Torrents of Vitriol

In the early fall of 2006, while I was on assignment for CBC Radio in the West African country of Mali, several unfortunate circumstances sandbagged me. As I exited a car surrounded by overzealous teenage vendors, my wallet and $450 disappeared forever; after eating fish in western Mali, I became ill; and I cancelled an interview with a Cabinet minister after being told by an airline the departure time had changed, only to see the flight take off three hours later than scheduled. As much as I liked Mali and would gladly return, the thought of that first trip inspires horror.

Nevertheless, the experience returned to mind when reading Joan Baxter’s Dust from Our Eyes: An Unblinkered Look at Africa.

Mali, through its people, politics and social mores, is a protagonist in her book. The country barely exists on the radar of the western media outlets and although Baxter, a Canadian, is not the first western journalist to delve into Mali’s history of...