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From the archives

24 Sussex Dive

On some very late homework

Kyle Wyatt

City Limits

That shrinking feeling

Frances Bula

The Grey Plateau

When the world stopped five years ago

Stephen Marche
Our Contributors

Richard Poplak

Richard Poplak is a South African–born journalist and author. His latest book, Continental Shift: A Journey into Africa’s Changing Fortunes, co-authored with Kevin Bloom (Portobello Books, 2016), traces the 21st-century transformation of Africa.

Articles by
Richard Poplak

Colony of Requited Dreams

China in Africa, and the making of the next outsourcing hub September 2016
In 1414, Admiral Zheng He, Grand Eunuch of the Three Treasures, set out from the Chinese port of Canton on an extraordinary journey. His naval retinue dwarfed anything the European powers of the time could possibly muster—62 galleons, more than 100 auxiliary vessels, 868 officers, 26,800 soldiers and sundry courtiers, eunuchs and servants. This great naval…

Football Fables

The beautiful game bestrides the world like a colossus June 2010
In early 2007, I happened to find myself in Oman during the Gulf Cup of Nations—a soccer tournament properly called Khaleeji 18. Khaleeji pits genuinely awful teams, like Bahrain or Kuwait, against the somewhat less wretched, such as repeat World Cup finalists Saudi Arabia. Crappy football notwithstanding, there was something transformative going on in Oman—a small Middle Eastern country only 20 years removed from being the most benighted in the…