Chasing the Devil
A Journey through Sub-Saharan Africa in the Footsteps of Graham Greene
“Amazing. As history, as anthropology, as a ripping yarn. Both exploration of an epic journey—and a hard yet sympathetic look at a Utopia-gone wrong.” —Anthony Bourdain, host of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations
Of all the anarchic and war-torn African nations, none is more forbidding than Liberia, the land that nurtured child soldiers, the violent trade in "blood diamonds," even ritual murder. Graham Greene, in search of extreme adventure, ventured through its dense jungles to write the travel classic Journey Without Maps; three-quarters of a century later, Tim Butcher decided to follow Greene's footsteps, only to find the path even more ominous and overgrown than in his predecessor's day.
Among the devils he encounters are masked sorcerers whose magical powers depend on cannibalism and missionaries long forgotten in the hinterland he traverses. Butcher, a former African correspondent for the London Telegraph and author of Blood River, his best-selling account of a dramatic journey through the Congo, has produced in this thrilling sequel a book that belongs among the classics of travel literature, an heir to Bruce Chatwin, Norman Douglas and Greene himself.
“This adventurous book, in the footsteps of Graham Greene, in many ways goes deeper than Greene, and shows the enduring beauty and danger in Sierra Leone and Liberia.” —Paul Theroux, author of The Tao of Travel
"An inspirational account of humanity's wonderful spirit to survive and proof that, in Tim Butcher, Africa has a worthy chronicler." —Archbishop Desmond Tutu
“This engaging tale will leave many reaching for their Graham Greene.”—Kirkus Reviews