Andrée Blouin—once called the most dangerous woman in Africa—played a leading role in the
struggles for decolonization that shook the continent in the 1950s and ’60s advising the
postcolonial leaders of Algeria both Congos Ivory Coast Mali Guinea and Ghana. In this
autobiography Blouin retraces her remarkable journey as an African revolutionary. Born in
French Equatorial Africa and abandoned at the age of three she endured years of neglect and
abuse in a colonial orphanage which she escaped after being forced by nuns into an arranged
marriage at fifteen. She later became radicalized by the death of her two-year-old son who was
denied malaria medication by French officials because he was one-quarter African. In Guinea
where Blouin was active in Sékou Touré’s campaign for independence she came into contact with
leaders of the liberation movement in the Belgian Congo. Blouin witnessed the Congolese tragedy
up close as an adviser to Patrice Lumumba whose arrest and assassination she narrates in
unforgettable detail. Blouin offers a sweeping survey of pan-African nationalism capturing
the intricacies of revolutionary diplomacy comradeship and betrayal. Alongside intimate
portraits of the movement’s leaders Blouin provides insights into the often-overlooked
contribution of African women in the struggle for independence.
