Status
Available
Publication
Pantheon (2009), Edition: First Edition, 336 pages
Description
Taking a view far from the dependent Africa typically portrayed by Western media, Maathai lays bare the complex and multi-layered culture of the continent, offering optimistic yet feasible ways to improve the quality of life that literally start from the ground up. Maathai analyzes the major impediments to development at three key levels--international, national, and individual. By stressing personal responsibility, Maathai focuses on what Africans can do for themselves to empower individual change at the community level.
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User reviews
LibraryThing member AEmberly
Wahgari is an inspiration to women word-wide. She deserves to be the President of Kenya. Her journey has been long and arduous but she never gives up. Thank God for the Wangaris of the world!!!
LibraryThing member gcthomas
A book outlining the difficulties facing the people and countries of Africa, and what can be done to overcome them.
The book's chapters cover topics such as foreign aid and debt, leadership and corruption, loss of traditional cultures, the tension between ethnicity and nationality, and environmental
Ultimately, I think this book is hampered by its overly-broad scope and lack of focus. While it does provide a rough outline of many of the issues facing Africa in the modern day, it doesn't offer much beyond that.
The book's chapters cover topics such as foreign aid and debt, leadership and corruption, loss of traditional cultures, the tension between ethnicity and nationality, and environmental
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issues. Given the large breadth of topics covered, much of the content consists of broad generalizations, while the solutions offered often seem overly abstract and non-specific. For example: leaders should serve the people rather than seeking to stay in power, citizens need to hold their governments accountable, poor people must take initiative and not wait for foreign aid to save them, and so on. The parts of the book I found most interesting were when the author described specific issues in Kenya and her own work with the Green Belt Movement, rather than speaking in generalities.Ultimately, I think this book is hampered by its overly-broad scope and lack of focus. While it does provide a rough outline of many of the issues facing Africa in the modern day, it doesn't offer much beyond that.
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Awards
Dayton Literary Peace Prize (Longlist — Nonfiction — 2010)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2010
Physical description
8.5 inches
ISBN
0307377407 / 9780307377401