Books in Brief: Power in Africa

Power in Africa, by Ruth First (Pantheon, 513 pp., $10). The causes of the numerous coups in the independent African states are thoroughly and capably analyzed, and Miss First is merciless in her examination of the new elites—political and military/civil service—scrambling for the spoils. She is, however, a romantic revolutionary in the tradition of Frantz Fanon and René Dumont. A socialist revolution led by “the people” (she cites the fighting phase of the Algerian revolution) seems to be her solution. But revolutionary élan is notoriously short lived and the “purest” leader cannot maintain national life at a fever pitch. If the small educated elites cannot eventually find their footing, who can? Miss First is equally unrealistic in economic matters. An elaborate set of social services is proposed with no visible productive underpinning. And “primitive accumulation” is a decidedly odd term to apply to lavish consumption and conspicuous spending.

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E. B. Meyer

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Power in Africa, by Ruth First (Pantheon, 513 pp., $10). The causes of the numerous coups in the independent African states are thoroughly and capably analyzed, and Miss First is merciless in her examination of the new elites—political and military/civil service—scrambling for the spoils. She is, however, a romantic revolutionary in the tradition of Frantz Fanon and René Dumont. A socialist revolution led by “the people” (she cites the fighting phase of the Algerian revolution) seems to be her solution. But revolutionary élan is notoriously short lived and the “purest” leader cannot maintain national life at a fever pitch. If the small educated elites cannot eventually find their footing, who can? Miss First is equally unrealistic in economic matters. An elaborate set of social services is proposed with no visible productive underpinning. And “primitive accumulation” is a decidedly odd term to apply to lavish consumption and conspicuous spending.