Frank Catanoso

No More Boss Man Frank Catanoso

In April 1980, thirteen enlisted men, along with Sam Doe, an obscure twenty-eight-year-old army sergeant, made a lightning strike on the presidential mansion in Monrovia, Liberia, killing and disemboweling Liberian President Albert Blamo and taking over the country. This shocking military takeover started one of the bloodiest coups in the history of Africa. Like most military dictators in Africa, Doe began his rule with good intentions. He surrounded himself with a cadre of yes-men and fellow tribesmen, but lost sight of his objectives of fighting corruption and helping the poor. The coup also set off one of the most turbulent eras in African history. More than two decades of civil war has already claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and persists to this day. Author Frank Catanoso, an American Foreign Service officer in Liberia at the time of the revolt, highlights the rise of Doe and provides a fictional, behind-the-scenes look at the key players in the coup. No More Boss Man also examines the tenuous and hypocritical nature of U. S. foreign policy in Africa.