Chasing the Devil - Softcover

Butcher, Tim

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0701183616 ISBN 13: 9780701183615

Publisher: Random House, 2010

Synopsis

For many years Sierra Leone and Liberia have been too dangerous to travel through, bedevilled by a uniquely brutal form of violence from which sprang many of Africa's cruellest contemporary icons - child soldiers, prisoner mutilation, blood diamonds. With their wars officially over, Tim Butcher sets out on a journey across both countries, trekking for 350 miles through remote rainforest and malarial swamps. Just as he followed H M Stanley through the Congo - a journey described in his bestseller Blood River - this time he pursues a trail blazed by Graham Greene in 1935 and immortalised in the travel classic Journey Without Maps. Greene took 26 bearers, a case of scotch, and hammocks in which he and his cousin Barbara were carried. Tim walks every blistering inch to gain an extraordinary ground-level view of a troubled and overlooked region.As a journalist in Africa, Tim came to know both countries well although the wars made trips to the jungle hinterland far too risky. This is where he now heads, exploring how rebel groups thrived in the bush for so long and whether the devil of war has truly been chased away. He encounters other 'devils', masked figures guarding the spiritual secrets of jungle communities. Some are no more threatening than schoolmasters but others are much more sinister, relying on ritual cannibalism as a source of their magical power. Tim encounters these devils on an epic journey that demands courage, doggedness and good fortune.Chasing the Devil is a dramatic travel book touching on one of the most fraught parts of the globe at a unique moment in its history. Weaving history and anthropology with personal narrative - as well as new discoveries about Greene - it is as exciting as it is enlightening.

About this title

About the Author

Tim Butcher is a best-selling author who blends travel with history. His first book, Blood River, was a number one bestseller, a Richard & Judy Book Club selection and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize, while his next, Chasing the Devil, was longlisted for the George Orwell Prize. A journalist with the Daily Telegraph from 1990 to 2009, in 2010 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Northampton for services to writing. Born in Great Britain, he is based in Cape Town with his family.

Review

"Engaging...descriptions of walking through the bush, of sweltering heat, sweat and swelling blisters are juxtaposed against moments of beauty...a test of endurance" -- Aminatta Forna * Sunday Telegraph * "A brave book by a writer of skill and principle... He exposes the toxic cocktail of colonial exploitation, tribal conflict, ritual violence and blood diamonds that spits out regional monsrosities such as Charles Taylor... an admirable book" -- Brian Schofield * Sunday Times * "Tim Butcher has a respect and affection for West Africa that is genuine and touching, writing in a way that brings out the exuberance and wit of its people. This book is required reading for anyone even vaguely interested in this remote and enigmatic region" * Daily Mail * "Butcher is really a Victorian explorer and writer endowed with the sterling grit of that age... He is tough and he's honest" * Evening Standard * "Butcher's book is packed with incident... fascinating, harrowing and eventful" -- Joan Smith * Independent *

Edition details

• Publisher: Random House
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0701183616
• ISBN 13: 9780701183615
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 325