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Congo Journey is a hilarious and daring trip into the heart of darkness. Striking out for the Marxist-Leninist People's Republic of Congo, O'Hanlon takes an unsuspecting friend to hidden Lake Tele in search of Mohele-mbembe, the rarely seen Congo dinosaur. But what they find is not quite what they went looking for, making Congo Journey a brilliant tale of a naturalist utterly out of his depth.
(7)An American explorer and cryptozoologist chronicles his adventures on the Congo searching for the elusive Mokele-Mbembe, a dinosaur-like creature reported to live in the river.
(4)While poring over dust-caked pamphlets in the library, Ben Rawlence stumbles upon the photo of a lost city of colonial Congo--a glistening, modern metropolis built by huge tin mines and European capitalists. Today, that city, Manono, sits beyond the infamous ATriangle of Death,” in an area rarely reached by outsiders since war turned the country’s rivers to blood.
In this compelling debut, Rawlence sets out to gather the news from this ghost town in one of the most dangerous places in the world. Ignoring the advice of locals, reporters, and mercenaries, he travels by foot, motorbike, and canoe, taking his time and meeting the people who are rebuilding their homes with hope, faith, and nervous instinct. We meet Benjamin, the kindly father of the most terrifying Mai Mai warlord; Leya, who happily gives up a good job in Zambia to return to her razed town; Colonel Ibrahim, a guerrilla turned army officer; the Lebanese cousins Mohammed and Mohammed, who oversee the remains of Manono’s great mine; the priest Jean-Baptiste, who explains the conjoined prices of beer and normality; and the talk-show host Mama Christine, who dispenses counsel and courage in equal measure.
From the Ablood cheese” of Goma to the decaying city of Manono, Rawlence shares the real story of Congo during and after the war, and finds not just a lost city but the seeds of a peaceful future.
(8)Introduction by Caryl Phillips
Commentary by H. L. Mencken, E. M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, Ernest Hemingway, Bertrand Russell, Lionel Trilling, Chinua Achebe, and Philip Gourevitch
Originally published in 1902, Heart of Darkness remains one of this century’s most enduring works of fiction. Written several years after Joseph Conrad’s grueling sojourn in the Belgian Congo, the novel is a complex meditation on colonialism, evil, and the thin line between civilization and barbarity. This edition contains selections from Conrad’s Congo Diary of 1890—the first notes, in effect, for the novel, which was composed at the end of that decade. Virginia Woolf wrote of Conrad: “His books are full of moments of vision. They light up a whole character in a flash. . . . He could not write badly, one feels, to save his life.”
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(1)Folded road and travel map in color. Scale 1:3,300,000. Distinguishes 6 types of roads, ranging from motorways to dirt roads. Legend shows railways, international airports, airfields, ship routes, car ferries, passes, National Parks/game reserves, scenic spots, churches, monuments, beaches, lodge/camping sites, caves, mangroves, volcanos. Includes inset of Kinshasa. Legend in 4 languages, including English. Index on back of map.
(1)Too many people go to countries trying to do good things and they wind up causing trouble. John's goal was to make people self-sufficient. He shows how someone can make social change and not upend the apple cart. He was an excellent Peace Corps volunteer.
Dr. Brian Polkinghorn, Center for Conflict
Resolution, Salisbury University
It was 1975, Zaire had just started its long descent into economic decline when John Jochum arrived as a Peace Corps volunteer. He spent three years in the central African country helping local farmers build fish farms. He also saw first-hand how a politically predatory country takes a toll on its citizens.
Jochum regularly wrote letters home, describing his experiences and sending along photos. His mother saved everything, tucking them away safely in a bedroom drawer. When she died recently, Jochum found the letters and realized he had quite a record of his experiences as a young man twenty-nine years ago.
Mary Bargion, The Daily Times,
Salisbury, Maryland
Letters from Zaire is a fascinating account of John Jochum s experience with the Peace Corps. It is both entertaining and educational, as it depicts a cultural, learning, and teaching experience, as well as a captivating account of one young man s season of personal growth. It offers a remarkably insightful recount of the political atmosphere in Zaire and its relations with other countries. At the same time, through imaginative writing and striking photographs, the reader is carried through a personal journey right alongside John as he meets the impoverished family units of the region, teaches a trade, interacts with them in social gatherings, travels the dusty roads of small towns on barely reliable transportation, adopts a desperately unhealthy stray dog, and floats down a lazy river on inner tubes with a handful of friends.
Karen Scott, Media Specialist,
Wicomico Senior High School
