The Zanzibar Chest
Book description
A deeply affecting memoir of a childhood in Africa and the continent's horrendous wars, which Hartley witnessed at first hand as a journalist in the 1990s. Shortlisted for the prestigious Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction, this is a masterpiece of autobiographical journalism.
Aidan Hartley, a foreign correspondent, burned-out from the…
Why read it?
2 authors picked The Zanzibar Chest as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I met Aidan in Bunia, on the frontline of the Congo war, where he kindly offered his help, and then, not knowing who he was, I discovered his memoir in the Nairobi airport.
His story of starting as a lowly stringer and working his way up resonated with my own journey as a stringer for The AP in DR Congo, a journey I recount in my first memoir, Stringer.
"Congo is a tough place," he told me in Bunia, "not many people move here to report." I enjoyed reading a book by a reporter who wanted to help young…
From Anjan's list on foreign correspondent memoirs of Africa.
If you want a book that is amazingly written, informative, and full of all that makes Africa what it is – passion, tragedy, discovery – this is writing at its best. It’s one of those books that a writer can hardly duplicate or even imitate: a one-off miracle of a thousand different stories, characters, epochs, human trajectories, all ingredients of a complex dish that a normal chef would spoil but that Hartley pulls out of the oven still as a masterpiece. Interestingly, a book that has been praised and criticized with equally strong sentiments.
From Riccardo's list on post colonial life in Africa.
If you love The Zanzibar Chest...
Tap Dancing on Everest
Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.
The team attempts a new route up…
Want books like The Zanzibar Chest?
Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Zanzibar Chest.
Share your top 3 reads of 2024!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
1,592
readers submitted
so far, will you?
📚 If you like The Zanzibar Chest, you might also like...
Unsettled
At the age of forty-nine, Laurie Woodford rents out her house, packs her belongings into two suitcases, and leaves her life in upstate New York to relocate to Seoul, South Korea. What begins as an opportunity to teach college English in Asia evolves into a nomadic adventure.
Laurie spoon-feeds orphans…
Ambidextrous
Bold, funny, and shockingly honest, Ambidextrous is like no other memoir of 1950s urban childhood.
Picano appears to his parents and siblings to be a happy, cheerful eleven-year-old possessed of the remarkable talent of being able to draw beautifully and write fluently with either hand. But then he runs into…
