Fighting for the Rain Forest - (African Issues) by Paul Richards (Paperback)

About the Book

Examines the war in Sierra Leone as a crisis of modernity.

Book Synopsis

Examines the war in Sierra Leone as a crisis of modernity.

Do small wars in Africa manifest a 'new barbarism'?
What appears as random, anarchic violence is no such thing. The terrifying military methods of of Sierra Leone's soldiers may not fir conventional western models of warfare, but they are rational and effective nonetheless. The war must be understood partly as a 'performance', in which techniques of terror compensate for lack of equipment.

PAUL RICHARDS is Professor of Technology and Agrarian Development, Wageningen University

Published in association with the International African Institute

Review Quotes

Fighting for the Rain Forest is a book infused with the importance of ideas, whether the indigenous knowledge of forest communities, youthful film criticism, the RUF's intellectual roots, or arguing for knowledge-intensive smart relief and support for in situ analysis and political debate...In his analysis of the war and rebel mind-set ...Richards has an important point to make: war and violence may not just serve a function. They are also about ideas. ---Mark Bradbury "THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT"

A perceptive, passionate and disturbing book which sheds light on issues of great current importance, far beyond the compass of the West African rainforest. ---A.F. Robertson "JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES"

Through dedicated scholarship and long-term residence in Sierra Leone, Richards successfully contextualises the RUF struggle as a revolt against the patrimonial rule of Sierra Leone and marginalization of ordinary people rather than one driven by greedy and trigger happy illiterate people ---Doreen Lwanga "PAMBAZUKA NEWS"