Not so dark. Africa without clichés. A review of ‘Africa’, by Richard Dowden, for Dublin Review of Books, www.drb.ie, Spring 2009
‘Here is Dowden’s description of Angola at the height of the civil war, in the 1980s: “a marxist regime armed by the Soviet Union and protected by Cuban troops is kept going by revenues from oil extracted by American oil companies whose operations are being attacked by American-backed socialist rebels”. This was history as tragedy and farce at the same time.’ Read more
Where Oil Is King. Aid, Trade and the Angolan Kleptocracy. A review of ‘Angola: The Weight of History’, by Patrick Chabal and Nuno Vidal (eds) for Dublin Review of Books, www.drb.ie, Summer 2008
‘In early 2001, in a small meeting room in a rehabilitated building in the town of Kuito, in Bié province in Angola, the local security officer for the United Nations told us of a new government policy that was likely to impact on our work. It was called limpeza, meaning cleaning, or cleansing…’ Read more
Sell the cows, rent out the farm. The strange twilight of the Irish language. In the Dublin Review, Autumn 2008
Green Sugar. The rise and fall of the Irish sugar industry. In the Dublin Review, Summer 2007
