
Dancing in the Glory of Monsters
The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa
PublicAffairs · Print & ebook · November 4, 2025
A “meticulously researched and comprehensive” (Financial Times) history of the devastating war in the heart of Africa’s Congo At the heart of Africa is the Congo, a country the size of western Europe.
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- Who it’s for
- A sustained narrative of Congo’s war, attentive to the political choices and moral decisions behind it.
- Genres
- Central African History, Genocide & War Crimes, African Politics
- Published
- PublicAffairs, November 4, 2025
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Start with this bookAbout this book
A “meticulously researched and comprehensive” (Financial Times) history of the devastating war in the heart of Africa’s Congo At the heart of Africa is the Congo, a country the size of western Europe. It borders nine other nations, and since 1996 it has been racked by a brutal war in which millions have died.
Continue reading
In Dancing in the Glory of Monsters, renowned political activist and researcher Jason K. Stearns has written a compelling and deeply reported narrative of how Congo became a failed state that collapsed into a war of retaliatory massacres. Stearns brilliantly describes the key perpetrators, many of whom he met personally, and highlights the nature of the political system that brought these people to power, as well as the moral decisions with which the war confronted them. Now updated with a new introduction, Dancing in the Glory of Monsters tells the full story of Africa’s great war.
War and Power
A sustained narrative of Congo’s war, attentive to the political choices and moral decisions behind it.
Come here for
- A deeply reported history of Congo’s war and political collapse
- The people and power structures behind a conflict of retaliatory massacres
Expect
- A wide-angle account of Africa’s great war
- Close attention to key perpetrators and the system that brought them to power
Where it sits
| Central African History | 84% |
|---|---|
| African Politics | 29% |
| Genocide & War Crimes | 27% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Central African History
- African Politics
- Genocide & War Crimes
- Authors
- Jason K. Stearns
- Publisher
- PublicAffairs
- Published
- November 4, 2025
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Reading lane
- Central African History