulating part of the continent. These people were angry when the Africans, their Libyan supporters and earlier the British had encouraed the African Blacks to think of themselves as people and not the inherent property of Arabs from Saudi Arabia who dealt in them as they dealt in oil. Even Bin Laden owned black slaves in Sudan. When the Blacks revlted against the racist aparthied government in khartoum the government responded with genocide.
This book is the typical 'economics is everything' drivle. It should be commended for at least calling what is happening 'genocide' but it points to all the wrong causes and reasons. The difference between genocide and conflict is that one is race and hate based and this is what has taken place in Sudan.
Seth J. Frantzman
Comprehensive and Eye-Opening work.......2007-01-27
As Yehudit Ronen stated, Prunier rightly labels the response of the international community to the atrocities in Darfur, a "regression of civilization," a description he convincingly argues for in this comprehensive and eye-opening work. In it, he analyzes the historical roots of the conflict in Sudan's western region and discusses why international efforts to halt the tragedy in Darfur have been so impotent.
Prunier takes the reader to the early history of Darfur as an independent sultanate and relates the human movement into the region of people who now constitute Darfur's diverse ethnic makeup. He details the subsequent annexation of Darfur to Sudan and shows how British benign neglect toward the region began an important trend that endured in the era of independence. Prunier surveys the frustration of democratic politics in Darfur and the devastating famine of the mid-1980s in which about 100,000 people died. He addresses the Libyan interference in Darfur to promote Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi's war in Chad. This, he explains, was a critical cause in pitting the Darfurian "Arab" ethnic groups ("tribes" in Prunier's parlance) against their "African," Muslim co-religionists. It was during the chaotic circumstances in the region between 1985 and 1988, Prunier explains, that the pattern of Arab militia attacks on African villages was first established, and atrocities similar in manner, although not in scale, were perpetrated by the dreaded Janjaweed, the "evil horsemen."
Prunier describes how the cynical opportunism of Hasan Abdallah al-Turabi, the Arab Islamist who had led Sudan jointly with Omar al-Bashir after 1989, further fuelled the combustible components of the Darfurian reality. Turabi's political machinations aimed at removing Bashir from power and gaining sole leadership of the country. The catastrophic results of this power struggle, won by Bashir, would be played out on the backs of the Darfurians and Sudanese society as a whole.
At times bitter, at times scornful, Prunier illustrates the neglect of the international media in bringing the crisis to world attention, largely because of the lack of a catchy angle for another African horror story. Prunier states that the international community also paid little attention to the Darfurian violence due to a combination of reasons, among them the overwhelming desire to finally solve the preexisting Sudanese civil war in the south, the U.S. preoccupation with the insurgency in Iraq, and Khartoum's cooperation in Washington's war on terror. Darfur was thus given a backseat in international priorities as the Janjaweed murdered, pillaged, burned, and raped their way through the region.
While not discussing in depth the socioeconomic problems of Sudan--problems crucial in the ignition of the Darfur fire--Prunier contends that it was notions of race in Darfur that led to the horrors there. Despite the ethnic mixing in the region and the blurred racial lines between Africans and Arabs, this distinction was superimposed on the varied ethnic groups of the region, then exploited by the ruling Arab elite in Khartoum. The possibility of a racial alliance between the Darfurian rebels and their southern "brothers" terrified these rulers. Prunier claims that the killing in Darfur should not be seen as genocide, since the aims of the Sudanese government were not to eradicate a people but rather to carry out the brutal suppression of what was seen as an existential threat. Whatever term one uses, however, the carnage and misery unleashed by Khartoum and its Janjaweed cohorts remains just as horrific.
Book Description
Thirty years ago, Pulitzer Prize—winning author and journalist Philip Caputo crossed the deserts of Sudan and Eritrea on foot and camelback, a journey that inspired his first novel, Horn of Africa, and awakened a lifelong fascination with Africa. His travels have since taken him back to Sudan, as well as to Kenya, Somalia, and Tanzania, and from those experiences he has fashioned Acts of Faith, his most ambitious novel. A stunning and timely epic, it tells the stories of pilots, aid workers, missionaries, and renegades struggling to relieve the misery wrought by the civil war in Sudan.
The hearts of these men and women are in the right place, but as they plunge into a well of moral corruption for which they are ill-prepared, their hidden flaws conspire with circumstances to turn their strengths–bravery, compassion, daring, and empathy–into weaknesses. In pursuit of noble ends, they make ethical compromises; their altruism curdles into self-righteous zealotry and greed, entangling them in a web of conspiracies that leads, finally, to murder. A few, however, escape the moral trap and find redemption in the discovery that firm convictions can blind the best-intentioned man or woman to the difference between right and wrong.
Douglas Braithwaite, an American aviator who flies food and medicine to Sudan’s ravaged south, is torn between his altruism and powerful personal ambitions. His partners are Fitzhugh Martin, a multiracial Kenyan who sees Sudan as a cause that can give purpose to his directionless life, and Wesley Dare, a hard-bitten bush pilot who is not as cynical as he thinks he is and sacrifices all for the woman he loves.
They are joined by two strong women: Quinette Hardin, an evangelical Christian from Iowa who liberates slaves captured by Arab raiders and who falls in love with a Sudanese rebel; and Diana Briggs, the daughter of a family with colonial roots in Africa, who believes that her love for her adopted continent might be enough to save it.
Pitted against them is Ibrahim Idris ibn Nur-el-Din, a fierce Arab warlord whose obsessive quest for an escaped concubine undermines his faith in the holy war he is waging against Sudan’s southern blacks.
In a harsh yet alluring landscape, these and other vividly realized characters act out a drama of modern-day Africa. Grounded in the reality of today’s headlines, Acts of Faith is a captivating novel of human complexity that combines seriousness with all the seductive pleasure of a masterly thriller.
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Acclaim for Acts of Faith
“Philip Caputo, from Vietnam onwards, has understood the hardest truths of the modern world better than almost anybody. Acts of Faith is a stunningly unflinching novel. On the surface it is set in Africa, but in fact its true landscape is the ravaged soul of the twenty-first century. Philip Caputo is one of the few absolutely essential writers at work today.” –Robert Olen Butler
“In Acts of Faith Philip Caputo has fashioned a gripping cast of characters and placed them in a spellbinding story. You can’t get any better than that.” –Winston Groom
“Caputo’s ambitious adventure novel, set against a backdrop of the Sudanese wars, makes for a dense, riveting update on Graham Greene’s The Quiet American . . . Caputo presents a sharply observed, sweeping portrait, capturing the incestuous world of the aid groups, Sudan’s multiethnic mix, and the decayed milieu of Kenyan society.” –Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Acts of Faith offers an image of Africa deserving comparison with Conrad, Hemingway, Peter Matthiessen, and Jan de Hartog’s forgotten near-masterpiece The Spiral Road.” –Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Philip Caputo is a splendid, muscular story teller who possesses the crucial power to make endearing ordinary men from diverse fragilities and stubborness.” —Gloria Emerson, Los Angeles Times
“For the past twenty years, Caputo has written parables of hubris upbraided, populated by outsiders whose defects lead them into trouble as unerringly as does fate.” —David Haward Bain, New York Times Book Review
“Caputo lets no one and nothing off the hook.” —Richard Bausch, Washington Post Book World
“Caputo takes on most of the hot-button issues of our time–racism, random violence, disempowerment, the decay of social fabric, even the nature of evil itself–and more than lives to tell the tale.” —Roget L. Simon, Los Angeles Times
Acclaim for Philip Caputo's previous books:
The Voyage
“An adventure filled sea story.” —Andrea Barrett, The New York York Times Book Review
“Genuinely exciting . . . Caputo’s prose is a pleasure . . . The ending satisfies completely, adding layers of intriguing meannig to the already rich adventure story.” —Debra Spark, Chicago Tribune
“A compellig novel that offers both rousing adventure and penetrating insight into the mystery that is family.” —Library Journal
“A high seas classic combined with a mystery . . . a complicated psychological drama . . . an engaging study of the emotional life of young me . . . [their struggles] toward independent adulthood, their rage and love for an unapproachable father.” —Paul Kafka, San Francisco Chronicle
“Caputo is a conjurer of rich atmosphere; he knows the sea and sailing. But he also knows the ways of building finely shaded characters. Readers will find all his talents on display here.”--Brad Hooper, Booklist
“Strongly imagined . . . those who plunge headlong into its dark waters will not soon forget the experience.” Kirkus Reviews
Exiles
“What makes Exiles extraordinary is the lead story, “Standing In,” . . . Here Mr. Caputo brings fresh subtlety to the psychology of exile. It is one of the most engaging works of fiction he has yet produced.” --Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, New York Times
“Philip Caputo is a splendid, muscular story teller who possesses the crucial power to make endearing ordinary men from diverse fragilities and stubborness.” —Glor
Customer Reviews:
600 pages of people hooking up in the middle of the Sudan.......2007-09-17
Acts of Faith is a book about a cast of characters who strive to do humanitarian work in the Sudan for a good reason, but slowly drift away from their original reason of why they came there in the first place.
Douglas Braithwath, the main "entrepeneur" of the operation runs an airline company called Knight Air that drops relief supplies illegally in the Southern Sudan mountains, and while his dreams of helping the Sudanese people are legit at first, he eventually becomes obsessed with profit margins and getting more planes. The story is fleshed out by Doug's cast of pilots and relief workers that are under his command or use his airline regularly for Sudan travel.
This book written by Caputo as his latest creation explores "somewhat" the crises in Sudan during the mid 90s. Caputo is an exceptional creative writer, giving the reader a feeling of "being there" in the Sudan, even to the point of feeling the tics and flys biting you while you read the novel. The pace of the novel moves fairly slow, with a few moderately intense action scenes. Beyond the surprise attack air raids and the injuring of a few key cast members, the focus of the book is each person's inner monologue.
And what a monologue these characters portray. In the process of the novel, every female character written into the story sleeps with another person. The book details with pinpoint accuracy the events leading up to one person sleeping with another, so much so that its just plain boring with 20 or more pages of it devoted to each person's affair. Am I supposed to be reading about the atrocities of the Sudan, or how people want to have sex with one another in the middle of a war?
The premise of the book is just not interesting, and it's largely unexplored until Michael, an SPLA officer in the story explains it by the middle of the book. People believe in acts of faith for a better tomorrow, which is why people like the characters in the story do what they do. The central theme however is masked with so much love and sexual tension towards one another that Caputo writes in the novel, I'm not at all impressed by the ending. I believe Caputo intended this to happen, but after reading the sexual stories of Quinnette and Michael, Lady Diana and Fitzhugh, Tony and Mary and Wes Dare (which was a horrid name choice for a character, Dare???), it was just a moot point that could have been explained in less words.
I feel like this was a book written for romance novelists or avid porn watchers who want a really good storyline before getting to the juicy "sex scene". I wish this novel explored more of the inner workings of the characters rather than the animal desires each of them had toward each other. It didn't contribute to the story, and made for a boring read. At 600 pages long, I recommend reading something else to bide the time.
Fantastic...except for a bad habit of simile..........2007-08-31
My review will be brief, as I have only one bone to pick with the author. What I thought was first an issue that demonstrated a sexist and dehumanizing behavior within third person limited narrative, I was dismayed to discover that this "bad habit" (of comparing women with animals) was a offensive crutch Caputo leaned on throughout the novel. My evidence:
Her black skin sparkled with sweat, and when she pressed down, the muscles in her arms and along her ribs stood out, like those in a slightly underfed leopard. (196)
Oh, and the way she would whisper 'I am here,' and then turn over on the sleeping mat and arch her back, presenting herself like a lioness in heat... (197)
She made some animal-like croaking sound. (251)
Her skin was as black as a panthers and she moved like one... (310)
"I don't think so. I looked at you and thought, 'she has the legs of a gazelle.'" (396)
She rose to her knees in a feline crouch, sighed through clenched teeth as he penetrated her... (424)
They made love like wildcats... (528
There was something about Yamila that Quinette sensed intuitively--she was an implacable natural force, as unconscious as a lioness seeking a mate. (540)
There she stood, all feline sinew, leverage in her braided muscles... (542)
Yamila's demeanor and expression underwent a dramatic change whenever he was near, the she-leopard domesticating herself instantly into a demure kitten. (557)
Women are consistently dehumanized to animals--particularly large cats--in this novel, especially when they are in a sexual situation (either complicit or forced) and when two women interact. Because this happens with regularity in ACTS OF FAITH, I find it to be an unforgivable habit of Caputo's. I nearly stopped reading this book because of this regular crime of comparison, but was unable to because of the compelling and significant subject matter. It's unfortunate that such a fantastic book (and writer) has stooped to such a level. I hope that Caputo, writers, and readers are able to see this damaging cliché for what it is.
If you enjoyed The Poisonwood Bible..........2007-07-12
Well-developed characters with an intriguing plot. 200 pages into the book, I began to fret about the book coming to an end. The "cheat sheet" list of characters was helpful to refresh my memory when I didn't have time to read for a few days.
Fantastic Depiction Of Compromise's Aftermath.......2007-06-08
Acts of Faith is one of those rare works of fiction that takes the reader to someplace outside of their realm of experience, and leaves them feeling better for taking that journey. Caputo does a masterful job of depicting an environment where selfless action is a coincidental byproduct of fulfilling personal interest. Best of all, he does it with energetic prose, realistic characters with which a reader can identify, and dialog that is believable. The result is a book that is epic in scope, yet intimate in its portrayal of the compromises which bring life to the cliché that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Acts of Faith is a monumental work that deserves a place on everyone's reading list.
Understanding Sudan .......2007-05-16
This was such a great book! The characters are so well described, I felt like I was almost a part of their life, and right there with them. His descriptions of Sudan itself, the flying, the Nuba region and people, certainly helped me to understand how complex the political situation is in Sudan. I read in the paper about current events (2007), and Mr. Caputo's book now helps me to put them in perspective. There isn't any easy solution, but at least now I can read between the lines of the media accounts.
The review that mentioned the fast pace towards the end of the book , is so true. I didn't want it to end, yet my eyes were racing over the pages to keep up with the action.
Average customer rating:
- review by amanda g
- eye opening
- An Inspiring Memoir of the American Dream
- Heart warming and inspiring
- Miracles in many forms
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Of Beetles and Angels: A Boy's Remarkable Journey from a Refugee Camp to Harvard
Mawi Asgedom
Manufacturer: Little, Brown Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0316826200 |
Book Description
Originally self-published in hardcover in 2000, this acclaimed memoir is now in a revised paperback edition, complete with 14 black and white photographs and a new epilogue. Here is an unforgettable true story of a young boy's remarkable journey from a refugee camp in Sudan to an affluent Chicago suburb where his family survives on welfare.Following his father's advice to "treat all people - even the most unsightly beetles - as though they were angels sent from heaven," Mawi Asgedom overcomes racial prejudice, language barriers, and financial disadvantage, eventually realizing his dream of a full-tuition scholarship to Harvard University. Of Beetles and Angels is a compelling survival story sure to inspire readers of all ages and backgrounds.
Customer Reviews:
review by amanda g.......2006-12-13
Scared for your life in the midst of a civil war. Then put into a Sudanese refugee camp, disconnected from your father but left with your terrified mother and siblings. After a while, you are reunited with your father, and your entire family is together. Then in America, where you must start over in an alien place, where you get most of your possessions from dumpsters. This was the childhood experience that Mawi Asgedom underwent.
The book "Of Beetles & Angels" shows the extraordinary experiences throughout Mawi Asgedom's young life, which led him to America and to graduate from Harvard University. His amazing story shows the hardships, as well as the joyful occasions, as he discovers American culture and starts an American life. I thoroughly enjoyed his book and believe that I caught a glimpse at just how hard his childhood was.
The chapters within the book are separated into different stories and times of Mawi's life. This way, the reader truly gets to see how wonderful and cruel our country can be to those who are starting over in a new place, and how Mawi and his family start in a new and foreign place. The book also shows Mawi's experiences viewing racism, biased brutality, and what it is like to be noticeably different from most others around you. " Most of our classmates treated us nicely, others ignored us, and the rest -- well, we could only wish that they would ignore us. We may not have understood their words, but we always understood the meaning behind their laughter. `African boodie-scratcher! Scratch that boodie!' `Black donkey! You're so ugly!' `Why don't you go back to Africa where you came from?' We were just two, and they were often many. But they had grown up in a wealthy American suburb, and we had grown up in a Sudanese refugee camp. We were accustomed to fighting almost daily, using sticks, stones, wood chips, and whatever else we could get our hands on. So it was usually no contest, especially when the two of us double-teamed them, as we had done so many times in Sudan. The cruelty of brutal beatings and the name calling left Mawi and his older brother scared and unsure about their new found home America.
Mawi Asgedom's parents dreamed that their children would do well in school. The primary values that they taught their kids were that education was most important, knowledge was power, and that if all of the children within their family studied hard, they could earn scholarships and become smart and powerful leaders within their new country. Mawi kept his parents' values close and fulfilled them all. "I graduated from Harvard one year ago and have since thought much about my parents' dream. By earning my scholarship and graduating, I have fulfilled it. But along the way, I have found greater value in other dreams. And while Harvard University taught me well, my true education has come from less-likely sources. As I look back to the angels, the Charlenes and the Beth Raneys; as I look back to God's servants, dressed as beggrs and as beetles; as I look back to my inspirations, to the Mamas and Tewoldes, I see true guidance staring back at me. True power comes from focusing on what we can give, not what we can take." Mawi learned so much throughout his life and not only made his parents' dreams come true, but also made his own dreams come true.
This book, with all of its extraordinary detail and description, probably cannot entirely summarize all of the struggles, hardships, and rewards Mawi and his family endured from their journey to America and once in America. However, throughout the pages and dialogue of the story "Of Beetles & Angels", the book does an exceptional job of showing how unique Mawi Asgedom's life was as a child. I absolutely recommend this book.
eye opening.......2006-07-11
Beginning in 2001 I worked with two refugee families from Liberia. I wish I had read this book first, because it would have helped me to understand better the sorts of things these families might have experienced before they arrived in our country. While experiences of war, persecution and homelessness vary among people arriving in the USA, the feeling of confusion (even when you speak English, like 'my' families did) and dependence mixed with utter relief of finally getting here seem to be common among all. "My" families knew basic things, but our housing, food and school systems were totally overwhelming even for these educated people. And the police, which we're taught to depend upon, strike fear into every refugee I've ever met. Most of them have had bad experiences with police.
So when I read this book I could relate to some things, I cried over others, and I put others in the back of my mind to remember for when I'm working again with refugee immigrants, especially in these days of heated debates about immigrants.
Personally I think this book should be a must-read in every high school curriculum and for every teacher, not only because it's such a compelling story, but it helps us to see others through another lens and it is ultimately a story of hope.
From a strictly literature point of view there are better books out there, but this one tugs at the heart. And it's also a fast read if you want it to be.
An Inspiring Memoir of the American Dream .......2005-10-23
Of Beetles and Angles is the remarkable non-fiction account of Mawi Asgedom's jouney as an African war refugee to America and the obstacles that he and his family had to overcome. In his own words he describes his inspiring transformation into a man with traditional values and principles mixed in with the demands of everyday life in a new society. Influenced by his older brother and father, Mawi sets out to experience the American dream and more importantly, look upon each and every person as angels sent to test the will of our hearts.
Heart warming and inspiring.......2005-08-11
I won't take a lot of space stating what the book is about. Just get it and read it, everyone from middle school through adults. You'll be glad you did.
Miracles in many forms.......2005-01-24
This book told me one thing: everyone can be an angel. No matter in what form, that thing could be an angel.
From this story, a boy named Mawi was a refugee. His homeland had been involved in a war. His father decided the family would flee to Amerikha, as they called it. It was a place of peace, which was something that didnt exist in Eritrea, their homeland.
Many perils were made in America. Mawi needed to go to school, with his brothers and sister. He survived through prejudice and violence at school. His dream was to be welcomed with a scholarship into a special university. He worked very hard to achieve his goal.
How did it happen? Just read the book and find out!
Average customer rating:
- Good book despite inaccuracies and racial bias
- A wonderful gift for anyone interested in Sudan or the Nile
- A wonderful gift for anyone interested in Sudan or the Nile
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Sudan: Ancient Kingdom of the Nile
Manufacturer: Flammarion
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Similar Items:
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The Nubian Pharaohs: Black Kings on the Nile
ASIN: 2080136372
Release Date: 1997-04-15 |
Book Description
In association with the Institute du Monde Arabe, Paris, and the Kunsthalle, Munich.
The culture of the ancient Sudanese and Nubian Kingdoms is chronicled in this groundbreaking exhibition catalog.
Customer Reviews:
Good book despite inaccuracies and racial bias.......2004-02-11
The book convers a vast history from the beginning of the Khartoum Mesolithic and Neolithic to the unfolding of the Arab invasion of the Sudan. Through each chapter readers will find out more information about Sudanese history. All the leading experts in the field of historical and archeological reserch from Charles Bonnet to Timothy Kendal.
Not only does this book cover Sudanese history,but also accomplishments of the Nubians. In the past various books have tried to overshawdow Nubia with using the ''Eurocentric'' implications of strictly Egyptian influce. In this book,however,it shows indigenous relgious existed well before the absorption of Egyptian relgious deities like Amun. In fact,there is proper evidence that the deity Amun,itself,might have been based off a Nubian deity called Amani.
Despite the shinning qualities of the book,many bias of long dead scholarship seems to rear it's ugly head. Jean Lecant tries his hardest to argue based off tomb scenes of Huy that the figures depicted are not streotypical ''true negroes'' Lecant fails to observe the diversity of Africans and that phenotypical traits like noses are influced by adaptation of climes not intermixture with caucasoids. Lecant unfortunatley still clings on to old outdated anthropology that clearly demonstrates his ignorance.
A wonderful gift for anyone interested in Sudan or the Nile.......1999-01-29
This beautiful `coffeetable' book is something every Sudan scholar should take a look at, perhaps once a month? The book illustrates and catalogs an exhibit at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, and goes from Neolithic gravesites to the Christian era of Meroe. Anyone who doubted the complexity of prehistoric Nubian society will be convinced that here was an extremely interesting and complex society. The artisanship evident in the jewelry, construction of temples, and pottery, is stunningly skilled. If you can't justify buying it for yourself, give it as a gift to a friend.
A wonderful gift for anyone interested in Sudan or the Nile.......1999-01-28
This beautiful `coffeetable' book is something every Sudan scholar should take a look at, perhaps once a month? The book illustrates and catalogs an exhibit at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, and goes from Neolithic gravesites to the Christian era of Meroe. Anyone who doubted the complexity of prehistoric Nubian society will be convinced that here was an extremely interesting and complex society. The artisanship evident in the jewelry, construction of temples, and pottery, is stunningly skilled. If you can't justify buying it for yourself, give it as a gift to a friend.
Book Description
This book details the history of Darfur, its conflicts, and the designs on the region by the governments in Khartoum and Tripoli. It investigates the identity of the infamous "Janjawiid" militia and the nature of the insurrection, charts the unfolding crisis and the international response, and concludes by asking what the future holds in store.
Customer Reviews:
Short and excellent.......2007-09-20
People professionally concerned with genocide prevention and Darfur recommended this short but outstanding book (there are quite a few others on the crisis) when I needed to supplement my knowledge quickly. Its 134 pages of condensed information are based on prolonged and detailed work in the region and with people who know it well. The complexity of Darfur and its crisis as well as its relationship to other regions of Sudan emerge with balance, but with a clear picture of the horrors being committed. It enlarged my knowledge greatly beyond what I had gleaned from the media and a few days spent with some refugees from Darfur. It discusses events up to early 2005, its publication year, so is not quite up to date. The experts recommended it despite pointing this out, and I'm glad they did.
Swahili Time!.......2007-05-04
This book is a valuable asset to any library. The only problem I had with this book is trying to read Swahili. I took Introduction to Swahili 101 at Oklahoma City Junior College, but I guess that just was not good enough.
Instructive look at Darfur.......2007-03-31
There are plenty of serious human rights abuses in Africa which Westerners, particularly American corporations and arms dealers have strong complicity in: the 4 million dead in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia under Meles Zenawi, Equatorial Guinea under Teodor Obiang, Chad under Idriss Deby, Uganda under Museveni. One can also mention the horrors of the neoliberal economic model which African governments have followed so studiously. But Sudan and Zimbabwe seem to take up 90 percent of recent Western media reporting about abuses in the region. Both governments, vile as they certainly are, have struck independent courses via US power over the years and so are demonized in the US media. Former Senator John Danforth, US ambassador to the UN in 2004, stated on British tv in 2005 that the main reason the Bush administration made noises about Darfur in the election year of 04' was to please the voting block of fundamentalist Christians who have long believed the Sudanese regime to be satanic.
There is plenty of stuff in this book about the barbaric atrocities of the Sudanese government and the Janjiweed, the paramilitary force which acts as a proxy for the Sudanese military in Darfur.. In Darfur, the driving Arab supremacist ideology was rooted in the "Arab Gathering" group which emerged under the backing of Colonel Qadaffi of Libya in the 70's and 80's. Many in Sudan's government have been influenced by this ideology. The authors provide much quotation from these brethren who stress the need to make Darfur a purely Arab homeland and to cleanse it of non-Arab elements. Qadaffi funded the Sudanese Islamist/Arab nationalist groups Ansar and Muslim Brothers against his enemy, Sudan's then dictator Jafarr Nimieri in the 70's and early 80's. Many in these groups ended up in positions of power after the Islamist regime took power in June 1989. Qadaffi also funded Arab supremacists in Chad during the 80's, many of whom found refuge in Darfur and have since made not insignificant contributions to the violence there.
It also appears from the authors' discourse that the conflict is driven by the struggle for land and water in an area which has seen much drought, and a dwindling supply of water and arable land.....
The authors point out that Arabs of the Bagarra Rizeigat--to which the majority of Arabs in Darfur belong--have kept out of the conflict.... A not insignificant number of the janjiweed are violent criminals released from Sudan's prisons to serve in that body......
Bagarra Rizeigat have protected refugees from Janjiweed terror. The Bagarra Rizeigat chief, Saeed Madibu has resisted efforts by the Khartoum government to bribe him and terrorize him into submission. The authors seem to imply that most of the Arab tribal elites in Darfur would greatly prefer peaceful social, political and commercial interaction between Arabs and African tribes instead of the apopaclyptic ideology of a Darfur cleansed of all black people that Janjiweed leaders profess. Saeed Madibu, in a contumacious act to the Khartoum government, has resurrected meetings of Darfurian tribal elders to negotiate in an equitable fashion, land and resource issues.
One of the two Darfurian opposition groups, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) is divided between two tribal based factions, the Fur, led by Abdel Wahid and the Zaghawa, led by Minnie Minawi. These two groups spend alot of time making war upon each other, rather than upon the Sudanese army and Janjaweed. They mention that the SLA, perhaps a joint action of the two factions, attacked Bagarra Rizeigat territory in the Summer of 2004 and burned villages, stole livestock and engaged in other such activities at which the Janjiweed are such experts but Said Madibu's forces drove them out of their land.
The JEM is much more sophisticated. Islamists disillusioned with the extreme corruption and violence of the Khartoum regime seem to make up a significant part of the JEM's leadership. In interviews with one or another of the authors, the JEM leaders disavow any association with Hassan Al-Turabi, the Islamist scholar who was Sudan's de facto ruler throughout the 90's until he lost a power struggle with the country's president General Omar Hassan Al-Bashir in 2000 and was thrown into prison. Turabi had attracted many to his cause in the 70's and 80's because he spoke of a brotherhood of Muslims regardless of race and spoke out against the extreme corruption and inequality in Sudan's society. JEM leaders, according to the authors' interview of them, think that Turabi is a disgusting fraud and don't want anything to do with him. However many of them are specifically committed to setting up an Islamic state in the Sudan, which they say will grant freedom of worship to other faiths and will fullfill the ideals of honesty and equality in government that Turabi's variety of Islamists promised back in the 80's but have made such a mockery of in practice. The leaders of the JEM are often former national and regional officials under the current regime and provide the authors with stories probably containing at least some truth, illustrating their own virtue when they were in the service of the current regime, in the midst of grotesque brutality and corruption.
The authors mention the US and UK backed Naivasha accords that ended the civil war in Southern Sudan in 2005. In that accord the oil revenues are to be evenly divided between North and South, the SPLA has become the autonomous ruler of the South and army units in the capital are divided 50/50 in membership between the SPLA and the Sudanese army. SPLA leader John Garang was made first vice president of Sudan but he died in a mysterious plane crash shortly after the Naivasha accords. However the war criminals in both the Sudan government and the SPLA were granted amnesty from prosecution.....The authors note the desire for stability in south Sudan with its strategically important oil wealth by the US and UK, the Naivasha accord backers. Darfur in contrast has no important resources.
Book Description
A stunning literary survival story, hailed by the Los Angeles Times as a "moving, beautifully written account, by turns raw and tender."
Across Sudan, between 1987 and 1989, tens of thousands of young boys took flight from the massacres of Sudan's civil war. They became known as the Lost Boys. With little more than the clothes on their backs, sometimes not even that, they streamed out over Sudan in search of refuge. Their journey led them first to Ethiopia and then, driven back into Sudan, toward Kenya. They walked nearly one thousand miles, sustained only by the sheer will to live.
They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky is three boys' account of that unimaginable journey. With the candor and the purity of their child's-eye-vision, Alephonsion, Benjamin, and Benson recall by turns how they endured hunger and strength-sapping illnesses. How they dodged the life-threatening predators-lions, snakes, crocodiles and soldiers-that dogged their footsteps. How they grappled with a war that threatened continually to overwhelm them. Their story is a lyrical, captivating portrait of a childhood lost to war, and of the perseverance of the human spirit.
Customer Reviews:
A life-changing experience.......2007-10-04
I never thought that a book could move me in the way that this has. It is gripping, inspirational, horrifing, beautiful tear-jerker that will keep your jaw dropped. You will be forever changed by this true account of a tragedy that sadly many Americans do not know about. Amazing book. Make sure to have a box of tissues by your side!
A must read.......2007-09-26
I couldn't put the book down and at the end I cried. It was hard to believe that boys so young had been through so much. If your interested in whats going on in Sudan than I think its a must read.
True, Real, Humbling.......2007-09-26
This book is so powerful, these boys journey is so humbling, there is no way that you could read this book and not look at your life in a different way. The crazy thing about it is that it is ALL TRUE, this is thier account of their lives, this book has encouraged me more to want to fight for social injustices.
Must Read.......2007-08-11
I have a BA in English and taught high school literature courses for seven years before becoming the administrator of an alternative school. I consider myself well read. Therefore, when I say this was the most moving book I have ever read, I do not say so lightly. I had the honor of meeting one of the authors, Benjamin Ajak, at a recent conference. While his English is not articulate, his message is gut wrenchingly moving. This book is not for the faint of heart. It is not a summer beach romance. It is the story of the survival of the human spirit at its most base level. It is both appalling and inspiring. It is a must read. If you are not a humanitarian before you read it, you will be after you read it.
Must Read.......2007-06-27
Amazing!
This sad true account of the lives of the people of Southern Sudan is a must read.
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