Celebrating independence from Portugal in 1975, two tiny islands nestled by the coast of Western Africa have encountered rough seas. Charting the fortunes of the new nation and the ambitious lot that have found their way to the helm, the authors spare no one in their critique. Very real practical problems face the island, starting with the financial mismanagement, despotism and illegal activities of Presidents Pinto da Costa, Miguel Trovoada and Fradique de Menezes; the failure to properly exploit the island's natural resources; economic instability; and political illiteracy.

Since its decolonization in 1975 the small and impoverished country has experienced fundamental changes to its political and economic system. After embracing socialism and a centralized economy at independence, in 1990 the country introduced liberal democracy and a free-market economy. The central issue of the book is to which extent institutional changes based on external models altered local patterns of political culture and of doing politics. This second edition has been revised and updated for the period of 1998-2005, including the recent developments in the country s emerging oil sector.

The first English language work devoted solely and specifically to the literature of Sao Tome and Principe. Contains three essays discussing themes unique to this country - themes that no critic writing in any language has dealt with to any serious degree. Burness examines the poetry and stories on the mythic bird of Sao Tome and Principe, the Ossobo; literature that treats the massacre of 1953, often referred to as the Massacre of Batapa; and the poetry and drama of Fernando de Macedo. Concludes with an appendix of 23 poems from São Tomé & Principe.