The worst place on Earth

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The New York Review of Books offers an excellent primer on Sierra Leone for Westerners — and not just about the current civil war there, which has resulted in thousands of civilian deaths and the temporary kidnapping of UN peacekeepers in April.

On top of all that, the tiny West-African country ranks dead last in “human development” (life expectancy, quality of life, etc.) according to the UN — behind Sudan, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Bangladesh, Laos, Afghanistan, and even Haiti. To help lend context to the current chaos, author James Traub gives us a tour of the beautiful but decaying Freetown, and traces the history and consequences of 40 years of misguided English colonial rule, as well as the destructively naive local leadership that followed.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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