Death in the Congo

Murdering Patrice Lumumba

Emmanuel Gerard, Bruce Kuklick

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Hardback

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English

Harvard University Press
10 February 2015

African history; International relations; Political assassinations

Death in the Congo is a gripping account of a murder that became one of the defining events in postcolonial African history. It is no less the story of the untimely death of a national dream, a hope-filled vision very different from what the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of the Congo became in the second half of the twentieth century.

When Belgium relinquished colonial control in June 1960, a charismatic thirty-five-year-old African nationalist, Patrice Lumumba, became prime minister of the new republic. Yet stability immediately broke down. A mutinous Congolese Army spread havoc, while Katanga Province in southeast Congo seceded altogether. Belgium dispatched its military to protect its citizens, and the United Nations soon intervened with its own peacekeeping troops. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, both the Soviet Union and the United States maneuvered to turn the crisis to their Cold War advantage. A coup in September, secretly aided by the UN, toppled Lumumba's government. In January 1961, armed men drove Lumumba to a secluded corner of the Katanga bush, stood him up beside a hastily dug grave, and shot him. His rule as Africa's first democratically elected leader had lasted ten weeks.

More than fifty years later, the murky circumstances and tragic symbolism of Lumumba's assassination still trouble many people around the world. Emmanuel Gerard and Bruce Kuklick pursue events through a web of international politics, revealing a tangled history in which many people-black and white, well-meaning and ruthless, African, European, and American-bear responsibility for this crime.

By: Emmanuel Gerard, Bruce Kuklick
Imprint: Harvard University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 23mm
Weight: 544g
ISBN: 9780674725270
ISBN 10: 0674725271
Pages: 296
Publication Date: 10 February 2015
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Emmanuel Gerard is Professor of History at KU Leuven–University of Leuven. Bruce Kuklick is Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania.

Reviews for Death in the Congo: Murdering Patrice Lumumba

The story of Patrice Lumumba s death is fascinating because it seems emblematic of the Cold War era decolonization of Africa What is distinctive and new in this very readable account is the authors unrelentingly negative portraits of all the actors involved. No one emerges unscathed: not the bumbling Congolese, not the Cold War-crazed Americans, not the petulant Europeans and, worst of all, not even Lumumba himself, whom Gerard and Kuklick portray as a gifted speaker but also a self-promoter who was generally clueless about the exercise of power.--Nicolas van de Walle Foreign Affairs (09/01/2015)

Nominated for African Studies Association (ASA) Best Book Prize (formerly known as the Melville J. Herskovits Prize) 2016
Nominated for Ellis W. Hawley Prize 2016
Nominated for Martin A. Klein Prize in African History 2016
Nominated for Melville J. Herskovits Award 2016