Adam Hochschild, in his 1994 New York Review of Books review of Ryszard Kapuściński’s Imperium, writes (this is a back-translation from the Polish) “His latest book is less fantasmagorical than the previous ones because he does not have to hide behind allegories” — as was the case when he was writing under communism. Much has been made of the allegorical nature of Cesarz (The Emperor) and Szachinszach, for instance by his English translators in Podróże z Ryszardem Kapuścińskim – opowieści trzynastu tłumaczy edited by Bożena Dudko: Katarzyna Mroczkowska-Brand draws the analogy with communist Poland although she stresses the book’s universality and William Brand mentions the role this allegory played in the reception of Kapuściński in the west.

Kapuściński isn’t always so mistily allegorical, though. Here’s a quote from Wojna futbolowa (The Football War):

Because it was an oligarchic government dependent on the United States the decree [concerning agricultural reform] did not provide for the division of the latifundia or for the division of lands belonging to the American United Fruit concern, which had large banana plantations on the territory of Honduras.

Kapuściński: the scourge of imperialists but sometimes the wrong ones.