Table of Contents

1. Missionaries and Traders 2. Miners and Planters 3. Rebels and Generals 4. The Great Dictator 5. The Failed 'Transition' 6. Speculators and Thieves

Promotional Information

Provides an introduction to the Congo. This book covers its history, from the unleashing of King Leopard's fury across the region in the 19th century, to the Western sponsored murder of Patrice Lumumba in 1961, and also the war since 1997. It pays attention to the importance of economic production for social organization throughout the country.

About the Author

David Renton is currently an Associate Professor of Sociology at Johannesburg University, South Africa, having taught previously at Rhodes University, Sunderland University and Nottingham Trent University. He gained his MA in Modern History at Oxford University in 1995, and his PhD at Sheffield University in 1998. He has also worked for several years as a trade union official. His recent books include: When we Touched the Sky: The Anti-Nazi League 1977-1981 (New Clarion Press, 2006), Trotsky (London: Haus Life and Times, 2004), Dissident Marxism (London: Zed Books, 2004). David Seddon has a BA and MA from Cambridge and a PhD in social anthropology from the LSE. He has lived, worked and undertaken research and consultancy in Africa (and Asia) for some 40 years. Having taught at the University of Cape Town and University of the Witwatersrand in the late 1960s and the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) in the early 1970s, he moved in 1972 to the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich. There he helped establish the School of Development Studies, where he currently holds a Chair in Sociology & Politics. A former member of the editorial board of the Review of African political economy, he is the author of numerous works on African political economy. His most recent published book is A Political and Economic Dictionary of Africa (Europa Publications, Taylor & Francis 2005) and he is currently working on an A to Z of Political Islam, for Zed Books. Leo Zeilig is a Research Fellow in the Department of Sociology at the University of Johannesburg. He has lectured at Brunel University, where he was awarded his PhD and Chiekh Anta Diop University in Senegal. His publications include the edited book: Class Struggle and Resistance in Africa (New Clarion Press, 2002).

Reviews

...presents a history of the Congo since colonisation in the late 19th cenutry, focusing on the economic arguments for successive western interventions.
*Ducan Bowie, Chartist*

A brilliant guide to one of the modern world’s most atrocious cases of systematic eco-social destruction.
*Patrick Bond, University of KwaZulu Natal*

A book which must be read by those who believe that the marginalisation of Africa is the result of its backwardness, while it is in fact the very product of its integration in the global imperialist system.
*Samir Amin*

Anyone wishing to comprehend the origins of Africa's seemingly endless problems is advised to get hold of a copy of this book.
*Tribune*