Ryszard Kapuscinski witnessed and reported on major wars, coups and revolutions as they happened throughout the developing world and global South. In this distillation of his reflections on a lifetime of travel, he takes a fresh look at the Western idea of the Other: the non-European or non-American. Looking at this concept through the lens of his own encounters in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and considering its formative significance for his own work, Kapuciski traces how the West has understood the Other from classical times to colonialism, from the age of enlightenment to the postmodern global village. He observes how today we continue to treat the non-European as an alien and a threat, an object of study that has not yet become a partner in sharing responsibility for the fate of the world. In our globalized but increasingly polarized post-9/11 age, Kapuscinski shows how the Other remains one of the most compelling ideas of our times.

Author Biography

Born in Pinsk (in what is now Belarus), the celebrated Polish foreign correspondent RYSZARD KAPUSCINSKI is the author of, among other titles, Shah of Shahs, Imperium, Shadow of the Sun and, most recently, the memoir Travels with Herodotus. His books have been translated into twenty-eight languages. He died in 2007