Little Liberia: An African Odyssey in New York City

Description

A powerful and revelatory account of the Liberian civil war and its human cost, following the lives of two men, from Monrovia to the east coast of America, and back. On Park Hill Avenue in New York City, almost everyone is Liberian. Many fled here, survivors of a brutal civil war that claimed the lives of one in fourteen Liberians. But even an ocean away, the baggage of the past is difficult to leave behind. Steinberg spent two years in this close-knit neighbourhood, tracing the tensions between two men, Rufus and Jacob, with very different pasts but goals which were locked into a collision course. As national dramas played out on a small stage thousands of miles from home, Steinberg takes up a remarkable story of a horrific and heart-wrenching war, and of the quest to be human in a world losing its humanity.

Jonny Steinberg was born and bred in South Africa. He is the author of critically acclaimed Three Letter Plague, published by Vintage, and Midlands and The Number, which both won South Africa's premier non-fiction literary award, the Sunday Times Alan Paton Prize. Steinberg was educated at Wits University in Johannesburg, and at Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He has worked as a journalist on a national daily, written scripts for television drama, and has been a consultant to the South African government on criminal justice policy.

Jonny Steinberg has come to define South African narrative non-fiction; now, in Little Liberia, he applies his prodigious talents globally. He is at the height of his powers, singular in his ability to tell a big story through vivid detail and unforgettable characters. He has one of the sharpest intellects of his generation; here he proves, once more, that he is also a masterful storyteller. -- Mark Gevisser Extraordinary, stylistically varied mix of reportage, history and biography, which is revealing about the author as well as about his subjects, and about the vagaries of memory and motive... Maps, photographs, notes, a list of further reading, as well as a thorough index, all provide useful support for his skilled and compassionate chronicle -- Margaret Busby * Guardian * Steinberg has produced a juicy cocktail of reportage, biography and history that's compelling, shocking and totally engaging. It's storytelling at its expansive best... What appears on the surface to be a history of Liberia turns out to be a compelling story of memory, exile and loss: themes we can all relate to -- Yolanda Zappaterra * Time Out * Extraordinary, stylistically varied mix of reportage, history and biography... A skilled, compassionate chronicle -- Margaret Busby * Guardian * Brave, strong blend of history, biography and reportage * Sunday Business Post *