Investigation Contract Research Essay The Poisonwood Bible was set in the Congo in the 1960s, a time of political unrest for the Congolese. Congo gained independence from the Belgians in 1960 and elected its first Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba. Lumumba wanted to regain full control of the country, including its natural resources in which the United States had "gained a strategic interest" (Nzongola-Ntalaja) because they included uranium mines. At this time, America was in the middle of the Cold War with the USSR, so control of these mines was crucial for America, especially because they believed Lumumba was siding with the Soviets. Sadly, in 1961, Patrice Lumumba was assassinated by a US-sponsored plot, seven months after independence, and replaced by a “puppet dictator named Mobutu” (Kingsolver). In her book, Barbara Kingsolver brings out a forgotten part of our nation's history in the exploitation of the Congo through its main characters, the Price family who are missionaries sent to the village of Kilanga. Through the stories of characters who “double ...