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Title: United States Policy Towards Liberia, 1822 to 2003: Unintended Consequences? by Lester S. Hyman ISBN: 0-9653308-8-5 Publisher: Africana Homestead Legacy Pub Pub. Date: August, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.4 (15 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Right Subject, Wrong Author, Wrong Book
Comment: A good history of Liberia in general and its civil war in particular needs to be written for the general reading public. While several books have been written by and for specialists, a general work has still to be written.
Unfortunately, Lester Hyman is not the man to do it. As ex-dictator Charles Taylor's lawyer, he's hardly an objective source. And, writing from Washington, D.C., where he is based -- he never spent much time in Liberia -- he lacks the on-the-ground experience.
Consequently, the book he wrote is nicely documented, but is is more of a partisan defense of his former client and an attack on successive American administrations that "let him down" than an objective narrative. Perhaps the author should have attempted a personal memoir of his infamous war criminal client (that would have been fascinating) rather than trying (and failing) to write an objective historical account that requires more detachment than he is capable of.
Rating: 1
Summary: Hubris Run Amuck
Comment: This book is an example of the worse kind of neo-colonial hubris. The author asserts that he was the Washington, D.C.-based "Counsel for the Republic of Liberia." Since the Liberian republic had been hijacked by warlord Charles "Ghankey" Taylor, now in exile and indicted by a United Nations tribunal for numerous war crimes, what the author ought to have said was that he was the hired legal gun of an the man who started the terrible Liberian civil war and represented his client's nefarious interests, not those of the Liberian nation. A sense of full disclosure should have entailed disclosing not only this little tidbit, but also that the work was essentially an attempt to whitewash his own role, not a serious history of the country or its relationship with the U.S. (the actual history of the country is shoved into one chapter). In addition to the bias, the book suffers from numerous flaws, including the lack of up-to-date maps, references to scholarly publications, etc. I would call the work a "vanity press" book were it incongruous that anyone would find much vainglory in having been a war criminal's lawyer.
Rating: 5
Summary: welcome to the world of international policy
Comment: Lester Hyman's book explores the complex political landscape in both Washington and Liberia, presenting a carefully researched account of the consequences of US action (and inaction) on the Liberian people. He makes it vividly clear that Liberia is a country endowed with amazing natural resources and hard-working people, however, egos are inflated (on both sides of the Atlantic), politics are messy and the ultimate consequences are the immense suffering of ordinary Liberians. The book draws an unparalleled network of contacts in both Washington and in Liberia, including the man Charles Taylor himself. Mr. Hyman makes no effort to conceal his personal relationship with Taylor, but avoids the whitewashing of an apologist by showing real concern for facts and invoking the integrity of an honest researcher. His critical stance and talent for counterpoise become effective tools in reconstructing what actually happened and why, so that the pages of this book do exactly what its title proclaims. Anyone looking for a comprehensive history of Liberia may be disappointed-as Hyman's vision reaches beyond any simple historical review of a West African country. Rather, the author's intricate argument lays out the shifting path of development in US Foreign policy towards Liberia, with reminders of the unintended costs and catastrophes that can spin off from misjudgements.
As a message to the reader, the book purports that Liberian leaders will need to focus on the interests of the nation rather than their own, and that only hard work and international help can make it possible to establish a sound balance of powers. Only in such a balance, so difficult in Africa and elsewhere, can dictatorships be prevented and the reasons for civil war eradicated. In turn, the US must establish in no uncertain terms where its responsibility towards Liberia (and Africa) begins and where it ends; and then to deliver on its promises. Such an approach differs hugely from the common practice of consistent and underhand meddling. Few Liberians (and Americans) will ever read such an honest insight to the world of American policy, and love it or hate it, this is how Washington works so welcome to the messy world of international politics!
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Title: The Mask of Anarchy: The Destruction of Liberia and the Religious Dimension of an African Civil War by Stephen Ellis ISBN: 0814722199 Publisher: New York University Press Pub. Date: May, 2001 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: Liberia Will Rise Again: Reflections on the Liberian Civil Crisis by Arthur F. Kulah ISBN: 0687075947 Publisher: Abingdon Press Pub. Date: April, 1999 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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Title: This Our Dark Country: The American Settlers of Liberia by Catherine Reef ISBN: 0618147853 Publisher: Clarion Books Pub. Date: 25 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: Liberian Dreams: Back-To-Africa Narratives from the 1850s by Wilson Jeremiah Moses ISBN: 0271017112 Publisher: Pennsylvania State Univ Pr (Trd) Pub. Date: April, 1998 List Price(USD): $20.95 |
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Title: Liberia: Portrait of a Failed State by John-Peter Pham ISBN: 1594290121 Publisher: Reed Pr Pub. Date: April, 2004 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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