Blackout in Paradise

Rainer Hackel, who has travelled for the last 20 years to Ghana, in his captivating travel report, mediates insight into the fascinating and contradictory life styles of this West African country. He experienced the colourful and lively street markets, mengeled among the magical West African daily life and met famous personalities such as Kofi Annan. Dr. Hackel also questions the interest of Westerners in the unspoiled Africa and ask the question about the actuality of 'Negritude' established by Leopold Senghor.'After a certain latent period, admittedly surprised, it revealed itself to me as something beautiful, this picture of an Africa of which I had a completely different impression, in view of the flood of terrible news reports about this continent, that leads one to believe that everything is collapsing in misery and filth in every possible form and belief schattered by hopelessness, but certainly not a picture of a dionysisch Africa, namely, as the winners in life or as a perfect form of creation and diversity'.Dr. Jörg VillwockProfessor of New German Literature, Goethe-University in Frankfurt am Main,Germany Ernst Cassirer