Best of
Africa

2014

Half of a Yellow Sun / Americanah / Purple Hibiscus


Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - 2014
    The lives of Ugwu, a young boy from a poor village, Olanna, a middle class woman, and Richard, a white man and a writer intersect in intimate and unexpected ways during the vicious Nigerian civil war. This is a story about Africa, about moral responsibility, the end of colonialism, ethnic allegiances, class and race – and about how love can move in to complicate all these things.Fearless, gripping, spanning three continents and numerous lives, ‘Americanah’ is a richly told story of love and expectation set in today’s globalized world. Ifemelu and Obinze fell in love as teenagers in Lagos. Thriteen years later, Obinze is a wealthy man in a newly democratic Nigeria; Ifemelu has achieved success as a writer in America. When Ifemelu returns to Nigeria, and the pair reignite their shared passions – for their homeland and for each other – they face the toughest decisions of their lives.‘Purple Hibiscus’ is a compelling tale of adolescence, set against the backdrop of Nigeria’s military coup. Fifteen-year-old Kambili’s life is regulated by the high walls of her family estate and the dictates of her repressive father. However when Nigeria begins to fall apart, Kambili and her brother are sent to live in their aunt’s laughter-filled house, where they discover life, love, and a terrible, bruising secret deep within her family.

Wealth for all Africans: How Every African Can Live the Life of Their Dreams


Idowu Koyenikan - 2014
    To build and manage your wealth, you must look at your situation holistically: build your character, standards, dreams, goals, and personal aspirations from the inside out. By developing both self-sufficiency and a connection with your community, it is possible to create wealth for yourself no matter who you are, what you do, or where you come from.

A Man of Good Hope


Jonny Steinberg - 2014
    Among them was eight-year-old Asad Abdullahi. His mother murdered by a militia, his father somewhere in hiding, he was swept alone into the great wartime migration that scattered the Somali people throughout sub-Saharan Africa and the world.This extraordinary book tells Asad’s story. Serially betrayed by the people who promised to care for him, Asad lived his childhood at a skeptical remove from the adult world, his relation to others wary and tactical. He lived in a bewildering number of places, from the cosmopolitan streets of inner-city Nairobi to the desert towns deep in the Ethiopian hinterland.By the time he reached the cusp of adulthood, Asad had honed an array of wily talents. At the age of seventeen, in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, he made good as a street hustler, brokering relationships between hard-nosed businessmen and bewildered Somali refugees. He also courted the famously beautiful Foosiya, and, to the astonishment of his peers, seduced and married her.Buoyed by success in work and in love, Asad put twelve hundred dollars in his pocket and made his way down the length of the African continent to Johannesburg, South Africa, whose streets he believed to be lined with gold. And so began a shocking adventure in a country richer and more violent than he could possibly have imagined.A Man of Good Hope is the story of a person shorn of the things we have come to believe make us human—personal possessions, parents, siblings. And yet Asad’s is an intensely human life, one suffused with dreams and desires and a need to leave something permanent on this earth.

Kintu


Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi - 2014
    In this ambitious tale of a clan and of a nation, Makumbi weaves together the stories of Kintu’s descendants as they seek to break from the burden of their shared past and reconcile the inheritance of tradition and the modern world that is their future.

Cathedral of the Wild: An African Journey Home


Boyd Varty - 2014
    He went to Londolozi Game Reserve. Founded over eighty years ago by Boyd Varty's great-grandfather, Londolozi started as a hunting safari. But in 1973, Boyd's visionary father, Dave, transformed it into a nature reserve, creating a blueprint for modern-day conservation. This transformation is the backdrop of Boyd's family history and his own personal odyssey.Alongside his feisty, daring sister, Bronwyn, Boyd grows up learning to track lions, raise leopard cubs, and pilot Land Rovers. The two of them tag along with their larger-than-life uncle, John, who repeatedly flung them in danger's way to capture the best footage for his legendary wildlife videos. Boyd survives harrowing rhino charges and a vicious crocodile attack, but his most difficult challenge was a private crisis of purpose. After a period of intense spiritual questing, Boyd reconnects with nature and is able to "rediscover the track."With conviction, hope and humor, Boyd sweeps readers along his journey of discovery and rediscovery, making a passionate claim for the power of the wild to heal and restore the human spirit.

The Fortunes of Africa: A 5,000-Year History of Wealth, Greed, and Endeavor


Martin Meredith - 2014
    Africa has been coveted for its rich natural resources ever since the era of the Pharaohs. In past centuries, it was the lure of gold, ivory, and slaves that drew merchant-adventurers and conquerors from afar. In modern times, the focus of attention is on oil, diamonds, and other rare earth minerals. In this vast and vivid panorama of history, Martin Meredith follows the fortunes of Africa over a period of 5,000 years. With compelling narrative, he traces the rise and fall of ancient kingdoms and empires; the spread of Christianity and Islam; the enduring quest for gold and other riches; the exploits of explorers and missionaries; and the impact of European colonization. He examines, too, the fate of modern African states and concludes with a glimpse of their future. His cast of characters includes religious leaders, mining magnates, warlords, dictators, and many other legendary figures-among them Mansa Musa, ruler of the medieval Mali empire, said to be the richest man the world has ever known.

Diamond Boy


Michael Williams - 2014
    Soon Patson is working in the mines himself, hoping to find his girazi--the priceless stone that could change his life forever. But when the government's soldiers comes to Marange, Patson's world is shattered.Set against the backdrop of President Robert Mugabe's brutal regime in Zimbabwe, Diamond Boy is the story of young man who succumbs to greed but finds his way out through a transformative journey to South Africa in search of his missing sister, in search of freedom, and in search of himself.

A Window on Eternity: A Biologist's Walk Through Gorongosa National Park


Edward O. Wilson - 2014
    Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique was nearly destroyed in a brutal civil war, then was reborn and is now evolving back to its original state. Edward O. Wilson’s personal, luminous description of the wonders of Gorongosa is beautifully complemented by Piotr Naskrecki’s extraordinary photographs of the park’s exquisite natural beauty. A bonus DVD of Academy Award–winning director Jessica Yu’s documentary, The Guide, is also included with the book.Wilson takes readers to the summit of Mount Gorongosa, sacred to the local people and the park’s vital watershed. From the forests of the mountain he brings us to the deep gorges on the edge of the Rift Valley, previously unexplored by biologists, to search for new species and assess their ancient origins. He describes amazing animal encounters from huge colonies of agricultural termites to spe­cialized raider ants that feed on them to giant spi­ders, a battle between an eagle and a black mamba, “conversations” with traumatized elephants that survived the slaughter of the park’s large animals, and more. He pleads for Gorongosa—and other wild places—to be allowed to exist and evolve in its time­less way uninterrupted into the future.As he examines the near destruction and rebirth of Gorongosa, Wilson analyzes the balance of nature, which, he observes, teeters on a razor’s edge. Loss of even a single species can have serious ramifications throughout an ecosystem, and yet we are carelessly destroying complex biodiverse ecosystems with unknown consequences. The wildlands in which these ecosystems flourish gave birth to humanity, and it is this natural world, still evolving, that may outlast us and become our leg­acy, our window on eternity.

101 Kruger Tales: Extraordinary Stories from Ordinary Visitors to the Kruger National Park


Jeff Gordon - 2014
    A lioness prises open the door of a terrified couple. A leopard helps itself to a family’s picnic breakfast. A fleeing impala leaps through an open car window. A lion charges around inside a busy rest camp. A hyaena snatches a baby from a tent. A tourist takes a bath in a croc-infested dam… These are just a few of the 101 jaw-dropping sightings, scrapes and encounters in this collection of extraordinary true stories from the roads, camps, picnic sites and walking trails of South Africa’s Kruger National Park, as told by the very people who experienced them. There are no game ranger tales here – each and every story happened to an ordinary Kruger visitor doing what over a million tourists do in this spectacular reserve each year. It is a book to keep by your bedside in Kruger, to dip into at home when you’re missing the bush, to lend to friends who’ve never visited Kruger or to pore over before your next trip. Just don’t expect to ever sleep soundly in a safari tent again…

Shifting Colours


Fiona Sussman - 2014
    EDITION. Set against the tumultuous background of apartheid South Africa, a powerful and moving debut about family, sacrifice, and discovering what it means to belong… Celia Mphephu knows her place in the world. A black servant working in the white suburbs of 1960s Johannesburg, she’s all too aware of her limitations. Nonetheless, she has found herself a comfortable corner: She has a job, can support her faraway family, and is raising her youngest child, Miriam. But as racial tensions explode, Celia’s world shifts. Her employers decide to flee the political turmoil and move to England—and they ask to adopt Miriam and take her with them. Devastated at the prospect of losing her only daughter, yet unable to deny her child a safer and more promising future, Celia agrees, forever defining both their futures. As Celia fights against the shattering violence of her time, Miriam battles the quiet racism of England, struggling to find her place in a land to which she doesn’t belong—until the call of her heritage inexorably draws her back to Africa to discover the truth behind her mother’s choices and uncover a heartbreaking secret from long ago…READERS GUIDE INSIDE

Imani's Moon


JaNay Brown-Wood - 2014
    When she decides she wants to touch the moon, she works hard to reach her goal, even in the face of teasing from the naysayers around her.

Thomas Sankara: An African Revolutionary


Ernest Harsch - 2014
    Although his tenure in office was relatively short, Sankara left an indelible mark on his country’s history and development. An avowed Marxist, he outspokenly asserted his country’s independence from France and other Western powers while at the same time seeking to build a genuine pan-African unity.Ernest Harsch traces Sankara’s life from his student days to his recruitment into the military, early political awakening, and increasing dismay with his country’s extreme poverty and political corruption. As he rose to higher leadership positions, he used those offices to mobilize people for change and to counter the influence of the old, corrupt elites. Sankara and his colleagues initiated economic and social policies that shifted away from dependence on foreign aid and toward a greater use of the country’s own resources to build schools, health clinics, and public works. Although Sankara’s sweeping vision and practical reforms won him admirers both in Burkina Faso and across Africa, a combination of domestic opposition groups and factions within his own government and the army finally led to his assassination in 1987.This is the first English-language book to tell the story of Sankara’s life and struggles, drawing on the author’s extensive firsthand research and reporting on Burkina Faso, including interviews with the late leader. Decades after his death, Sankara remains an inspiration to young people throughout Africa for his integrity, idealism, and dedication to independence and self-determination.

Mandela: My Prisoner, My Friend


Christo Brand - 2014
    Raised in a multi-ethnic farming community, Afrikaner Christo Brand was confused and saddened when he first confronted the realities of South African apartheid.  Conscripted into the military at 18, Brand chose to serve as a prison guard rather than embrace the brutality and danger inherent in the work of soldiers and policemen.  Assigned to the maximum security facility on remote Robben Island, Brand was given charge of the country's most infamous inmate: Nelson Mandela.  For 12 years Brand watched Mandela scrub floors, empty his toilet bucket, grieve over the deaths of family and friends yet remain as strong as any freedom fighter in history.  Won over by Madiba's charm and authentic concern for the well-being of others, Brand became Mandela's confidant and at times accomplice.  Celebrating triumphs and suffering through many setbacks, the two men formed an unlikely bond, one that would endure until Mandela's death. Told with candor and reverence, Mandela: My Prisoner, My Friend is both a meditation on friendship and a moving testament to the dedication, determination and—most of all—humanity exuded by one of the world's great leaders.

When Eagles Roar: The Amazing Journey of an African Wildlife Adventurer


James Alexander Currie - 2014
    James captures the essence of what it means to be African today, facing everything from the Big Five to the vestiges of apartheid to the AIDS epidemic. He provides authoritative information on African wildlife and illustrates hair-raising encounters with lions, buffalo, leopards, elephants, rhinoceros and snakes through exciting and humorous stories. The book follows James’s journey from city boy to conservationist and shows what it takes to become an African game ranger. From his first graphic encounter with the brutality of nature on Table Mountain in South Africa to his disappearance as a boy on safari in Malawi to the rigorous training he underwent to become a game ranger at Phinda Private Game Reserve, this book will delight and educate anyone fascinated with nature, wildlife, travel and adventure. James provides wonderful insights into African conservation and a fascinating glimpse into the importance of cross-cultural relationships in Africa’s wildlife tourism environment. He details his own inner journey overcoming physical challenges and finding the balance between following passions and what’s important in life.

Battle on the Lomba 1987: The Day a South African Armoured Battalion shattered Angola’s Last Mechanized Offensive - A Crew Commander's Account


David Mannall - 2014
    

Vultures in the Wind


Peter Rimmer - 2014
    Their idyllic, brief childhood together is short lived ending in hardship and heartbreak. Finding themselves alone in the world, both boys struggle to self-educate. Against the odds, Matthew Gray builds a global business empire and Luke Mbeki travels to England, in self-imposed exile, entangling himself in the anti-apartheid movement. With their paths crossing intermittently, it is only when Nelson Mandela is released from prison that Luke returns home continuing his fight for freedom alongside his comrades. Matt’s all-consuming business life continues but betrayal strikes. Leaving everything behind, he escapes to another world – an artist colony.This incredibly powerful and moving story tells how each man struggles to survive in a country deep in the throes of violent change, with friendship and families being torn apart. Matt and Luke's friendship is unimaginably tested so how does it survive in such terrifying and perilous times?

Africa and Back: With Dave and Dorothy


Dorothy May Mercer - 2014
    While they saw the unfortunate side effects of brutality and suffering at its worst, they also experienced African culture at its best, through the art, sculpture, dance and music. The African children, whom they had come to serve, captured their hearts with their poise, gifts, and astonishing thirst for learning amid sometimes primitive conditions. On the lighter side, Dave and Dorothy enjoyed the sights and sound of the mighty Victoria Falls, and spent time with the animals of Africa. Dorothy brings her entertaining story telling skills to bear and will intrigue you with tales of their adventures, spiced throughout with the 225 best of the hundreds of photographs they took on the trip of a lifetime.

Lost Girl Found


Leah Bassoff - 2014
    Stay in school. Beat up any boy who tries to show attention. Watch out for the dangers in the river. But then the war comes. When soldiers arrive in her village, and bombs begin to rain from the sky, there is only one thing for Poni to do. Run for her life. Though many of the villagers do not escape, she does. An unknown man carries her across the river, and then she is walking — a long, dusty trek across the African countryside with thousands of refugees. Along the way, many die from starvation, land mines, wild animals, and despair, but Poni does not, driven by the sheer will to survive and the hope that she can make it to the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, and one day be reunited with her family. Even more than the dramatic events of the story, it is Poni’s frank and single-minded personality that carries this novel. In a heartbreaking final twist, she finds her mother just as she is about to leave for the U.S., and must make the hardest decision of all.

The Lost Gospel of Barabbas: The Thirteenth Apostle


Kevin L. Brooks - 2014
    Follow the notorious insurrectionist, Barabbas, coming of age in the days when Romans ruled the ancient land of Cana surrounding the Sea of Galilee. The Lost Gospel of Barabbas invites the reader to join the young Barabbas as he faces his own demons and begins the journey down the road that will lead him to his ultimate destiny. A road of love, anguish and revenge.

Amie: An African Adventure


Lucinda E. Clarke - 2014
    She was happily married and she had her future all planned out. They would have two adorable children, while she made award winning programmes for television. Until the day her husband announced he was being sent to live and work in an African country she had never heard of. When she came to the notice of a Colonel in the Government, it made life very complicated, and from there things started to escalate from bad to worse. If Amie could have seen that one day she would be totally lost, fighting for her life, and enduring untold horrors, she would never have stepped foot on that plane

Zanzibar Uhuru: revolution, two women and the challenge of survival


Anne M. Chappel - 2014
    A brutal uprising takes place apparently led by a shadowy figure, John Okello. In the capital, Stone Town, a British official, Mark Hamilton, struggles to help the Sultan’s government survive while protecting his young family. In the countryside, Ahmed al-Ibrahim, a Zanzibari Arab father, faces annihilation and a terrible decision. Fatima is his twelve-year-old daughter, and her life is changed forever by the violence that now sweeps across the islands. Fatima’s survival through this chaos and the thirty years of rule by despotic Presidents takes all her courage and the kindness of other families. Elizabeth, Mark Hamilton’s young daughter, also remembers the day of the Revolution and their escape across the seas. Her story too is touched by tragedy. Fatima and Elizabeth are connected in a way that takes almost fifty years to be revealed. Elizabeth will return to Zanzibar to fulfil her father’s final request. The life journeys of the two women are different. The common link is the day of the Revolution and the act of a desperate man.

Another Man's War: The Story of a Burma Boy in Britain's Forgotten African Army


Barnaby Phillips - 2014
    For the British, the longest land campaign of the Second World War had begun. 100,000 African soldiers were taken from Britain’s colonies to fight the Japanese in the Burmese jungles. They performed heroically in one of the most brutal theatres of war, yet their contribution has been largely ignored. Isaac Fadoyebo was one of those ‘Burma Boys’. At the age of sixteen he ran away from his Nigerian village to join the British Army. Sent to Burma, he was attacked and left for dead in the jungle by the Japanese. Sheltered by courageous local rice farmers, Isaac spent nine months in hiding before his eventual rescue. He returned to Nigeria a hero, but his story was soon forgotten. Barnaby Phillips travelled to Nigeria and Burma in search of Isaac, the family who saved his life, and the legacy of an Empire. Another Man’s War is Isaac’s story.

Truth Lies Propaganda: in Africa


Lucinda E. Clarke - 2014
    She lifts the lid on what really goes on behind the scenes in the media, often hilarious and not at all glamorous. She spent more time on rubbish dumps than in banqueting halls, although she got to meet many famous people.

Bloody Rwanda: The Genocide


Thomas Hodge - 2014
    This book looks at what the world turned its eyes away from.

In Harm's Way: A View from the Epicenter of Liberia's Ebola Crisis


Nancy D. Sheppard - 2014
    Night after night she worked, suiting up and disinfecting the medical personnel and helping wherever needed. While it was difficult, she recognized she was witnessing something extraordinary. Author Nancy Sheppard writes, "What am I seeing here? I asked myself. It was invisible to all but me. This dying woman was perhaps the most untouchable person in the world and yet Dr. Brantly was touching her. And he was not just touching her physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well. Who was I that I should be granted the privilege of witnessing this? It was somehow both utterly tragic and supremely glorious."When, despite following protocols to the best of their abilities, Nancy Writebol and Dr. Kent Brantly were diagnosed with Ebola, she knew how they would suffer as they fought this deadly disease.But, "In Harm’s Way" is more than a book about ELWA Hospital’s Ebola ward, it is the story of Liberia itself. Told in the sympathetic voice of one who cares for the country and her people, Nancy explains the multiple societal and cultural factors that have exacerbated the Ebola crisis in her adopted home. Warm and human, this book takes you into Liberia’s epicenter of the war against Ebola. You will not emerge the same.

The Dark Side of the Rainbow


Caren Powell - 2014
    Kazi lives on Fairvalley Farm where his father works as a labourer for the white owners, and becomes friends with their son in spite of racist attitudes. The Dark Side of the Rainbow traces the lives of the people on the farm as they are drawn into a vortex of crime and violence. This saga explores apartheid, the fight for freedom and change, the rise of Nelson Mandela from prison to lead the nation as its first black president, and offers a perspective on what it meant to be black or white during a fight for freedom that demanded a tragic price. The story, filled with unforgettable characters, is a spellbinding tale of love and faith, racial hatred and conflict, commitment, endurance, and revenge.

Love, Money, and HIV: Becoming a Modern African Woman in the Age of AIDS


Sanyu Mojola - 2014
    Mojola examines how young African women, who suffer disproportionate rates of HIV infection compared to young African men, navigate their relationships, schooling, employment, and finances in the context of economic inequality and a devastating HIV epidemic. Writing from a unique outsider-insider perspective, Mojola argues that the entanglement of love, money, and the transformation of girls into consuming women lies at the heart of women's coming-of-age and health crises. At once engaging and compassionate, this text is an incisive analysis of gender, sexuality, and health in Africa.

Third World Child: Born White, Zulu Bred


G.G. Alcock - 2014
    In a place called Msinga, a dry rock-strewn wilderness and one of the most violent places in Africa, they lived and worked among the Mchunu and Mthembu tribes, fighting for the rights of people displaced by the apartheid government's policy of "forced removals". They also fought against the corruption of police and government officials, as well as local farmers, which did not sit well with their white fellow citizens. When GG was fourteen his father was assassinated by rival tribesmen. GG's early life in rural Zululand in the 1970s and 80s can only be described as unique. He and his brother Khonya, both initially home-schooled by their mother, grew up as Zulu kids, herding goats and playing with the children of their neighbours, learning to speak fluent Zulu, learning to become Zulu men under the guidance of Zulu elders, and learning the customs and history of their adopted tribes. Armed with their father's only legacy - the skills to survive in Africa - both young men were ultimately forced to move into the "white" world which was largely unknown to them. In many ways, GG Alcock's story mirrors that of many of his people, the journey of a tribal society learning to embrace the first world. He does not shy away from the violence and death that coloured his childhood years surrounded by savage faction fighting, nor how they affected his adult life. His story in Third World Child is one of heartbreak and tragedy and, paradoxically, of vibrant hope and compassion. A restless energy and sardonic humour permeate his writing, which is compelling in its honesty and spontaneity.

Kirabo: A Journey of Faith, Love & Adoption


Kveta Rose - 2014
    In what she describes as a "silent stirring in my soul," Tandela experiences the unmistakable call of God to pursue adoption of a baby boy—one who has been abandoned and given only one month to live. She is told that her hope to adopt baby Mark will most likely be futile, if he even survives. Spurred on by a deep parental love that can only be described as God-given, Tandela nonetheless courageously embarks on the journey of adoption that will serve to test her faith like never before. Beginning in the beautiful country of Uganda, whose northern region is being ravaged by war, Tandela faces one obstacle after another on a nerve-racking quest fraught with loneliness, doubts, and fears, but pierced with moments of pure joy.This story will encourage readers that miracles do exist and that God does fulfill his promise to do more than we can ever ask or imagine."This beautiful, and beautifully told, true story celebrates adoption as God's goodness to orphans, the amazing acts of God in his sovereign providence, and the demanding yet joyful realities of the life of faith in Jesus Christ. I cannot imagine the reader who will not be gripped and led Godward by what is written here." –J.I. Packer, Author, Knowing God"In Kirabo, Kveta Rose takes the reader on an adoption journey of faith, obedience, suspense and love. This book will keep you reading." –Jean Fleming, Author, A Mother's Heart

Prevail: The Inspiring Story of Ethiopia's Victory over Mussolini's Invasion, 1935-1941


Jeff Pearce - 2014
    It dominated newspaper headlines and newsreels. It inspired mass marches in Harlem, a play on Broadway, and independence movements in Africa. As the British Navy sailed into the Mediterranean for a white-knuckle showdown with Italian ships, riots broke out in major cities all over the United States.Italian planes dropped poison gas on Ethiopian troops, bombed Red Cross hospitals, and committed atrocities that were never deemed worthy of a war crimes tribunal. But unlike the many other depressing tales of Africa that crowd book shelves, this is a gripping thriller, a rousing tale of real-life heroism in which the Ethiopians come back from near destruction and win.Tunnelling through archive records, tracking down survivors still alive today, and uncovering never-before-seen photos, Jeff Pearce recreates a remarkable era and reveals astonishing new findings. He shows how the British Foreign Office abandoned the Ethiopians to their fate, while Franklin Roosevelt had an ambitious peace plan that could have changed the course of world history—had Chamberlain not blocked him with his policy on Ethiopia. And Pearce shows how modern propaganda techniques, the post-war African world, and modern peace movements all were influenced by this crucial conflict—a war in Africa that truly changed the world.

Zululand Snow


Ian Tennent - 2014
    As chance encounters with his History teacher become alarmingly more frequent, events explode when the boys clash with caddies from the local golf-course, the malevolent greenkeeper makes a sinister threat and the finger of suspicion drifts towards a friend’s father when the lunatic’s hammer falls once again.Set in a small town in Zululand during the turbulent summer of 1983, Zululand Snow is the tale of a boy searching for a way to bring a glorious past back to life. It’s a tale of history and imagination, of folklore and legend, and the gravitational pull they exert on the marrow in a boy’s bones.

In the Name of the People: Angola's Forgotten Massacre


Lara Pawson - 2014
    The protestors were supporters of the MPLA, however the ruling elite feared this new 'factionalism' might lead to a coup d'état. The events of May 1977 are little talked of in Angola today – and virtually unknown outside the country. In this book, journalist Lara Pawson tracks down the story of what really happened on that fateful day. In a series of vivid encounters, she talks to eyewitnesses, victims and even perpetrators of the violent and confusing events of the 27th May and the following weeks and months. From London to Lisbon to Luanda, she meets those who continue to live in the shadow of the appalling events of 40 years ago and who – in most cases – have been too afraid to speak about them before. Pawson investigates not only the unwritten story of the 27th May - one of the biggest taboos in Angolan contemporary history – but she also challenges long-held assumptions about political opposition in Angola, as well as the MPLA, Cuba and the former President Agostinho Neto. Despite Angola's enormous oil wealth, poverty and racial division remain live problems for most of its people. This book contributes to a deeper understanding of modern Angola – its people and its politics; past, present and future.

Ndura: Son of the forest


Javier Salazar Calle - 2014
    A place where Nature is not the only enemy and where survival is not the only problem.A classic scented adventure which makes this book the perfect place to escape reality and feel within you, the anguish and despair of the hero while facing the challenges he is presented with. This book smoothly blends emotion and tension when faced with the challenge to survive, but also the psychological degradation of the protagonist throughout the story and an in-depth study on the environment, the animals, the plants as well as the people, that the author carried out. It also teaches us that our perception of where our limits lie are usually wrong, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse.This novel comes highly recommended.

Drumbeats


Julia Ibbotson - 2014
    Her parents cannot understand Jess’s wish to leave behind her comfortable life in England and her perfect Quaker boyfriend, Simon. In the 60s, Africa means darkness and danger to most people, not least her family, but to Jess it conjures up a picture of exotic adventure and freedom. Little does she realise what this year will, in fact, bring: joys, horrors, love and tragedy. As she struggles to comprehend the abject poverty and hopelessness of the people of Ghana, Jess begins to find herself and think about what she really wants in life. She must find her way on her own and learn what fate has in store for her, as she becomes embroiled in the turmoil of the small war-torn African nation under a controversial and harsh dictatorship. When she meets Jim, a handsome, friendly yet mysterious US soldier, Jess must face the dangers of both civil war and unexpected romance. Where does she truly belong and can she escape her troubled past? And why do the drumbeats haunt her dreams?‘Drumbeats’ is the first part of a touching trilogy about finding yourself, falling in love and learning life’s harsh lessons. Acclaimed, award-winning author, Julia Ibbotson says that she loves nothing better than curling up with a good book - and also writing them! She wrote her first full novel at the age of 10. Find her at http://www.juliaibbotsonauthor.comAn author and academic, Julia also loves travel, choral singing, cooking for family and friends, gardening, yoga, country walks, and swimming - but mainly Earl Grey tea with sticky flapjacks for afternoon tea in the garden.Praise for Julia Ibbotson:“The book is a wonderful blend of personal story (one so many of us can identify with), enchantingly told, with recipes… It all spreads happiness. Lovely!” Bel Mooney, author and journalist, Daily MailEndeavour Press is the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com . Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on Twitter: @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via http://on.fb.me/1HweQV7 . We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press considers that the future is now.

YEFON: The Red Necklace (YEFON , #1)


Sahndra Fon Dufe - 2014
    (2004). Yefon:The RedNecklace (YRN) is the first book of the YEFON trilogy series. It will have you wrapped up with emotions you didn’t know you had. For more information visit website at www.yefonthenovel.com SYNOPSIS Young tribal girl, Yefon Labam, knows she’s different. During the 1950's, in her Central African village, women are uneducated and are expected to either work on a farm or be one of many wives, but Yefon dares for more—she wants to learn how to read, even if looking at a book could mean her death. Although everyone thinks she’s an abomination, including her mother and sisters, her father knows she’s destined for greater things. When he is murdered, Yefon clings to the gift he gave her for inspiration—a red necklace. She soon comes to realize that the necklace is no ordinary ornament, but a talisman crafted by the spirits. Yefon walks a dangerous path that could lead to her freedom…or her death. THE TRILOGY BEGINS...

Eleven Miles


Lance Greenfield - 2014
    Boi, as she is known to her friends and family, just loves going to school. Her primary school is in the local village, but when she graduates to secondary school, two obstacles stand in the path to her further education. Firstly, there are fees to be paid. Secondly, it is eleven miles to the nearest secondary school. She would have to get up very early, and walk that long distance to school every day, and walk home after school. There are many potential dangers along the remote African track between her village and her school.This is the inspiring story of how Boi overcomes the obstacles and dangers to gain the education that she so desires. Not only does she achieve her ambitions, but she manages to make life better for the children of her village who wish to follow in her footsteps. Eleven Miles is a fictional story based upon a true life situation in Botswana. Until the target of Princess Boikanyo's School Bus Project is achieved, 50% of all profits from the sales of this book will go into the project funds. In the meantime, please feel free to make additional contributions to this worthy cause by clicking on the project link.

The Kraals of Ulundi: A Novel of the Zulu War


David Ebsworth - 2014
    Now the British seek revenge and a second invasion of Zululand is about to take place. Within the Zulu regiments charged with repelling the assault is Shaba kaNdabuko driven by ambition to share the glory of battle, to bring honour and cattle to his family. Meanwhile, new British soldiers are shipped out to replace those lost in the military disasters, and among them is Lieutenant Jahleel Carey, likewise also hoping that adventure will bring him a change of fortune. But there are also always those on the sidelines of conflict, profiteers like renegade trader William McTeague. Three men, three women, will be brought together by one of the Zulu War's strangest episodes, and their destinies will be changed forever."

A Hippo Love Story


Karen Paolillo - 2014
    With help from the British animal charity Care for the Wild International, she raised over 26 000 pounds to feed them and give them their own artificial water source as their habitat, the Turgwe River, had completely dried up. The husband and wife team, with their Hippo friends, have been through natural disasters such as floods, land invasions and having their lives threatened by guns, mobs and violence. The area they now live in with the hippos is called the Save Valley Conservancy. Since Karen’s intervention and the formation of the Turgwe Hippo Trust, the hippos have prospered, but not without severe stress and pressures upon her and her husband. This is the story of her life, of how an English girl came to womanhood and found her dream, a dream that has at times been harder than one could ever have imagined.

Legitimate Business


Michael Niemann - 2014
    Her superiors call it a random shooting. Her best friend thinks otherwise. She’s found a bullet casing from a sniper’s rifle, an uncommon weapon in the refugee camp. The case remains closed until Valentin Vermeulen arrives to conduct a routine audit. As an investigator with the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services, his job is to ferret out fraud. The casing is the first clue that Ritu may have stumbled onto a major criminal operation.Solving the mystery of Ritu’s death leads Vermeulen down a perilous path. With the help of journalist Tessa Bishonga, he visits the hidden camp of a notorious rebel leader. On the streets of Port Sudan he dodges a parade of shady characters. In the end, Vermeulen must expose the players in the not so “legitimate” business of supplying weapons to Sudan … before they can hunt him down.Book 1 in the Valentin Vermeulen Thriller series.

By Any Means


Kurt Ellis - 2014
    A world where drugs, alcohol and violence are an everyday occurrence. By Any Means tells the story of how these three youngsters try and navigate this environment in order to achieve their dreams. And how, in this gritty, dirty world - love, friendship and brotherhood can still grow. "None of us grew up wanting to be gangsters and thugs. We wanted to be astronauts, and lawyers, and doctors. But your dreams die quickly in the sections, don't they, ous?"

The Everlasting Embrace


Gabrielle Emanuel - 2014
    They spend it bound together, the child riding on the mother’s back watching their world go past. Pounding millet, drawing water from the well, visiting friends, shopping at the outdoor market—days are shared in perfect step with one another. And even when the child grows big enough to go off and explore their world, the everlasting embrace endures.Illustrated with E.B. Lewis’s stunning watercolors that bring to life the land and people of Mali, Gabrielle Emanuel’s tender story celebrates the universal bond between mother and child.

Midwife to Destiny


Nana Prah - 2014
    Engaged to another and believing that love has no place in her life, she returns to Ghana, and puts duty and honor first.Three years later, Dr. Jason Lartey still can’t get Ora out of his mind or his heart. After learning she never married, he takes a risk and moves to Ghana hoping to rekindle what they started. His sudden appearance in Ora’s Emergency Department sends sparks flying all over again. They’re in the same country, working in the same hospital, and together but distance creeps between them. Can they make their destined love one for the ages?

When The Hills Ask For Your Blood: A Personal Story of Genocide and Rwanda


David Belton - 2014
    Following the threads of Jean-Pierre and Vjeko Curic's stories, he revisits a country still marked with blood, in search of those who survived and the legacy of those who did not. This is David Belton's personal quest for the limits of bravery and forgiveness.Published on the twentieth anniversary of the Rwandan genocide

The Sad Artist and Other Fairytales


Ndiritu Wahome - 2014
    While written as traditional children’s fairy tales, The Sad Artist reaches out to all ages.Wahome says his “objective was to create fantasy stories, which were infused with realism in the hope of letting young children know that even though life is full of hardships, they can overcome and achieve anything they so deemed.” But peel back another layer, and The Sad Artist and Other Fairy Tales has a strong message that reveals “bad leadership, appalling politics, sloth and corruption” that Wahome says is too often found in contemporary African governments. “The Sad Artist is magical realism at its best. Wahome’s fairytales are in the tradition of Salmon Rushdie, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Ben Okri,” says publisher Catherine Rayburn-Trobaugh. “Ndiritu captures the innocence of the world through a child’s eyes to make strong statements about the modern condition.” Although the fairy tales are set in a mystical version Wahome’s native Kenya, they transcend Africa for a global perspective on the realities of life in the 21st century at the crossroads of old and new. Although Wahome’s fairytales can sometimes be cautionary, he never loses hope for both humanity and its future. His world is one that “The wicked, who seem to live the good life, in the end, suffer in their demise. The good, even though exposed to a life of poverty, wretchedness, and solitude, end up living happily ever after.”

Through My African Eyes


Jeff Koinange - 2014
    The book is rich with insights into the personal and intellectual underpinnings of many historical events in Africa.Chronicles of some pretty interesting Africans from warlords, soldiers, victims and politicians lend insight into Jeff’s celebrated journalistic style.www.jeffkoinange.co.ke

The Barefoot Tribe: A Manifesto for a New Kind of Church


Palmer Chinchen - 2014
    As Jeremy Rifkin writes, “The Age of Reason is being eclipsed by the Age of Empathy.” The current millennial generation views the world as an extended family—increasingly interconnected through technology—and they live with a deep moral obligation to care for one another. In The Barefoot Tribe, Palmer Chinchen issues a wake-up call to the church of today, highlighting this new wave of social justice leaders, who are not afraid to take action, take risks, and remake the world into one more like what Jesus had in mind. Chinchen challenges the dispassion of the church of decades past, calling for one that does not withdraw into the safe confines of its sanctuary walls. Drawing on compelling stories from his life growing up in Liberia and various experiences from his own church, he maps out a new course that addresses the world's needs in a way that is outside the norm for many evangelicals.Conversational, fresh, and accessible, The Barefoot Tribe invites readers to join others also seeking to live a life of meaning and purpose in this world made smaller by technology. Because with the power of the tribe...we can make the world a better place.

This Is Paradise: An Irish Mother's Grief, an African Village's Plight and the Medical Clinic That Brought Fresh Hope to Both


Suzanne Strempek Shea - 2014
    You are thrown to safety but your four-month old daughter, trapped in her car seat, drowns. Four years after that horror, you return from a trip to the shore and lift your four-month-old son from his carrier only to realize he's dead, too, a victim of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Twenty-two years later, your 25-year old son drowns while swimming in a Malawi, Africa lake. How do you survive that first death, never mind the second, or the third? Ask Mags Riordan of County Kerry, Ireland. Only the blessing of her son Billy, the boy who later drowned, carried Mags through those first two deaths. Her reaction to Billy's loss caused Mags to do something beyond simple survival, though - it caused her to do something transformative, and remarkable. Returning to Malawi on the one-year anniversary of Billy's death, she saved the life of a local boy who would otherwise have died from a simple infection, and realized the desperate need for a medical clinic. With virtually no relevant experience, medical or otherwise, Mags founded a clinic that to date has saved and transformed the lives of tens of thousands of Malawians. If any of us wonders "What can one person do?" we need only look to Mags Riordan as a living, breathing example of someone who put aside her despair, and her comfort zone, in an effort to help and heal, proving the world truly can be changed, even by just two hands, and one single broken heart.

Shooting Butterflies


T.M. Clark - 2014
    ‘TIRI TOSE – there is no escape.’ Ex-soldier Kirkman Potgieter – known as Buffel – lives by the motto of his Rhodesian PSYOPS military unit. It may be all that keeps his PTSD at bay. But it can’t stop the dreams. So when fellow unit member Shilo Jamison Khumalo betrays him by saving twelve-year-old Tara Wright from becoming his newest ‘butterfly’, Buffel becomes obsessed with hunting them both down. He must hide the truth behind the ‘sangoma' ritual killings that have been responsible for so many deaths. Tara’s family leave for a new life in South Africa after she witnesses the murder of her father and uncle. Three years later, Tara finds she isn’t prepared for the price she has to pay for loving Wayne Botha, and it is only when she finds unexpected support within her family that she can escape the narrow-minded rural community.But when Tara receives a potentially devastating diagnosis, she finally sends a letter to Wayne in the hope that he will acknowledge their son, Josha. But will Wayne and Jamison's combined special services skills be sufficient to protect her and Josha from Buffel?“You can smell the dust of Africa, feel her pain, and marvel at her incredible beauty in this sprawling tale.” Tony Park on My Brother-But-One.

Brotherhood


Mohamed Mbougar Sarr - 2014
    In response, their mothers begin a secret correspondence, their only outlet for the grief they share and each woman’s personal reckoning with a leadership that would take her beloved child’s life.At the same time, spurred on by their indignation at what seems to be an escalation of The Brotherhood’s brutality, a band of intellectuals and free-thinkers seeks to awaken the conscience of the cowed populace and foment rebellion by publishing an underground newspaper. While they grapple with the implications of what they have done, the regime’s brutal leader begins a personal crusade to find the responsible parties, and bring them to his own sense of justice.In this brilliant analysis of tyranny and brutality, Mbougar Sarr explores the ways in which resistance and heroism can often give way to cowardice, all while giving voice to the moral ambiguities and personal struggles involved in each of his characters’ search to impose the values they hold most dear.

Heart of a Lioness


Irene Gleeson - 2014
    Her first marriage had fallen apart, her family home had been sold and her children were on a path of self-destruction. Disillusioned and anxious, she sought answers in all manner of places, but when this all came to nothing, she spiralled further into the abyss. Broke and depressed, suicidal and trawling the night clubs looking for love, Irene made an unexpected discovery of God's love on the 28th of November, 1982. Standing at the back of a small beachside church, the presence of God embraced her, and in that moment, she was finally free. With a renewed sense of purpose, peace and several answered prayers, Irene asked this of her saviour: "Jesus, you've done this for me, what can I do for you?" What followed was a commitment by Irene and her then second husband to sponsoring children from around the world and embarking on short-term missions' trips. But it was a visit to Ethiopia in 1988 to meet their sponsored children that would be the turning point. In February 1992, Irene and her husband sold up everything, waved goodbye to family and friends and shipped their modest aluminium caravan 12,000 kms from the warm, white sands of Australia to the red, dust of Uganda. In a small isolated community on the Sudan border, the couple began their work of rescuing and rehabilitating child soldiers and orphans. Irene taught the children to sing and then to read and write - eventually adding feeding, education and medical care to her repertoire. While the work continued to grow and flourish, her relationship didn't, and before long, she found herself alone - yet again. Irene forged ahead despite the hardships - extreme isolation, swelteringly hot days, repeated bouts of malaria and several attacks by rebels. Hand in hand with Jesus, she carved out a global organisation that has left an indelible imprint on the hearts and lives of 20,000 war affected Ugandans. Heart of a Lioness will take readers on Irene's journey of obedience, sacrifice and unwavering faith. A moving narrative filled with drama, humour and deeply personal insights, Irene recounts story after story of God's miracles amidst the frustrations of running a ministry as an older single white woman. The book will challenge and inspire readers to find their mission in life and will reinforce the notion that no matter who you are, or where you've been - it's never too late to find your purpose.

Off the Voortrekker Road


Barbara Bleiman - 2014
    It is so well written, a fine example of how close and honest observation of a particular situation can speak volumes about larger issues' Diana Athill OFF THE VOORTREKKER ROAD is a personal family story, a courtroom drama and a political narrative, casting a light on a pivotal moment in South Africa's history. It weaves together two narratives. In Cape Town, in 1958, a young Jewish lawyer, Jack Neuberger, prepares to defend a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church who stands accused of ‘immoral or indecent acts’ with a ‘non-white’ woman. The novel also transports us back to Jack’s childhood, when he sat silently on a sack of beans in his father's hardware store, the Handyhouse, bearing witness to the comings and goings of the colourful community of Parow and navigating his way across the wash of his parents’ turbulent marriage. The novel spans the twenty years in which the National Party or “Nats” came to power and the apartheid movement gathered momentum. For adult Jack, the secret police are watching his every move, key testimonies are proving unreliable and his career and family are threatened. For young Jack, as well as finding a way of coping with the discord within his family, he struggles with his sense of self: how to be a good son, a good Jew, a good person or mensch and, most importantly, how to be loyal to his best childhood friend, Terence Mostert. Years later, in a courtroom in Cape Town, this loyalty and Jack’s personal courage face the ultimate test, in a case which will impact upon those he loves, those he feels responsible for and future generations of South Africans.

Flame and Hope


Maretha Botha - 2014
    Adopted by a free-range cattle farmer, the pup faces the challenge of proving himself to more than one of his new family. As Flame grows into a strong and brave dog, he finds friendship with many loyal furry and feathered friends including Hope, an elusive bird with strange pink eyelids, who tells stories about fires, villainous poachers, happy reunions and hilarious confusions. Flame’s new friends also teach him to keep The Promise – protecting the vulnerable in Fauna Park, a secret sanctuary within the boundaries of the farm. And when Flame is called upon to risk his life to keep an important pledge, he finds fame amongst friends and foes in a parallel world where the sun always lingers longer before it disappears behind the horizon. An African Adventure, is the first book in The Tales From Fauna Park series, which will captivate animal and bird lovers who enjoy learning about the importance of nature and the environment. It is perfect for those whose ‘inner-child’ is waiting to be rediscovered, whether reading for oneself or to a younger loved one.

My Lion's Heart: A Life for the Lions of Africa


Gareth Patterson - 2014
    Born in England in 1963, Gareth grew up in Nigeria and Malawi. From an early age he knew where his life’s path would take him – it would be in Africa, and his life’s work would be for the cause of the African wilderness and its wild inhabitants. His is an all-encompassing African story. From his childhood in West and East Africa to his study of a threatened lion population in a private reserve in Botswana to his work with George Adamson, celebrated as the ‘Lion Man’ of Africa, we witness Gareth’s growing commitment to his life’s mission. This is nowhere more evident than in his account of his life as a human member of a lion pride, experiencing life and death through its eyes, as he successfully rehabilitated three famous orphaned lion cubs back into a life in the wilds. At considerable risk to his own personal safety, he exposed the sordid canned lion ‘industry’ in South Africa, bringing this shameful practice to international attention. After moving to the Western Cape he took up the fight for the African elephant, notably the unique endangered Knysna population, and published his astonishing findings in his 2009 book The Secret Elephants. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the stressful nature of his work, Gareth suffered a massive physical and mental breakdown in his forties, which he discusses here for the first time with an openness that underlines his courage. Lesser men might have been broken, but his ‘lion’s heart’ fought back and he ultimately overcame his illness. Gareth Patterson’s long-awaited autobiography is a moving account of one man’s single-minded dedication to the preservation of Africa’s wildlife. It is also a stark reminder that if the human race does not want to lose Africa’s priceless wild heritage there is no time to waste. ‘The lion is my totem animal, and this is the story of my life in Africa, for the lion.’

Snakemaster: Wildlife Adventures with the World's Most Dangerous Reptiles


Austin Stevens - 2014
    From his show Austin Stevens: Snakemaster on Animal Planet to his many appearances in the media, Stevens is known as an incredibly smart, yet incredibly insane animal lover.In Snakemaster, Austin Stevens tells incredible stories of his many run-ins with dangerous animals and reptiles. From wrestling with a reticulated python to panicking after being bitten by the infamous Gaboon viper, Stevens brings you into his world of wildlife and tells the story of how a boy from Pretoria, South Africa, became one of the most widely known herpetologists in the world.With incredible photographs taken by Stevens himself, you’ll be able to place yourself in his world—from the deserts of Africa to the jungles of Borneo. Sharing incredible stories of his love of animals and nature, this one-of-a-kind collection of stories will make you laugh, cry, and shiver with fear!

Africa is Open for Business


Victor Kgomoeswana - 2014
    From the introduction of M-pesa in Kenya to changing the image of Nigeria as Africa’s fraud capital, and from Rwandan coffee farmers to Ethiopian Airlines, and other remarkable stories in between, Kgomoeswana criss-crosses the continent to highlight the most fascinating business stories and their impact on the future of Africa.Africa is Open for Business contains a dynamic and different view of the opportunities available in Africa from those usually portrayed in the news and in other media. Kgomoeswana focuses on the stories behind the headlines as well as sharing his personal experiences of Africa while travelling and doing business in a way that is as entertaining as it is informative.

Love, Money, and HIV: Becoming a Modern African Woman in the Age of AIDS


Sanyu A. Mojola - 2014
    Mojola examines how young African women, who suffer disproportionate rates of HIV infection compared to young African men, navigate their relationships, schooling, employment, and finances in the context of economic inequality and a devastating HIV epidemic. Writing from a unique outsider-insider perspective, Mojola argues that the entanglement of love, money, and the transformation of girls into “consuming women” lies at the heart of women’s coming-of-age and health crises. At once engaging and compassionate, this text is an incisive analysis of gender, sexuality, and health in Africa.

The Girl With 2 Hearts


T.T. Thomas - 2014
    Dormier becomes a motorcycle messenger in the Second Boer War in Africa, but only to go in one direction: in search of the "one who got away."Known to her fellow drivers simply as Dormier, the royal runaway has a mind of her own when it comes to that bug, Jack Pierce. Unfortunately…oh wait! Fortunately…Jack Pierce is NOT Jack Pierce. But Jack’s got Queen Victoria’s ear when it comes to protecting the monarchy and Victoria Dormier’s heart when it comes to love. Dormier is a Patriot and a Bohemian, all wrapped up in one person. And she soon discovers that her love, her dedication, even her Magick powers, are all put to the test as she searches for her Beloved while confronting the realities that Auntie's Empire is causing some major pain down in Africa. Dormier’s big question is whether or not she can she sort through all the conflicting emotions of love and life in the war zone while risking her life, her reputation and probably her 65th "in-line for the throne" position (Right! Like she EVEN has a chance at that one!).Well…the truth? She does have one other REALLY big question, but can she handle the answer? Oh, you’re in trouble now, “Jack!”

The Side of the Sun at Noon


Hazel Crampton - 2014
    In the mid-17th century when the Dutch first settled at the Cape of Good Hope, built their fortress and began trading with the indigenous Khoikhoi, they were told of a mysterious people called the Chobona, who lived in stone houses deep in the interior of the country, were rich in gold and cattle and had long hair and pale skins. Believing them to be the people of Monomotapa, the legendary southern African empire from whom the Portuguese obtained their gold, the Dutch made every effort to reach them. Volunteers were selected, plans drawn up, maps supplied and expedition after expedition dispatched. None succeeded in finding the elusive Chobona. In the centuries to come historians would dismiss the Chobona as fantasy, blaming the stories on what they believed to be the over-active imagination of Eva, a young Khoikhoi girl who was the Dutchmen's main interpreter. Yet the rumours never ceased. And, as our knowledge of the past has grown, so too has the possibility that the rumours were real. The side of the sun at noon explores the truth behind the rumours, following in the footsteps of the early explorers in what is an innovative and engaging interweaving of a rich array of sources, from ancient Arab writings and indigenous oral traditions, to contemporary historical documents and modern archaeological discovery. This book makes you challenge the accepted notions of our history making you look, and look again.

Heart of Africa


Loren Lockner - 2014
    Her hired guide, a displaced and tough Zimbabwean named Peter Leigh, opens up a whole new world for her, full of love and adventure. Unfortunately their wonderful holiday is brutally sidetracked when they are accosted by ruthless carjackers and Peter and Mandy become hopelessly lost inside the rugged Kruger National Park. Can the two new lovers ever find their perilous way back to civilization, as they struggle to avoid lurking lions, raging bush fires, and murderous poachers in the heart of Africa?

Ragged Glory


Ray Hartley - 2014
    This is the story of how three men – Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma – tried to shape its destiny in very different ways. Mandela helped usher in a new democracy with the formulation of one of the best constitutions in the world. But his leadership was not without its flaws as, under his watch, the first seeds of corruption were sown by the predatory elite. Mbeki brought a dark, complicated personality to the presidency and abandoned Mandela’s consultative approach for a more confrontational one. His focus on building South Africa’s economy was his greatest success but his failure to seriously address the AIDS epidemic in South Africa was an embarrassment and a tragedy. Jacob Zuma’s presidency saw the rise of a chauvinistic elite which questioned the very foundations of the new South Africa and its constitution. Under him, a new, arrogant, security elite began to roll back the human rights culture. Ray Hartley, by focusing on the ups and downs of three presidencies, has created a rich, complex narrative. In two turbulent decades, South Africa has won its place at the table of free nations, but has lost its moral authority.

Journey Towards a Falling Sun


N. Lombardi Jr. - 2014
    She's a prim and proper African professor. Their improbable romance begins with a chance encounter on the streets of Nairobi, and soon develops into passionate ardor. Unaware of the consequences that their love affair will bring in the future, they soon find themselves caught up in the tumult of Kenyan politics, trapped in the center of a government scandal, and an incredible odyssey through the wilderness of the northern frontier is their only way out. More than a love story, Journey Towards a Falling Sun tells of a heroic struggle against all odds and a search for cultural identity in a rapidly changing Africa....a gripping journey through East Africa ...culminates in a thrilling conclusion that this reviewer believes will take the reader by surprise! Journey Towards a Falling Sun is thoroughly recommended reading. Reviewed By Jeffrey Brooke-Stewart for Readers' FavoriteOccasionally witty, at times heart-warming, Journey Towards a Falling Sun is a novel filled with interesting and suspenseful situations... a first-hand look at a fascinating continent that is still woefully misunderstood by most of the world...Reviewed By Lit Amri for Readers' Favorite

Askari


Jacob Dlamini - 2014
    After torture and interrogation, September was ‘turned’ and before long the police had extracted enough information to hunt down and kill some of his former comrades.September underwent changes that marked him for the rest of his life: from resister to collaborator, insurgent to counter-insurgent, revolutionary to counter-revolutionary and, to his former comrades, hero to traitor. Askari is the story of these changes in an individual’s life and of the larger, neglected history of betrayal and collaboration in the struggle against apartheid. It seeks to understand why September made the choices he did – collaborating with his captors, turning against the ANC, and then hunting down his comrades – without excusing those choices. It looks beyond the black-and-white that still dominates South Africa’s political canvas, to examine the grey zones in which South Africans – combatants and non-combatants – lived.September’s acts of betrayal form but one layer in a sedimentation of betrayals, for September himself was betrayed by the Swazi police, when he was abducted from his hideout in Swaziland by the apartheid death squad in August 1986. This, then, is not a morality tale in which the lines between heroes and villains are clearly drawn. At the same time, the book does not claim that the competing sides in the fight against apartheid were moral equivalents. It seeks to contribute to attempts to elaborate a denser, richer and more nuanced account of South Africa’s modern political history. It does so by examining the history of political violence in South Africa; by looking at the workings of an apartheid death squad in an attempt to understand how the apartheid bureaucracy worked; and, more importantly, by studying the social, moral and political universe in which apartheid collaborators like September lived and worked. This is not a biography – a cradle-to-grave account of September’s life – even though it does, where necessary, look at his life. September was not the first resister-turned-collaborator. But he was also no ordinary collaborator. That is why his story deserves telling.

Conversations in the House of Life: A New Translation of the Ancient Egyptian Book of Thoth


Richard Jasnow - 2014
    The composition is a dialogue between a Master, perhaps the god Thoth himself, and a Disciple, named "The-one-who-loves-knowledge." Originally written in Demotic, the text dates to the Graeco-Roman Period (ca. 300 B.C. to 400 A.D.). The dialogue covers everything from how to hold the writing brush and the symbolic significance of scribal utensils to a long exposition on sacred geography. The work may be an initiation text dealing with sacred knowledge. It is closely associated with the House of Life, the temple scriptorium where the priests wrote their books. The 2005 publication was aimed at specialists, but Conversations in the House of Life is intended for the general reader. The revised translation reflects recent advances in our understanding of the text. The explanatory essays, commentary, and glossary help the reader explore the fascinating universe of the Book of Thoth. As a document of Late Period Egyptian thought it is of importance to all those interested in Graeco-Roman Period intellectual history; students of the Classical Hermetica will find the Book of Thoth especially intriguing. The express goal of Conversations in the House of Life is to make this challenging Ancient Egyptian composition accessible to the widest possible audience.

The Libyan Revolution and Its Aftermath


Peter Cole - 2014
    Each community, whether geographical (e.g. Misrata, Zintan), tribal/communal (e.g. Beni Walid) or political (e.g. the Muslim Brotherhood) took its own path into the uprisings and subsequent conflict of 2011, according to their own histories and relationship to Muammar Qadhafi's regime. The story of each group is told by the authors, based on reportage and expert analysis, from the outbreak of protests in Benghazi in February 2011 through to the transitional period following the end of fighting in October 2011. They describe the emergence of Libya's new politics through the unique stories of those who made it happen, or those who fought against it. The Libyan Revolution and its Aftermath brings together leading journalists, academics, and specialists, each with extensive field experience amidst the constituencies they depict, drawing on interviews with fighters, politicians and civil society leaders who have contributed their own account of events to this volume.

Saleh's Children: Three Generations of Plantation Masters and Their Slave Women


Howard Bott - 2014
    Her uncle Tenkaminen, a sorcerer and healer, chose his intelligent, beautiful niece as the recipient of his knowledge of herbs, spells and visions. But her impoverished father sold her to the British, who sent her to be a House slave at Pinewood Plantation, Virginia, their colony in America. At a Charleston, South Carolina, auction house, Saleh was bought by George Leyland—a young, wealthy tobacco planter—who was captivated by her at first sight. Immediately, he changed her name to Sally and drew her into a life of ever-increasing humiliation and sexual brutality. Sally, her daughter Young Sally and her granddaughter Missy all suffered the same forced attentions from three generations of Leyland men. As the Civil War approached, these three black women were suddenly confronted with the possibility of using confusion and dislocation of the tumultuous times to make a strike, each in her own way, for escape to the North ... and to freedom.

F is for Fufu


Tamara Pizzoli - 2014
    Enjoy references to the modern West African tale The Ghanaian Goldilocks while learning more about the culture, people, traditions and staples of the gorgeous country of Ghana...all while practicing your ABCs!

After Freedom: The Rise of the Post-Apartheid Generation in Democratic South Africa


Katherine S. Newman - 2014
      This spring, South Africa will celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the fall of apartheid and the first free elections. Although the country has come far, frustration is growing as inequalities that once divided the races now grow within them. In After Freedom, award-winning sociologist Katherine S. Newman and South African expert Ariane De Lannoy profile seven people—Black, White, “Coloured,” and immigrant—to reveal what life is like in South Africa today. These on-the-ground portraits offer an intimate look at the rising generation of young people and explore what the complex political landscape means to the average person. After Freedom is a timely look at how the generation that came of age post-apartheid is grappling with a tenuous democracy in a globalized economy.

The Last Light of Dusk


Joanne Lockyer - 2014
    Despite the briefness of their meeting amidst the chaos of the wreck, a bond of trust is formed between her and the rugged, unconventional boat captain. Lauded for her survival, her family and indeed all of England would have her marry Britain's most eligible bachelor. Still, her dreams of exploring far away places and the storm-gray eyes of a handsome seafarer call to her soul…. He’s the adventure she’s been longing for Returning to England’s shores with wrongs to redress after eight years in North Africa, the shadows that have chased Jonathon Lecky across continents allow no place in his life for romance. Yet when he again meets the woman he rescued but can’t forget, he knows someone has to show the captivating shipping heiress that it’s right to want something different….

King of Sorrow


James Fouche - 2014
    The Antagonist, aware that the sale will reveal that he stole millions from Harlem Properties, will stop at nothing to hinder the sale, even if it means killing David. Kerin meets David at a difficult time in her life, but decides to allow him in, unaware that it would put her life in danger.

Jalada 00: Sketch of a Bald Woman in the Semi-Nude and Other Stories


Jalada AfricaIdza Luhumyo - 2014
    “Jalada Africa” is pan-African writers’ collective."Sketch of a Bald Woman in Semi-nude and other stories" is an anthology of short stories loosely themed around insanity.The anthology is free to read on-line.

Justice: A personal account


Edwin Cameron - 2014
    Drawing on his own life experience, including childhood hardship, struggles with sexuality and stigma, he illustrates the power and the limitations of the law. Cameron argues with compelling elegance that the Constitution offers South Africa its best chance for a just future.

The Missing Piece: Solving South Africa's Economic Puzzle


Kevin Lings - 2014
    It was clear that the structure of the economy had to change and that land ownership, employment opportunities and access to essential services had to more closely match the needs of the entire population. Unfortunately, there was very little fundamental agreement about how this should be done. The Missing Pieces: Solving South Africa's Economic Puzzle looks at various aspects of our economy over the past 20 years in an accessible way - what has worked and what has fallen short - and looks into the next 20 years - what needs to be done in order to grow and sustain our economy - through focusing on the agricultural sector, redressing education policies and addressing our infrastructural backlog.

Madman at Kilifi


Clifton Gachagua - 2014
    And here as well, we find new expression in a poetry that moves as we do.

The Unspeakable


Peter Anderson - 2014
    Police and military are gunning down children at the forefront of the liberation struggle. Far from such action, it seems, a small party of four is traveling by minibus to the north of the country, close to the border with Zimbabwe. Their aim is to shoot a documentary on the discovery of a prehistoric skull that Professor Digby Bamford boasts is evidence that, -True man first arose in southern Africa.- Boozy, self-absorbed Professor Bamford is unaware that his young lover, Vicky, brings with her some complications. Rian, the videographer, was once in love with her, and his passion has been reignited. Bucs, a young man from the townships, is doing his best not to be involved in the increasingly deadly tensions. Powerful and provocative, brilliantly written, The Unspeakable is as unforgettable as it is unsettling. Told in the first person by Rian, it centers on the conflicted being of the white male under apartheid. Unlike many of the great novels of the era, it renounces any claim to the relative safety zone of moralistic dissociation from the racist crime against humanity, and cuts instead to the quick of complicity. It is sometimes said of Albert Camus's The Stranger that everything would have turned out very differently, had the murder only taken place -a few hundred miles to the south.- This is that South with a vengeance.

The Battle of Paardeberg: Lord Roberts' Gambit


Martin Marais - 2014
    In response the British initiated an audacious manoeuvre to outflank Cronjé which culminated in one of the bloodiest conflicts of the war, the Battle of Paardeberg. The outcome was uncertain for both sides - would the British prevail or would the Boers continue to hold the upper hand?

Invisible: Stories from Kenya's Queer Community (Contact Zones Nairobi Book 8)


Kevin Mwachiro - 2014
    Although the issue of sexual orientation and gender identity is a very controversial topic in Kenya, the queer community has recently struggled to make itself more visible. Kenyan activists vocally campaign against discrimination and for the respect of the dignity of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transsexuals and intersex individuals.As a journalist and activist, Kevin Mwachiro has taken on the task of collecting stories from this community. Covering young to old Kenyans and city dwellers to rural ones, Mwachiro has transcribed the accounts of men and women who have chosen to remain true to themselves despite the many odds that they have faced. Invisible is an exploration of their respective journeys.Invisible is about telling the story of being gay in Kenya. These stories will take you from the outback of northern Kenya, to the coast, to the western part of the country. But more so, these are stories about the gay guy or girl on Moi Avenue, the one sitting next to you in the matatu, at school, at work, in your neighbourhood or at the dinner table. Invisible is also about that first kiss, finding love and finding oneself.

Africa Beyond the Mirror


Boubacar Boris Diop - 2014
    The picture they paint is intended to make people of African descent feel ashamed of their past and their identity. This is unacceptable and must change. It is therefore a moral imperative for all those who can make themselves heard, to speak out.These texts reflect the point of view of an African intellectual who has selected them for this book since they were all born out of the desire to tell the truth as it is.Besides chapters that pay homage to Cheikh Anta Diop and Mongo Beti, the wide variety of topics in this book include the dilemma of the writer who is stuck between two languages, the shipwreck of the Joola in Senegal, the continuing waves of migration towards Europe and the cultural challenges of globalization.The genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda, which too many people are still trying to deny, has been given special importance. The implication of the French government is stressed, because its responsibility in this tragedy, via François Mitterrand, is neither well-known nor accepted, despite all the irrefutable evidence.Projecting one’s gaze beyond the mirror means trying to expose the lies that hide behind so many clichés that are common currency about Africa. Above all, it means ringing the alarm bell as a warning against the sinister political intentions that feed a growing Afrophobia.

Missy Mouse Goes to the Doctor


Lois Strachan - 2014
    In book 2, Missy Mouse Goes To The Doctor, Missy becomes ill after being caught in a rain storm. For ages 3 - 8 years.

Childhood Deployed: Remaking Child Soldiers in Sierra Leone


Susan Shepler - 2014
    Based on eighteen months of participant-observer ethnographic fieldwork and ten years of follow-up research, the book argues that there is a fundamental disconnect between the Western idea of the child soldier and the individual lived experiences of the child soldiers of Sierra Leone. Susan Shepler contends that the reintegration of former child soldiers is a political process having to do with changing notions of childhood as one of the central structures of society.For most Westerners the tragedy of the idea of "child soldier" centers around perceptions of lost and violated innocence. In contrast, Shepler finds that for most Sierra Leoneans, the problem is not lost innocence but the horror of being separated from one's family and the resulting generational break in youth education. Further, Shepler argues that Sierra Leonean former child soldiers find themselves forced to strategically perform (or refuse to perform) as the"child soldier" Western human rights initiatives expect in order to most effectively gain access to the resources available for their social reintegration. The strategies don't always work--in some cases, Shepler finds, Western human rights initiatives do more harm than good.While this volume focuses on the well-known case of child soldiers in Sierra Leone, it speaks to the larger concerns of childhood studies with a detailed ethnography of people struggling over the situated meaning of the categories of childhood.It offers an example of the cultural politics of childhood in action, in which the very definition of childhood is at stake and an important site of political contestation.

The Wise Mind of Marcus Garvey


Marcus Garvey - 2014
    

Paradise Denied: How I survived the Journey from Eritrea to Europe


Zekarias Kebraeb - 2014
    To stay would have meant abuse, torture, and possibly even his death. Zekarias had no idea that his journey would span four years, and no concept of how brutal some of the choices along the way would be. He was marched through the wilderness, spent two weeks crossing the Sahara in a truck with no food and far too little water, and then traversed the Mediterranean Sea from Tripoli to Italy in a tiny rowboat. But Zekarias is just one of 67 million refugees in the world today, according to a report by the UN Refugee Agency. Since the beginning of the year and the revolutions in North Africa, more than 30,000 people have fled the region. Behind each number, however, lies the fate of a human being. PARADISE DENIED gives a face to the thousands of refugees who have no choice but leave behind their homes and risk their lives while hoping for a better destiny for themselves and their family.

Keziah Jones & Native Maqari: Captain Rugged


Keziah Jones - 2014
    The hero, Captain Rugged, was conceived by Jones as an embodiment of the Nigerians who flooded the city of Lagos in hopes of making a living, inadvertently bringing about an extreme population explosion and a soaring crime rate. It also led to a bizarre jumble of architectural styles and uncompleted buildings around the city. From Captain Rugged's birthplace in Makoko--an illegal water settlement on stilts within the Lagos lagoon--through the hectic bus stations of Obalende, this publication chronicles the hero's adventures through the city. This publication includes a special card containing the url to download the tracks of Jones' accompanying new album.

Magnificent and Beggar Land: Angola Since the Civil War


Ricardo Soares de Oliveira - 2014
    Based on three years of research and extensive first-hand knowledge of Angola, it documents the rise of a major economy and its insertion in the international system since it emerged in 2002 from one of Africa's longest and deadliest civil wars. The government, backed by a strategic alliance with China and working hand in glove with hundreds of thousands of expatriates, many from the former colonial power, Portugal, has pursued an ambitious agenda of state-led national reconstruction. This has resulted in double-digit growth in Sub-Saharan Africa's third largest economy and a state budget in excess of total western aid to the entire continent. Scarred by a history of slave trading, colonial plunder and war, Angolans now aspire to the building of a decent society. How has the regime, led by President Jose Eduardo dos Santos since 1979, dealt with these challenges, and can it deliver on popular expectations? Soares de Oliveira's book charts the remarkable course the country has taken in recent years."

Kagame: The President of Rwanda Speaks


François Soudan - 2014
    Buffett, Robert de Niro, Susan Rice, Don Cheadle, and many other celebrities are amongst his most fervent admirers. For them, Paul Kagame is the man who produced the Rwandan Miracle. The one who was able to make a people and a nation rise from the ashes of the last genocide of the twentieth century. But this former refugee, once a warlord by necessity, who then became the president of a country that he endeavors to lead down the path of economic emergence with an iron hand, also has fierce enemies who consider him to be a sort of African Machiavelli. His opponents, human rights organizations in particular, criticize him for favoring development over democracy. Saint or demon, virtuous liberator or dictator: rarely has a head of state been as controversial as he. Twenty years after the genocide of the Tutsis from Rwanda, causing one million deaths in one hundred days in the Land of a Thousand Hills, Paul Kagame candidly reveals himself for the very first time.François Soudan is the managing editor of Jeune Afrique, a leading news weekly based in Paris, and has authored biographies of Nelson Mandela and Muammar el-Qaddafi. Soudan has traveled to Rwanda on numerous occasions over the past twenty years. His interviews with Paul Kagame took place in Kigali between December 2013 and March 2014.

A Time Traveller's Guide to Our Next Ten Years


Frans Cronje - 2014
    Unemployment, slow growth, threats to freedom of speech, and poor education can send the country in any direction. Leading scenario planner Frans Cronje identifies the key trends that will shape our future. Will South Africa follow the Narrow Road, the Wide Road, the Rocky Road or the Toll Road? His four scenarios for the country are sobering, sometimes shocking, but also hopeful.

Waste of a White Skin: The Carnegie Corporation and the Racial Logic of White Vulnerability


Tiffany Willoughby-Herard - 2014
    and South Africa in the early twentieth century, Waste of a White Skin focuses on the American Carnegie Corporation's study of race in South Africa, the Poor White Study, and its influence on the creation of apartheid.This book demonstrates the ways in which U.S. elites supported apartheid and Afrikaner Nationalism in the critical period prior to 1948 through philanthropic interventions and shaping scholarly knowledge production. Rather than comparing racial democracies and their engagement with scientific racism, Willoughby-Herard outlines the ways in which a racial regime of global whiteness constitutes domestic racial policies and in part animates black consciousness in seemingly disparate and discontinuous racial democracies. This book uses key paradigms in black political thought--black feminism, black internationalism, and the black radical tradition--to provide a rich account of poverty and work. Much of the scholarship on whiteness in South Africa overlooks the complex politics of white poverty and what they mean for the making of black political action and black people's presence in the economic system.Ideal for students, scholars, and interested readers in areas related to U.S. History, African History, World History, Diaspora Studies, Race and Ethnicity, Sociology, Anthropology, and Political Science.

Howzat!


Mike Lefroy - 2014
    Follow their game all around the globe.Whack! There’s a sound in the blue summer sky. The sun’s coming out, as the ball soars high.

Oliver Tambo Speaks


Oliver Tambo - 2014
    Twenty years on from the first truly democratic elections, South Africans find themselves once again in a period of flux. In “Oliver Tambo Speaks”, one of the principal architects of the “new” South Africa expresses his thoughts on what the ANC was, what it became in order to liberate South Africa from oppression and what it should evolve into in order to provide a better life for all. Aside from being a vital historical document, Oliver Tambo Speaks presents us with fresh perspectives on our current situation from one of the greatest political thinkers that South Africa has produced.

AFRICAN PROVERBS: CLASSIC COLLECTION


James Walsh - 2014
    One thing I have come to respect about Africa is the treasure of wisdom that is residual in it. African proverbs are rich and have been used by the aged people (elders) to communicate thoughts and important message, sometimes in a witty way. These words are timeless and deep. Sometimes, it takes simple logic to decipher their meaning, at other times the hidden meanings can only be revealed by deep reflection on them. These immortal words of the elders – words of wisdom, have been carefully arranged on varying topics to inspire you to the best you can possibly be. They are informative, educative and funny, but full of wisdom.

Perspectives on Nation-State Formation in Contemporary Africa


Godknows Boladei Igali - 2014
    In Perspectives on Nation-State Formation in Contemporary Africa, author Godknows Boladei Igali presents a digest that examines the challenges of state formation and national integration in Africa and off ers preferred solutions within the context of the symbolic diversities. In this study, Igali outlines the immediate context and challenges of national integration in Africa in its human dimension. He reviews the political formations of ancient Africa-which varied in size, philosophical premise, and organisational structures-and discusses partition, military invasions, conquest, and colonisation. He then addresses colonial rule or administration, African nationalism, and decolonisation and analyses the process of nation-state formation in post-independent Africa from the perspective of the political systems and ideologies Reviewing a wide range of time from ancient times through the colonial period and since independence, this survey discusses the processes of national integration and nation-state formation in Africa, providing perspectives that deepen the understanding of these nation-building processes.

Rethinking the South African Crisis: Nationalism, Populism, Hegemony


Gillian Hart - 2014
    Drawing on nearly twenty years of ethnographic research, Hart argues that local government has become the key site of contradictions. Local practices, conflicts, and struggles in the arenas of everyday life feed into and are shaped by simultaneous processes of de-nationalization and re-nationalization. Together they are key to understanding the erosion of African National Congress hegemony and the proliferation of populist politics.This book provides an innovative analysis of the ongoing, unstable, and unresolved crisis in South Africa today. It also suggests how Antonio Gramsci’s concept of passive revolution, adapted and translated for present circumstances with the help of philosopher and liberation activist Frantz Fanon, can do useful analytical and political work in South Africa and beyond.

I Want to Work in... Africa


Frances Mensah Williams - 2014
    Illustrated with personal stories and full of practical advice from recruiters and from professionals who have successfully made the transition to work in Africa, you will get the information, insights and inspiration to make the right career move to the most exciting continent today.

Dafa (The Metaphysical Foundations of Ifa Book 6)


Awo Falokun Fatunmbi - 2014
    It is through rigorous study, guidance, and practical application over a period of time that an initiate can learn the necessary ebo (sacrifice) and oogun (medicine) that are within each of the verses or ese of Ifa.Although verses of Ia are learned via the teacher student relationship through oral transmission in Nigeria, Awo Falokun in his book Dafa uses his experience and understanding of ifa to explore the sixteen meji odu and the subsequent combination of the verses of odu to give us a basic insight or a doorway into the 256 verses from a metaphysical perspective that make up the ifa corpus. It is only through ones consistent emersion into the study and practical use of ifa in ones daily life can the verses or ese of ifa come alive to assist us in over coming ones daily struggles and adversities, as well as provide preventative solutions which in turn manifest real and fundamental transformation on the path of the individuals destiny.

African Mathematics: History, Textbook and Classroom Lessons


Robin Oliver Walker - 2014
    Firstly, the book gives a historical overview of Africa and its contribution to Mathematics. Secondly, the book provides the teacher and the learner with study materials that can be used in the classroom. Thirdly, the book introduces some of the numerical patterns and puzzles that has fascinated one of the authors John Matthews. Fourthly, the book introduces the lectures, classes and workshops that the two authors teach on these subjects. Mathematics has an interesting history in Africa. This history forms the first part of the book. The earliest known mathematical artefact in human history is the Lebombo Bone. Thought to be 37,000 years old, it was discovered by archaeologists in South Africa. Scholars believe that the number system carved into the bone represents a lunar calendar. Later mathematical evidence comes from the Ishango region of Central Africa, Ancient Egypt, Medieval North Africa, Ethiopia, Medieval West Africa and Medieval Central Africa. Mathematics teachers have asked for material that can be used in the classroom where these African mathematical ideas can be used, tested or even challenged. To this aim, the second part of the book presents classroom material that can engage children. Each lesson demonstrates a mathematical principle followed by classroom exercises that the pupils can attempt. We have provided perhaps 22 hours worth of teaching and learning material. The third part of this book was written wholly by John Matthews, a secondary school mathematics teacher. It contains a sample of his tips and short cuts that any pupil of mathematics can profitably use to improve their engagement with number. Mr Matthews also believes that students of mathematics should enjoy detecting patterns in number sequences. In the fourth part of the book he presents a sample of his own discoveries in this area. He also presents classroom exercises that the pupils can attempt.

Toxic Aid: Economic Collapse and Recovery in Tanzania


Sebastian Edwards - 2014
    During the 1970s it received more assistance per capita than any other nation in the world. And yet, the economy performed dismally: growth was negative, exports collapsed, and poverty increased massively. In the mid-1980s, however, the international community changed tack and developed an approach based on conditionality and program ownership. Since 1996 the country has grown steadily, and social conditions have improved significantly. This book provides an economic history of Tanzania since independence in 1961. Itcovers the policies of African Socialism and the Arusha Declaration, the collapse of the early 1980s, the rocky relationships with the IMF, and the reforms of the 1990s and 2000s. This book shows that the relationship between foreign aid economic is highly complex, and that the effect of foreignassistance on poor countries performance depends on historical circumstances, ownership of programs, and the involvement of the local communities.

Africa Uprising: Popular Protest and Political Change


Adam Branch - 2014
    In recent years, however, a more positive force has risen in response to that violence: popular protest. Countries throughout the continent, from Tunisia and Egypt to Uganda and Senegal, have witnessed uprisings by a wide variety of people—the young, the unemployed, organized laborers, civil society activists, writers, artists, and religious groups. What is driving this massive wave of popular protest in Africa? Drawing on interviews with activists across a number of countries, Adam Branch and Zachariah Mampilly offer a penetrating assessment of contemporary African protests, situating current popular activism within a broader historical and continental context. The first book to put contemporary popular protest in a pan-African context, Africa Uprising critically examines Africa’s incorporation into the global economy, the failure of African governments to democratize, the behavior of opposition forces, and the role of African popular culture in the movements. In doing so, the authors provide essential research and insight for understanding African politics at this key juncture in history.

The French Intifada: The Long War Between France and Its Arabs


Andrew Hussey - 2014
    As much as unemployment, economic stagnation, and social deprivation exacerbate the ongoing turmoil in the banlieues, the root of the problem lies elsewhere: in the continuing fallout from Europe's colonial era. Combining a fascinating and compulsively readable mix of history, literature, and politics with his years of personal experience visiting the banlieues and countries across the Arab world, especially Algeria, Hussey attempts to make sense of the present situation. In the course of teasing out the myriad interconnections between past and present in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Beirut, and Western Europe, The French Intifada shows that the defining conflict of the twenty-first century will not be between Islam and the West but between two dramatically different experiences of the world—the colonizers and the colonized.

Africa's Development in Historical Perspective


Emmanuel Kwaku Akyeampong - 2014
    It interrogates the African past through disease and demography, institutions and governance, African economies and the impact of the export slave trade, colonialism, Africa in the world economy, and culture's influence on accumulation and investment. Several of the chapters take a comparative perspective, placing Africa's developments aside other global patterns. The readership for this book spans from the informed lay reader with an interest in Africa, academics and undergraduate and graduate students, policy makers, and those in the development world."

The Poacher's Moon: A True Story of Life, Death, Love and Survival in Africa


Richard Peirce - 2014
    Peirce keeps the reader spellbound as he recounts the series of attacks and their aftermath in chilling detail: the unbearable savagery, suspect police work, shady characters, mysterious happenings and death threats.Reading like a crime thriller, this account of dogged survival, compassion and triumph - along with desperate strategizing to outwit the poaching mafia - will have wide appeal. Color images throughout, taken as the drama unfolded, bring the subject even more vividly to life.

Stillborn


Diekoye Oyeyinka - 2014
    It revolves around the lives of five characters: Seun, his mother Ranti, herself a girl of limited privilege; Seunís lover, Aisha, a refugee from the religious clashes in the North; and Emeka from the South-east, a war deserter who becomes an unlikely hero. Their lives intersect in the residence of Dolapo, a civil rights lawyer from the South-west. And the five lives come together to paint a vivid picture of Nigeria since its infancy fifty years ago, meandering into the complexity of the lives and communities of present-day Nigeria. In the end, Stillborn traverses the various political epochs that have shaped Nigeria, and by extension, Africa in general, right from the pre-independence period and through the fears, frustrations, hopes and dreams that have characterized this fragile continent.