Alex Perry: The Rift: A New Africa Breaks Free

by Perry, Alex

ISBN: 9780297871231

Published: 2015

Where Africans once fought ruling powers, now they battle a ruling perception. Alex Perry's lyrical and meticulous exploration of the new Africa required a spell in jail, visits to numerous wars and, eventually, his resignation as a magazine correspondent. But this is no tale of African woe. Taking the Great Rift Valley - the geological fault that will eventually tear Africa in two - as his central metaphor, Perry explores the split between a resurgent Africa and a world at odds with its rise: between rich and poor, between Western ideals and Western reality, and between African dreams and African achievement. Using his unique first-hand experience and interviews, Perry overturns our misconceptions and plots the new dynamics shaping the continent to reveal the stunning face of modern Africa. He uncovers a place that is defiantly rising from centuries of oppression to become an economic and political titan: where cash is becoming a thing of the past, where astronomers are unlocking...