Sunday Salon-Review, Scramble for Africa.. By Steven Fake and Kevin Funk

Yesterday my little Mystery slipped on some ice and injured her back leg. She's walking on it, but tentatively. I guess today it's off to the vet for an x-ray. She is a little greyhound and very brave, but I think it must be sprained. I spent most of my time this weekend with her. I am in the middle of reading Canvey Island for Library Thing, it finally arrived from the November picks. Up next on the nightstand is Mrs. Lincoln, and The Rose of Sebastopol.

The Scramble for Africa
Darfur-Intervention and the USA

By Steven Fake and Kevin Funk
Black Rose Books
$19.99/£13.99
301 pages, pb.


You may have seen the signs Save Darfur Now, and many other organizations all with good intentions aimed at helping to bring awareness, gain support in Washington, and raise money all to benefit the refugees of Darfur. In Steven Fake and Kevin Funk’s book The Scramble for Africa they will provide research and show why none of this money reaches the people of Darfur. They will show why the US government is more interested in their own self interests, the war on terrorism and oil than “humanitarian intervention.”

China is in this race to commercialize Africa and gain control of oil. So if the US doesn’t enter the race, some other country will. The US also has a stake in Africa since 911, and their interest in Africa is also in fighting terrorism.

The authors kindle many questions as you read the book as your mind becomes a muddled mass of gray matter. For example, Why aren’t we concerned about the Iraq war and the need for humanitarian intervention there. As of August 2007 they claim 1.2 million people have been killed, with several million refugees. The troubles in the Congo have taken more lives than any since WWII, more than 5 million people. Even more amazing is that since 2002 they are still loosing 45,000 people, mostly children each month, primarily from disease. So why are we not advocating action for humanitarian intervention there?

When you read The Scramble for Africa, there is a sense of foreboding and failure throughout, but we can’t keep hiding behind untruths. Can we? We can’t keep ignoring the newspapers and believe what editorial opinion offers. Can we? We can’t and shouldn’t keep throwing away money for causes we think are helping when they are creating more harm. Can we? Is the conflict and killing in Darfur defined as genocide in the global community? Is the discovery of oil truly driving the race?

Difficult questions have no affable answers as the authors offer convincing data, past historical events, professional articles, primary documents and a plethora of publications to support their arguments. Bold gutsy writing with a clear purpose this is an intellectually decisive work about Darfur and the US, missing from libraries until now.
What I found most amazing was their ability to clearly delineate these complex problems in a fascinating compelling style. A requisite read for anyone who wants a clearer understanding about Darfur, Intervention, and the US involvement in Africa. Make sure this is not left out of your TBR list this year.

Sunday Salon, White Christmas in Connecticut

When you're a teacher there is nothing like a snow day to give back a little bit of your childhood and a few memories of waking up to hear that school was closed. Friday, was one of those special days of simple quiet solitude spent reading while the snow covered the ground like a thick layer of whipped cream over a chocolate cake. You love the whipped cream, but then too much can make you feel sick. When morning came and I looked out at fourteen inches plus, images of shoveling began to appear as the dawn of my awakening brain thought, "Too much whipped cream for sure!!!" But like whipped cream, you still eat too much and love every bite no matter how sick you feel afterwords. So as I wake up this morning to more snow I smile thinking of another day of peace, solitude, reading time and sharing Sunday Salon. I'll worry about the shoveling later. Who knows, maybe we'll get another snow day.

Congratulations Jessica James for Shades of Gray

Shades of Gray has moved to #3 on Amazon's Romance/Historical category.This book is one of my top picks for 2008. (See my review)

This Weeks Reads

Lima Nights

by Marie Arana
This book had me flipping pages frantically expecting a great finish, as the author crafted increasing suspense. As the story ended, I felt like I ran into a brick wall. Lima Nights is a wonderful sensual love story depicting racial and class prejudice and society’s intolerance. Arana’s obsessive lovers, have an allure and chemistry that will steam glass with their passion. (Complete Review)

The Common Bond

by Donigan Merritt- Review next week

The Year the Swallows Came Early

by Kathryn Fitzmaurice-Review next week
The Scramble for Africa by Steven Fake and Kevin Funk-Review next week (Awesome, compelling, needed overview of the crisis in Dafur. Extremely well researched with extensive bibliography for further study.)

On the Nightstand

Red Clay Blood River

, by William J. Everett

The King's Daughter, by Sandra Worth

Don't forget the great Holiday Giveaways!!!

Leave a comment this week to enter again.

Tears of the Desert by Halima Bashir

I recently read the book Tears of the Desert for the Early Reviewers program on Library Thing. Halima Bashir's memoir touched my soul so deeply that I couldn't sit back any longer. I have also read The Translator by Daoud Hari for Library Thing. Both of these memoirs had me in tears and drained emotionally. How lucky for me that I am only reading about the horror. How lucky for me they are visions of the rape, torture, suffering, pain and genocide. It was gut wrenching to think, what about the real victims and witnesses of the crimes and tragedy being committed daily? They may escape the country, but as Bashir would tell you, sometimes she would have rather died than live. I can only imagine that they hold the atrocities they witnessed or submitted to, in some deep cavern of their soul forever.

Review of Tears of the Desert

by Halima Bashir is a poignant memoir capable of producing copious empathetic tears. During the first part of the book, the author recounts her childhood and family life growing up in a village in South Dafur. She establishes a beautiful picture of the Zaghawa tribe culture, her feelings, her aspirations and how she relates to all family members. An extended family surrounds her, most importantly, a father who adores her and her feisty Grandma Sumah, a traditionalist with an iron will. As the pleasant images of her upbringing unfold there are also some which are considered barbaric in other cultures. However, involving the reader in this way she makes you a captive caring companion to her feelings and ideas.

During the next part of the story, she shares the tragic atrocities that were inflicted upon her. She details her eyewitness account of horrors of death and suffering in her village and country. Several times during the retelling of her brutal beating and gang rape by the Sudanese Government supported army, Halima prays for death, prays for an end to her suffering. She would rather die than live. A Memoir of Survival in Darfur, the book’s subtitle really is her survival from despair, hopelessness, and the dark depths of depression. She now believes she survived to be a messenger, to be able to share her personal tragedy with the world community.

As the book concludes, you reflect on this story of survival, courage and tenacity of will few of us can even fathom. The atrocities she witnessed and the torture she endured are graphic and uncensored. This is a reality that every world citizen must face. Her hope is that her story will shed more light on the situation in Darfur so that the international community will help end the pain, suffering and genocide.

Readers will find the epilogue with the details of the history and causes for the current situation in Darfur informative. Organizations are listed for those looking for ways to assist the people of Darfur.

I was moved to tears by this memoir of Halima Bashir. There were difficult moments while reading where I just couldn’t even comprehend the sick savage inhumane treatment inflicted upon Ms. Bashir. I hope that she will find her family and continue to have the will to fight the fight as Grandma Sumah would have. Highly recommended.
Cross posted on Library Thing (loves2read)

The Translator by Daoud Hari

Cross-posted from Library Thing

February 4, 2008

A disturbing, suspenseful, emotional success!!!!!! Prepare to stay in your seat when you begin this book. I received my Early Reviewer copy in the mail in the afternoon and couldn’t go to bed until I had finished this book. Daoud has written a masterful memoir about his homeland Darfur and what life, survival and death is like in his region of the Sudan. He takes you through his travels as a translator risking his life to get the story out. You feel his pain and suffering as he is a spectator to the sick senseless loss of family and friends. Often he is the unwilling bystander to the complete annihilation of villages and people. He will have you quickly turning pages as he describes the way of life for the villagers, their fears of looming death and the brutal sadistic torture they endure. Chills and trepidation abound as they face the thunderous approach of the ruthless rebels. He observes all the chaos and continues to risk his life to help his people. In the book he escapes one day from rebels and, you weep for him when he sees a little girl, waving goodbye. He knows she will not survive the day. He cannot save her. Then you also weep for the little girl and all the other pointless dead. I was not prepared for the contents of this book, but I am grateful to Daoud Hari. His memoir is a requisite read for the world toward gaining a better understanding of the plight of the people of Darfur.