Maria Petringa

Brazza, A Life for Africa Maria Petringa

This fascinating true-life adventure takes the reader on a journey from Papal Rome, to Belle-Epoque Paris, to French Colonial Africa.

Brazza, A Life for Africa tells the story of Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, a European explorer, colonial governor, and human rights investigator. He gave his life trying to expose the abuse and torture of enslaved African workers in the rubber-producing regions of Congo, Gabon, and elsewhere in equatorial Africa.

From Brazza's early explorations, his diplomatic encounters with African tribal chiefs, and his studies of the daily life, flora, and fauna of central Africa, to his courageous investigation of human rights abuses, Brazza, A Life for Africa contains numerous parallels to today's events.  The 1904 Toqué-Gaud torture scandal in central Africa was eerily similar to the Abu Ghraib scandal in 2004.