Tab Article
From Publishers Weekly
Kapuscinski (1932-2007) was for decades Poland's most celebrated foreign correspondent, covering some 50 countries for the Polish Press Agency. Since 1965, he focused especially on major wars and revolutions in the developing world and global South. For Poland, he was a principal source of news about the world beyond their closed society. This collection includes four of his speeches on the concept of the "Other."
His observations are sobering: "an encounter with Others is not a simple, automatic thing, but involves will and an effort that not everyone is always ready to undertake."
Kapuscinski's world view is idealistic and pragmatic, making room for historical forces and personal trauma while dealing with the Other in real-world and existential terms A knowing, thought-provoking and hopeful examination of a perennial theme, readers may yet be disappointed that, given his remarkable career, Kapuscinski (Travels with Herodotus) so rarely gets personal.
Review:
"Kapuscinski saw more, and more clearly... than nearly any writer one can think to name. Few have written more beautifully of unspeakable things. Few have had his courage, almost none his talent. His books changed the way many of us think about nonfiction."
- New York Times Book Review
Description:
The master of literary reportage reflects on the West's encounters with the non-European throughout the ages.
Ryszard Kapuscinski witnessed and reported major wars, coups and revolutions as they happened throughout the developing world and global South. In this distillation of his reflections accumulated from a lifetime of travel, he takes a fresh look at the Western idea of the Other: the non-European or non-American. Looking at this concept through the lens of his own encounters in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and considering its formative significance for his own work, Kapuscinski traces how the West has understood the Other from classical times to colonialism, from the age of enlightenment to the postmodern global village. He observes how today we continue to treat the non-European as an alien and a threat, an object of study that has not yet become a partner in sharing responsibility for the fate of the world. In our globalised but increasingly polarised post-9/11 age, Kapuscinski shows how the Other remains one of the most compelling ideas of our times.
About the Author:
Born in Pinsk (in what is now Belarus), the celebrated Polish foreign correspondent Ryszard Kapuscinski is the author of, among others, Shah of Shahs, Imperium, Shadow of the Sun and, most recently, the memoir Travels with Herodotus. His books have been translated into twenty-eight languages. He died in 2007.
