Publishers Weekly
06/07/2021
The quest for African unity was undermined by America’s imperialist machinations, according to this labyrinthine study, which focuses on the Congo Crisis and the execution of Patrice Lumumba in 1961. University of London historian Williams (Spies in the Congo) chronicles Lumumba’s rise to power as Congo’s first prime minister following independence from Belgium in June of 1960, and his rapid downfall amid an army mutiny, a Belgian invasion, a secession movement backed by Western mining companies in the province of Katanga, and a coup launched by future dictator Joseph Mobutu. It’s a chaotic saga with many antagonists, but Williams focuses on the U.S. government, which suspected Lumumba of pro-Soviet leanings and wanted control of the Shinkolobwe uranium mine in Katanga. She documents how the CIA funneled support to Mobutu, bribed Congolese politicians to oppose Lumumba, and plotted to assassinate him using poisoned toothpaste, but her allegations of skullduggery sometimes outrun the evidence, as when she speculates that the agency may have played a role in the premature deaths of other African leaders and the novelist Richard Wright. Hampered by Williams’s styling of Lumumba as the great hope for Pan-Africanism and an eye-glazing tangle of code names and shadowy ties, this is a reductionist take on a complex tragedy. (Aug.)
From the Publisher
A deeply distressing history of CIA involvement in plots to eliminate certain regimes in Africa, particularly in the Congo and Ghana, just as the countries shook off European colonial rule in the mid-20th century… Rigorous reporting reveals “America’s role in the deliberate violation of democracy” in newly independent African nations.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Beautifully written and carefully researched. It is an important contribution to the history of Africa in the context of the Cold War, when the USA and the Soviet Union were locked in a struggle for African influence and control.”—Martin Plaut, former Africa Editor, BBC World Service News and author of Understanding South Africa
“In this masterpiece of historical analysis on the dirty tricks of the CIA in Africa during the 1960s, Susan Williams delivers her magnum opus. This richly documented narrative is based on outstanding scholarly research comprising archival sources from eight countries and the United Nations, plus numerous other written and oral sources … it could not be timelier in throwing light on the institutionalized racism and hypocrisy of Western powers.” —Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja Professor of African and Global Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
“This meticulously researched book provides a compelling account of decolonisation and the forces that sought to thwart that chaotic, protracted, but ultimately liberating process. An informative read which, in examining the death throes of the rapacious colonial project, lays bare the profound injustice imperialism inflicted on Africa and beyond.”—Shashi Tharoor, Indian MP and author of Inglorious Empire
“[White Malice] overflows with fascinating information, original research, and bold ideas.”—NPR.org
“A revelatory, meticulous new book.”—Unherd
“White Malice is a triumph of archival research, and its best moments come when Williams allows the actors on both sides to speak for themselves.”—Africa is a Country
“Williams does a nice line in intrigue. There is a John le Carré quality to many of the episodes.”—Financial Times
“A new book from historian and academic Dr Susan Williams is always an eagerly awaited event – and White Malice: The CIA and the Neocolonialisation of Africa is no exception. Williams has woven together many of the themes of previous studies to present a searing indictment of how Western powers interfered with, plundered and sabotaged the interests of newly independent African nations and their leaders.”—African Business
“[A] devastating, superbly researched account.”—Daily Maverick
“This thoroughly-researched account of CIA interference in two newly independent African nations makes for sobering reading.”—The Scotsman
“This is a book that every prospective leader in Africa must read."—Africa Briefing
“This gripping book meticulously uncovers the role of covert western interference in two countries.”—Labour Hub
“Her thesis threatens to disappear amid a forest of historical detail, but readers interested, especially, in Ghana and Congo will find her book absorbing.”—Boston Globe
“...[T]he author merits our heartfelt thanks for her indefatigable labor that has rescued a history that needs to be better known and will be instrumental in the final defeat of U.S. imperialism on the beleaguered continent.”—CovertAction
“Williams takes great care to provide evidence of just how far the CIA’s reach went, the organizations it funded, the many different ways it tried to gain access and the willingness to use violence to achieve their goal of a compliant and capitalist Africa…This book is essential reading.”—Spring Magazine
“Williams provides a vivid account of significant aspects of the [CIA] activity, informed by declassified material and rendered eminently readable by telling and energetically related anecdotes.”—Survival: Global Politics and Strategy
“Susan Williams chronicles imperial legacies with a forensic eye, a historical mind, and a decolonial sensibility for African agency; her findings are as stunning as they are transformative.” —The Windham-Campbell Prize Committee
“This is a sweeping book. Williams is a careful scholar who extensively details her sources and the evidentiary bases of her findings, and is unwilling to make claims she cannot support… To Williams, I give the highest compliment I can give: I wish I had written this book!” —CounterCurrents
“What emerges from these testimonies is not a picture of tragedy, romance or against-the-odds heroism, but a sober assessment of the tough and sometimes impossible choices facing left-wing anti-colonial activists who were under pressure from foreign enemies and foreign allies alike.” —The London Review of Books
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2021-06-19
A deeply distressing history of CIA involvement in plots to eliminate certain regimes in Africa, particularly in the Congo and Ghana, just as the countries shook off European colonial rule in the mid-20th century.
Between the independence of Ghana in 1957 and the CIA–backed overthrow of President Kwame Nkrumah in 1966, the CIA made an intense, rapid infiltration into Africa. Though not well known to lay readers, this history comes vividly to life in the capable hands of Williams, the author of Spies in the Congo (2016), among other investigative works. Despite being democratically elected, the popular leaders Nkrumah of Ghana and Patrice Lumumba of Congo were vilified by U.S. officials, who were nervous about (fabricated) overtures to the Soviet Union. Ostensibly for reasons of national security during the Cold War—and to keep precious uranium and other minerals within American control—the CIA operatives swung into action, at President Dwight Eisenhower’s behest, orchestrating the 1960 coup d’etat in Congo, led by Chief of Staff Joseph Mobutu, which resulted in Lumumba’s assassination. Through interviews and meticulous archival research, Williams exposes the extent of CIA agents’ involvement, both American and African, delivering a consistently authoritative and astute narrative. She also shows the collaboration of businessmen such as Maurice Tempelsman, who had massive financial interests in Africa. These operations were not only dubious, but expensive. In fact, they “ranked as the largest covert operation in the agency’s history, costing an estimated $90-$150 million in current dollars,” and many were undertaken by so-called cultural organizations such as the Congress for Cultural Freedom, “a CIA front with an Africa programme based in Paris and with fingers in most parts of the world.” While the Senate’s 1975 Church Committee investigation into the Lumumba affair was rightly hailed as a major breakthrough in accountability, Williams emphasizes that the results are inconclusive due to missing documents and ongoing secrecy.
Rigorous reporting reveals “America’s role in the deliberate violation of democracy” in newly independent African nations.
