Livingstone’s Tribe: A Journey From Zanzibar to the Cape - Hardcover

Taylor, Stephen

3.89

47 ratings by Goodreads

9780002558365: Livingstone’s Tribe: A Journey From Zanzibar to the Cape

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 000255836X ISBN 13: 9780002558365

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1999

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An extraordinary, passionate and personal journey into Africa’s past.

Meshing together Africa’s colonial history and the personalities of that time with his own memories of the turbulent twentieth century and its characters, Stephen Taylor will travel from Lake Victoria to the Cape of Good Hope – from the place that represents the peak of colonial exploration in Africa to the first settling place of his own family. His description and re-evaluation of the colonial period shows it in all its drama, glamour and disreputableness – a wilder version of the Raj.

Through this present-day journey, Taylor will trace the legacy of Africa’s history and, in particular, of the place in it of the Whites. The journey will be a quest for understanding: of the colonial impulse, of his own curious ambivalence towards the great continent in which he grew up, and of the southern African countries’ – in particular South Africa’s – future. It will be a wonderfully evocative, lyrical description of some of the most dramatic lands in the world – thoughtful, historical, philosophical travel writing of the best kind.

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Review:

Stephen Taylor grew up a white South African until, "sickened by the dour resentful racists" in charge of his country's destiny, he emigrated to Britain. "Livingstone's Tribe" traces a fascinating journey he took from Zanzibar in Eastern Africa through Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and back down to his former home, South Africa. The title refers to the white Africans who have stayed on in post-independence Africa-- but Taylor meets and talks with a wide range of both white and black Africans.

The book is part travelogue (Taylor describes the wonders he encounters), part historical accounts of whites in Africa (the "great explorers" of the 19th century are very well covered) and part personal memoir of black and white Africa--a place that's far from black and white in the moral sense, Taylor powerfully argues. Throughout his journey Taylor is sensitive to ambiguity, a quality that's rare in travel writing. His Kenya, for instance, captures both the lyrical beauty of Karen Blixen's Out of Africa and "the other Kenya, of state-sanctioned murder and glue-sniffing street children." Taylor grew up as a white South African, but his English provenance set him apart from both the natives and the Afrikaners. He is conscious of being marginal to Africa in a way that neither of these cultures is, and that self-consciousness gives his writing a subtlety and penetration lacking in other work on the same topic. The passages in which Taylor reflects on his childhood in South Africa, giving lucid insights into the divisions of that country, are the real triumph of the book. --Adam Roberts

Review:

‘A masterpiece.This is a hugely ambitious book, a history of his family’s involvement with Africa over 70 years ... riveting.’ Matthew Leeming, The Spectator

‘He captures brilliantly the voracity of the global media and is only too aware of his own role in ‘feeding the beast’. The life of war correspondent is well chronicled: fear, disgust and adrenaline pervade Hartley’s writing as he describes their doings...he leaves the reader with a mesmerising portrait of his beloved Africa’s unhappy squalor.’ Charlie Campbell, Time Out

‘A powerful blend of family history and war correspondent’s memoir...searing, deeply instructive memoir.’Anthony Daniels, Sunday Telegraph

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