Dancing in the Glory of Monsters

Full title: Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa

Author: Jason Stearns

Format: Audiobook (narrator Mike Chamberlain)

Dancing in the Glory of Monsters is a narrative history of the two Congo Wars (1996-7; 1998-2003), written by American journalist Jason Stearns. The narrative begins with a discussion of the Rwandan Genocide, which sets the stage for the next decade of conflict: the First Congo War begins with a Rwandan intervention in the DRC with the motivation of dismantling ex-FAR and Interahamwe génocidaire military outposts in the border regions. The narrative continues roughly chronologically, though each chapter tends to focus on a single “theme” (often one rebel leader or group) or event (often a specific atrocity) during the First or Second Congo War. This is especially prevalent in the second half of the book, focusing on the Second Congo War - it would likely be rather difficult to piece together a precise timeline of events solely from the book (though this never becomes noticably problematic in any way).

Stearns explicitly tries to bring attention to the human suffering during the conflicts, noting in the introduction and conclusion that, despite the 5+ million deaths (at time of writing) and enormous scale compared to (e.g.) the Balkan Wars, the Congo Wars have received much less press coverage than the Balkan Wars. In pursuit of this goal, many chapters of the book are filled with mildly gruesome descriptions of a selection of the many atrocities and massacres committed during the conflict. Particularly memorable were vivid descriptions of the experience of a young Tutsi teenager attempting to flee the Congo to Rwanda, the notorious Kasika massacre, during which at least 1000 civilians were killed by RCD (Congolese Rally for Democracy) forces, and a story of a father watching two of his children die during the devastating Ugandan-Rwandan battles in Kisangani (aka the Six-Day War). While horrifying to read/listen to, the inclusion of these descriptions never feel gratuitous, especially given Stearns’s stated goal of highlighting human suffering.

Stearns flexes his journalistic credentials by interweaving original interview material throughout the book, providing firsthand accounts of the conflicts from elites and civilians alike. These interviews greatly enhance and provide a human face to the many generic portraits of eccentric rebel leaders throughout the book. That said, when juxtaposed with descriptions of mass suffering the interviews can become slightly jarring, as when Stearns includes an interview with a high-ranking Hutu general (who denies personal culpability for his soldiers’ actions) within a larger discussion of the Rwandan Genocide. The relatively neutral manner in which interviewees are treated is emblematic of Stearns’s more general refusal to explicitly condemn or praise key figures in the conflict, at least until the ending chapters of the book; Stearns explicitly notes that, given the extreme complexity of the conflict, any attempt to portray any one side as overwhelmingly “good” quickly breaks down. Given this restriction, Stearns still manages to cast a relatively sympathetic, yet implicitly critical lens, on most key figures (although given the mass suffering caused by many of the leaders in the conflict, it would be hard for any presentation to not be at least implicitly critical).

Overall, Dancing in the Glory of Monsters is a very solid (if slightly outdated) synopsis of the Congo Wars for someone unfamiliar with the conflicts beforehand. Stearns especially shines in the material he is able to extract from his interview subjects and in his ability to convey the intensity of human suffering by civilians on the ground during the conflicts.