Ryszard Kapuscinski

I was saddened to hear that Ryszard Kapuscinski has died. What a unique and intriguing voice and career he had.

Here's the oeuvre.

I particularly remember 'The Emperor' and 'Shah of Shahs' about the respective downfalls of Haile Selassie and the Shah of Iran; books perched between hard nosed war reporting and magic realism that could also be read as allegories of communist Eastern Europe.

Volumes nostalgically redolent to me of late seventies and early eighties book shop haunting; of Granta and oversize Picador paperbacks in their own spinning display racks.