America and the Making of Modern Turkey: Science, Culture and Political Alliances

Abstract

life as a window into the complex political and economic realities of Africa since the end of colonialism. Eschewing the outmoded “great man” view of history, he presents Sankara as a visionary who was part of a broader social movement comprising urban workers, students, and leftist political parties. These actors fed Sankara’s vision and shaped his message. Peterson provides a new, more complex, and more critical appraisal than many earlier works. He details Sankara’s accomplishments and errors and offers conflicting views of Sankara’s record. Among the few exceptions to this characterization of earlier literature is Ernest Harsch, Thomas Sankara: An African Revolutionary (Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2014), which offers a similarly balanced but briefer account that is particularly well-suited to students and popular audiences. Because Sankara presented his vision orally, Peterson’s sources included Sankara’s speeches, radio and television broadcasts, and interviews, as recorded or published by journalists and supporters, as well as newspapers from the revolutionary period. Challenged by the destruction of the Sankara government’s papers, Peterson sought out personal collections of salvaged records and conducted more than 100 interviews with Sankara’s family members and associates, labor leaders, grassroots activists, journalists, foreign diplomats, and scholars, who recounted their memories of the revolution, the coup, and the events leading to it. He culled information from previously classified U.S. diplomatic cables, including those from U.S. embassies in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, France, Mali, Niger, and Senegal, which exposed domestic and international efforts to undermine the Sankara government. Colonial-era reports provided the historical context for Sankara’s formation as a revolutionary and his rise to power. Unfortunately missing are French government documents pertaining to Sankara and his government, which remain classified under the label “secret défense.” In sum, Peterson’s Thomas Sankara deepens our knowledge of the vision and actions of an important African leader who has received far too little scholarly attention. The monograph constitutes an important contribution to our understanding of the complex political, economic, and social dynamics that shaped African countries during the Cold War. It is highly recommended for scholars and students of Africa and is an essential acquisition for college and university libraries.