I DIDN’T DO IT FOR YOU: How the World Used and Abused a Small African Nation

Michela Wrong

Just as the beat of a butterfly’s wings is said to cause hurricanes on the other side of the world, so the affairs of tiny Eritrea reverberate onto the agenda of superpower strategists. This new book on Africa is from the author of the critically acclaimed In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz. Eritrea is a little-known country scarred by decades of conflict and occupation. It has weathered the world’s longest-running guerrilla war, and the dogged determination that secured victory against Ethiopia, its giant neighbour, is woven into the national psyche. Fascist Italy wanted Eritrea as the springboard for a new, racially-pure Roman empire, Britain sold off its industry for scrap, the US needed headquarters for its state-of-the-art spy station and the Soviet Union used it as a pawn in a proxy war. Michela Wrong reveals the breathtaking abuses this tiny nation has suffered and, with the sharp eye for detail that was the hallmark of her account of Mobutu’s Congo, she tells the story of colonialism itself. Along the way, we meet a formidable Emperor, a guerrilla fighter who taught himself French cuisine in the bush, and a chemist who arranged the heist of his own laboratory. An arresting blend of travelogue and history, ‘I Didn’t Do It For You’ pierces the dark heart of our colonial history.

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I DIDN’T DO IT FOR YOU: How the World Used and Abused a Small African Nation (Text Only) [ePub edition]

Release date: 20th Sep 2012

Author: Michela Wrong

One small East African country embodies the battered history of the continent: patronised by colonialists, riven by civil war, confused by Cold War manoeuvring, proud, colorful, with Africa's best espresso and worst rail service. Michela Wrong brilliantly reveals the contradictions and comedy, past and present, of Eritrea.

IT’S OUR TURN TO EAT

Release date: 7th Jan 2010

Author: Michela Wrong

A gripping account of both an individual caught on the horns of an excruciating moral dilemma and a continent at a turning point.

IT’S OUR TURN TO EAT [ePub edition]

Release date: 10th Apr 2009

Author: Michela Wrong

A gripping account of both an individual caught on the horns of an excruciating moral dilemma and a continent at a turning point.

IT’S OUR TURN TO EAT

Release date: 19th Feb 2009

Author: Michela Wrong

A gripping account of both an individual caught on the horns of an excruciating moral dilemma and a continent at a turning point.

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MR KURTZ: Living on the Brink of Disaster in the Congo

Release date: 2nd Jul 2001

Author: Michela Wrong

A story of grim comedy amid the apocalypse and a celebration of the sheer indestructibility of the human spirit in a nation run riot: Michela Wrong’s vision of Congo/Zaire during the Mobutu years is incisive, ironic and revelatory.

4th Estate

I DIDN’T DO IT FOR YOU: How the World Used and Abused a Small African Nation

More by this author

I DIDN’T DO IT FOR YOU: How the World Used and Abused a Small African Nation (Text Only) [ePub edition]

IT’S OUR TURN TO EAT

IT’S OUR TURN TO EAT [ePub edition]

IT’S OUR TURN TO EAT

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MR KURTZ: Living on the Brink of Disaster in the Congo

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