Ostensibly a story of the author's discovery, that of his father and his father's lifelong friend and their trials in colonial India and Africa. It's really about the author himself, the parallels he digs in deep furrows about his own experiences as a war correspondent in far-reaching countries and terrible times, from the Balkans to Yemen and home again in Africa. Not for the faint of heart, inexplicably compelling, while Hartley is neither sympathetic or unlikable, just a man on a mission to get the story and the rubble of human heartache and misery--Somali, Croait, &c--he observes and manages to survive along the way. It isn't about how he changed the world with his reporting and willingness to tell all that he saw, experience, and how that affected him, rather, it's how the world changed him. A difficult read, a provoking read, but I was glad to have made it to its end and learn the story of his father, his father's friend and their lives, as well as the life the author's experiences then decisions eventually carved for himself.

a brutal story, hard to believe it was true. How could people behave in this way! Not easy for me to read but I am glad I did. A map in the book would have been helpful.

Aidan Hartley simultaneously tells his personal story of growing up and working in Africa while detailing the lives of his father and his father's good friend. After reading the journals of the two men -- kept for many years in his father's Zanzibar chest -- he embarks on a search for answers about their lives. Along the way, he examines the draw of Africa to so many British, the two men and his own fascination and love for the continent.

The most powerful parts of this story are Hartley's own, as he details with brutal clarity wars in Somalia and Rwanda, among others. This book will give any reader a new appreciation for the lives some journalists lead and a new respect for their courage, daring and honesty.

A good perspective on the challenges of being English and growing up in post-colonial Africa. Interesting perspective on the conflicts of Africa. Essentially a coming of age story of a young man... with a few too many details of his sexual escapades.

One of the better “journalist in Africa” memoirs written by an Oxford educated Anglo-Kenyan. Excellent coverage of Somalia and other interesting first hand accounts of African conflicts, news stories, and heads-of-State across greater East Africa in the 1980s and 1990s.

Important book, brilliantly written but not for the faint-hearted or squeamish. Written by a Reuters Africa correspondent -- History of his colonial family in Africa -- jumps around a bit. Covers the uprising in Somalia and the Rwanda genocide. Also the authors investigation of the violent death of one of his father's friends with the help of his diary. A serious book, sympathetic to all parties and lyrical about the landscape which tries to make sense of the British role in Africa and the cost to the individual reporters-- don't read it if you want cheering up!

Gosh what a good book. A muddled and non-linear narrative - the type that usually drives me crazy - but such a good set of stories that the style is forgiven. It is hard to summarize those stories, enough to say that they all concern Caucasians resident in Africa and so caught up in the continent that it is their only home. Interesting historical context, frightening recent events. Read it! (Purchased from Skoob Books in London, UK.)

A fascinating memoir of life in the trenches as a war correspondent and as an African colonial. The book was indeed long, and the story of Hartley's father's friend (the origin of the Zanzibar chest) Peter Davey distracted from Hartley's own tale. It could well have been a separate book. Nonetheless, it was compelling reading and excellently written.

Also gave up on this - v colonialist in mindset!

I did not enjoy this book at all, but it doesn't mean it's a bad book.

The writing is good in some passages and I would not doubt to recommend it to anyone who likes stories without a story and chapters that go nowhere because the writer gets lost in details that take the reader nowhere.

Other than that, I am very happy I only bought the Kindle version and I can get rid of it at the touch of a button, instead of having to drive all the way to a community centre to donate it to their library.

just some interesting things that my friends and I were also discussing with relation to Cambodia.

"the conflicts I have witnessed tell me most men are no different from the Serbs, Hutus or Somalis who became killers. Most of us are entirely capable of torching a village, executing men, raping, daughters and beating up grandmothers. As far as the killing of Jews or Armenians or Aboriginals goes most people barely need the incitement of their leaders. They engaged in it with enthusiasm. Hutus, if they didn't enjoy murdering their Tutsi neighbours, demonstrated an uncommon efficiency without the benefit of supervision."

"when faced with a choice of doing evil or being killed defending a principle, I wonder what I would do."

I originally started reading this book just over a year ago and put it aside as I got busy. I decided to start over again so I could follow the entire story from beginning to end.

So far it is a rather bleak book in the sense of being about the author's recollections of war and what seems like a dismal life in different parts of Africa. To the author however, Africa is home and is not so dismal as it may be to a foreigner. To him Africa is where he was born. It holds many precious memories, family, his heart and his future. Having been to East Africa myself, I can understand how one can become so attached to the land and her people.

The author was a Reuter's journalist throughout the horrors of famine and war in Somalia and Ethiopia. If you read his book you will learn a lot about the life of a journalist as it was in 1980s and 1990s. I also gained some insights into Nairobi in it's early days, and the work of aid agencies in the context of civil war. I haven't finished the book yet but will likely keep it for my reference library.