Title: Right Subject, Wrong Author, Wrong Book
Review: A good history of Liberia in general and its civil war in particular needs to be written for the general reading public. While several books have been written by and for specialists, a general work has still to be written.Unfortunately, Lester Hyman is not the man to do it. As ex-dictator Charles Taylor's lawyer, he's hardly an objective source. And, writing from Washington, D.C., where he is based -- he never spent much time in Liberia -- he lacks the on-the-ground experience.Consequently, the book he wrote is nicely documented, but is is more of a partisan defense of his former client and an attack on successive American administrations that "let him down" than an objective narrative. Perhaps the author should have attempted a personal memoir of his infamous war criminal client (that would have been fascinating) rather than trying (and failing) to write an objective historical account that requires more detachment than he is capable of.
Is this product review negative?