Journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski has died. His book, The Shadow of the Sun, which is a series of the writer's episodes in Africa, is one of the most gripping books I have ever read. You can read my review of it for Sojourners here.
In a tribute The Nation writes, "Kapuscinski's beautiful, poetic prose, sometimes compared to magic realism of Latin American writers, appeared effortless. Deceptively. His harrowing trips were preceded and followed by painstaking research--countless hours spent in his secluded study, filled with books, maps and newspaper clips. He did not have a phone there, he never used the Internet and he couldn't even be persuaded to use a computer. He shunned modern equipment. But he was an avid reader. He would enter into dialogue with generations of historians, writers, thinkers who had traveled the path he was about to take. Out of this dialogue came the richness of his work and the depth of his insights."
Kapuscinski is the journalist I always longed to be. I wish we could read more by this sensitive soul.
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