Journey without Maps

In 1935, Graham Greene travels through Liberia with his cousin Barbara Greene, moving from the coast into territory for which reliable European maps are scarce. The party depends on local guides, carriers and village hospitality while illness, difficult paths and uncertain supplies expose the limitations of the travellers’ preparation.

The account combines physical travel with observations about colonial power, missionary influence and European assumptions about West Africa. Greene’s descriptions retain the language and prejudices of their period, but the book also records his discomfort with official accounts that reduce Liberia and its people to an unexplored space awaiting European interpretation.