Over the past decade and a half, the Democratic Republic of Congo has been at the center of the deadliest series of conflicts since the Second World War, and now hosts the largest United Nations peacekeeping mission in the world. In The Democratic Republic of Congo, acclaimed journalist Michael Deibert paints a compelling picture of a nation in flux, inching towards peace but solidifying into what may prove to be another era of authoritarian rule, this time under its enigmatic president, Joseph Kabila.

Featuring a wealth of on-the-ground reporting and first-hand interviews, The Democratic Republic of Congo: Between Hope and Despair travels from war-torn villages in the Congo east to the chaotic, pulsing capital of Kinshasa in order to bring us the voices of the Congolese – from impoverished gold prospectors and market women to government officials – as it explores the complicated political, ethnic and social geography of this tattered land.

Join us for for this reading and signing with author Michael Deibert. Deibert is a journalist and author. His writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Miami Herald, Le Monde diplomatique, Folha de São Paulo, World Policy Journal, and The Huffington Post, among other venues. He has been a featured commentator on international affairs on the BBC, Al Jazeera, Channel 4, National Public Radio, WNYC New York Public Radio, and KPFK Pacifica Radio. His first book, Notes From the Last Testament: The Struggle for Haiti, was praised by The Miami Herald as “a powerfully documented exposé”

The event is co-sponsored by Busboys and Poets, Institute for Policy Studies’ Foreign Policy in Focus project and Friends of the Congo.