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Congo

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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Get the featured set of Essential Reading, our top picks of what to read, and get free shipping on anything else you order.

Essential Reading

Item EXWAF86. Buy these 4 items as a set for $81 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
With free shipping on anything else you order.

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No Mercy, A Journey to the Heart of the Congo

No Mercy, A Journey to the Heart of the Congo

by Redmond O'Hanlon

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 462 PAGES

A trek deep into the Congo with Redmond O'Hanlon, the eccentric, courageous, always-entertaining modern adventurer. (CAF01, $15.95)

National Audubon Society Field Guide to African Wildlife

National Audubon Society Field Guide to African Wildlife

by Bunny McBride | Duane Schlitter | Richard Estes | Peter Alden

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 988 PAGES

This comprehensive photo guide covers 850 birds, mammals and reptiles of Africa. With range maps and a good country-by-country overview of habitats and parks. (AFR25, $24.95)

Congo, The Bradt Travel Guide

by Sean Rorison

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 240 PAGES

Bradt series is noted for publishing travel guides to remote and little-visited destinations, and this is no exception. This is the first full guidebook on both the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire, and the Republic of Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, in over a decade. (WAF125, $28.99)

Congo Map

Congo Map

by IGN

  • MAP

A map of Brazzaville and the Congo (1:1,000,000.), which also shows portions of surrounding Gabon, Cameroon and ex-Zaire. (WAF04, $17.95)

 
Africa Map, Central and South, Madagascar 746

Africa Map, Central and South, Madagascar 746


by Michelin Travel Publications

  • 2007
  • MAP

This fine folded map covers the continent south of Gabon, Congo, Uganda and Kenya at a scale of 1:4,000,000. (AFR36, $12.95)

Congo Democratic Republic (Zaire) Map

Congo Democratic Republic (Zaire) Map


by Cartographia

  • MAP

This shaded relief map of the Democrtatc Republic of Congo (1:3.3 M), Rwanda and Burundi includes an inset map of Kinshasa. (AFR60, $12.00)

Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles

Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles


by Richard Dowden

  • HISTORY
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 592 PAGES

Africa editor of The Independent and The Economist, Richard Dowden draws on decades of experience in this multi-faceted, vivid portrait of contemporary Africa -- an Africa that, Dowden effectively argues, can only be developed by its own people. (AFR242, $19.95)

Dancing in the Glory of Monsters, The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa


by Jason Stearns

  • HISTORY
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 380 PAGES

Stearns, who in 2008 led a special UN investigation regarding violence in the region, reports on the unimaginable violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 1996. (CAF56, $16.99)

In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz, Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu's Congo


by Michela Wrong

  • HISTORY
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 368 PAGES

This captivating book chronicles the rise and fall of Mobutu Sese Seko, the man who ruled Zaire for over 30 years through incompetence, violence and decadence. (CAF32, $14.99)

King Leopold's Ghost, A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa

King Leopold's Ghost, A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa


by Adam Hochschild

  • HISTORY
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 384 PAGES

An enthralling narrative of the 19th-century colonization of the Belgian Congo, written by an award-winning journalist. The focus of the book is Belgian King Leopold, who oversaw the colonization. (CAF08, $16.95)

The Scramble for Africa

The Scramble for Africa


by Thomas Pakenham

  • HISTORY
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 738 PAGES

Absorbing and meticulously researched, this in-depth history of the Victorian land grab in Africa includes excellent portraits of the egomaniacal personalities who overran the continent. (AFR26, $23.99)

African Art, An Introduction

African Art, An Introduction


by Frank Willett

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 272 PAGES

A concise, well illustrated overview of the art and culture of Africa, portraying the range of spectacular art produced throughout the ages. (AFR18, $21.95)

Into Africa, The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone

Into Africa, The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone


by Martin Dugard

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2004
  • PAPER
  • 340 PAGES

A nicely paced tale of the Scottish explorer and Stanley's headline-grabbing efforts to locate him. Dugard has done his homework well, drawing on a wide variety of sources to paint a lively and nuanced portrait of the two men. (AFR130, $16.00)

Through the Dark Continent, Volume 1

Through the Dark Continent, Volume 1


by Henry M. Stanley

  • EXPLORATION
  • 1988
  • PAPER
  • 400 PAGES

A reprint of the original accounts of Henry Morton Stanley in Africa. (CAF06, $24.95)

African Silences

African Silences


by Peter Matthiessen

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1992
  • PAPER
  • 225 PAGES

In this narrative of Equatorial Africa, Matthiessen recounts several trips to The Gambia, Senegal, Zaire and the Congo Basin in search of rhinos, elephants and other endangered wildlife. (WAF36, $13.00)

Blood River, Retracing Stanley's Journey to Africa's Broken Heart

Blood River, Retracing Stanley's Journey to Africa's Broken Heart


by Tim Butcher

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 384 PAGES

Correspondent for the Telegraph, Butcher retraces Stanley's 3,000-mile journey down the Congo in this harrowing, utterly absorbing and compassionate tale of hard travel through "the most daunting, backward country on earth." (AFR228, $16.00)

Bonobo Handshake

Bonobo Handshake


by Vanessa Woods

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 278 PAGES

Woods documents her work with her now husband Brian Hare at Lola Ya Bonobo Sanctuary outside Kinshasa in this candid, down-to-earth memoir. Winner of the 2011 Lowell Thomas Award for Best Travel Book. (CAF55, $16.00)

East Along the Equator, A Journey Up the Congo and into Zaire

East Along the Equator, A Journey Up the Congo and into Zaire


by Helen Winternitz

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1987
  • PAPER
  • 274 PAGES

An account of travels and politics in Zaire. (CAF28, $14.00)

Facing the Congo, A Modern-Day Journey into the Heart of Darkness


by Jeffrey Taylor

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 260 PAGES

In this richly oberved travelogue Taylor, a journalist based in Moscow, recounts his adventures on the Congo in the footsteps of Stanley. (CAF10, $16.00)

A Bend in the River


by V.S. Naipaul

  • LITERATURE
  • 1989
  • PAPER

In this fine novel of displacement Naipaul, with his trademark restraint, tells the story of Salim, an Indian merchant who finds himself trapped in an African town disintegrating under the rule of a charismatic dictator, a double for Zaire's then leader Mobutu Sese Seko. (AFR133, $15.95)

Heart of Darkness, with Congo Diary

Heart of Darkness, with Congo Diary


by Joseph Conrad

  • LITERATURE
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 136 PAGES

One of the century's most important works, this short story tells of the harrowing journey Marlow takes into the Belgian congo. (AFR46, $10.00)

The Poisonwood Bible

The Poisonwood Bible


by Barbara Kingsolver

  • LITERATURE
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 546 PAGES

Kingsolver sends her naive missionaries into the Belgian Congo in this best-selling novel. (CAF02, $18.99)

Forests of Central Africa


by Jean Pierre Vende Weghe

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 365 PAGES

A sumptuous pictorial guide to the largest region of tropical forest outside of the Amazon, an area which covers 11 countries and includes the Congo Basin. Featuring beautiful portraits of the bewildering array of flora and fauna, the book examines the ecology, climate and natural history of the forests as well as conservation efforts to save them. (CAF57, $82.00)

Mean and Lowly Things: Snakes, Science, and Survival in the Congo

Mean and Lowly Things: Snakes, Science, and Survival in the Congo


by Kate Jackson

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 336 PAGES

In this action-packed memoir of life in the field, Jackson writes with matter-of-fact good humor of her adventures in search of reptiles and amphibians (naturally, many are venomous) in the forested swampland of the northern Congo. (CAF40, $18.50)

Birds of Western and Central Africa, Princeton Illustrated Checklist

Birds of Western and Central Africa, Princeton Illustrated Checklist


by Ber Van Perlo

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 384 PAGES

An admirably compact, comprehensive guide to 1,500 species throughout Western and Central Africa featuring 109 color plates. (WAF02, $30.95)

The Safari Companion

The Safari Companion


by Richard Estes

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 459 PAGES
  • BEST SELLER

An invaluable encyclopedic guide to Africa's mammals by a noted scientist. Written with the typical safari-goer in mind, this perennial bestseller includes black-and-white drawings, an overview of each group and in-depth information. (AFR06, $30.00)

More Recommendations

Here are some other groups of books that might be of interest

Longitude provides recommended reading for travelers in partnership with the leading tour operators and travel programs for hundreds of destinations worldwide. We've got the classic, new and hard-to-find books and maps to help you get the most out of your adventures.