Last of the Pirates: The Search for Bob Denard

By: Samantha Weinberg

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Synopsis: This riveting book gives an account of an intrepid young woman's eccentric quest, as Samantha Weinberg pursues one of the last of a dying breed: an elusive French mercenary who plied his trade, ruthlessly, throughout the African continent. The Comoros are small specks in the Indian Ocean, four volcanic islands known for their beauty and for ylang-ylang, an exotic flower whose extract is widely used in French perfumes. For many years they were also the home of Bob Denard, who arrived by way of Katanga, the Congo, Yemen, Angola, Biafra, Gabon, and Benin. Once in the Comoros, he overthrew two presidents in three years. In 1989 he, too, was overthrown, and then he disappeared. Last of the Pirates is a thrilling story of beauty, intrigue, cruelty, and murder: a book about an exotic place few of us have ever imagined, and about a murderous, machista culture that aimed to transform it.