Pulling No Punches

Published May 5, 2004

A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa

By Howard W. French

Knopf

280 pp., $38.00

Perhaps the greatest strength of this impassioned but lucidly written account of contemporary Africa derives from the fact that the author, Howard French, is both African and American. A New York Times reporter who also lived, taught, and raised a family in Africa,...