East London for Mosley Book

Dark Age is a story-telling of the Bokassa era in the Central African Republic, which reads almost like a novel as Titley paints a picture of the more gruesome facts and rumors of the day. Even more than I expected, the book sets the scene and explains many elements that underlie the current conflict/crisis -- especially in terms of post-colonial relationship with France, natural resource extraction, and particularly impunity. The whole history is all the more interesting because I found that many Central Africans today speak of Bokassa's era as the good old days.

My issue with the author came in the book's conclusion, where Titley attempts to put Bokassa's crimes in context. Essentially, he writes that Bokassa's crimes weren't as bad as, say, Idi Amin's. While this may to some extent be true, this section felt a bit icky read in the middle of today's mass crimes which, at their core, have their roots in cycles of impunity. Bangui's prisons were opened in September 2015 just as they were habitually opened in Bokassa's day. Crimes are crimes, and Titley concluding chapter seemed to teeter on downplaying this.

Nonetheless, I found Dark Age compelling and a relatively easy read about the history of a country which simply doesn't have a lot of resources published in English. I highly recommend this book especially for those living and/or working in CAR and trying to gain greater understanding of the country's past and present.