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I DIDNT DO IT FOR YOU EPUB EB
About this book
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.
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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Information
Table of contents
- Cover Page
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Table of Contents
- Maps
- Foreword
- CHAPTER 1 The City Above the Clouds
- CHAPTER 2 The Last Italian
- CHAPTER 3 The Steel Snake
- CHAPTER 4 This Horrible Escarpment
- CHAPTER 5 The Curse of the Queen of Sheba
- CHAPTER 6 The Feminist Fuzzy-Wuzzy
- CHAPTER 7 ‘What do the baboons want?’
- CHAPTER 8 The Day of Mourning
- CHAPTER 9 The Gold Cadillac Site
- CHAPTER 10 Blow Jobs, Bugging and Beer
- CHAPTER 11 Death of the Lion
- CHAPTER 12 Of Bicycles and Thieves
- CHAPTER 13 The End of the Affair
- CHAPTER 14 The Green, Green Grass of Home
- CHAPTER 15 Arms and the Man
- CHAPTER 16 ‘Where are our socks?’
- CHAPTER 17 A Village of No Interest
- CHAPTER 18 ‘It’s good to be normal’
- Chronology
- P.S. Ideas, interviews & features…
- Glossary and acronyms
- Notes
- Other sources
- Index
- Acknowledgements
- About the Author
- Praise
- By the same author
- Copyright
- About the Publisher