Aidan Hartley's The Zanzibar Chest: A Story of Love, War, and Loss

Kindle Customer: I have no words to describe the emotions this book invoked. Beautiful, tragic, honest, fascinating. It goes through so much history interspersed with the author's life. Highly recommend!

United States on Oct 06, 2023

michael fonfe: A superb book about one couple who stood up to the madness of Mugabe and came out on top. What a ruination of such a lovely country and people. A pox on Marxism.

United Kingdom on Jan 19, 2022

Carl Abensperg-Traun: An exiting world, times of great change, incredible adventures, written by one of the few "white africans", who were weaned by english colonial parents and in british eastafrica. The spirit is there but the world has become deadly dangerous. If you are interested in east africa it is a must red!

United Kingdom on Feb 03, 2021

MaiaTheBee: A good read. Aidan covers his family's history in East Africa. He tells his life story starting with his birth in Nairobi, the confiscation of his parents farm in Tanzania, education in the UK and career as a stringer for Reuters. The untold stories behind the world news are most interesting, told in a candid style.
I have given the book 4 stars because the added story of his father's work colleague (Davey) in Arabia, detracts from the main theme. Davey should have been presented as a separate short story.
The Zanzibari chests carried on the dhows (to store personal items) were much sought after by tourists. President Moi banned the dhows from Arabia and ended the Zanzibari chest trade.

United Kingdom on Dec 04, 2020

Natolie: I purchased two copies, one for a friend and one for myself. I heard a book review given on BBC radio given by three reviewers Each had enjoyed the book immensely. Based on that review and the fact that my friend and I both have spent a great deal of time in Africa, thought it would be an interesting read. As yet, I have only read the first few pages, but feel that it will be well worth reading.

Canada on Dec 15, 2017

Manto: Classic, absolutely classic memoir of a very fulfilled life. Part of the narrative was as good as the 'Heart of Darkness'. What a story, kept me captivated and engaged throughout the 440 odd pages. For me the most interesting aspect was the self reflection of the White colonisation of Africa. I tend to agree with Hartley's dad. They should have never gone into Africa. Whence gone in they should never have left it. Arabs colonised Africa before the Europeans, and they stayed on, slowly converting the local cultures to Islam. Now it is impossible to differentiate between the two races in Africa. This book is a homage to the few but extremely courageous Europeans who decided to stay on, long after their mother-ship had decided to go back. Aidan's experiences in some of the most vile and despicable massacres in Africa clearly demonstrates the important role of white man still has in controlling human disasters on unimaginable scale in Africa. Perhaps the most important insight I have had from the book is the working of the Western media when covering human catastrophes, where there is an implicit policy of fitting the pigeon holes of the Charities, reader's fatigue, and stock market...

United Kingdom on Oct 29, 2013

Suzanne Dobbins: While this book wasn’t what I was expecting, I want to declare right at the outset that it was REALLY REALLY GOOD! The author, Aidan Hartley, is a journalist and The Zanzibar Chest is his memoir of his childhood, being born and raised in Tanzania, and also the years of his 20′s and 30′s, when he was war correspondent in Africa. The son of a British military colonial, Aidan’s family had a rich history of living the ex-pat life. Weaving in tales of his father’s life in Africa, Aidan Hartley narrates a scene of beauty, love, fear and loss.

At night, lions grunted and roared and the hollow volcanic hill rumbled as rhino cantered by … “We were in a paradise,” said my father, “that we can never forget, nor equal.”

As the book progresses, the reader is a fly on the wall, observing the life of a young journalist.

“I remember how an American dropped his trousers for a group of us at the bar and boasted how he’d lost his left testicle in a Balkans mine blast, which he claimed hadn’t prevented him from seducing a nurse during his recovery in a Budapest hospital.”

As Hartley finds himself in the midst of war-torn Somalia, Serbia and...

United States on Mar 10, 2013

Linda Linguvic: I just can't resist true stories by journalists. And this book, subtitled "a story of life, love and death in foreign lands" is that kind of book. It allows me to be an armchair traveler and live vicariously without having to take any risks. And it also teaches me a lot.

The author, Aidan Hartley, is descended from a long line of British colonialists. He was born in western Africa in 1965, attended college in England, and came home to Africa as a journalist. This book is about those experiences. But, woven throughout, is the story of a friend of his father's who met a mysterious and violent death. Aidan found a diary of this man in a chest after his father's death - hence, the title of the book.

If the book was just about this quest, however, I would have been bored, because his findings all happened in the past. What intrigued me most were the author's more recent experiences, experiences which seemed to include several lifetimes of being where the action was.

A lot of things happened in Africa in the 1990s. And Aidan Hartley was there, risking his life and covering the stories for Reuters. He was there in Somalia when the Americans sent in troops. He was...

United States on Jan 12, 2005

S. Kaphan: This is a truly amazing and moving book. It is rare indeed to find such a writing talent in the same person as such an intrepid adventure hound. I won't summarize the book, as other reviewers here have done so well enough.

At first I was taken aback by Hartley's matter-of-fact renditions of horrific war scenes. By the end of the book it becomes apparent that he has seen so much of an unbelievably hellish nature that it is more amazing that he survived emotionally enough to tell the story at all. Many of the graphic stories here of the wars and violence in Africa and the Balkans are not for the squeamish, so be forewarned. On the other hand Hartley's stories of his family's history in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula are extremely tender.

On the book jacket, a reviewer describes Hartley as a "Hieronymous Bosch reincarnated as a frontline correspondent". To me he seems more like a Dante who has visited both Paradise and Inferno and has produced an astonishing and breathtaking narrative. Not only that, his writing is nothing short of eloquent.

The suggestion by some other reviewers that there are only a dozen pages about the "Zanzibar chest" itself is misleading....

United States on Aug 13, 2004