After a lifetime's close observation of the continent; one of the world's finest Africa correspondents has penned a landmark book on life and death in modern Africa. It takes a guide as observant; experienced; and patient as Richard Dowden to reveal its truths. Dowden combines a novelist's gift for atmosphere with the scholar's grasp of historical change as he spins tales of cults and commerce in Senegal and traditional spirituality in Sierra Leone; analyzes the impact of oil and the internet on Nigeria and aid on Sudan; and examines what has gone so badly wrong in Zimbabwe; Rwanda; Burundi; and the Congo. Dowden's master work is an attempt to explain why Africa is the way it is; and enables its readers to see and understand this miraculous continent as a place of inspiration and tremendous humanity.
#5863331 in Books Book Tree 1999-07-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.02 x .54 x 5.98l; .84 #File Name: 1585090417236 pages
Review
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful. outdated but might be helpful to some.By Christopher B. SirenOne might think; looking at the 1999 publishing date and the publisher's description that King's translation is among the most recent. If so; one will be sorely disapointed upon reading this book. This is a reprint of King's 1902 translation of the Enuma Elish; the Assyro-Babylonian creation myth. In the intervening years; additional copies of the text have been discovered; filling in most of the gaps found in King's translation and correcting his tenative translations of lines that in his day were only partially known. If you are looking for a more complete more updated translation; you'd be much better served with Stephanie Dalley's 1989 work; Myths from Mesopotamia; where you'd also get translations of several other Akkadian language myths. Further off-putting is the one page preface by Paul Tice; which spends more space endorsing the rather questionable theories of Zecharia Sitchin than it does addressing the contents of King's book.There are some useful features in this book though. More than half of the Enuma Elish that King worked with was complete and his translation is presented in parallel with a transliteration of the original Akkadian. There are included additional scholarly essays by King on varying subjects related to the creation story including parallels with Genesis. Some of these essays; are hampered by the lack of available knowledge at the time and for significant portions of them King must make speculations which are no longer justified.Ninety-eight years ago; this must have been one of the more thorough; cutting-edge works on the subject; but so much more has been learned in the mean-time; that I would only recommend this work to those who already have more recent translations of the Enuma Elish.
