{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20261010T034321Z-reviewed-full-unique-works","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060934433?tag=bookfrontie00-20","asin":"0060934433","authors":["Michela Wrong"],"book_id":"9780060934439","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/in-the-footsteps-of-mr-kurtz-9780060934439","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780060934439.jpg?v=05bb71cd12247843","description":"Known as \"the Leopard,\" the president of Zaire for thirty-two years, Mobutu Sese Seko, showed all the cunning of his namesake -- seducing Western powers, buying up the opposition, and dominating his people with a devastating combination of brutality and charm. While the population was pauperized, he plundered the country's copper and diamond resources, downing pink champagne in his jungle palace like some modern-day reincarnation of Joseph Conrad's crazed station manager. Michela Wrong, a correspondent who witnessed Mobutu's last days, traces the rise and fall of the idealistic young journalist who became the stereotype of an African despot. Engrossing, highly readable, and as funny as it is tragic, In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz assesses the acts of the villains and the heroes in this fascinating story of the Democratic Republic of Congo.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780060934439","publication_date":"20020528","publisher":"HarperCollins","slug":"in-the-footsteps-of-mr-kurtz","subtitle":"Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu's Congo","title":"In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"HIS001010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Central African History","score":0.7777,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS001040","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Southern African History","score":0.7364,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS001020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"East African History","score":0.7352,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"HIS001010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Central African History","score":0.7777,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS001040","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Southern African History","score":0.7364,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS001020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"East African History","score":0.7352,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"BIO010000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Political Lives","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS001000","confidence_band":"high","label":"African History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"POL040020","confidence_band":"high","label":"World Politics","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Central African History","score":0.7777,"slug":"central-african-history"},{"label":"Southern African History","score":0.7364,"slug":"southern-african-history"},{"label":"East African History","score":0.7352,"slug":"east-african-history"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers interested in Mobutu's rise and fall in Congo","Good for readers interested in political power and life in the Democratic Republic of Congo"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Emmanuel Gerard","Bruce Kuklick"],"book_id":"9780674725270","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780674725270.jpg?v=c5ec973db9d525fb","score":0.7214,"title":"Death in the Congo","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780674725270"},{"authors":["Jason K. 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