Beyond the Malachite Hills A Life of Colonial Service and Business in the New Africa - Softcover

Beyond the Malachite Hills deserves to become a classic of its genre: a poignant, evocative, nostalgic account of a remarkable career that was dominated by Africa.' Michael Holman, former Africa Editor, Financial Times 'Jonathan Lawley paints a vivid and convincing picture of solid political, economic and social progress.' Africa Confidential 'For anyone interested in Africa, its recent history and its future, Beyond the Malachite Hills is a must.' Lord Luce 'Most came to love their adopted continent. Some can write. Two of these are Jonathan Lawley and John Hare. Each has an incredible tale to tell. Here is a pair of books that, placed with a decanter of whisky on the bedside table of any Spectator reader's guest bedroom, will have the reading-light burning late into the night - Lawley has an optimistic story to tell here; but this reviewer loved best his tales, told more in the workaday prose of a Wilfred Thesiger than the poetry of a romantic, of a young bachelor bashing his lonely way through bush hardly trodden by whites since David Livingstone passed by, trying to keep in repair a vast and overstretched net of fairly nominal administration, his authority sustained by little more than bravado; and determinedly acculturating himself to the life and language of the people he oversaw.' - Matthew Parris, The Spectator, 11th May 2013

What hope is there for Africa? Since the heady and hopeful days of decolonisation the story seems to be one of unrelenting disaster - revolution; brutal military dictatorship; ethnic conflict - even genocide; civil war; state-threatening corruption; economic failure; and, in places, the complete breakdown of state and society. And all has been compounded by natural disasters - drought, famine and the scourge of AIDS. But there is another, less reported, story of Africa: throwing off the colonial past, embracing modernity, learning fast, gaining in pride and self-confidence and embracing the crucial management function; all this in the context of fruitful collaboration with Europe and American business and,increasingly, with the rising Asian economic superpowers. Jonathan Lawley's Beyond the Malachite Hills paints a vivid and convincing picture of solid political, social and economic progress. Beyond the Malachite Hills is a remarkable testament to his long-lasting and profound involvement with this often misunderstood continent.