The Shadow of the Sun [Hardcover]

"The Shadow of the Sun", unlike his books that each focus on one country, is a collection of non-fiction short stories from his many years all over Africa. Each chapter is a miniature portrait or vignette of some person, place, or event; some of these are historical (Samuel Doe or Idi Amin, for example), others are personal (the author's apartment in Lagos, killing a snake on a long-distance drive, visiting a village). All are written with a beautiful precision that captures both Africa's first few decades of independence (1958 - 1990) as well as Kapuscinski's reactions to Africa. Here is a first-rate author, and a very good book. It is good that Kapuscinski's stories will be available to those that do not read Polish.

We all know that Africa is very different from the world we know, and in this book we learn just how different it is. We learn about the African's identity with his clan, we get a feeling of his sense of time and distance, and understand the joy of something as simple as a sip of water or a small shady spot under a tree. Always, there is heat, so oppressive that people walk slowly to conserve energy and do nothing but lie quietly during the hot burning heat of the day. It's the keenly observed details that bring it all to life. For example, the introduction of plastic containers for carrying water improved the lives of the people. Plastic containers are lighter and come in various sizes. Children can carry water now, thus freeing adult women from hours of work. Reading about this makes me thankful for the clean running water I take for granted. I also learned a lot about some of the raging wars. For the first time, I really understood what exactly the war was about in Rwanda and why so many people died. And his descriptions of the various governments in Liberia and the horrible in-fighting was very clear. I shuddered to read about so many murders in the places he came to know so well. And there were tears in my eyes reading about the starvation and the reasons for it. I'm deeply saddened too, because I see no easy answers.

The episodic nature of the book was both its strength and its weakness. It's true that I got an excellent overview. But the chapters skipped around, from place to place and covered a span of more than forty years. I would have preferred a more in-depth look at any one area. I understand though, that his other books are more focused in this way and I look forward to reading more of his work. I also wish he had included some maps as well as a few photographs. In spite of this, however, I do recommend this book. It really did deepen my understanding of this very complex continent.