By Paul Theroux
Four decades after spending time in the Peace Corps in Africa, travel writer Theroux returns. He sees little to like. Eager to distance himself from the "rich, amphibious-looking people for whom travel is an expensive kind of laziness," Theroux hustles from Cairo to Capetown, stopping in "crime-ridden" Nairobi, "disorderly" Kampala and "demoralized" Dares Salaam. He says Africa has changed for the worse, but Theroux can be such a mean and flinty guide that he doesn't note Africa's wonders along with its horrors. His narrative isn't so much dark as devoid of light, and the light touch that characterizes his best work. (Houghton Mifflin, $28)
BOTTOM LINE: Disenchanting
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