Preview of The Blood Latitudes Summary:

A number of important themes resonate throughout the novel, many of which are connected with the social issues present in the novel and discussed above. But a number have a kind of universality that Harrison acknowledges, especially the idea that cultural misunderstanding is a "human universal." Some scholars of post-colonialism argue that while cultural difference is real enough, there are also traits all human beings have in common, and thus appear to echo the position taken by Sir Thomas Hobbes who believed that people share many of the same thoughts and passions.

Africa is a land of extraordinary beauty and extraordinary sorrow. The great herds of wild animals, the powerful and compelling landscape of plain, mountain, and jungles as well as the farms and villages carved out by native peoples and colonial invaders which testify to a fundamental human drive for survival. The tribal warfare between Tutsi and...