The Mask of Anarchy Updated Edition: The Destruction of Liberia and the Religious Dimension of an African Civil War

"Outstanding. . . . A model of lucid writing, thorough research, and penetrating interpretation, this is one of the best books on Africa in recent years."
—Foreign Affairs

"No other available account of the civil war is as concise, accurate, or lucid."
—Christian Scholar's Review

"Cogently argued and supported by a wealth of observation"
—Times Literary Supplement

“By far and away the best on the Liberian civil war. It is difficult to praise it too highly: lucid yet avoiding over-simplification, and entirely free of cant or ideological preconceptions, it is a model of its kind.”
—The Sunday Telegraph

"Ellis has written a very honest and brave book about a ghastly human experience which has, one learns, much less to do with the primordial past than about the future."
—Ecclesiastical History

“…a well-researched and carefully told story of the war…an account of the war as the Liberians experienced it.”
—Books & Culture

Liberia has been one of Africa's most violent trouble spots. In 1990, when thousands of teenage fighters, including young men wearing women's clothing and bizarre objects of decoration, laid siege to the capital, 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.

Eschewing popular stereotypes and simple explanations, Stephen Ellis traces the history of the civil war that has blighted Liberia in recent years and looks at its political, ethnic and cultural roots. He focuses on the role religion and ritual have played in shaping and intensifying this brutal war. In this edition, with a new preface by the author, Ellis provides a current picture of Liberia and details how much of the same problems still exist.