Fantastic Invasions: Dispatches from Africa, by Patrick Marnham

Explored and exploited, Africa has carried a different meaning for each wave of foreign invaders - from ivory traders to aid workers. Now, in the crisis that has followed Independence, which way should Africa turn?

'Fantastic Invasion is - fantastic. Patrick Marnham's grim, sharp wit is much to my taste: a depressing, not to say horrible, story becomes, because of it, an exhilarating Swiftian excursion into human folly' - Doris Lessing

'An absolutely horrifying chronicle which, better than any book I know, explains Africa and finds a pattern in what has baffled every other observer up to now. It is a courageous and brilliant effort' - Paul Theroux

'This shrewd, acrid book is an excellent antidote to the usual guff written on Africa' - Sunday, Telegraph

'A writer afoot with a ruthless vision... His main strength .. is his genius as a story-teller' - Jonathan Raban