Books : The Wonga Coup: Guns, Thugs, and a Ruthless Determination to Create Mayhem in an Oil-Rich Corner of Africa
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 966
EAN: 9781586485009
ISBN: 1586485008
Label: PublicAffairs
Manufacturer: PublicAffairs
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: August 27, 2007
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Sales Rank: 95563
Studio: PublicAffairs
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Equatorial Guinea is a tiny country roughly the size of Maryland. Humid, jungle covered, and rife with unpleasant diseases, natives call it Devil Island. Its president in 2004, Obiang Nguema, had been accused of everything from cannibalism, belief in witchcraft, mass murder, billion-dollar corruption, and terrorism. With so little to recommend it, why in March 2004 was it the target of a group of salty British, South African, and Zimbabwean mercenaries, traveling on an American-registered ex-National Guard plane?
The real motive? Oil.
In The Dogs of War, Frederick Forsyth described a 1972 attempt by mercenaries to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea. The chain of events surrounding March 7, 2004 is a rare case of life imitating art--or at least, life imitating a 1970s thriller--in almost uncanny detail. The Wonga Coup is a shocking tale of venality, overarching vanity, and greed whose example speaks to the problems of the entire African continent.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
I will not recite the many details already cited by the publishers and reviewers. What should give this book its second life (its first was not bad) is this ongoing saga STILL unfolding... Simon Mann recently turned over to EG authorities and promptly set to the dreaded Black Beach Prison (How many times has he said SORRY? And given his present plight, he will say that many more times)... new information in April-May 2008 on the "real" coup plotters. EG not shy to part with its oil money to extradite (Sir) Mark Thatcher through efforts with the Interpol on new information received. I've been to EG last June - just let me say it's a very interesting place. Read the book, follow the story still unfolding. The whole thing is quite an adventure... and as REAL as it gets!
Rating:  -
Although generally quite enjoyable, the book has distracting repetitions and irrelevancies. We'll often get the same, not-particularly-important quote twice. The tail number of a plane is mentioned at least 3 times, as if its identity would somehow be thrown in doubt or it would be modified but... nope. It reads as if the final editing pass was skipped in order to get the thing into print.
Rating:  -
"The Wonga Coup" is a fascinating piece of investigative journalism from Economist journalist Adam Roberts. Roberts has to synthesize a tale that includes events unfolding in Equatorial Guinea, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Angola, Congo, Canary Islands, Mali, Spain and the UK.
Roberts gets firsthand contributions from most of the failed coup's frontline participants, the notable exceptions being Simon Mann (still jailed in Zimbabwe) and Nick du Toit (still jailed in EG). Mark Thatcher comes across as a ill-tempered blunderer. Roberts interviews him and Thatcher - true to form - addresses him with some none-too-subtle physical threats (Roberts notes that he's unable to tell whether they're meant to be jokes).
I like the tone of Roberts's effort - he expresses a degree of admiration at the gumption and bucaneering spirit of the plotters, while at their same time laying bare their brazen openness (essentially talking openly to just about everyone, sealing their own fate) and, in the case of Mann, venality. He shows us contractual documents drawn up by Mann re. his post-coup financial reward that serve to deny any attempt by the plotters to justify their proposed actions on the basis of their inherent rightness or goodness.
Rating:  -
It really is quite an interesting story. I just personally feel that it is a little slow and overly detail oriented - semi repetitive, slightly lacking. Once again, this is a great story, but I think that you would be able to find all the information you would find in this book on wikipedia. There aren't enough quirky facts given to make someone interested in this subject want to read this book. Download it offline, research the names on wikipedia. The End. Thank you and Good Evening!
Rating: -
Fascinating, humorous, and ultimately human and touching look into a world few of us ever see.
Ok, just up front, let's mention in bold type: being in prison in Africa really, really sucks. I think this book makes that abundantly clear.
Second: having a lot of excess time and money on your hands, and then being British or South African to top it off, and living in Africa also tends to create "mischief", apparently (especially if you have military experience and know other guys with military experience and time on their hands, plus wives who don't mind them going on some "reality adventuring" every 5 years).
I have been reading a few books about Africa recently (by the way, the "Zanzibar Chest" is totally amazing). Wong Coup is very good and I read it fast (2-3 days). It tells the story in an amusing and human way of mercenaries who tried to overthrow a small African country. On the one hand, a "fun" read, on the other hand, very harrowing. And yes, it does give us a picture into the human being, because it shows how people react under pressure (for instance, Simon Mann writing "we" from prison, not just about himself, but at least having some notion of being responsible for others, not just himself).
While the author does mock the men who tried the coup, at the same time, he does have a bit of sympathy I think for them. For instance, the statement by one of the South African mercenaries as to "would you try it again", was ... Read More
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