Friday, March 25, 2011

Mark Malloch-Brown's six favorite novels of empire

Mark Malloch-Brown is a former United Nations deputy secretary-general and a former British Foreign Office minister. His new book is The Unfinished Global Revolution: The Pursuit of a New International Politics.

He named his six favorite novels of empire for The Week magazine.

One book on his list:
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

The ultimate chronicle of occupation and the effect on the colonialist of untrammeled power. For the ivory collector Kurtz, wrestling with his demons up the mighty Congo River, it spurs delusions and madness.
Read about the other titles on Malloch-Brown's list.

Heart of Darkness also appears on John Mullan's list of ten of the best fogs in literature, Tim Butcher's list of the top 10 books about Congo, Martin Meredith's list of ten books to read on Africa, Thomas Perry's best books list, and is #9 on the 100 best last lines from novels list.

--Marshal Zeringue