Postcards from Madagascar

Cuddly lemurs, rare reptiles, baobab trees and tropical beaches. Or cartoon animals who escaped from a New York zoo. These are popular images of Madagascar, the world’s fourth-largest island.  Historian and journalist David Mould came back with different impressions. From the traffic jams and crowded markets of the colonial-era capital, Antananarivo, which he describes as “Paris with rice paddies,” he wanders through the Central Highlands, the eastern rain forest and the savannah and desert of the southwest, offering glimpses of the history, culture and politics of a beguiling but desperately poor country.  

David Mould, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Media Arts and Studies at Ohio University, has traveled widely in Asia and southern Africa. Born in the UK, he worked as a newspaper and TV journalist before moving to the US in 1978. His travel essays and articles have been published in Newsweek, Christian Science Monitor, Times Higher Education, History News Network and other print and online outlets. His books include Postcards from the Borderlands (Open Books, 2020), Monsoon Postcards: Indian Ocean Journeys (Ohio University Press, 2019) and Postcards from Stanland: Journeys in Central Asia (Ohio University Press, 2016).  Kirkus Reviews describes David as “a genial travel guide … an academic who does not write like an academic.”