Overview

James Ciment, in his enthralling history Another America, shows that the settlers struggled to balance their high ideals with their prejudices. On the steamy shores of West Africa, they re-created the only social order they knew, that of an antebellum Dixie, with themselves as the master caste, ruling over a native population that outnumbered them twenty to one. They built plantations, held elegant dances, and worked to protect their fragile independence from the predations of foreign powers. Meanwhile, they fought, abused, and even helped to enslave the native Liberians. The persecuted became the persecutors - until a lowly native sergeant murdered their president in 1980, ending 133 years of Americo-Liberian rule and inaugurating a quarter century of civil war. Riven by caste, committed to commerce, practicing democratic and Christian ideals haphazardly, the Americo-Liberians created a history that is, to a surprising degree, the mirror image of our own.

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9780809026951

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Reviews

Ciment captures the establishment and destiny of [Liberia], from [its] expectant beginnings, to the Orwellian zeal with which the formerly oppressed in many cases became the oppressors, to the more recent atrocities committed by Charles Taylor. That few Americans today seem aware of Liberia's story, and their own country's essential role in it, gives this book a place in the lexicon that exceeds the mere quality of its research or readability of its text, both of which are considerable.

Ciment captures the establishment and destiny of [Liberia], from [its] expectant beginnings, to the Orwellian zeal with which the formerly oppressed in many cases became the oppressors, to the more recent atrocities committed by Charles Taylor. That few Americans today seem aware of Liberia's story, and their own country's essential role in it, gives this book a place in the lexicon that exceeds the mere quality of its research or readability of its text, both of which are considerable. --The Daily Beast Vivid . . . Enlivened by profiles of some of the early settlers, this is an engaging and accessible account. --Publishers Weekly America's ugly affair with slavery produced an illegitimate child, the nation of Liberia. James Ciment's book is a stunning portrait of both Americas, the superpower and the outcast 'child'--a nation we fostered, abused, and used, and that now thrives despite it all. Ciment brings a journalist's 'you are there' voice and a novelist's insight to this history of America reborn in Africa under black rule and misrule. Affecting, at times violent, and filled with unforgettable characters, Another America reads like nonfiction Dostoyevsky. --Greg Palast, author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and Vultures' Picnic James Ciment has written well about the fantastic, twisted story of the Republic of Liberia, which saw freed slaves from America return to Africa to rule over the natives for more than a century, until they were ousted in a long and brutal civil war. Another America is an engaging, accessible, appropriately critical yet respectful history that reads like a novel you won't be able to put down. --Emily Raboteau, author of Searching for Zion: The Quest for Home in the African Diaspora James Ciment's Another America is a rip-roaring popular retelling of Liberian history. It is a whirl of names and places that evokes the conundrum presented by African Americans in Africa claiming to be the spokespersons for blackness. Its lesson--that class hierarchies can derail appeals to racial unity--is a vital one. --Ibrahim Sundiata, author of Brothers and Strangers: Black Zion, Black Slavery, 1914-1940 With a fistful of good characters and a backbone of research, James Ciment's very readable book makes the story of Liberia, the ex-slaves' country, look like a limb of American history. --Edward Ball, author of Slaves in the Family

Ciment captures the establishment and destiny of [Liberia], from [its] expectant beginnings, to the Orwellian zeal with which the formerly oppressed in many cases became the oppressors, to the more recent atrocities committed by Charles Taylor. That few Americans today seem aware of Liberia's story, and their own country's essential role in it, gives this book a place in the lexicon that exceeds the mere quality of its research or readability of its text, both of which are considerable. -- The Daily Beast Vivid . . . Enlivened by profiles of some of the early settlers, this is an engaging and accessible account. -- Publishers Weekly America's ugly affair with slavery produced an illegitimate child, the nation of Liberia. James Ciment's book is a stunning portrait of both Americas, the superpower and the outcast 'child'--a nation we fostered, abused, and used, and that now thrives despite it all. Ciment brings a journalist's 'you are there' voice and a novelist's insight to this history of America reborn in Africa under black rule and misrule. Affecting, at times violent, and filled with unforgettable characters, Another America reads like nonfiction Dostoyevsky. --Greg Palast, author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and Vultures' Picnic James Ciment has written well about the fantastic, twisted story of the Republic of Liberia, which saw freed slaves from America return to Africa to rule over the natives for more than a century, until they were ousted in a long and brutal civil war. Another America is an engaging, accessible, appropriately critical yet respectful history that reads like a novel you won't be able to put down. --Emily Raboteau, author of Searching for Zion: The Quest for Home in the African Diaspora James Ciment's Another America is a rip-roaring popular retelling of Liberian history. It is a whirl of names and places that evokes the conundrum presented by African Americans in Afri

Ciment captures the establishment and destiny of [Liberia], from [its] expectant beginnings, to the Orwellian zeal with which the formerly oppressed in many cases became the oppressors, to the more recent atrocities committed by Charles Taylor. That few Americans today seem aware of Liberia's story, and their own country's essential role in it, gives this book a place in the lexicon that exceeds the mere quality of its research or readability of its text, both of which are considerable. -- The Daily Beast Vivid . . . Enlivened by profiles of some of the early settlers, this is an engaging and accessible account. -- Publishers Weekly America's ugly affair with slavery produced an illegitimate child, the nation of Liberia. James Ciment's book is a stunning portrait of both Americas, the superpower and the outcast 'child'--a nation we fostered, abused, and used, and that now thrives despite it all. Ciment brings a journalist's 'you are there' voice and a novelist's insight to this history of America reborn in Africa under black rule and misrule. Affecting, at times violent, and filled with unforgettable characters, Another America reads like nonfiction Dostoyevsky. --Greg Palast, author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and Vultures' Picnic James Ciment has written well about the fantastic, twisted story of the Republic of Liberia, which saw freed slaves from America return to Africa to rule over the natives for more than a century, until they were ousted in a long and brutal civil war. Another America is an engaging, accessible, appropriately critical yet respectful history that reads like a novel you won't be able to put down. --Emily Raboteau, author of Searching for Zion: The Quest for Home in the African Diaspora James Ciment's Another America is a rip-roaring popular retelling of Liberian history. It is a whirl of names and places that evokes the conundrum presented by African Americans in Africa claiming to be the spokespersons for blackness. Its lesson--that class hierarchies can derail appeals to racial unity--is a vital one. --Ibrahim Sundiata, author of Brothers and Strangers: Black Zion, Black Slavery, 1914-1940 With a fistful of good characters and a backbone of research, James Ciment's very readable book makes the story of Liberia, the ex-slaves' country, look like a limb of American history. --Edward Ball, author of Slaves in the Family

Author Information

James Ciment is an editor and the author of several books on the history of Africa and the Middle East. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.

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