Best of
Africa

2004

Wizard of the Crow


Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o - 2004
    His aim in Wizard of the Crow is, in his own words,nothing less than “to sum up Africa of the twentieth century in the context of two thousand years of world history.”Commencing in “our times” and set in the “Free Republic of Aburĩria,” the novel dramatizes with corrosive humor and keenness of observation a battle for control of the souls of the Aburĩrian people. Among the contenders: His High Mighty Excellency; the eponymous Wizard, an avatar of folklore and wisdom; the corrupt Christian Ministry; and the nefarious Global Bank. Fashioning the stories of the powerful and the ordinary into a dazzling mosaic, Wizard of the Crow reveals humanity in all its endlessly surprising complexity.Informed by richly enigmatic traditional African storytelling, Wizard of the Crow is a masterpiece, the crowning achievement in Ngugl wa Thiong’o’s career thus far.

The River and the Source


Margaret A. Ogola - 2004
    Now reprinted, it remains in great demand. An epic story spanning cultures, it tells the lives of three generations of women. It traces the story of Akoko in her rich traditional Luo setting, through to the children who live and die in the 20th century.

Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival


Dean King - 2004
    Reader and protagonist alike are challenged into new ways of understanding culture clash, slavery and the place of Islam in the social fabric of desert-dwelling peoples.In a calm May morning in 1815, Captain James Riley and the crew of the Commerce left port in Connecticut for an ordinary trading voyage. They could never have imagined what awaited them. Their nightmare began with a dreadful shipwreck off the coast of Africa, a hair-raising confrontation with hostile native tribesmen within hours of being washed ashore, and a hellish confinement in a rickety longboat as they tried, without success, to escape the fearsome coast. Eventually captured by desert nomads and sold into slavery, Riley and his men were dragged along on an insane journey through the bone-dry heart of the Sahara—a region unknown to Westerners. Along the way the Americans would encounter everything that could possibly test them: barbarism, murder, starvation, plagues of locusts, death, sandstorms that lasted for days, dehydration, and hostile tribes that roamed the desert on armies of camels. They would discover ancient cities and secret oases. They would also discover a surprising bond between a Muslim trader and an American sea captain, men who began as strangers, were forced to become allies in order to survive, and, in the tempering heat of the desert, became friends—even as the captain hatched a daring betrayal in order to save his men. From the cold waters of the Atlantic to the searing Saharan sands, Skeletons on the Zahara is a spectacular odyssey through the extremes. Destined to become a classic among adventure narratives, Dean King's masterpiece is an unforgettable tale of survival, courage, and brotherhood.

Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures): True Stories from a War Zone


Kenneth Cain - 2004
    Andrew strives for a better world through his life-saving work as a doctor. Heidi, a social worker, is in need of a challenge and a paycheck, and Ken is fresh from Harvard and brimful of idealism. As their stories interweave through the years, from Rwanda, Bosnia and Somalia to Haiti, the trio reveal a world of witnessed atrocities, primal fear, desperate loneliness and base desires. They fend off terror and futility with revelry, humour and sex; ask hard questions about the world order America has created, the true power of the UN, and whether there is any possibility for change.This is a startling celebration of the power of humour and friendship, of the limits of human compassion, and the need for a warm body and a cold beer during a Condition Echo lockdown. A book that shows the human cost of global politics and the tragic truth that wars are much more avoidable than our governments would ever admit. A brilliant, provocatively funny and fast moving book.

Devil's Peak


Deon Meyer - 2004
    A young woman makes a terrible confession to a priest. An honorable man takes his own revenge for an unspeakable tragedy. An aging inspector tries to get himself sober while taking on the most difficult case of his career. From this beginning, Deon Meyer weaves a story of astonishing complexity and suspense, as Inspector Benny Griessel faces off against a dangerous vigilante who has everything on his side, including public sympathy. A gruesome abuse case has hit the newsstands, and one man has taken it upon himself to stand up for the children of Cape Town. When the accused is found stabbed through the heart by spear, it's only the beginning of a string of bloody murders - and of a dangerous dilemma for detective Griessel. The detective is always just one step behind as someone slays the city's killers. But the paths of Griessel and the avenger collide when a young prostitute lures them both into a dangerous plan - and the two find themselves with a heart-stopping problem that no system of justice could ever make right.

We Are All the Same: A Story of a Boy's Courage and a Mother's Love


Jim Wooten - 2004
    and touched the face of HIV/AIDS with compassion and humanity. —Alexandra Fuller, Chicago Tribune"This is a book not to be missed." —People"Amazing and tender... in this special book [Wooten] brings home the tragedy of AIDS." —Liz Smith, New York Post"Wooten rightly disregards journalistic distance and writes himself into the work, making it read like a contemplative literary memoir." —Time Out New York

White Gold: The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and North Africa's One Million European Slaves


Giles Milton - 2004
    Ignored by their own governments, and forced to endure the harshest of conditions, very few lived to tell the tale. Using the firsthand testimony of a Cornish cabin boy named Thomas Pellow, Giles Milton vividly reconstructs a disturbing, little known chapter of history. Pellow was bought by the tyrannical sultan of Morocco who was constructing an imperial pleasure palace of enormous scale and grandeur, built entirely by Christian slave labour. As his personal slave, he would witness first-hand the barbaric splendour of the imperial court, as well as experience the daily terror of a cruel regime. Gripping, immaculately researched, and brilliantly realised, WHITE GOLD reveals an explosive chapter of popular history, told with all the pace and verve of one of our finest historians.

Murambi, The Book of Bones


Boubacar Boris Diop - 2004
    sank in such appalling violence." --Radio France InternationalIn April of 1994, nearly a million Rwandans were killed in what would prove to be one of the swiftest, most terrifying killing sprees of the 20th century. In Murambi, The Book of Bones, Boubacar Boris Diop comes face to face with the chilling horror and overwhelming sadness of the tragedy. Now, the power of Diop's acclaimed novel is available to English-speaking readers through Fiona Mc Laughlin's crisp translation. The novel recounts the story of a Rwandan history teacher, Cornelius Uvimana, who was living and working in Djibouti at the time of the massacre. He returns to Rwanda to try to comprehend the death of his family and to write a play about the events that took place there. As the novel unfolds, Cornelius begins to understand that it is only our humanity that will save us, and that as a writer, he must bear witness to the atrocities of the genocide.From the novel:"If only by the way people are walking, you can see that tension is mounting by the minute. I can feel it almost physically. Everyone is running or at least hurrying about. I meet more and more passersby who seem to be walking around in circles. There seems to be another light in their eyes. I think of the fathers who have to face the anguished eyes of their children and who can't tell them anything. For them, the country has become an immense trap in the space of just a few hours. Death is on the prowl. They can't even dream of defending themselves. Everything has been meticulously prepared for a long time: the administration, the army, and the [militia] are going to combine forces to kill, if possible, every last one of them."

Shirley, Goodness & Mercy: A Childhood in Africa


Chris van Wyk - 2004
    Instead, it is a delightful account of one boy's special relationship with the relatives, friends and neighbors—often decidedly quirky—who made up his community, and of the important coping role laughter and humor played during the years he spent in bleak, dusty townships. Chris van Wyk has created a truly remarkable record of life in the black community at once informative and vastly entertaining.

Sahel: The End of the Road


Sebastião Salgado - 2004
    Working with the humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders, Salgado documented the enormous suffering and the great dignity of the refugees. This early work became a template for his future photographic projects about other afflicted people around the world. Since then, Salgado has again and again sought to give visual voice to those millions of human beings who, because of military conflict, poverty, famine, overpopulation, pestilence, environmental degradation, and other forms of catastrophe, teeter on the edge of survival. Beautifully produced, with thoughtful supporting narratives by Orville Schell, Fred Ritchin, and Eduardo Galeano, this first U.S. edition brings some of Salgado's earliest and most important work to an American audience for the first time. Twenty years after the photographs were taken, Sahel: The End of the Road is still painfully relevant. Born in Brazil in 1944, Sebastião Salgado studied economics in São Paulo and Paris and worked in Brazil and England. While traveling as an economist to Africa, he began photographing the people he encountered. Working entirely in a black-and-white format, Salgado highlights the larger meaning of what is happening to his subjects with an imagery that testifies to the fundamental dignity of all humanity while simultaneously protesting its violation by war, poverty, and other injustices. "The planet remains divided," Salgado explains. "The first world in a crisis of excess, the third world in a crisis of need." This disparity between the haves and the have-nots is the subtext of almost all of Salgado's work.

Faces of Africa


Carol Beckwith - 2004
    Drawn from their work over the past thirty years, this book is an inclusive look at the people and cultures from across this broad continent.With their unique eye for Africa and its inhabitants, Beckwith and Fisher have brought forth a masterpiece in the genre—and a moving, personal tribute to some of the most beautiful people on Earth.

The Sound of Thunder / Cry Wolf


Wilbur Smith - 2004
    

Africa Trek 2


Alexandre Poussin - 2004
    From the Cape of Good Hope to the Sea of Galilee, along the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, their goal was to symbolically retrace the passage of early Man, from Australopithecus to Modern Man. Starting where volume I leaves off, this volume entrances readers with new, unexpected events both heart-warming and horrifying.

Women's Wisdom from the Heart of Africa


Sobonfu E. Somé - 2004
    They are valued as dreamers, as diviners, as the backbone of the community; the core of human survival. But what can the teachings of this indigenous culture show us that will transform the way we live? On Women's Wisdom from the Heart of Africa, Sobonfu Som�, author, teacher, and the first woman empowered by the Dagara elders to impart their teachings to the West, invites you to peer into a world where people remain closely connected to nature, their ancestors, and spirit, and to learn how to use powerful rituals to restore balance within yourself and with those around you.Secrets of the Dagara StorytellersSobonfu Som�, whose name means "keeper of the rituals," was raised in her small village and sent by her elders to continue her education in the United States. With Women's Wisdom from the Heart of Africa, Som� shares authentic spiritual teachings of her tribe that were formerly handed down only within the circle of Dagara village life. These teachings are founded on a worldview that honors animals, plants, and trees as our elders, and human beings as the newcomers. From this revered relationship with the natural world, we learn how to live in unity with our environment, and create a deeper connection with spirit.Discover Your True Gifts and Offer Them to the World Through Ritual and CelebrationHow do we find this connection to spirit? For the Dagara, ritual is the gateway. Distilling the essential practices of her people, Sobonfu Som� shows you how to check in with spirit to receive guidance, observe the sacred spaces of your home, harness the energy of the elements, strengthen your relationships, create balance in your professional life, and much more. What are your unique gifts? What were you born to contribute? What can your community do to assist you? These questions are asked of every unborn Dagara child while still in the womb. Now, you have the chance to explore these and other questions, and to discover your inimitable gift as a woman with Women's Wisdom from the Heart of Africa.Highlights: Use ritual to discover power places in nature and in your body Form a council of women to initiate growth and change in your community How to relate to your life cycles and honor them as times of grace, beauty, and immense energy Leadership as seen through the eyes of Dagara women--a different way of using your power How to create a shrine in your home to call in the divine Your unfiltered intuition--a guide you can always trust Call in the spirits of the elements to create balance and harmony Reclaim your ancestral lineage to learn who you are and what are your greatest strengths Visible and invisible power--tapping into your own sacred energy How to use grief and mourning to restore, renew, and regenerate your spirit Draw upon your dreams to guide, support, and encourage yourself and others Ritual--the key to connecting with spirit and with the people you care about Seven hours of rituals, reflection, and stories to immerse yourself in the traditions of the Dagara tribe and expand any spiritual practice

Egypt on the Potomac


Anthony T. Browder - 2004
    is a city of secrets. There are secrets in the White House, the Capitol, and the Supreme Court. There are secret files in the Pentagon, the FBI, CIA, NSA, and a veritable alphabet soup of federal agencies. Yet the greatest secrets in the nation's capital are not locked in a vault or under 24-hour guard. Washington's greatest secrets are hidden in plain sight. They are the secrets of Ancient Egypt and of its influence on the development of the United States and its capital city. America's founding fathers were profoundly influenced by the ancient Egyptians. Egypt is on the Potomac, but you will never know it it you do not know what to look for. The hidden history of Washingtonc D.C. and its relationship to ancient Egypt are revealed in the pages of this book.

Birds Of East Africa: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi (Helm Field Guides)


Terry Stevenson - 2004
    Covering all the resident, migrant and vagrant birds of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, this book describes some 1388 species in total.

Zulu: The Heroism and Tragedy of the Zulu War of 1879


Saul David - 2004
    But it did not go to plan and there were many political repercussions. Using new material from archives in Britain and South Africa, Saul David blows the lid on this most sordid of imperial wars and comes to a number of startling new conclusions.'Saul David's brilliant and magisterial account must now be regarded as the definitive history of the Zulu War' Frank McLynn, Literary Review'This meticulously detailed book...give[s] a fully rounded and judicious account of this dismal conflict Guardian'Fascinating, thrilling, convincing... reads like a novel' EconomistSaul David is Professor of War Studies at the University of Buckingham and the author of several critically acclaimed history books, including The Indian Mutiny: 1857 (shortlisted for the Westminster Medal for Military Literature), Zulu: The Heroism and Tragedy of the Zulu War of 1879 (a Waterstone's Military History Book of the Year) and, most recently, Victoria's Wars: The Rise of Empire.

African Princess: The Amazing Lives of Africa's Royal Women


Joyce Hansen - 2004
    to the present. Some lived in great luxury; others lived in exile as freedom fighters. The rise of the slave trade and the arrival of European colonists unsettled the entire continent and forced rulers to find ways to govern and protect their kingdoms. Consequently, many of these royal women ruled in extremely difficult times, marked by palace intrigue, foreign invasion, and harrowing adventure.

The Madonna of Excelsior


Zakes Mda - 2004
    Taking this case as raw material for his alchemic imagination, Zakes Mda tells the story of one irrepressible fallen madonna, Niki, and her family, at the heart of the scandal.

Zara's Tales: Perilous Escapades in Equatorial Africa


Peter H. Beard - 2004
    . . about Nairobi in the 1950s, still a quaint, eccentric pioneer town, full of characters of all stripes and tribes, where rhinoceros roamed the streets and local residents went to the movies in pajamas. He writes of the camp he built twelve miles outside of Nairobi so that he would never be off safari, a forty-acre patch of bush called Hog Ranch (abutting Karen Blixen’s plantation), named for the families of warthogs who wandered into camp, a camp populated with waterbuck, suni, dik-diks, leopard, giraffe, and occasionally lion and buffalo.In “Big Pig at Hog Ranch,” Beard tells the story of Thaka (translation from the Kikuyu: “handsome stud”), Hog Ranch’s number-one, fearsome, 300-pound warthog, who came into camp and dropped to the ground happy for a vigorous tummy rub, and who one night, “lying in his favorite position, munching on corn and barbeque chicken,” was encroached upon by a bristly haired, wild-looking boar hog. All three hundred pounds of Thaka exploded straight at the hairy intruder, the two brutish, bony heads crashing together thundering through the camp and Peter witnessed the unleashed power—the bullish strength—of the wild pig . . .In “Roping Rhino,” Beard tells of his first job in Africa, rounding up and relocating rhinos for the Kenya Game Department with his cohort and neighbor, a weather-beaten native of Old Kenya who thrived on danger and refused to bathe—and of the enormous silver-backed rhino bull that became their Moby Dick . . .He writes of his quest to photograph overpopulated and habitat-destroying elephants for Life magazine on the eve of Kenya’s independence . . . of his close encounter with the legendary man-eating lions of “Starvo” (descendants of the famed beasts rumored to be immune to bullets, who in the late nineteenth century halted the construction of the Mombasa railroad, devouring railroad workers and snatching sleeping passengers from their Pullman berths in the dead of night to make a meal of them), who charged the author, “coming in slow motion, like a bullet train erupting out of a tunnel, soundless, like an ancient force.” He tells of his round-the-clock adventure tracking and studying crocodiles with a game warden–biologist at Lake Rudolf, a tale that begins with one crewmember being grabbed from behind by a ten-foot crocodile and another doing battle with an almost prehistoric monster fish—a 200-pound Great Nile perch! . . . and he writes of the final wildlife encounter that ended his safari days, an incident that proved Karen Blixen’s motto: “Be bold, be bold . . . be not too bold.”Zara’s Tales confirms to our constant surprise and delight that “nothing out of the ordinary happens. It’s just Africa, after all.”

Of Warriors, Lovers and Prophets: Unusual Stories from South Africa's Past


Max Du Preez - 2004
    Drawing from seven years of historical research, Max du Preez has collected the richest and most extraordinary tales that he found.There's the story of the Khoikhoi chief who was kidnapped and taken to England in 1610. And of King Moshoeshoe's mercy towards the cannibals who had eaten his beloved grandfather, because killing them would defile his grandfather's grave. There's the story of Boer War general Christiaan de Wet and his brother Piet, who joined the British forces and fought his own people. The stories span the centuries, up to recent times, and take in the variety of South Africa's regions and cultures.The result is a fascinating mosaic of our rich historical heritage. There are plenty of academic histories of South Africa, but this is a book that the general reader will enjoy, and it will appeal to tourists too. It's researched with an investigative journalist's thoroughness, and written in the easy, accessible style that has made Max du Preez's writing so popular.

The Kingdon Pocket Guide to African Mammals


Jonathan Kingdon - 2004
    Compact and beautifully illustrated, it is ideal for use in the field, while its coverage is the most comprehensive for any book of its size. First pocket guide to cover every species of terrestrial African mammal Adapted from the highly acclaimed Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals Fully illustrated with the author's superb color artwork Easy-to-read distribution maps Concise text and clear layout for quick, easy reference Practical format makes it ideal for use in the field

Roots by Alex Haley


Juliane Weuffen - 2004
    The analysis of dialogues and characteristics of persons in the book willprove it. For the task was to prove the fictionality of the book in comparison tothe representation of the characters in the film, these two means of style offictionality were chosen: dialogue and representation of characters. The authordid actually not compare with the film because it was not clearly visible if thedirectors of the film were black or white, and so the analysis could have led in awrong way. About the importance of the race will be said more in the analysis.One important point for proving the fictionality comes from Alex HALEY himself inchapter 120: "In the years of the writing, I have also spoken before manyaudiences of how Roots came to be, naturally now and then someone asks,'How much of Roots is fact and how much is fiction?' To the best of myknowledge and of my effort, every lineage statement within Roots is from eithermy African or my American families carefully preserved oral history, much ofwhich I have been conventionally to corroborate with documents.(...) Since Iwasn't yet around when most of the story occurred, by far most of the dialogueand most of the incidents are of necessity a novelized amalgam of what I knowtook place together with what my researching led me to plausibly feel tookplace."1Further on, the work will tell about Alex HALEY himself (chapter 1). For this partthe Microsoft Encarta of the year 1996 was used.Further, the "Einführung in die Anglistik" from Sammlung Metzler2, the"Arbeitsbuch Literaturwissenschaft" from UTB3 and the "Einführung in dieLiteraturinterpretation" 4 build the scientific basis for this work.1 HALEY, A.: Roots. Dell Publishing, New York 1974. p.726-727.2 KORTE, B./ K. P. MÜLLER/ J. SCHMIED: Einführung in die Anglistik. Verlag J. B. Metzler,Stuttgart/Weimar 1997.3 EICHER, T./ V. WIEMANN (Hrsg.): Arbeitsbuch: Literaturwissenschaft. UTB Paderborn/ München/Wien/ Zürich 1997.4 SCHUTTE, Jürgen: Einführung in die Literaturinterpretation. Verlag J. B. Metzler, Stuttgart/Weimar, 3.Auflage 1993.

A Mouth Sweeter Than Salt: An African Memoir


Toyin Falola - 2004
    It is a matter of some interest, that the only other volume A Mouth Sweeter Than Salt reminds one of is Ake, by Wole Soyinka. What is it about these Yorubas?"-Ama Ata Aidoo"A splendid coming-of-age story so full of vivid color and emotion, the words seem to dance off the page. But this is not only Falola's memoir; it is an account of a new nation coming into being and the tensions and negotiations that invariably occur between city and country, tradition and modernity, men and women, rich and poor. A truly beautiful book."-Robin D. G. Kelley "More than a personal memoir, this book is a rich minihistory of contemporary Nigeria recorded in delicious detail by a perceptive eyewitness who grew up at the crossroads of many cultures."-Bernth Lindfors"The reader is irresistibly drawn into Falola's world. The prose is lucid. There is humor. This work is sweet. Period."-Ngugi wa Thiongo'oA Mouth Sweeter Than Salt gathers the stories and reflections of the early years of Toyin Falola, the grand historian of Africa and one of the greatest sons of Ibadan, the notable Yoruba city-state in Nigeria.Redefining the autobiographical genre altogether, Falola miraculously weaves together personal, historical, and communal stories, along with political and cultural developments in the period immediately preceding and following Nigeria's independence, to give us a unique and enduring picture of the Yoruba in the mid-twentieth century. This is truly a literary memoir, told in language rich with proverbs, poetry, song, and humor.Falola's memoir is far more than the story of one man's childhood experiences; rather, he presents us with the riches of an entire culture and community-its history, traditions, pleasures, mysteries, household arrangements, forms of power, struggles, and transformations.

Call of the Desert: The Sahara


Philippe BourseillerMalika Hachid - 2004
    Here in 200 compelling images ranging from the white sands of Arguin to the colourful baks of the Niger river, the rock paintings of Tassili to the lakes of Ennedi, Bourseiller communicates his powerful experience of the desert.

Sea-Wolves of the Mediterranean


E. Hamilton Currey - 2004
    Sea-Wolves of the Mediterranean covers the history of the Barbary Pirates.Heraklion Press has included a linked table of contents for easy navigation.

The Adventures of an Elephant Hunter (1912)


James Sutherland - 2004
    His book "The Adventures of an Elephant Hunter" is a classic elephant-hunting tale regarded as one of the best elephant hunting titles ever written. He is widely considered to be among the most successful professional elephant ivory hunters of the early 20th century. Sutherland came to Africa from England with a questionable background and while looking for a livelihood fell into ivory hunting as a way to make a fortune. It is said he killed over a thousand elephants in his long spanning life as an elephant hunter. While hunting with natives he formed close relationships and affection for these bush people. The book reveals much about the Sutherlan as a person as well as the sport. This great hunting classic has been in demand for over a hundred years!ContentsCHAPTER I THE hunter's life CHAPTER II THE FIGHT WITH THE FOUR CHAPTER III TOUCH AND GO CHAPTER IV KOM-KOM CHAPTER V SWASURI AND THE LEOPARD CHAPTER VI MAKANYANGA THE PHILOSOPHER CHAPTER VII MAN-EATING LIONS CHAPTER VIII VICIOUS ELEPHANTS AND A CANTANKEROUS BUFFALO CHAPTER IX THE STRUGGLE OF THE TITANS CHAPTER X UPS AND DOWNS IN THE MBWEHU BUSH CHAPTER XI THE WHITE TRAIL CHAPTER XII THE RAID CHAPTER XIII STIRRING TIMES AT LECUNDI CHAPTER XIV SNAKES CHAPTER XV WHERE A MAN CAN RAISE A THIRST CHAPTER XVI BIG GAME AND BIG GAME HUNTING CHAPTER XVII MALINGANIRO AND HIS IVORY CHAPTER XVIII TERRIER V. ELEPHANT CHAPTER XIX THE TROPICS AND THE CALL CHAPTER XX SOME NOTES ON THE LIFE OF THE AFRICAN NATIVE CHAPTER XXI THE WILD MAN OF THE GOLAMBEPO MOUNTAINS CHAPTER XXII HIPPO AND LION CHAPTER XXIII SUPERSTITION AND A SEQUEI CHAPTER XXIV NERVES AT NTUNKWAE CHAPTER XXV MAD BUFFALO AND FAITHLESS WIFE CHAPTER XXVI MY TWO WILD DOGS CHAPTER XXVII THE GENTLE ART OF POISONING CHAPTER XXVIII TWO LEOPARD STORIES CHAPTER XXIX MAHOMETAN FAITH AND ELEPHANT MEAT CHAPTER XXX A FEW THRILLS AT BANGALLA RIVER CHAPTER XXXI SOME PECULIAR FOODS CHAPTER XXXII THE LORD OF THE RIVER CHAPTER XXXIII THREE SLAVE GIRLS CHAPTER XXXIV A FEW days' hunting CHAPTER XXXV LOVE AND FAREWELL CHAPTER XXXVI THE HUNTER'S END This book published in 1912 has been reformatted for the Kindle and may contain an occasional defect from the original publication or from the reformatting.

I Speak to the Silent


Mtutuzeli Nyoka - 2004
    He is the typical "good native" of his generation, poorly educated, submissive and subservient, brought up to know his inferior place and believe that "it was God's design for the white man to rule over me". But this unquestioning obedience is called into rebellion when his beloved daughter, Sindiswa, a committed young struggle activist, goes missing in exile. Kondile's search leads him to Lesotho and grim discoveries of betrayal that shatter forever his own "complicity of silence" committing him to an irrevocable path of no return. I Speak to the Silent is an exciting first novel by a powerful storyteller, who tells his history as he sees it.

The Prince Child


Maranke Rinck - 2004
    How are they to know what the prince wants most of all?

Oliver Tambo: Beyond The Engeli Mountains


Luli Callinicos - 2004
    Following the Sharpeville massacre in 1960, Tambo left South Africa to set up the ANC's international mission.

Zulu War


Ian Knight - 2004
    Pitting the firepower of the professional British army against the skill and determination of King Cetshwayo's Zulu warriors, it was a mighty clash of military cultures that ended with the collapse of Zululand - the last great black kingdom bordering Britain's African colonies. This book traces the course of the Zulu War, covering the major battles of Rorke's Drift, Isandlwana and Khambula, and showing that the British victory was by no means easily won. The opposing forces - the British, under Gen Sir Arthur Cunnynghame and the Zulus, under their King Cetshwayo - are profiled, and their dress, equipment, organisation and military methodologies are examined in detail. This book includes material previously published as Campaign 14: 'Zulu War 1879', Elite 32: 'British Forces in Zululand 1879' and Elite 21: 'The Zulus'.

African Philosophy During the Period of the Pharaohs 2780-330 Bce


Theophile Obenga - 2004
    African philosophical systems are traced to a common origin, and groups such as the Dogon of Mali, the Vai of Sierra Leone, and the Yoruba of Nigeria are shown to share modern philosophical and scientific systems with those of ancient Egypt. This substantial offering to the development of the history of Egyptology explores connections between ancient Egypt and modern Africa and provides translations of numerous languages including ancient Egyptian and Semitic.

Makeba: The Miriam Makeba Story


Miriam Makeba - 2004
    It chronicles Makeba's entire life, from her early days growing up on the Rand and performing with the Manhattan Brothers, to her departure from South Africa. It also details Miriam's life in America and friendship with Harry Belafonte, her performance for President John F. Kennedy alongside Marilyn Monroe, her marriage to Stokely Carmichael, and her life in Conakry, Guinea.

Tro-Tros And Potholes, West Africa: Solo


Laura Enridge Zera - 2004
    Enridge brings to life her West African experience in a way that makes the reader feel like they've just been on a round-the-world journey without ever having left an armchair.

Malick Sidibé: Photographs


Andri Magnin - 2004
    His portraits and documentary photography captured the unique atmosphere and vitality of an African capital in a period of great euphoria. From the earliest days of the postcolonial period, Sidibé was a privileged witness to a period of tremendous, euphoric cultural change. As a young but well thought-of photographer, he captured a time of paradigm shift and youthful insouciance with a healthy curiosity about the rest of the world, and a valiant sense of pride and confidence in the future. Sidibé learned the basic skills of studio photography as an apprentice before he began making reportage photographs. Since then, he has been devoted to photography. His portraits and documentary photographs, from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s, now bear witness to the cultural and social development of post-colonial Mali. We see joy, hope, beauty and power in these psychologically captivating images. Sidibé's work, originally intended for an African audience, is a unique memoir and testimony for a world audience.

The Last of the Sweet Bananas: New and Selected Poems


Jack Mapanje - 2004
    The themes of his poetry range from the search for a sense of dignity and integrity under a repressive regime, incarceration, release from prison, exile and return to Africa, and reconciliation with torturers, to the writer in Africa and the continuing African liberation struggle in a hostile world. While often deadly serious, Mapanje's poems are lifted by the generosity of spirit and irrepressible humour which helped sustain him through his prison ordeal.

Where We Have Hope: A Memoir of Zimbabwe


Andrew Meldrum - 2004
    In 1980, Andrew Meldrum arrived in a Zimbabwe flush with new independence, and he fell in love with the country and its optimism. But over the twenty years he lived there, Meldrum watched as President Robert Mugabe consolidated power and the government evolved into despotism. In May 2003, Meldrum, the last foreign journalist still working in the dangerous and chaotic nation, was illegally forced to leave his adopted home. His unflinching work describes the terror and intimidation Mugabe’s government exercised on both the press and citizens, and the resiliency of Zimbabweans determined to overturn Mugabe and demand the free society they were promised.

The Beat Of My Drum: An Autobiography


Babatunde Olatunji - 2004
    The autobiography of Olatunji, African musician and Africa's pioneer cultural ambassador to the world, captures a unique personal perspective of the world.

The Lords of Kush


Stanley Mayer Burstein - 2004
    

The Bible or the Axe: One Man's Dramatic Escape From Persecution in the Sudan


William O. Levi - 2004
    Persecution. Torture. The riveting story of one man's escape from the Sudan. By the muddy banks of the Kulo-jobi River, a young Sudanese boy is faced with a decision that will shape the rest of his life. William Levi was born in southern Sudan as part of a Messianic Hebrew tribal group and spent the majority of his growing up years as a refugee running from Islamic persecution. He was eventually taken captive for refusing to convert to Islam and suffered greatly at the hands of his captors.After escaping Islamic forces, William eventually came to the United States where he attended college. Since that time, he has been sharing his story nationwide and petitioning members of congress to take action to end the violence in Sudan. His story of deliverance will touch the hearts of believers and raise their awareness to the plight of our Sudanese brothers and sisters in Christ.

The Rain Goddess


Peter Stiff - 2004
    

Journey of Hope: The Back-to-Africa Movement in Arkansas in the Late 1800s


Kenneth C. Barnes - 2004
    While interest in African migration waned after the Civil War, it roared back in the late nineteenth century with the rise of Jim Crow segregation and disfranchisement throughout the South. The back-to-Africa movement held great new appeal to the South's most marginalized citizens, rural African Americans. Nowhere was this interest in Liberia emigration greater than in Arkansas. More emigrants to Liberia left from Arkansas than any other state in the 1880s and 1890s.In Journey of Hope, Kenneth C. Barnes explains why so many black Arkansas sharecroppers dreamed of Africa and how their dreams of Liberia differed from the reality. This rich narrative also examines the role of poor black farmers in the creation of a black nationalist identity and the importance of the symbolism of an ancestral continent.Based on letters to the ACS and interviews of descendants of the emigrants in war-torn Liberia, this study captures the life of black sharecroppers in the late 1800s and their dreams of escaping to Africa.

Hear and There Book: Safari Sounds


Susan Ring - 2004
    Authentic sounds, bold illustrations, and fascinating facts will take readers on an African safari.Book Details: Format: Lift-the-Flap Publication Date: 9/1/2004 Pages: 16 Reading Level: Age 3 and Up

So That's What God Is Like!


LeAnne Hardy - 2004
    When an African boy asks what God is like, the villagers use concrete biblical images, like a wise man, the wind, a rock, and a nursing mother, to help him grasp what God is really like.

African Mexicans and the Discourse on Modern Nation


Marco Polo Hernández Cuevas - 2004
    The book cites the concept of a Caucasian standard of beauty prevalent in narrative, film, and popular culture in the period between 1920 and 1968, which the author dubs as the "cultural phase of the Mexican Revolution." The author also delves into how criollo elite disenfranchised non-white Mexicans as a whole by institutionalizing a Eurocentric myth whereby Mexicans learned to negate part of their ethnic makeup. During this time period, wherever African Mexicans, visibly black or not, are mentioned, they appear as "mestizo," many of them oblivious of their African heritage, and others part of a willing movement toward becoming "white." This analysis adopts as a critical foundation Richard Jackson's ideas about black phobia and the white aesthetic, as well as James Snead's coding of blacks.

Rethinking the Rise and Fall of Apartheid: South Africa and World Politics


Adrian Guelke - 2004
    Paying particular attention to the international dimension as well as the domestic, the author assesses the impact of anti-apartheid protest, of changing attitudes of Western governments to the apartheid regime and the evolution of South African government policies to the outside world.

Field Guide to the Birds of Western Africa


Nik Borrow - 2004
    It also has a colour distribution map for each species. This is the first comprehensive field guide to cover the birds of this exciting region, and will enable birders to identify any species found in any of the countries covered.

Conspiracy to Murder: The Rwanda Genocide and the International Community


Linda Melvern - 2004
    It reveals how, from as early as 1990, the political, military and administrative leadership of Rwanda became involved in planning the complete extermination of the Tutsi population. A vicious hate campaign filled the media, urging Hutus to kill; a network of roadblocks was devised to prevent any escape; civil-defence groups were established throughout the country, with eventually every third Hutu being armed; half a million machetes and other agricultural tools were imported, and 85 tons of munitions were distributed country-wide, in the year leading up to the genocide.In an outstanding example of investigative journalism, Linda Melvern reveals the full story behind the conspiracy, detailing the involvement of world governments whose responses ranged from complicity to apathy. She shows how the killers outmanoeuvred the Security Council and led UN peacekeepers into a steady trap; how the French military trained the killers and how their 'humanitarian intervention' in June 1994 enabled many of those killers to escape justice; how the John Major government ignored warnings and then proceeded to mislead the British Parliament about what was really happening; how the US is still withholding wiretap and satellite evidence showing that the genocide had begun; and how significant was the knowledge of then Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

Vanishing Africa


Gianni Giansanti - 2004
    But with delicacy and respect. By examining a small region in the heart of the continent, the books attempts to trace the roots of remotest Africa; the cradle of man, where ancestral bonds with nature still exist. It is a place where the link with the dark side of existence is not hidden, as happens in the West, but exhibited. By means of his camera and his pen, in this book the author has encapsulated long years of study of the most interesting peoples and ethnic groups in Africa. Centered around a series of extraordinary photographs, the book is a sort of reportage from the edge of the world, in search of vanishing Africa.

Islamism and Its Enemies in the Horn of Africa


Alex de Waal - 2004
    A hard-hitting and sober analysis of Islamic groups and their role in international politics.

Apartheid in South Africa


David Downing - 2004
    This book examines the historical forces that led to the development of the system of apartheid, what life was like under the system for both blacks and whites, and the efforts that caused the end of this system.

Custom and Politics in Urban Africa: A Study of Hausa Migrants in Yoruba Towns


Abner Cohen - 2004
    This organisation is then used as a weapon in the struggle for power and privilege within contemporary society.

Give Me A Dog's Life Anyday: African Absurdities Ii


Hama Tuma - 2004
    You want to get even at the pompous politicians of all sorts who have made the lives of ordinary people miserable? This books places dictators on the receiving end - for once...

Rwanda Genocide


Christina Fisanick - 2004
    This anthology brings together a variety of viewpoints that debate the causes of this genocide, the world's reaction to these events, and the rebuilding of this scarred nation.

Lost Africa: The Eyes Of Origin


Cyril Christo - 2004
    With penetrating black and white images and a lyrically evocative essay, Lost Africa is a tribute to the beauty of this huge continent and a song for a timeless Africa.

Africa And World Peace


George Padmore - 2004
    A study of how Africa, as an object of imperialism for the large capitalist nations, came to be drawn into power politics.

Discovering Ancient Egypt (A Magic Skeleton Book)


James Harrison - 2004
    The tour takes in everything, from the Pyramids to fascinating artifacts from 5,000 years ago, from the River Nile to the famous temple at Abu Simbel. A pull of the tab reveals a pyramid’s interior; the details of a dhow, or ancient sailboat; and more.

Fiscal Disobedience: An Anthropology of Economic Regulation in Central Africa


Janet Roitman - 2004
    Focusing on economic practices in the Chad Basin of Africa, Janet Roitman combines thorough ethnographic fieldwork with sophisticated analysis of key ideas of political economy to examine the contentious nature of fiscal relationships between the state and its citizens. She argues that citizenship is being redefined through a renegotiation of the rights and obligations inherent in such economic relationships.The book centers on a civil disobedience movement that arose in Cameroon beginning in 1990 ostensibly to counter state fiscal authority--a movement dubbed Op�ration Villes Mortes by the opposition and incivisme fiscal by the government (which for its part was eager to suggest that participants were less than legitimate citizens, failing in their civic duties). Contrary to standard approaches, Roitman examines this conflict as a "productive moment" that, rather than involving the outright rejection of regulatory authority, questioned the intelligibility of its exercise. Although both militarized commercial networks (associated with such activities trading in contraband goods including drugs, ivory, and guns) and highly organized gang-based banditry do challenge state authority, they do not necessarily undermine state power.Contrary to depictions of the African state as "weak" or "failed," this book demonstrates how the state in Africa manages to reconstitute its authority through networks that have emerged in the interstices of the state system. It also shows how those networks partake of the same epistemological grounding as does the state. Indeed, both state and nonstate practices of governing refer to a common "ethic of illegality," which explains how illegal activities are understood as licit or reasonable conduct.

Johannesburg: The Elusive Metropolis


Sarah Nuttall - 2004
    By placing the city of Johannesburg—the preeminent metropolis of the African continent and a city facing a complicated legacy of racial strife and wealth accumulation—at the heart of new critical urban theory, Johannesburg: The Elusive Metropolis broadens discussions of modernity, cosmopolitanism, and urban renewal to include Africa. The issue brings Johannesburg into direct dialogue with other world cities, creating a space for the interrogation and investigation of the metropolis in a properly global sense.Contributors to this issue—a mix of scholars, urban planners, and artists, many of whom hail from South Africa—reveal Johannesburg to be a polycentric and international city that has developed its own cosmopolitan culture. In a detailed study of three streets in the modern precinct of Melrose Arch, one essay shows how the thoroughly commodified and marketed Johannesburg cityscape has shaped the cultural sensitivities, aesthetics, and urban subjectivities of its inhabitants, at times even overriding the historical memory of apartheid. Another essay, focusing on the emergence of a new urban culture, examines how the city itself becomes a crucial site for the remixing and reassembling of racial identities. By tracking the movement of people with AIDS to various locations in the city to seek relief and treatment, another essay reveals an urban geography very different from what is seen from the highways. Finally, through interviews and commentaries, journalists, artists, and architects of Johannesburg offer reflections on the geography and shifting culture of the city and its townships, on the complicated relationship between Johannesburg and other African cities, and on the search for an architectural style that adequately expresses the complexity of this cosmopolitan city.Contributors. Lindsay Bremner, Nsizwa Dlamini, Mark Gevisser, Grace Khunou, Frédéric Le Marcis, John Matshikiza, Achille Mbembe, Sarah Nuttall, Rodney Place, AbdouMaliq Simone, Michael Watts

Jesus and the Gospel in Africa: History and Experience


Kwame Bediako - 2004
    Book annotation not available for this title.

Dian Fossey: Among the Gorillas


Wil Mara - 2004
    She was a zoologist who strove to improve our understanding of gorillas by studying them in their natural habitat. She was also an activist working to stop gorilla poachers. She was murdered in 1985 at the Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda, which she had established in 1967.

Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa


Daniel N. Posner - 2004
    Drawing on a simple model of identity choice, Posner demonstrates that the answer depends on whether the country is operating under single-party or multi-party rule, thus revealing how formal institutional rules determine the social cleavages that matter.

Call Me by My Rightful Name


Isidore Okpewho - 2004
    His troubled family seeks help. The text, recorded by a psychiatrist and deciphered by linguists, is found to be a corrupted family chant from the Yoruba of Nigeria. The doctor advises a trip to that ethnic region. The spiritual voices that have been summoning Otis finally bring him, after some alarming experiences in the journey from America through the Nigerian hinterland, to the very spot where his ancestor was enslaved over a century before. The recorded chant helps to locate the man's surviving kin nearby. Otis is persuaded to remain in the village for nearly two years, during which, despite the resurgence of old antagonisms towards his family, he learns the language and culture of the place and joins in completing the rites his ancestor was performing when he was captured by slavers. Armed with a recovered identity and a chastened wisdom in African culture, Otis finally returns to the U.S. to play his part in the civil rights struggle of the time (the 1960s).

African Crafts: Fun Things to Make and Do from West Africa


Lynne Garner - 2004
     It includes a brief history of Ghana and West Africa and the traditions and history behind each craft, how they are made and used today, and their importance in West African society. A resource section listing books, Web sites, and museums for further exploration rounds out this fascinating reference.