Best of
Africa

1988

Green City in the Sun


Barbara Wood - 1988
    "Domina" and "Vital Signs" are written by the same author.

Thomas Sankara Speaks: The Burkina Faso Revolution, 1983-87


Thomas Sankara - 1988
    The leader of the Burkina Faso revolution recounts how peasants and workers in this West African country began confronting hunger, illiteracy, and economic backwardness prior to the 1987 coup in which Sankara was murdered.

Civilization or Barbarism: An Authentic Anthropology


Cheikh Anta Diop - 1988
    Challenging societal beliefs, this volume rethinks African and world history from an Afrocentric perspective.

Nervous Conditions


Tsitsi Dangarembga - 1988
    An extraordinarily well-crafted work, this book is a work of vision. Through its deft negotiation of race, class, gender and cultural change, it dramatizes the 'nervousness' of the 'postcolonial' conditions that bedevil us still. In Tambu and the women of her family, we African women see ourselves, whether at home or displaced, doing daily battle with our changing world with a mixture of tenacity, bewilderment and grace.

The Last Ivory Hunter


Peter Hathaway Capstick - 1988
    Wally Johnson spent half a century in Mozambique hunting white gold--ivory. Most men died at this hazardous trade. He's the last one able to tell his story.In hours of conversations by mopane fired in the African bush, Wally described his career--how he survived the massive bite of a Gaboon viper, buffalo gorings, floods, disease, and most dangerous of all, gold fever. He bluffed down 200 armed poachers almost single-handedly, and survived rocket attacks from communist revolutionaries during Mozambique's plunge into chaos in 1975. In Botswana, at age 63, Wally continued his career. Though the great tuskers have largely gone and most of Wally's colleagues are dead, Wally has survived. His words are rugged testimony to an Africa that is now a distant dream.

East of the Sun


Barbara Bickmore - 1988
    . . Filled with passions, heartbreak and death." Chicago Sun-Times.Liliane. Carolyn. Courtney. For half a century, they would devote themselves to the people of Simbayo, women healers bringing faith and hope to a beleaguered land . . . and to each other.

Last Horizons: Hunting, Fishing & Shooting On Five Continents


Peter Hathaway Capstick - 1988
    In this, the first of a two-volume collection of his hunting, fishing, and shooting tales, you'll find twenty-four examples of his keen eye and steady hand with rifle, shotgun, bow, and typewriter.The critically acclaimed successor to Hemingway and Robert Ruark repeatedly put himself in harm's way and writes about close scrapes with his trademark wit and dash. He tells what it's like to be in the path of an express train with Horns--the Cape buffalo; describes the heart-stopping sensation of sharing the immediate bush with several sickle-clawed lions that most certainly were prone to argue; and recounts his adventures bow-fishing for exotic species in the piranha-filled rivers of Brazil. Capstick's experiences, painfully gained (and almost lost) with the most dangerous of game, are the yardsticks against which most modern exotic and hunting adventures are gauged. The finely rendered drawings by Dino Paravano do justice to the text.

Zanzibar to Timbuktu


Theodore Dalrymple - 1988
    Avoiding planes, his journey took him by bus, lorry, train, boat and canoe. Along the way he encountered corruption, poverty and oppression as well as pragmatic and cheerful travelling companions and the result is this humorous, beautifully-written and sharply-observed travelogue.Theodore Dalrymple is the author of many books including: 'If Symptoms Persist', 'Second Opinion' and 'The Policeman and the Brothel'.

Makeba: My Story


Miriam Makeba - 1988
    "A cry of the heart. No one can fail to be moved".-- Boston Herald. 16 pages of photos.

Hopes and Impediments: Selected Essays


Chinua Achebe - 1988
    For Achebe, overcoming Eurocentrism goes hand in hand with eradicating the destructive effects of racism and injustice in Western society. He reveals the impediments that still stand in the way of open, equal dialogue between Africans and Europeans, between blacks and whites, but also instills us with hope that they will soon be overcome.

Safari: A Chronicle of Adventure


Bartle Bull - 1988
    Capturing the timeless beauty of the African bush, Bull tells of the men and women who made this land their home from Frederick Courtenay to Beryl Markham, the legendary expeditioners who brought fame to the safari; from Teddy Roosevelt to the Prince of Whales, and the native Africans who made the adventures possible. An active environmentalist, Bull examines the ethics of hunting and the apparent dilemma of the hunter-conservationist. Against a rich background of tribal and colonial history, he documents developments in weapons and transport, in literature and film, in game control and conservation, and conveys the attraction that has never changed—the magical freedom of the African bush.

Like Lions They Fought: The Zulu War and the Last Black Empire in South Africa


Robert B. Edgerton - 1988
    

African Adventures: Letters from Famous Big-Game Hunters (Peter Capstick's Library)


Denis D. Lyell - 1988
    The author shares letters written to him by fellow African hunters, in which they discuss rifles, species of games, and the nuances of hunting

My Friend Matt and Hena the Whore


Adam Zameenzad - 1988
    Nine-year-old Kimo, wide-eyed witness to its brutality, is starved out of his home village by drought. Desperate for help, he sets out for the big city of Bader in the company of his resourceful friends, the visionary Matt, pagmatic Hena and dreaming Golam. Their journey takes them through a country paralysed by the horrors of civil war, horrors which soon tighten their grip around the frail hopes of the starving foursome... Buoyed up by laughter, weighed down by tragedy and violence, My Friend Matt and Hena the Whore is an impossibly touching, quite extraordinary accomplishment from an outstanding new writer.

Amina the Milkmaid


Fatima Pam - 1988
    Amina is kidnapped on her way to the market one day and sold off to a very powerful king in a distant land. The king's son, Ahmed, falls in love with her. They marry after Amina becomes reunited with her family. Ahmed and Amina then return to the palace and live happily ever after.

Rorke's Drift: The Zulu War, 1879


James W. Bancroft - 1988
    It is written in a way that allows the reader to share the uncertainty and horror of the epic defence of the storehouse and field hospital at Rorke's Drift, Natal, at the beginning of the Zulu War.

Kindezi: The Kongo Art of Babysitting


K. Kia Bunseki Fu-Kiau - 1988
    Kindezi (the art of babysitting) and the ndezi (the babysitters) provide extensive value and service to both society and the individual child, making for a cohesive, unified community.

The Mande Blacksmiths: Knowledge, Power, and Art in West Africa


Patrick R. McNaughton - 1988
    finely crafted scholarship. Elegant and graceful, yet packed with knowledge and information, it embodies the aesthetic qualities which it describes and explores." --American Ethnologist"The text is detailed and informative, and enjoyable reading... " --Choice"The Mande Blacksmith is an important book... sensitive, sympathetic, multifaceted, and thorough... " --African Arts"McNaughton's Mande Blacksmiths is undeniably the most profound study of African artists yet published." --Ethnoarts..". penetrating... McNaughton boldly grapples with the thorniest issues related to his subject and articulates them with clarity and precision." --International Journal of African Historical Studies..". a work in the best tradition of ethnographic research.... critical reappraisal, innovative inquiry, and fresh observation... make this book an invaluable fund of new material on Mande societies... " --American Anthropologist"McNaughton... provides an important interpretation of these artists' conceptual place as members of a complex culture." --Religious Studies ReviewExamining the artistic, technological, social, and spiritual dimensions of Mande blacksmiths, who are the sculptors of their society, McNaughton defines these artists' conceptual place as extraordinary members of a complex culture.

Heart of the Ngoni: Heroes of the African Kingdom of Segu


Harold Courlander - 1988
    The heroic legends decribed here, re-create the events and annals of the kingdom of Segu and of the Bambara tribe that formed a series of important city-states along the Niger River during the 17th century.

Lifting the Veil: Two Centuries of Travelers, Traders and Tourists in Egypt


Anthony Sattin - 1988
    From Napoleon Bonaparte with his schemes to control the overland route to India, to tomb raiders such as Giovanni Belzoni; from scholars such as hieroglyph-decoder Champollion to Thomas Cook and his wide-eyed tourists and Cromer and his bureaucrats, this fast-paced and richly described narrative illuminates a bygone world and charts the end of imperialism and the advent of Egyptian independence

A Leaf of Honey and the Proverbs of the Rainforest


Joseph Sheppherd - 1988
    

When Hippo Was Hairy and Other Tales from Africa


Nick Greaves - 1988
    The folklore and mythology of the African people have been handed down by word of mouth through generations of tribal life. In a land which, until very recently, teemed with the richest wildlife in the world, people and animals lived for centuries in close proximity to one another, and came to know and understand each other intimately. African folk tales reflect this special relationship. Nick Greaves, who lives in Zimbabwe, has studied the traditional animal stories of different tribes from many parts of the continent. In this book he records some of the best. There are tales about Lion, Cheetah, Hyena, Elephant, and many others. Some are humorous, some sad, but all make compelling reading. Not only do they preserve for all time Africa's animal folklore, they also provide a fascinating, vivid, exciting picture of a land and its people. Each animal has been painted in brilliant detail and colourful, realistic style by Rod Clement, and nearly every story is illustrated by his lively sketches. After the stories about each animal, there is factual information about the animalis habits, lifespan, size, gestation period and other useful and interesting details. This is complemented by a map of Africa showing where the animal still lives today. This is a unique book of stories, paintings and facts about one of the world's great heritages - the wildlife of Africa - presented in a way that will entertain all ages and tastes and, hopefully, help to preserve that heritage too.

Bror Blixen: The Africa Letters


Bror Blixen - 1988
    Martin's Press hardcover, full number line. ISBN:0312014686. Bror Blixen. The letters to family and friends reveals the author to be a warm, affable and, above all, skillful safari leader at home on the plains of East Africa

The Collins Field Guide to the Birds of West Africa


William Serle - 1988
    

African Game Trails: An Account of the African Wanderings of an American Hunter-Naturalist


Theodore Roosevelt - 1988
    In 1908 he took a long safari holiday in East Africa with his son Kermit. His account of this adventure is as remarkably fresh today as it was when these adventures on the veldt were first published. Roosevelt describes the excitement of the chase, the people he met (including such famous hunters as Cunninghame and Selous), and flora and fauna he collected in the name of science. Long out of print, this classic is one of the preeminent examples of Africana, and belongs on every collector's shelf.African Game Trails includes stories about President Theodore Roosevelt advertures throughout East Africa, Belgian Congo, Mombassa, Khartoum, etc. Travelling the world to hunt and kill dozens of animals including Lions, Rhinos, Giraffes, Leopards, Buffalo, Hippos and Elephants. This fascinating story about Teddy Roosevelt's hunting adventures are not for the squeamish or the politcally correct as it includes heart-pounding stories.

Castro, the Blacks, and Africa


Carlos Moore - 1988
    

Marcus Garvey: Anti Colonial Champion


Rupert Lewis - 1988
    A book on Garvey, whose efforts embodied the aspirations of millions of colonial peoples and whose ideas are central to the process of decolonization