Aktion	Zweigstelle	Standorte	Status	Frist	Vorbestellungen
Vorbestellen	Zweigstelle: 07., Urban-Loritz-Pl. 2a	Standorte: GE.UFO FS.E Gera / College 2d - Geschichte	Status: Verfügbar	Frist:	Vorbestellungen: 0

Death in the Congo "is a gripping account of a murder that became one of the defining events in postcolonial African history. It is no less the story of the untimely death of a national dream, a hope-filled vision very different from what the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of the Congo became in the second half of the twentieth century. When Belgium relinquished colonial control in June 1960, a charismatic thirty-five-year-old African nationalist, Patrice Lumumba, became prime minister of the new republic. Yet stability immediately broke down. A mutinous Congolese Army spread havoc, while Katanga Province in southeast Congo seceded altogether. Belgium dispatched its military to protect its citizens, and the United Nations soon intervened with its own peacekeeping troops. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, both the Soviet Union and the United States maneuvered to turn the crisis to their Cold War advantage. A coup in September, secretly aided by the UN, toppled Lumumba s government. In January 1961, armed men drove Lumumba to a secluded corner of the Katanga bush, stood him up beside a hastily dug grave, and shot him. His rule as Africa s first democratically elected leader had lasted ten weeks. More than fifty years later, the murky circumstances and tragic symbolism of Lumumba s assassination still trouble many people around the world. Emmanuel Gerard and Bruce Kuklick pursue events through a web of international politics, revealing a tangled history in which many people black and white, well-meaning and ruthless, African, European, and American bear responsibility for this crime."

Review: Emmanuel Gerard and Bruce Kuklick shed light on an important episode in the annals of decolonization, the Cold War, and African nationalism, as well as on significant aspects of the domestic politics of Belgium and the United States. "Death in the Congo "is a welcome contribution to our understanding of the darker side of decision-making in ostensibly open and democratic political systems.--Edouard Bustin, Boston University, Emeritus (10/08/2014) (COPAC)

 

 

 

 

 

 

/ AUS DEM INHALT: / / /

 

List of Illustration and Maps ix / People and Places, 1960 xi / Introduction 1 / 1The Congo of the Belgians 5 / 2Independence 19 / 3The empire strikes back 32 / 4The Cold War comes to Africa 52 / 5Dag Hammarskjo?ld and the UN 73 / 6The government falls 91 / 7Mobutu 107 / 8Africans against Lumumba 122 / 9The Central Intelligence Agency 135 / 10The return of the Belgians 156 / 11Lumumba imperiled 177 / 12Killing Lumumba 194 / Epilogue 215 / Notes 225 / Essay on sources 251 / Acknowledgments 267 / Index 269