Sudan: The Failure and Division of an African State

Over the past two decades, the situation in Africa’s largest country, Sudan, has progressively deteriorated: the country is in second position on the Failed States Index, a war in Darfur has claimed hundreds of thousands of deaths, President Bashir has been indicted by the International Criminal Court, a forthcoming referendum on independence for Southern Sudan threatens to split the country violently apart.

In this fascinating and immensely readable book, the Africa editor of the Economist...