The Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham

I picked up this book upon arrival in Nairobi for my ADP assignment 3 months ago as I thought this is the best way to put thing into context during my travels in Africa. This is the story of 19th century colonial expansion which in the words of Dr. Livingstone was designed to bring the three C’s “Civilisation, Commerce and Christianity” to the African’s, whether they wanted them or not. One would imagine that reading 650 pages about this very wide subject covering the years from 1876 to 1912, 2 continents and myriads of names, dates and places would get really tedious, but Pakenham has managed to tell a proper story that serves both as a history lesson and as a tale of conquest and betrayal. Pakenham tends to focus more on the British scramble, but still it is a great book that together with “The State of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence” will give you an excellent starter on the continent. The only thing left would be to actual visit it!