In 2009, Tim Butcher repeated Graham Greene's (and his cousin Barbara’s) 1935 travels through Sierra Leone and Liberia, with a short excursion through Guinea. Butcher traveled through regions still recovering from the 1990s civil wars, which he had covered during his career in journalism and during which two of his colleagues had died. He recruited a companion and a guide to accompany him across these lands, which were controlled by various factions and tribal communities. They traveled on foot ...

I came to this book through the auspices of the author's previous work, Blood River.That was good work, well worth reading. I tossed a good-natured 3.5* lambaste at it for what I felt, during the reading was a needless use of the commonly overused device of what one might call the ''following in the footsteps'' tradition of travel books which seem to be quite in fashion these days. In the case of Blood River, it was a trip through the Congo in the footsteps of those two iconic figures of the Age...

You know you have enjoyed a good travel book, when, like the author, you are saddened that the journey has come to an end.Tim Butcher, along with three other companions, makes a trek in 2009 across Sierra Leone, Guinea, and then Liberia, by bus, but mostly walking. He is following in the footsteps of the writer Graham Greene who did the journey in the 1930’s.Tim Butcher gives us a good history of the small communities and regions that he traverses. In recent years they were plagued by brutal civ...

The premise of Tim Butcher's second book Chasing the Devil is following the route of Graham Greene and cousin Barbara Greene, as described in the classic Journey Without Maps.Greene's journey took place in 1935, Tim Butcher's in 2009. The setting is West Africa - Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. It was not Butchers first time in Sierra Leone or Liberia having spent time in both as a war correspondent / journalist, and the book is largely built on contrasts (or lack of contrasts) between the Gre...

This is the second book written by the author and least promoted among the three written by the author.But no way it is inferior .This book is a goldmine of knowledge as far as Liberia is concerned.The only problem is stressing on Greenes' travel and too much description about them (which sometimes bores the reader).The travelogue keeps you interested and simultaneously underlines the problems of West Africa and urges the international community to act.The best part is that there is an expressio...

I love this writer and I loved this book as much as Blood River. For anyone interested in trying to understand some complex areas of Africa from more than just sensationalized headlines this is a must read. Butcher's analysis of both Sierra Lione and Liberia from both a contemporary and historical perspective is thoughtful, well researched and personal. Besides all that, it reads like a very interesting adventure travel book. In much the same way as Blood River, he uses his interaction with loca...

To get my one gripe out of the way first: - It might be a fairly stupidly obvious thing to say but the titles given to books can be really important; they might be the initial hook to draw us to pick the thing up in the first place, the crutch to keep us going and indeed they sometimes colour our understanding or interpretation of the book's content. With this book I found the title aggravating. I began to read it because I had been genuinely moved and amazed by the previous book I had read of B...

VIAGGIO NEL GIARDINO DEL BENE E DEL MALESe questo libro fosse un’automobile, tanto più per dove è ambientato, lo descriverei così: 4WD (trazione integrale), ABS (Antilock Braking System), PDC (Park Distance Control), ESP (Electronic Stability Control), CC (Cruise Control), Boardcomputer, tettuccio apribile, servosterzo, sedili riscaldati, portapacchi, lettore CD e DVD, autoradio, interni in pelle, immobilizzatore elettronico, filtro antiparticolato, fendinebbia, controllo trazione, controllo aut...

I am a child of Africa, growing up in Central Africa, well remembering how it all changed when the then Belgium Congo gained independence.After reading 'Blood River' I discovered Tim's other book about Liberia/Sierra Leone. These are countries of which I have little knowledge other than horrific press releases and I was interested to read some of their historic background.It is difficult to rate a book on this topic with a 'like', not the most appropriate word when reading of the cruelty of huma...

Tim Butcher's second travel book offering takes the reader on our journey through west Africa in the footsteps of Graham Greene. He and his traveling companion travel through Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia by road, foot and boat, recreating a journey made by Graham Greene and his cousin Barbara in 1935 which eventually led to Greene writing 'Journey Without Maps'. As with his previous book Blood River, Butcher takes on considerable risk by choosing to make this journey in an area of Africa not...