Ellis S. The Mask of Anarchy: The Destruction of Liberia and the Religious Dimension of an African Civil War

London: C. Hurst & Co (Publishers) Ltd., 1999. — 350 p.Liberia has been one of Africa’s most violent trouble spots. During the 1990s thousands of teenage fighters laid siege to the capital and the world took notice. Since then Liberia has been through devastating civil upheaval. What began as a civil conflict has spread to other West African nations as well.
Stephen Ellis traces the history of the civil war that has blighted Liberia in recent years and looks at the political, ethnic and cultural roots of a conflict that led to the 1997-2003 presidency of Charles Taylor — now indicted as a war criminal. He focuses on the role religion and rituals have played in shaping and intensifying this brutal war. In this edition Ellis describes how many of the same problems still exist, providing a challenge that international policymakers will ignore at their peril.