The Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuscinski

Kapuscinski was a news reporter assigned to Africa for a Polish newspaper.  This book is a collection of observations and experiences from the beginnings of independence in the 1960's until the 1990's. It does not make for a pretty story.  Independence brought freedom and corruption.  The lessons of slavery were repeated by the freed slaves returned to Africa.  It is a continent of dense vegetation and great desert and both conspire to defeat the humans who live there.  The book is beautifully translated and a fascinating insight into the history as well as the physical and human geography of various parts of Africa.  There are both descriptions of the decades of turmoil and respectful discussions of the African capacity for stillness.  Africans are people rich in tradition and myth but short on hope.  That being said,  at the end of the book, he tells a story about a group of people gathered under a tree in Tanzania late at night.  An elephant appears and they fear for their lives.  And then the elephant simply walks back into the night.  His Tanzanian friend explains that they have been visited by the spirit of Africa.  "The spirit of Africa always appears in the guise of an elephant.  Because no other animal can vanquish an elephant.   Not a lion, not a buffalo, not a snake."  Which perhaps explains why in the face of epidemic disease and devastating warfare, Africa remains.