Democratic Rep. Congo ( Zaire )

Books, Maps & Atlases


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Country Guides & Maps
History & Politics
Wildlife & Flora
People & Culture
Other Books & Novels


Country Guides & Maps

Congo (Bradt Travel Guide) - (Paperback)   (amazon.com) - USA    (amazon.co.uk) - Europe
the first full guidebook to publish new information on both the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the People’s Republic of Congo (PRC) in well over a decade. It will appeal to travelers who are seeking to explore a new region of Africa emerging from many years of conflict, a region that is changing rapidly as stability returns to the region. Natural history is given due prominence in this guide, the Congo possessing a high percentage of Africa’s remaining, intact rainforest.

Zaire : A Country Study   (amazon.com) - USA
by Sandra W. Meditz, Tim Merrill
Covers conditions in Zaire during the early 1990s under the tottering Mobutu regime. A splendid encyclopedic introduction to the country, with a massive bibliography. A basic work for scholars that is easily accessible to students & (rare) tourists.  (Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or)

Country Review, Congo (DRC) 1999/2000  (amazon.com) - USA
by Robert C. Kelly (Editor), Debra Ewing (Editor), Stanton Doyle (Editor), Denise Youngblood (Editor)
concise, up-to-date source for political and economic information

Congo, Democratic Republic - Road Map   Maps Worldwide
A detailed coloured road map with a place name index, including a street map of the centre of Kinshasa.

Congo, Democratic Republic.   Maps Worldwide
Published by Cartographia Format Folded Map,
One of the few maps of the Congo (Zaire) with street map of Kinshasa.

History & Politics

From Zaire to the Democratic Republic of Congo  (amazon.com) - USA
by Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja

Remembering the Present : Painting and Popular History in Zaire  (amazon.com) - USA     (amazon.co.uk) Europe
by Johannes Fabian, jenny Fabian, Tshibumba K. Matulu (Illustrator)

Rural Society and Cotton in Colonial Zaire   (amazon.com) - USA     (amazon.co.uk) Europe
by Osumaka Likaka
A major contribution to the colonial history of rural Zaire. This is social history at its best."- (Jan Vansina, University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Crisis in Zaire : Myths and Realities   (amazon.com) - USA     (amazon.co.uk) Europe
by Nzongola-Ntalaja

Zaire : Repression As Policy : A Human Rights Report   (amazon.com) - USA

Wildlife & Flora

The Okapi : Mysterious Animal of Congo-Zaire   (amazon.com) - USA     (amazon.co.uk) Europe
by Susan Lyndaker Lindsey, Mary Neel Green, Cynthia L. Bennett (Illustrator), Jane Goodall

The Year of the Gorilla   (amazon.com) - USA     (amazon.co.uk) Europe
by George B. Schaller
A Look at the life of Gorillas through Schaller's Eyes - George Schaller takes you with him as he goes to the Virunga Volcanoes to study the Gorillas. He takes a look at the gorillas, but with a more personal approach than with "The Mountain Gorilla". Instead of pouring out scientific facts, he shares with you some of his feelings and experiences as he watched them. This was a refreshing look at the life of gorillas from his own perspective. I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in Gorillas.  (Justin Chandlr-Astonfrom Huntington Beach, California, USA , September 7, 1998)

People & Culture

The Forest People (Touchstone Book)   (amazon.com) - USA     (amazon.co.uk) Europe
by Colin M. Turnbull, Collin Turnbull
In The Forest People Turnbull recalls his experience of living hidden within the forest with a family group of pygmies. He tells us the wearisome struggle that the pygmies battle for to protect thier culture and home. Turnbull also looks deeply into thier way of life and uncovers for us a world of playfullness and enchanting spiritualism.  (A reader from Texas,USA , January 25, 1998 )

African Reflections : Art from Northeastern Zaire  (amazon.com) - USA
by Enid Schildkrout, Curtis A. Keim, American Museum of Natural history

The Arts of Zaire : Eastern Zaire   (amazon.com) - USA
by Daniel Biebuyck

The Behavioral Ecology of Efe Pygmy Men in the Ituri Forest, Zaire  (amazon.com) - USA
by Robert Converse Bailey

The Kanyok of Zaire : An Institutional and Ideological History to 1895  (amazon.com) - USA     (amazon.co.uk) Europe
by John Charles Yoder
John Yoder chronicles the history of the Kanyok, a people from the southern savanna of Zaire, from before 1500 until their incorporation into the Congo Free State in the 1890s. By analyzing their oral histories, myths and legends, the author describes the political and cultural development of a people who, before 1891, had no written records, and accounts of whose past had previously been confined to the sketchy recitation of wars and succession struggles that characterize many existing books on pre-colonial African states

Democratic Republic of the Congo (Cultures of the World)   (amazon.com) - USA

Other Books & Novels

The Colonial Disease : A Social History of Sleeping Sickness in Northern Zaire, 1900-1940  (amazon.com) - USA     (amazon.co.uk) Europe
by Maryinez Lyons

East Along the Equator : A Journey Up the Congo and into Zaire  (amazon.com) - USA
by Helen Winternitz
This is a study of the early colonial history of Zaire (formerly the Belgian Congo), with special emphasis on disease and medicine. Using the example of sleeping sickness epidemics, Dr. Lyons discusses the ways that Western medicine and its practitioners came in conflict with African ideas and health practices.

Zaire   (amazon.com) - USA     (amazon.co.uk) Europe
by Harry Smart
a bizarre, emotionally intense and often horrific novel which has the atmosphere of a poltical thriller. The main character, Philippe, is sent to London to do a job with an awkward name : Lumumba. It is a name which takes us back to the Congo of 1960, a name which stands for all of Africa and the tragedy of an entire continent

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