{"product_id":"goodbye-dr-banda-alexander-chula-9781846977305","title":"Goodbye, Dr Banda: Lessons for the West from a Small African Country","description":"'You may never have been, may never go, may never even have heard of the place - but Malawi will repay your attention. It is one of the smallest, poorest countries in Africa, often overlooked; but its relationship with us in the West has been extraordinary.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn a ruined dictator's palace, Alexander Chula - a classicist-turned-doctor, fresh out of Oxford - stumbles upon an oak treasure chest. Inside is a priceless, antique edition of Julius Caesar's Gallic War. This unexpected talisman of Western high culture belongs to the mercurial Dr Banda, a man of many parts: scholarly physician, anti-colonial hero, brutal tyrant, and fallen philosopher-king.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBanda leads the author deep into the heart of this mysterious country, there to uncover a bizarre meeting of worlds: between one of Africa's most fascinating indigenous cultures and the best and worst of our own. Here tribal ritual collides with Greek theatre; masked dancers with roving classicists; poets and pop stars with missionary-explorers; hippies and kleptocrats with long-suffering peasants.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe story is enigmatic but exhilarating, by turns edifying and deeply uncomfortable. But we would do well to examine it: Malawi presents urgent lessons which resonate piercingly in our vexed age of culture wars and identity crisis.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Alexander Chula\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1846977304\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781846977305\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Polygon\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/04\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 320\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback","brand":"Alexander Chula","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46867261194495,"sku":"9781846977305","price":18.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_72a1c379-f446-4f93-88e4-ef5603e1a6ec.jpg?v=1747454316","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/goodbye-dr-banda-alexander-chula-9781846977305","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}