Authors Discuss ‘Civil War And Violence In Africa’ At Washington College

CHESTERTOWN – Two authors whose hard-hitting journalism has shed light on the African scene will convene for a panel discussion, “Civil War and Violence in Africa,” at Washington College’s Litrenta Lecture Hall on Wednesday, October 7, at 7 p.m.

The talk features Dr. Howard French, author of A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa, and Bill Berkeley, author of The Graves Are Not Yet Full: Race, Tribe, and Power in the Heart of Africa.

The event is sponsored by the Goldstein Program in Public Affairs.

French is a former global-affairs columnist for The International Herald Tribune; former New York Times bureau chief for Central America and the Caribbean, West Africa, Japan, the Koreas and Shanghai; and a former Washington Post freelance reporter covering West Africa.

In its review of French’s A Continent for the Taking, Publishers Weekly enthused, “His strength as a reporter is evident as he takes the reader across the continent, recounting in vivid detail the genocide in Rwanda and the AIDS and Ebola outbreaks. His prose is evocative without being melodramatic in describing the suffering he saw.”

Berkeley, an investigative reporter for the New York Times is a former correspondent covering Africa, the Soviet Union and the Middle East for The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic and the Washington Post.

Library Journal hailed Berkeley’s The Graves Are Not Yet Full as a “moving, disturbing work…. Berkeley combines his reporting experience with first-rate historical analysis in a beautifully written, powerful examination of contemporary horrors.”

The Louis L. Goldstein Program in Public Affairs was established in 1990 to encourage students to enter public service by introducing them to exemplary leaders, both in and out of government. The Goldstein Program has hosted journalists, political activists, foreign policy analysts, diplomats, military commanders and government officials of both national and international stature.

The Goldstein Program sponsors lectures, symposia, visiting fellows, student participation in models and conferences, and other projects that bring students and faculty together with leaders experienced in developing public policy.

Lirenta Lecture Hall is located in the John S. Toll Science Center. Admission to “Civil War and Violence in Africa” is free and open to the public.