Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town

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In Kenya, when a truck he's riding in is stalled for repairs and two passing American aid workers refuse him a ride, Theroux leans in the window of their Land Rover and blasts away. It is also possible that the since this book was published in 2 Although Mengistu killed a large number of government ministers, some of whom were related to Haile Selassie, and imprisoned his daughter, most of the royal family survived. In the course of his epic and enlightening journey, wittily observant and endearingly irascible Paul Theroux endures danger, delay, and dismaying circumstances.

I recommend this book from the bottom of my heart and think it ought to be compulsory reading in schools. He's generally not fond of any form of aid workers: "they were, in general, oafish, self-dramatizing prigs, and often complete bastards. And here is Theroux's coup de grâce: "Aid workers in rural Africa are in general, oafish selfdramatising prigs and, often, complete bastards.

Seeing firsthand what is happening across Africa, Theroux is as obsessively curious and wittily observant as always, and his readers will find themselves on an epic and enlightening journey. Focussing on people (and crumbling infrastructures) Theroux does point out much of the best and worst of Africa -- and also gives a good sense of the often forgotten fact that "Africa" is in fact made up of many very different nations and cultures. Theroux planned to celebrate his 60th birthday in Africa, the continent where, 40 years ago, he first defined himself as an explorer of the world beyond America and wrote his first book. Perhaps it's meant to keep attention on the places where Theroux did travel, but given that these places do at least find some mention it might have been useful to point them out to curious readers here. After that comes South Africa,and despite being the most prosperous country in Africa,it is still crime infested.

Several of his books have been filmed (including The Mosquito Coast) and a TV series was made of his stories, The London Embassy and The Consul's Files. He manages to procure a Sudanese visa,with considerable difficulty and thus begins his trip to the real Africa. From there,he moved on to Ethiopia's capital Adis Ababa,with its crumbling infrastructure and filth. But Theroux also offers a sobering, contemporary look at the social and political morass in which much of Africa is mired.

I do strongly agree with this statement: Only Africans were capable of making a difference in Africa. The Christian Science Monitor is an international news organization offering calm, thoughtful, award-winning coverage for independent thinkers. In the early 1970s Paul Theroux moved with his wife and two children to Dorset, where he wrote Saint Jack, and then on to London.

Beyond some very cramped car and bus rides and a few nasty beds and the annoying beggars he doesn't complain about (or describe) very many real unpleasantries. Theroux's peevish passages on aid set the tone of Dark Star Safari, but they are not its main drift. His novels include The Bad Angel Brothers, The Lower River, Jungle Lovers, and The Mosquito Coast, and his renowned travel books include Ghost Train to the Eastern Star and Dark Star Safari. He's particularly disturbed by the fact that the aid workers have been unable (and/or unwilling) to involve the Africans themselves -- though he understands why that's so: if the Africans can help themselves they won't need these do-gooders, who will then have to find real jobs.People are what this book is all about, and Theroux is thrilled to bits to be around them, any of them, so he can poke, prod, discuss, listen, love them all, begrudgingly sometimes.