Hailed as "a monumental history . . . more exciting than any novel" (NRC Handelsblad),David van Reybrouck’s rich and gripping epic, in the tradition of Robert Hughes' The Fatal Shore, tells the extraordinary story of one of the world's most devastated countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo.
 Epic in scope yet eminently readable, penetrating and deeply moving, David van Reybrouck's Congo: The Epic History of a People traces the fate of one of the world's most critical, failed nation-states, second only to war-torn Somalia: the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Van Reybrouck takes us through several hundred years of history, bringing some of the most dramatic episodes in Congolese history. Here are the people and events that have impinged the Congo's development—from the slave trade to the ivory and rubber booms; from the arrival of Henry Morton Stanley to the tragic regime of King Leopold II; from global indignation to Belgian colonialism; from the struggle for independence to Mobutu's brutal rule; and from the world famous Rumble in the Jungle to the civil war over natural resources that began in 1996 and still rages today.
Van Reybrouck interweaves his own family's history with the voices of a diverse range of individuals—charismatic dictators, feuding warlords, child-soldiers, the elderly, female merchant smugglers, and many in the African diaspora of Europe and China—to offer a deeply humane approach to political history, focusing squarely on the Congolese perspective and returning a nation's history to its people.

Congo: The Epic History of a People

History

Van Reybrouck, David

Africa

Ecco

From the beginnings of the slave trade through colonization, the struggle for independence, Mobutu's brutal three decades of rule, and the civil war that has raged from 1996 to the present day, Congo: The Epic History of a People traces the history of one of the most devastated nations in the world. Esteemed scholar David Van Reybrouck balances hundreds of interviews with a diverse range of Congolese with meticulous historical research to construct a multidimensional portrait of a nation and its people.
Epic in scope yet eminently readable, both penetrating and deeply moving, Congo—a finalist for the Cundill Prize—takes a deeply humane approach to political history, focusing squarely on the Congolese perspective, and returns a nation's history to its people.

In the wake of World War II, Indonesia was the first country to rid itself of colonial rule. The "Revolusi," as it was known, precipitated the end of the colonial era and inspired independence movements all over the world. In this epic history, renowned scholar and celebrated author of Congo David Van Reybrouck vividly captures a period of extraordinary tumult and chaos to tell the story of Indonesia's violent and momentous revolution. Encompassing several hundred years of history, he details the formation of the Dutch East Indies, the Japanese invasion that followed, and the young rebels who engaged in armed resistance once the occupation ended. British, Australian, and Dutch troops were sent to restore order and keep peace, but instead ignited the first modern war of decolonization. Written with extraordinary clarity and drama, and based on hundreds of interviews and eyewitness testimonies, Revolusi is a masterful history that reframes our understanding of post-colonialism.

Revolusi: Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World

Asia

W.W.Norton&Company

A small book with great weight and urgency to it, this is both a history of democracy and a clarion call for change. "Without drastic adjustment, this system cannot last much longer," writes Van Reybrouck, regarded today as one of Europe's most astute thinkers. "If you look at the decline in voter turnout and party membership, and at the way politicians are held in contempt, if you look at how difficult it is to form governments, how little they can do and how harshly they are punished for it, if you look at how quickly populism, technocracy and anti-parliamentarianism are rising, if you look at how more and more citizens are longing for participation and how quickly that desire can tip over into frustration, then you realize we are up to our necks." Not so very long ago, the great battles of democracy were fought for the right to vote. Now, Van Reybrouck writes, "it's all about the right to speak, but in essence it's the same battle, the battle for political emancipation and for democratic participation. We must decolonize democracy. We must democratize democracy." As history, Van Reybrouck makes the compelling argument that modern democracy was designed as much to preserve the rights of the powerful and keep the masses in line, as to give the populace a voice. As change-agent, Against Elections makes the argument that there are forms of government, what he terms sortitive or deliberative democracy, that are beginning to be practiced around the world, and can be the remedy we seek. In Iceland, for example, deliberative democracy was used to write the new constitution. A group of people were chosen by lot, educated in the subject at hand, and then were able to decide what was best, arguably, far better than politicians would have. A fascinating, and workable idea has led to a timely book to remind us that our system of government is a flexible instrument, one that the people have the power to change.

Against Elections

Politics & Social Sciences

Politics & Government

Seven Stories Press

Democracy is in bad health. The symptoms are familiar: the rise of fear-mongering populists, widespread distrust in the establishment, personality contests, and point-scoring in place of reasoned debate, slogans instead of expertise. Against Elections offers a new diagnosis —and an ancient remedy. David Van Reybrouck reminds us that the original purpose of elections was to exclude the people from power by appointing an elite to govern over them. He demonstrates how over time their effect has been to reduce the people's participation in government to an absolute minimum, ensure power remains in the hands of those who already wield it, and force politicians to judge policies not on their merits but on their likelihood to win or lose votes. And that's when elections go well. Yet for most of democracy's 3000-year history governments were not chosen by election at all: they were appointed, much like the jury system, through a combination of volunteering and lottery. Drawing on vast learning, an international array of evidence, and a growing number of successful trials, Against Elections demonstrates how a sophisticated and practical version of this ancient system would work today and thus eliminate the underlying cause of democracy's sickness. Urgent, heretical, and completely convincing, this book leaves only one question to be answered: what are we waiting for?

Against Elections: The Case for Democracy

RANDOM HOUSE UK

Product description\nCe livre est l'histoire, fidle, rigoureuse, minemment documente et absolument romanesque d'un pays. L'histoire d'un peuple, d'une nation, d'un fleuve sur lequel s'aventurrent Stanley et les premiers marchands d'esclaves, les envoys du roi des Belges, et ceux venus tracer les lignes frontalires de cette immensit gographique appele Congo. Ainsi David Van Reybrouck retrace-t-il le destin tumultueux de ce pays, de la prhistoire nos jours. De la colonisation l'indpendance, il entremle les faits historiques et le rcit de ses rencontres, son livre prend alors une dimension trs personnelle o l'empathie l'gard de ses interlocuteurs est fondamentale. Parmi ces figures gnreuses, le lecteur se souviendra de ces anciens qui content au jeune Belge des aventures extraordinaires remontant jusqu' l'poque prcoloniale. Alternant passages explicatifs et narratifs, David Van Reybrouck prend tour tour sa plume d'historien, de romancier, de journaliste et d'auteur de thtre - quatre "territoires" d'criture - qu'il travaille avec virtuosit, passant de l'ample rigueur d'une Histoire du Congo la sensibilit littraire d'un grand rcit de voyageur : une construction qui donne ce livre son rythme, sa vivacit, sa singularit. Au fil du temps, il rencontre des acteurs essentiels des dbuts de l'indpendance, de l're Mobutu et des guerres qui ont prouv le pays depuis l'arrive au pouvoir des Kabila, il retrouve des victimes et des bourreaux - tel ce seigneur de guerre au Kivu - qui se confient lui et offrent des tmoignages indits o le tragique le dispute un comique froce. Mais Congo, une Histoire est aussi un hymne jubilatoire la vitalit de tout un peuple, sa crativit musicale et artistique, sa capacit de survie dans une conomie de la dbrouillardise qui, en l'absence de structures, se mondialise naturellement : alors que s'installent dj une population chinoise venue exploiter les richesses du sous-sol, certains importateurs congolais vont aujourd'hui se fournir Guangzhou\nFrom the Back Cover\nDe la période précoloniale aux années 2008-2009 (la fin de Mobutu et la guerre civile), en passant par l'exploration de Stanley (1870), cette histoire du Congo n'avait jamais été écrite. Se fondant sur un travail de documentation époustouflant et des mois d'enquête parfois rocambolesque, voire périlleuse, David Van Reybrouck prend tour à tour la plume du romancier, du journaliste et du dramaturge pour raconter ce pays avec une inlassable curiosité, une ingénieuse rigueur et un réel courage. Il signe un essai total, une somme extrêmement riche, un livre de référence mais aussi un hymne jubilatoire à l'extraordinaire vitalité de tout un peuple qui a déjà passionné plus de 300 000 lecteurs aux Pays-Bas et dans les Flandres.

Congo. Une histoire

Actes-sud

De la période précoloniale aux années 2008-2009 en passant par l'exploration de Stanley, cette histoire du Congo n'avait jamais été écrite. Après un travail de documentation époustouflant et des mois d'une enquête parfois périlleuse, c'est en journaliste autant qu'en romancier que David Van Reybrouck raconte ce pays avec curiosité, rigueur et courage. Hymne à l'extraordinaire vitalité de tout un peuple, cet essai de référence a rencontré un succès public et critique international.

Europe

Zinc

Literature & Fiction

Essays & Correspondence

Odes

Literary

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Van Reybrouck, David. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Van Reybrouck, David

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Van Reybrouck, David. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Congo: The Epic History of a People

Congo: The Epic History of a People

Revolusi: Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World

Revolusi: Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World

Against Elections

Against Elections: The Case for Democracy

Congo. Une histoire

Congo. Une histoire

Zinc

Odes