Helene Cooper

I heard about the first female president on the African continent but knew nothing about her story, her struggle, what made her such an iconic figure. This book answered pretty answered everything and when i finished it my sense of respect for this woman and all the women of Liberia is further increased.
I'm from the Congo myself and the kind of hellish environment portrayed in this book is sadly still part of the daily life of women in the eastern part of my country. It breaks my heart everyday knowing about it. Men have been failing for decades and are STILL failing those poor women, maybe it's time a woman takes the rain of that country too… (mehr)

The House at Sugar Beach is a combination family memoir, history of Liberia, and gut-wrenching first-hand account of what it was like to live through a coup d’état. Born in Liberia in 1966, Helene Cooper led a life of comfort and privilege as “Congo,” a term for descendants of the repatriated free blacks that arrived in West Africa from the United States in the 1820’s. She lived in a mansion attended by servants and her extended family held positions in the government. Her parents took in a local girl, Eunice, as a companion for their daughters, and she was treated as part of the immediate family. Eunice was a “Country,” as descendants of the indigenous African people were labeled. The rancor between the Congo and Country groups originated in the 1820’s and was inflamed by differences in socioeconomic standing, with a small percentage of the population controlling a large portion of the wealth. Tensions between the two groups erupted into violence in 1980 when a small group led by Samuel Doe staged a coup d'état, killed the President, and executed governmental officials.

This memoir is educational and engaging. One of the author’s strengths is her ability to vividly describe the ambiance of Liberia, such as the foods, idioms, customs, and social structure of the time. Liberia’s history is expertly woven into the narrative to provide the context for the coming political disruptions. The author directly relates the horrors experienced by her family members during the coup, evoking feelings of outrage and sympathy. Helene Cooper was a young girl during the early part of the memoir and the language is that of a child, which, while “accurate” in reflecting a child’s tone and perspective, is not particularly analytical and is focused on somewhat frivolous topics. The time she spends in the United States after the coup seems unfocused and meandering. A more adult perspective emerges in the last half of the memoir, when the author returns to Liberia to reconnect with her friends and family, hoping to resolve her guilt and regrets. She relates the latest round of political unrest and the impact on the populace. While a bit uneven, the book is worthwhile to learn more about the country and the people of Liberia.… (mehr)

Journalist Helene Cooper examines the violent past of her home country Liberia and the effects of
its 1980 military coup in this deeply personal memoir and
finalist for the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award.
Helene Cooper (born April 22, 1966) is a Liberian-born American journalist who is a
Pentagon correspondent for The New York Times. Before that, she was the paper's White House
correspondent in Washington, D.C.
She joined the Times in 2004 as assistant editorial page editor.… (mehr)