Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa [Paperback]

A “meticulously researched and comprehensive”(Financial Times)history of the devastating war in the heart of Africa’s Congo  

At the heart of Africa is the Congo, a country the size of western Europe. It borders nine other nations, and since 1996 it has been racked by a brutal war in which millions have died. InDancing in the Glory of Monsters, renowned political activist and researcher Jason K. Stearns has written a compelling and deeply reported narrative of how Congo became a failed state that collapsed into a war of retaliatory massacres. Stearns brilliantly describes the key perpetrators, many of whom he met personally, and highlights the nature of the political system that brought these people to power, as well as the moral decisions with which the war confronted them. Now updated with a new introduction,Dancing in the Glory of Monsterstells the full story of Africa’s great war.Jason K. Stearnsis associate professor at Simon Fraser University, the founder of the Congo Research Group at New York University and the co-founder of Ebuteli, a research institute in Kinshasa. He has worked for the International Crisis Group, and the UN Group of Experts on the DR Congo, and the Rift Valley Institute. His most recent book isThe War That Doesn’t Say Its Name. He currently lives in Vancouver, Canada.AnEconomistandWall Street JournalBest Book of the Year
He is a cracking writer, with a wry sense of understatement... Mr. Stearns has spoken to everyone-villagers, child soldiers, Mobutu's commanders, Kabila's ministers, Rwandan intelligence officers. In these conversations he found gold, bringing clarity-and humanity-to a place that usually seems inexplicable and barbaric.Dancing in the Glory of Monstersis riveting and certain to become essential reading for anyone looking to understand Central Africa. Douglas Rogers, The Wall Street JournallÓ.