Graveyard
For Dreamers: One Woman's Odyssey In Africa
Joan Baxter
Publisher: Pottersfield Press (November 1, 2002)
ISBN: 0919001882
Overall Rating: 5 Stars 
Readability: 4 Stars
Content: 5 Stars
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this book
Graveyard for Dreamers is an honest and diverse book that explores
the life of Western expatriate aid workers in West Africa. The
book spans a period of over twelve years, a time in which the
author, Joan Baxter develops a dynamic relationship with the chaotic
continent of Africa. Baxter was a reluctant member of the ex-pat
society, having great difficulty justifying the relative opulence
of the aid workers with the destitute societies of West Africa.
But over the years she gains a deeper understanding of the nuances
of West African life as she sheds her preconceived western notions
of how life should be lived. Baxter becomes a freelance journalist,
offering the reader a rare glance into the murky underworld of
African politics. Her frustration at a system that is encouraged
and supported by the developed nations of the world, which promotes
poverty, disease, and squalor while the few in power become obscenely
wealthy, is evident. Baxter possesses a rare insight into the
psyche of the African, both the peasant and dictator, and is one
of the few Western people to understand that Western solutions
to African problems will never succeed. The only criticism of
the book, and it is one that is really a compliment, is that I
was left wanting to know more about many of the issues Baxter
discussed. Graveyard For Dreamers is a fantastic book, one that
is definitely not to be missed.
