PB:
12.99 GBP
QTY:
HB:
16.99 GBP
QTY:
Categories:
Lagos
Supernatural City
For sale in CIS only!
An intimate portrait of life in one of the most vibrant cities on Earth.
This is a frantic, mystical journey through Africa's biggest metropolis: Lagos. Going beyond the popular images of mad traffic or crowded slums, we learn of the incredible feats Lagosians pull off to survive their broken-down city, and the secret enabling them to cope with the chaos and precarity of Nigeria's most populous centre: spirituality.
A female street fighter in a male-dominated mafia extortion business. Two powerful chiefs locked in a deadly feud over billion-dollar real estate. An oil tycoon who gambles her fortune on televangelists' prophecies. A rubbish scavenger dreaming of a reggae career. A fisherman's son trying to save Makoko, the "floating slum", from demolition. A priestess to a river goddess selling sand to feed Lagos's construction boom.
Belief in unseen forces unites these figures, as does their commitment to worshipping them – at shrines, in mosques and in churches. In this extraordinary city, Tim Cocks uncovers something universal about human nature in the face of danger and high uncertainty: our tendency to place faith in a realm beyond.
An intimate portrait of life in one of the most vibrant cities on Earth.
This is a frantic, mystical journey through Africa's biggest metropolis: Lagos. Going beyond the popular images of mad traffic or crowded slums, we learn of the incredible feats Lagosians pull off to survive their broken-down city, and the secret enabling them to cope with the chaos and precarity of Nigeria's most populous centre: spirituality.
A female street fighter in a male-dominated mafia extortion business. Two powerful chiefs locked in a deadly feud over billion-dollar real estate. An oil tycoon who gambles her fortune on televangelists' prophecies. A rubbish scavenger dreaming of a reggae career. A fisherman's son trying to save Makoko, the "floating slum", from demolition. A priestess to a river goddess selling sand to feed Lagos's construction boom.
Belief in unseen forces unites these figures, as does their commitment to worshipping them – at shrines, in mosques and in churches. In this extraordinary city, Tim Cocks uncovers something universal about human nature in the face of danger and high uncertainty: our tendency to place faith in a realm beyond.
About the author
Tim Cocks is a British-born journalist of South African parentage. Currently based in Johannesburg, he was formerly Reuters West & Central Africa bureau chief, based in Dakar, following four years in Lagos as Nigeria bureau chief. He holds an MA in philosophy & Theology from the University of Oxford.