Classic book: Another day

Evening Post, 9 Mar 2006

Another Day of Life Ryszard Kapuscinski, Penguin, £7.99

From the moment of its independence in 1975, the African country of Angola was in a state of civil war - one that was to last, in all, for 27 years, and rank among the world's dirtiest secrets. Polish foreign correspondent Ryszard Kapuscinski was there from the beginning; he caught one of the last imperial flights in. He describes the hollowing out of a city, the collapse of a country, with the calm simplicity of the man telling a fairytale - and, beneath that, the rage and bewilderment of someone who has seen it for real. Kapuscinski has had a remarkable career, and consistently produces remarkable books, but this is his most intense.