 First edition | |
| Author | Tim Butcher |
|---|---|
| Subject | Congo River; Democratic Republic of the Congo |
Publication date | 2007 |
| Pages | 363 |
| ISBN | 9780701179816 |
| 916.7510434 | |
Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart (also published as Blood River: The Terrifying Journey Through the World's Most Dangerous Country) is a 2007 book by British journalist and writer Tim Butcher.
Blood River was written after Butcher was posted as an Africa foreign correspondent for British newspaper The Daily Telegraph . The book follows Butcher's mission to recreate the expedition of explorer H. M. Stanley – travelling alone through the Congo. The book not only tells the story of Butcher's journey but the remarkable story of the Congo. [1]
The book was largely received with critical acclaim. In Foreign Affairs Blood River was described by Nicolas van de Walle as "a gripping story and an absorbing look at a country that has been moving backward for half a century." van de Walle concluded praising the book as "a masterful description of a country moving backwards." [2]
In Getaway, a South African magazine, the reviewer wrote that "Butcher had not only the courage, but the insight to tell a great story of a country struggling to emerge from a history of colonial rule." Butcher was praised for his "great knowledge of the country's history, his ability to convey scenes and characters in crisp prose, and his interpretation of the complex situation of the Congo today." [3]
Rory MacLean, wrote in The Guardian that "Blood River is a gripping, passionate and deeply disturbing portrait of central Africa today." [4]
The London Evening Standard listed Blood River as one of "The Best Summer Paperbacks", praising it as an "astonishing travel book." [5]
Blood River was shortlisted for the 2008 Baillie Gifford Prize.
Heart of Darkness (1899) is a novella by Polish-English novelist Joseph Conrad in which the sailor Charles Marlow tells his listeners the story of his assignment as steamer captain for a Belgian company in the African interior. The novel is widely regarded as a critique of European colonial rule in Africa, whilst also examining the themes of power dynamics and morality. Although Conrad does not name the river on which most of the narrative takes place, at the time of writing the Congo Free State, the location of the large and economically important Congo River, was a private colony of Belgium's King Leopold II. Marlow is given a text by Kurtz, an ivory trader working on a trading station far up the river, who has "gone native" and is the object of Marlow's expedition.
Sir Henry Morton Stanley was a Welsh-American explorer, journalist, soldier, colonial administrator, author and politician who was famous for his exploration of Central Africa and his search for missionary and explorer David Livingstone. Besides his discovery of Livingstone, he is mainly known for his search for the sources of the Nile and Congo rivers, the work he undertook as an agent of King Leopold II of the Belgians which enabled the occupation of the Congo Basin region, and his command of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition. He was knighted in 1897, and served in Parliament as a Liberal Unionist member for Lambeth North from 1895 to 1900.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a country in Central Africa bordered to the west by the South Atlantic Ocean. By land area, the DRC is the second-largest country in Africa and the 11th-largest in the world. With a population of around 108 million, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most populous officially Francophone country in the world. The national capital and largest city is Kinshasa, which is also the nation's economic center. The country is bordered by the Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, and the Cabinda exclave of Angola.
King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa (1998) is a best-selling popular history book by Adam Hochschild that explores the exploitation of the Congo Free State by King Leopold II of Belgium between 1885 and 1908, as well as the large-scale atrocities committed during that period. The book, also a general biography of the private life of Leopold, succeeded in increasing public awareness of these crimes in recent decades.
Kisangani is the capital of Tshopo province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the fifth most populous urban area in the country, with an estimated population of 1,312,000 in 2021, and the largest of the cities that lie in the tropical woodlands of the Congo.
Neopatrimonialism is a system of social hierarchy where patrons use state resources to secure the loyalty of clients in the general population. It is an informal patron–client relationship that can reach from very high up in state structures down to individuals in small villages.
Linda Melvern is a British investigative journalist. Early in her career, she worked for The Evening Standard and then The Sunday Times (UK), including on the investigative Insight Team. Since leaving the newspaper she has written seven books of non-fiction. She is a former Honorary Professor of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, in the Department of International Politics.
Deni Ellis Béchard, also known as Deni Yvan Béchard is a Canadian-American novelist.
Tim Butcher is an English author, broadcaster and journalist. He is the author of Blood River (2007), Chasing the Devil (2010) and The Trigger (2014), travel books blending contemporary adventure with history.
Geoff Wisner is an American author, book reviewer, and editor. His articles appear in publications such as The Christian Science Monitor, Words Without Borders, Transition Magazine, Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, and Wild Earth. He is a graduate of Harvard University (1980). He currently lives in New York City. He is married to Jennifer Marie Brissett, a writer.
The Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards celebrate the best travel writing and travel writers in the world. The awards include the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year and the Edward Stanford Award for Outstanding Contribution to Travel Writing.
Between 1874 and 1877 Henry Morton Stanley traveled Central Africa east to west, exploring Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika and the Lualaba and Congo rivers. He covered 7,000 miles (11,000 km) from Zanzibar in the east to Boma at the mouth of the Congo in the west. The expedition resolved several open questions concerning the geography of Central Africa, including identifying the source of the Nile, which he proved was not the Lualabab and is in fact the source of the Congo River.
John Prendergast is an American human rights and anti-corruption activist as well as an author. He is the co-founder of the Sentry, an organization concerned with war crimes. Prendergast was the founding director of the Enough Project and was formerly director for African affairs at the National Security Council.
"The Pandorica Opens" is the twelfth episode of the fifth series of British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, first broadcast on 19 June 2010 on BBC One. It is the first in a two-part finale; the second part, "The Big Bang", aired on 26 June. The episode was written by head writer and executive producer Steven Moffat and directed by Toby Haynes.
Congo: The Epic History of a People is a 639 page non-fiction book by David Van Reybrouck, first published in 2010. It describes the history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from the prehistory until the present, with the main focus on the period from the Belgian colonisation until the book's release. The book was originally published by De Bezige Bij on 3 May 2010. By the end of 2012 it had sold over 300,000 copies in Dutch. Its English version was translated by Sam Garrett.
The Speech at the Ceremony of the Proclamation of the Congo's Independence was a short political speech given by Patrice Lumumba on 30 June 1960 at the ceremonies marking the independence of the Republic of Congo from Belgium. It is best known for its outspoken criticism of colonialism.
Nicolas van de Walle is an American political scientist specializing in comparative politics. He has taught at Cornell University since 2004, and is currently the Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Government. Between January 2004 and June 2008 he directed the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies. Before coming to Cornell he taught at Michigan State University, and has worked at The World Bank and The United Nations Development Program. Since 2005, Van de Walle has served as the Associate Dean for International Studies. Van de Walle has written the "Africa" book review section for Foreign Affairs since the May/June 2004 issue.
Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill is a 2016 book by Candice Millard covering Winston Churchill's exploits during the Boer War. Her third book, Hero of the Empire garnered favorable response by major newspaper companies worldwide and was a winner of the 2017 Kansas Notable Book Awards.
Blood River is a river in South Africa.
In Praise of Blood: The Crimes of the Rwandan Patriotic Front is a 2018 non-fiction book by Canadian journalist Judi Rever and published by Random House of Canada; it has also been translated into Dutch and French. The book describes alleged war crimes by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), Rwanda's ruling political party, during its ascent to power in the 1990s.