Well I've just finished reading this and its pretty weak, the first part while it has some interesting information on Ghanaian independence lays the praise for Nkrumah extremely thick, its some of the most blatant Great Man of History I've read.
The second part isn't much of an improvement, its criticisms of Nkrumah in the 60s are that he's failed to tackle corruption in the government, he dismissed a judge for some reason and he's no longer returning messages and calls from former friends and becoming increasingly isolated. I'm sure that's all true, but it pretty much glosses over much of it. And the final two chapters are dedicated to Lenin and Julius Nyerere.
The Lenin one doesn't really appear to be relevant beyond it being published by a newspaper in Ghana. Its about the last three articles Lenin wrote before dying, one on the need to build a strong co-operative sector, educating the illiterate in the countryside, and lamenting how they've failed to transform the government.
And the final chapter on Julius Nyerere is almost ridiculous, CLR James has gone back to the first chapters, only now he is singing the praises of the Great Man of Tanzania. It looks like even he failed to draw any lessons from his own writing on Nkrumah.
New Africa released a video on Nkrumah's rise and fall, it covers much of the same ground but the criticism section contains specific examples of why Nkrumah haemorrhaged support and his exile was met with mass street parties. I also now know why the dismissal of the judge CLR James mentions was so troubling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYHuguvTXmc
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Well I've just finished
Well I've just finished reading this and its pretty weak, the first part while it has some interesting information on Ghanaian independence lays the praise for Nkrumah extremely thick, its some of the most blatant Great Man of History I've read.
The second part isn't much of an improvement, its criticisms of Nkrumah in the 60s are that he's failed to tackle corruption in the government, he dismissed a judge for some reason and he's no longer returning messages and calls from former friends and becoming increasingly isolated. I'm sure that's all true, but it pretty much glosses over much of it. And the final two chapters are dedicated to Lenin and Julius Nyerere.
The Lenin one doesn't really appear to be relevant beyond it being published by a newspaper in Ghana. Its about the last three articles Lenin wrote before dying, one on the need to build a strong co-operative sector, educating the illiterate in the countryside, and lamenting how they've failed to transform the government.
And the final chapter on Julius Nyerere is almost ridiculous, CLR James has gone back to the first chapters, only now he is singing the praises of the Great Man of Tanzania. It looks like even he failed to draw any lessons from his own writing on Nkrumah.
New Africa released a video
New Africa released a video on Nkrumah's rise and fall, it covers much of the same ground but the criticism section contains specific examples of why Nkrumah haemorrhaged support and his exile was met with mass street parties. I also now know why the dismissal of the judge CLR James mentions was so troubling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYHuguvTXmc