"Decent. Not as concise as I'd like, but some interesting stuff"

Not my usual genre, but an interesting perspective.

I read this for school. I thought Maathai made some interesting insights about some causes of the problems that African countries are facing that we (meaning rich Western nations/citizens) don't spend enough time thinking about when sending monetary, food, or other types of aid.

She seemed to feel the need to be grateful for Western aid and would sometimes pause her argument to explain that aid, though according to her argument it may be misguided, is helpful and well-intentioned. This interrupted the flow and I thought it would've been fine for her to be a little more aggressive when it came to Western aid.

Although I think Maathai is a little too easy on the influence that the Chinese are having on Africa today, generally she is spot on with her observations and prescriptions.

An interesting perspective from a woman who has already had such an important impact on the continent.

Assigned this book to read by one of the COLs in the US Army I work for since we just picked up the Civil Affairs AFRICOM theater. Maybe it's the fact that it's more difficult to appreciate books your assigned. The book is heavy on platitudes you would expect on a sign or grade school classroom - "we can do it," "we are the leaders of the future."

She also paints a broad analysis of Africa across the whole continent, but Africa is a collection of many countries, tribes and regions and it's difficult to diagnose as broadly and confidently as she does throughout the book.

The author is now deceased, and the book is already a little dated, but I would also recommend reading Factfullness before repeating the data from this book.

There might be hope for the continent. But in the years since this was written, things have gotten worse.
And I wish Africans would cultivate in themselves a spirit that helps them rise above the external challenges and look at one another as collaborators for a peaceful and prosperous world rather than enemies in a damaged and hostile world

Maathai is passionate about modern Africa and lays out a comprehensive strategy to bring the continent into the 21st century whilst emphasizing the importance of retaining cultural heritage. She finds African solutions to African problems which she describes very convincingly and through providing evidence.

The Challenge for Africa is missing in some criticism of African history. It should consider the lack of a self critical, literate, engineering society that strives to find solutions to problems. She does not full blame colonialism, yet must consider the poor pre-colonial competitiveness of African society, in our world.