Rating: 
Summary: A good place to start your reading on Congo/Zaire
Review: This book was recommended to me by a bookseller here in Washington, DC when I mentioned my interest in reading King Leopold's Ghost. I have no relationship to the author. Like many U.S. residents, I have a fairly limited understanding of political history and current affairs in African nations. (Not completely so; recent travel in Egypt and Kenya raised some awareness.) Still, I was very appreciative of the author's presentation of the Congo/Zaire story: more a series of snapshots than a linear telling of the events. She did a decent job of suggesting that Mobutu's failings were hardly his own - sharing that responsibility, instead, with Belgium (within the broader context of colonialism) and, more recently, with Western governments and financial institutions (the IMF and the World Bank) that continue to profit from and exploit the African political landscape. Further, the author shows how these larger political games affected the people within its borders: her telling of the workings of the black market economy in the period of mega-inflation had my rapt attention. I also appreciated what the author revealed about how corrupt leadership benefits its collaborators at all levels. (Halliburton, anyone?) I don't think she let Mobutu off the hook; she just didn't slip into that trap of leaving him as Mr. Evil the way that some suggest that Hitler didn't have the collaboration of an entire nation of people. If you approach this book as someone's engaging story of how Congo/Zaire came to be what it is today rather than a historical researcher's dreary recounting of the facts, you'll like this book plenty AND be willing to learn more about the country. Off to King Leopold's Ghost now...
Rating: 
Summary: Cross "Africa" off your vacation list
Review: This is an incredible book. Thoroughly researched, vividly described, and hard to put down with full of great narratives, Michela Wrong carefully documents Zaire's descent into apocalypse under Mobuto's rule.With the exception of a coup here and, oh half a million people being murdered there, Africa is often swept under the carpet by the media. That's a shame, since post-Colonial Africa presents some of the bizarre, unbelievable and heartbreaking stories anywhere on the planet. Zaire/Congo is a microcosm of the African tragedy, and Wrong captures every aspect of it so well. After retelling some of the stories from this book, such as the waterfront Mafia run by handicapped people, hospitals not letting patients leave because of non-payment, and most bizarre of all, a nuclear reactor outside of Kinshasa, my friends looked at me in disbelief. But it's all true, here in this book. Michela Wrong paints a portrait of a nation that was once the pride of Africa, but now exists in the twilight zone of Third World geopolitics. "Kurtz" is capped off by an exhaustive analysis of dictator Mobutu's 30-year reign over Zaire, the man's personality, and a conclusion about the billions of dollars he allegedly stole from the country that might surprise you. Gripes with the book are few. The author brushes over one of the most bizarre and famous events to take place in Zaire, the Ali-Foreman "Rumble in the Jungle" where Mobutu attempted to showcase Zaire as the next black African superpower. Then again this event has been documented ad nauseum by George Plimpton and in the documentary "When We Were Kings." She also seems to neglect to get into the more brutal aspects of Mobutu's rule, only briefly touching on an interview with the former head of Zaire's secret police, rather focusing on the corrupt nature thereof. Minor complaints though. This is a great book, and I would even recommend it to those not interested in the subject. "Footsteps" is a great how-to manual on how NOT to conduct nation building.
Rating:
Summary: Cross "Africa" off your vacation list
Review: This is an incredible book. Thoroughly researched, vividly described, and hard to put down with full of great narratives, Michela Wrong carefully documents Zaire's descent into apocalypse under Mobutu's rule. With the exception of a coup here and, oh half a million people being murdered there, Africa is often swept under the carpet by the media. That's a shame, since post-Colonial Africa presents some of the bizarre, unbelievable and heartbreaking stories anywhere on the planet. Zaire/Congo is a microcosm of the African tragedy, and Wrong captures every aspect of it so well. After retelling some of the stories from this book, such as the waterfront Mafia run by handicapped people, hospitals not letting patients leave because of non-payment, and most bizarre of all, a nuclear reactor outside of Kinshasa, my friends looked at me in disbelief. But it's all true, here in this book. Michela Wrong paints a portrait of a nation that was once the pride of Africa, but now exists in the twilight zone of Third World geopolitics. "Kurtz" is capped off by an exhaustive analysis of dictator Mobutu's 30-year reign over Zaire, the man's personality, and a conclusion about the billions of dollars he allegedly stole from the country that might surprise you. Gripes with the book are few. The author brushes over one of the most bizarre and famous events to take place in Zaire, the Ali-Foreman "Rumble in the Jungle" where Mobutu attempted to showcase Zaire as the next black African superpower. Then again this event has been documented ad nauseum by George Plimpton and in the documentary "When We Were Kings." She also seems to neglect to get into the more brutal aspects of Mobutu's rule, only briefly touching on an interview with the former head of Zaire's secret police, rather focusing on the corrupt nature thereof. Minor complaints though. This is a great book, and I would even recommend it to those not interested in the subject. "Footsteps" is a great how-to manual on how NOT to conduct nation building.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book, bad writing.
Review: This is an interesting read and definitely worth the time. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I wasn't bothered by her loose chronological order. What did bother me, however, was her absolutely terrible writing style. Wrong seems not to understand that significant over use of a thesaurus, "clever" allusions, and purposefully obscure vocabulary are not suitable replacements for good writing. All in all, I would recommend the book, but you may need to skip over some of her more distracting examples of bad writing.
Rating:
Summary: Good book, bad writing.
Review: This is an interesting read and definitely worth the time. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I wasn't bothered by her loose chronological order. What did bother me, however, was her absolutely terrible writing style. Wrong seems not to understand that significant over use of a thesaurus, "clever" allusions, and purposefully obscure vocabulary are not suitable replacements for good writing. All in all, I would recommend the book, but you may need to skip over some of her more distracting examples of bad writing.
Rating:
Summary: Facinating and Accurate!
Review: This is one of those books that makes the reader want to become an internationally based journalist. The events that Wrong describes in her book are facinating and well written. A great read for anyone interested in politics, Central Africa, tyranical leaders, or all three!
Rating:
Summary: Mobutu at the Heart of Zaire's Darkness
Review: Throughout history, Africa has claimed the moniker of the Dark Continent, originally due to its mysteriousness, wildness, and danger. However, there is a new darkness that has overtaken modern Africa, a darkness that plagues the content. This darkness is composed of governmental corruption, violent coups, genocide, ethnic cleansing, guerilla warfare and other forms of exploitation and violence.
One of the most blatant examples of this impinging darkness was the rule Zaire's President Mobutu. His insatiable thirst for cruelty brought Zaire, a nation with massive potential for wealth and prosperity, to its knees and subsequently destroyed the will of his own proud people.
Michaela Wrong follows the rise of Mobutu, the once obscure military aide, and chronicles his nearly instinctual political maneuvers which finally consolidated his grip on the throat of Zaire. Wrong also illustrates the effects of Mobutu's "kleptocracy" which essentially bled the nation and its people dry of any wealth, and economic potential.
Apart from bankrupting a nation, perhaps the saddest result of Mobutu's reign was destruction of a nation's will. The people of Zaire not only grew disillusioned with Mobutu's leadership, but became disillusioned with the hope of betterment. In the minds of many of those living in Zaire under Mobutu, the thought of struggling everyday to eek out a living seemed pointless. At the end of that day, the Mobutu government would come and reap all that was so painfully sown.
The title of book is In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz, named after the power hungry character in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Wrong does draw vague parallels between the two. Still, the parallels do lend an interesting twist to the work. Both Mobutu and Kurtz were corrupted by power and the vast wealth hidden in the darkest Africa, and once they tasted those sweet riches, their appetites became insatiable and cost Africa dearly.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting subject matter -- not well written or organized
Review: Using Black History Month as our theme for Book Club, we settled on this book. Each member was excited to learn more about Mobutu and his reign in Zaire/Congo. Unfortunaely, our collective lack of historical knowledge and recall for Mobutu's reign in the Congo certainly hindered our ability to read this book. While many anecdotes were surprising, shocking, and even entertaining in their absurdity, our Book Club concluded that the author failed in her mission to deliver an effective expose. As a journalist, I would have expected her thoughts to be more organized. Instead, Wrong jumps back and forth through time like a novelist or screenwriter attempting to heighten suspense. Wrong assumes the reader has a fairly strong working knowledge of the facts. Anyone who does not may find the book hard to follow. My other criticism falls in line with other reviewers -- namely, that Wrong becomes a tad too sentimental about a world leader who commits unspeakable crimes for decades. Perhaps in her zeal to write a "different" book, she tried too hard to capture the human side of Mobutu. The human side is told by relatives and aides to Mobutu, all of whom have their own agendas. Wrong admits to being starstruck at one point -- boy, is she not kidding! I still recommend reading this book, as the subject matter is fascinating. Still, you should pick up another book or two about Mobutu while you're at it -- this one is a couple of bananas short of a full bunch.
Rating:
Summary: Mr. Boot describes Mr. Kurtz's Africa
Review: While the title of this book refers to Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Michela Wrong's descriptive writing is reminiscent of Evelyn Waugh's travel and fiction writings about Africa. Describing a troubling subject, the reign of Joseph Mobutu and its dependence upon Western institutions to finance its ruinous and destructive rule of Congo/Zaire, Wrong's tone is facile and intelligent, devoid of any preaching. This book's appeal extends beyond those interested in Africa to anyone wanting a well told tale polished with an exceptional sense of irony about greed and survival in politics. Given the author's skill, experience and knowledge, this book could probably have been twice as long and I still would have enjoyed it.
Rating:
Summary: Learn how messed up a country can be
Review: Wow! Does this blow the socks off anything ever written about any nation in Africa? You'll read this with an open jaw at how egregious the graft and corruption of Mobutu's regime was. And to think it could have all been stopped if a CIA agent had not stopped an assassination attempt on Mobutu when he was almost a virtual unknown in Congolese politics. Such are the twists of fate that affect millions. As the blurb on the cover says--"a classic!"
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