Liberia: Book Review - Welcome to Little Liberia

15 February 2012

Little Liberia, as the title suggests, is about the Liberian community in a big Western metropolis: Staten Island, New York City. South African writer, Jonny Steinberg, follows the life journeys of two Liberians, Jacob and Rufus, whose paths cross. The book is, in its way, a critique of post-colonial Africa. Standing out from the crowd from early on, Rufus became a successful tailor in Liberia while the rest of his age-mates in Twelfth Street, Monrovia, were unemployed or casual workers.

He also owned a soccer club, Roza, and was widely respected - and envied. Without telling anyone, he arranged to leave for the US. Once there, he was determined to not work for anyone, unlike the African-Americans in the housing projects who, "when they get educated, go into legal slavery. They work all day for just enough money to pay the rent."

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