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Conspiracy to murder The Rwandan Geno...
Brief Summary
Conspiracy to Murder is a gripping account of the Rwandan genocide, one of the most appalling events of the twentieth century.
Linda Melvern’s damning indictment of almost all the key figures and institutions involved amounts to a catalogue of failures that only serves to sharpen the horror of a tragedy that could have been avoided.
ISBN:9781844675425
Author:Linda Melvern
Nairobi Noir by Peter Kimani
Brief Summary
From the introduction by Peter Kimani:
Nairobi Noir is an act of excavation, rediscovering the city's ossified past and infusing life to preserve it for future generations. It is also an act of celebration, reminding readers of the brilliance of the best-known writers to emerge from this part of the world, and heralding the birth of new writers whose gifts, we can safely predict, will shine brightly in the years ahead.
The oldest writer in this anthology is eighty-one, the youngest is only twenty-four; if there is any inference one can draw from this demographic it is that this anthology offers an entire spectrum of Kenyan writing: the past, present, and future. If we can allow one extravagant claim, a collection of this nature is unprecedented in Kenya's literary history.
Although the range of issues explored in Nairobi Noir is as diverse as its contributors, it all gestures toward a common theme. In this concrete jungle, the hunters and herders live on. As do the hunted…
"
ISBN:B07S2KVMDT
Author:Peter Kimani
Anthills of the Savannah by Chinua Ac...
Brief Summary
Chris, Ikem and Beatrice are like-minded friends working under the military regime of His Excellency, the Sandhurst-educated President of Kangan. In the pressurized atmosphere of oppression and intimidation they are simply trying to live and love - and remain friends.
But in a world where each day brings a new betrayal, hope is hard to cling on to. Anthills of the Savannah (1987), Achebe's candid vision of contemporary African politics, is a powerful fusion of angry voices.
It continues the journey that Achebe began with his earlier novels, tracing the history of modern Africa through colonialism and beyond, and is a work ultimately filled with hope.
ISBN:9780385260459
Author:Chinua Achebe
The Beautiful People of Kenya by Moha...
Second Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta
Brief Summary
A poignant story of a resourceful Nigerian woman who overcomes strict tribal domination of women and countless setbacks to achieve an independent life for herself and her children.
The classic tale of a Nigerian woman who overcomes strict tribal domination only to encounter the hardships of immigration. Available again.
In the late 1960’s, Adah, a spirited and resourceful woman manages to move her family to London. Seeking an independent life for herself and her children she encounters racism and hard truths about being a new citizen. "Second Class Citizen pales a lot of academic feminist writing into insignificance.” –The Guardian
"Emecheta’s prose has a shimmer of originality, of English being reinvented....Issues of survival lie inherent in her material and give her tales weight.” --John Updike
ISBN:9780807610664
Author:Buchi Emecheta
The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta
A feminist literary classic by one of Africa’s greatest women writers, re-issued with a new introduction by Stéphane Robolin.
First published in 1979, The Joys of Motherhood is the story of Nnu Ego, a Nigerian woman struggling in a patriarchal society. Unable to conceive in her first marriage, Nnu is banished to Lagos where she succeeds in becoming a mother.
Then, against the backdrop of World War II, Nnu must fiercely protect herself and her children when she is abandoned by her husband and her people. Emecheta "writes with subtlety, power, and abundant compassion” (New York Times).
Everything Good Will Come by Sefi Atta
Brief Summary
Everything Good Will Come introduces an important new voice in contemporary fiction. It is 1971, a year after the Biafran War, and Nigeria is under military rule—though the politics of the state matter less than those of her home to Enitan Taiwo, an eleven-year-old girl tired of waiting for school to start.
Will her mother, who has become deeply religious since the death of Taiwo's brother, allow her friendship with the new girl next door, the brash and beautiful Sheri Bakare? Everything Good Will Come charts the fate of these two African girls, one born of privilege and the other, a lower class "half-caste"; one who is prepared to manipulate the traditional system while the other attempts to defy it.
Written in the voice of Enitan, the novel traces this unusual friendship into their adult lives, against the backdrop of tragedy, family strife, and a war-torn Nigeria. In the end, Everything Good Will Come is Enitan's story; one of a fiercely intelligent, strong young woman coming of age in a culture that still insists on feminine submission. Enitan bucks the familial and political systems until she is confronted with the one desire too precious to forfeit in the name of personal freedom: her desire for a child. Everything Good Will Come evokes the sights and smells of Africa while imparting a wise and universal story of love, friendship, prejudice, survival, politics, and the cost of divided loyalties.
ISBN:9781844370566
Author:Sefi Atta
Notes from a Young Black Chef by Kwam...
Brief Summary
By the time he was twenty-seven years old, Kwame Onwuachi (winner of the 2019 James Beard Foundation Award for Rising Star Chef of the Year) had opened—and closed—one of the most talked about restaurants in America. He had launched his own catering company with twenty thousand dollars that he made from selling candy on the subway, yet he’d been told he would never make it on television because his cooking wasn’t "Southern” enough. In this inspiring memoir about the intersection of race, fame, and food, he shares the remarkable story of his culinary coming-of-age.
Growing up in the Bronx, as a boy Onwuachi was sent to rural Nigeria by his mother to "learn respect.” However, the hard-won knowledge gained in Africa was not enough to keep him from the temptation and easy money of the streets when he returned home. But through food, he broke out of a dangerous downward spiral, embarking on a new beginning at the bottom of the culinary food chain as a chef on board a Deepwater Horizon cleanup ship, before going on to train in the kitchens of some of the most acclaimed restaurants in the country and appearing as a contestant on Top Chef.
Onwuachi’s love of food and cooking remained a constant throughout, even when he found the road to success riddled with potholes. As a young chef, he was forced to grapple with just how unwelcoming the world of fine dining can be for people of color, and his first restaurant, the culmination of years of planning, shuttered just months after opening. A powerful, heartfelt, and shockingly honest story of chasing your dreams—even when they don’t turn out as you expected—Notes from a Young Black Chef is one man’s pursuit of his passions, despite the odds.
ISBN:9781524732622
Author:Kwame Onwuachi and Joshua David Stein
Ubuntu An Inspiring Story About an Af...
Brief Summary
A powerful story about the African philosophy of teamwork and collaboration that has the power to reshape our workplaces, our relationships with our coworkers, and our personal lives, written by the bestselling coauthor of Fish! and the bestselling author of 1001 Ways to Reward Employees.
John Peterson, a new manager in the credit department at a major big-box retailer, is struggling in his job. The people under him are not working as well or effectively as they need to, and his department is falling behind in meeting its goals. His only solution is to take on more work himself, burning the midnight oil and coming in most weekends to pick up the slack and keep his department above water.
When one of the employees stays behind to help him—a young man who came to America from a small village in Africa—he learns of the ancient wisdom and hidden power of the African philosophy of Ubuntu. Before long, it begins to change the way he thinks about the people he works with, about himself, and about how he runs his department and his life.
In an engaging and completely fresh narrative that holds a unique message for today’s business world, Ubuntu! shows us a way to overcome our fears, insecurities, and the "me-ism” that so often permeates our workplaces, and replace it with a culture of genuine respect and collaboration.
It promises to take its place alongside Fish! and other business parables as the next bestselling classic in the business category.
ISBN:9780307587886
Author:Bob Nelson and Stephen Lundin
The Old Lion Of Africa by Walter N Ma...
Brief Summary
Dr.Walter Nyamori Masiga`s life story is an extended miracle of sorts. He stayed in his mother`s womb for three years, was immobilized by yellow fever at five years age and was so done with life when he lost his father at a tender age that he failed his first-ever exam. Yet he went on to earn the highest accolades from some of the best universities in the world.
And when he joined the world of work, holding some of the highest positions in the world of science and research, his name became synonymous with eradication of Rinderpest in Africa. His sterling record saw his Europeans peers fondly christened him `The Old Lion of Africa`. In this inspiring book, he recounts his life an official of the AFC Leopards football club, at a time when Ingwe pounced so menacingly that they maintained their signature 3-0 win.
Dr. Masiga recalls brushing shoulders with the high and mighty at home and in faraway lands, as well as meeting his future wife, the late Elizabeth Semo Masiga, who later rose to become permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education.
ISBN:The Old Lion Of Africa001
Author:Walter N Masiga
Gold of Our Fathers by Kwei Quartey
Brief Summary
Darko Dawson, Chief Inspector in the Ghana police service, returns in this atmospheric crime series often compared to Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels.
Darko Dawson has just been promoted to Chief Inspector in the Ghana Police Service—the promotion even comes with a (rather modest) salary bump. But he doesn’t have long to celebrate because his new boss is transferring him from Accra, Ghana’s capital, out to remote Obuasi in the Ashanti region, an area now notorious for the illegal exploitation of its gold mines.
When Dawson arrives at the Obuasi headquarters, he finds it in complete disarray. The office is a mess of uncatalogued evidence and cold case files, morale is low, and discipline among officers is lax. On only his second day on the job, the body of a Chinese mine owner is unearthed in his own gold quarry. As Dawson investigates the case, he quickly learns how dangerous it is to pursue justice in this kingdom of illegal gold mines, where the worst offenders have so much money they have no fear of the law.
ISBN:9781616956318
Author:Kwei Quartey
African Twilight The Vanishing Ritual...
Brief Summary
African Twilight is the two-volume, slipcased magnum opus of the two pioneering documentary photographers of African tribal cultures and ceremonies--a world that is quickly vanishing before our very eyes.
Now, nearly two decades after these photographer's landmark African Ceremonies and with a greater sense of urgency, this book completes the journey, covering disappearing rituals and ceremonies from some of the most inaccessible corners of the African continent, to create the definitive statement on this subject. This new landmark volume will set the standard for capturing a visual testament to the vanishing traditions of African peoples. No other book like this exists or can ever be created again, as more than 40 percent of what has been documented here has already vanished.
For the last 15 years of their four decades of African fieldwork, world-renowned photographers Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher have continued their journey across Africa, seeking out remote communities to record the sacred ceremonies, powerful art forms, and boundless creativity of the people living there today. This ground-breaking book is a testament to these vanishing moments and peoples. African Twilight is a celebration of the powerful artistry and boundless creativity of Africa's cultural heritage for audiences worldwide, transporting viewers into a world of connections between individual and community, body and soul, land and people. All of the photography is previously unpublished.
ISBN:9780847860173
Author:Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher
African Renaissance by Fantu Cheru
Brief Summary
African Renaissance: Roadmaps to the Challenge of Globalization.
Fantu Cheru attempts to shed new light on the topic of economic development in Africa. He roots his wide-ranging arguments firmly in the actual realities of what is going on in Africa --the practical lessons to be learned from both mistakes made and the initiatives which have born positive fruit.
He argues for a middle way that goes beyond simple state-led versus market-driven approaches to Africa's development.
ISBN:9781842770870
Author:Fantu Cheru
Vagabond by Lerato Mogoatlhe
Vagabond: Wandering through Africa on faith.
One woman. One continent. Vagabond is Lerato Mogoatlhe’s story of her travels through twenty-one countries in Africa. Vagabond is a poetic, raw and honest diary of Lerato’s travels through Africa.
From meeting President Mbeki at an event in Timbuktu to hanging out with one of her favourite artists, Habib Koite, Vagabond is a love letter of Lerato’s discovery of herself, her home, Africa, and its people that readers will witness through her uncensored curiosity and with none of the glamour of a guidebook.
Out of the twenty-one countries visited over the five years she travelled through the continent, Lerato names Sudan, Mali, Egypt, Uganda and Kenya as her top five to visit.
A Poisonous Thorn in Our Hearts by Ja...
Brief Summary
A Poisonous Thorn in Our Hearts: Sudan and South Sudan's Bitter and Incomplete Divorce.
What happened after Africa's biggest country split in two? When South Sudan ran up its flag in July 2011, two new nations came into being. In South Sudan a former rebel movement faces colossal challenges in building a new country. At independence it was one of the least developed places on earth, after decades of conflict and neglect.
The '"rump state'," Sudan, has been debilitated by devastating civil wars, including in Darfur, and lost a significant part of its territory, and most of its oil wealth, after the divorce from the South. In the years after separation, the two Sudans dealt with crippling economic challenges, struggled with new and old rebellions, and fought each other along their disputed border.
Benefiting from unsurpassed access to the politicians, rebels, thinkers and events that are shaping the Sudans, Copnall draws a compelling portrait of two misunderstood countries. A Poisonous Thorn in Our Hearts argues that Sudan and South Sudan remain deeply interdependent, despite their separation.
It also diagnoses the political failings that threaten the future of both countries. The author puts the turmoil of the years after separation into a broader context, reflecting the voices, hopes and experiences of Sudanese and South Sudanese from all walks of life.
ISBN:9781849043304
Author:James Copnall
The Politics of Trade and Industrial ...
Brief Summary
The Politics of Trade and Industrial Policy in Africa: Forced Consensus?
This book maps the process and political economy of policy making in Africa. It's focus on trade and industrial policy makes it unique and it will appeal to students and academics in economics, political economy, political science and African studies.
Detailed case studies help the reader to understand how the process and motivation behind policy decisions can vary from country to country depending on the form of government, ethnicity and nationality and other social factors.
ISBN:9781592211654
Author:Charles C Soludo, Osita M Ogbu and Ha Joon Chang
Curse of the black gold by Ed Kashi
Brief Summary
Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta takes a graphic look at the profound cost of oil exploitation in West Africa. Featuring images by world-renowned photojournalist Ed Kashi and text by prominent Nigerian journalists, human rights activists, and University of California at Berkeley professor Michael Watts, this book traces the 50-year history of Nigeria's oil interests and the resulting environmental degradation and community conflicts that have plagued the region.
Now one of the major suppliers of U.S. oil, Nigeria is the sixth largest producer of oil in the world. Set against a backdrop of what has been called the scramble for African oil, Curse of the Black Gold is the first book to document the consequences of a half-century of oil exploration and production in one of the world's foremost centers of biodiversity.
This book exposes the reality of oil's impact and the absence of sustainable development in its wake, providing a compelling pictorial history of one of the world's great deltaic areas. Accompanied by powerful writing by some of the most prominent public intellectuals and critics in contemporary Nigeria, Kashi's photographs capture local leaders, armed militants, oil workers, and nameless villagers, all of whose fates are inextricably linked.
His exclusive coverage bears witness to the ongoing struggles of local communities, illustrating the paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty. The publication of Curse of the Black Gold occurs at a moment of worldwide concern over dependency on petroleum, dubbed by New York Times journalist Thomas Friedman as "the resource curse." Much has been written about the drama of the search for oil-Daniel Yergin'sThe Prizeand Ryszard Kapuscinski'sShah of Shahsare two of the most widely lauded-but there has been no serious examination of the relations between oil, environment, and community in a particular oil-producing region. Curse of the Black Gold is a landmark work of historic significance.
ISBN:9781576875476
Author:Ed Kashi
Political Parties in Africa Ethnicity...
Brief Summary
This book examines the effects of ethnicity on party politics in sub-Saharan Africa. Sebastian Elischer analyzes political parties in Ghana, Kenya, and Namibia in detail, and provides a preliminary analysis of parties in seven other countries including Tanzania, Botswana, Senegal, Zambia, Malawi, Burkina Faso, and Benin.
Elischer finds that five party types exist: the mono-ethnic, the ethnic alliance, the catch-all, the programmatic, and the personalistic party. He uses these party types to show that the African political landscape is considerably more diverse than conventionally assumed. Whereas ethnic parties dominate in some countries, non-ethnic parties have become the norm in others.
This study also finds a correlation between a country's ethnic make-up and the salience of political ethnicity: countries with a core ethnic group are prone to form non-ethnic parties. In countries lacking a core ethnic group, ethnic parties constitute the norm.
ISBN:9781107033467
Author:Sebastian Elischer
Art of Unlearning by Chief Nyamweya
Brief Summary
ART OF UNLEARNING is a masterfully illustrated 130 page graphic novel about a young adventurer known as Gituma, son of the dictator King Ego, who discovers his father’s role in a notorious genocide.
He is unable to outrun his traumatic past and realize his creative potential until he is challenged by three wise teachers who hold the keys to unlock his mind from the past.
Unlearning is simply an inverse vision of learning. Whereas the traditional view of learning was about accumulating information, unlearning recognizes the abundance and ubiquity of digital information and therefore emphasizes instead how we can discover our innate potential or passion and share it. Passion is the rocket fuel behind all learning pursuits. Unleashing this energy is the purpose being The Art of Unlearning.
To illustrate this better, consider the very delivery of this book to you. It has meant consuming volumes of books and articles on such diverse subjects as: crowdfunding, exponential technologies, spirituality, and the similarities between dark-room photography and ink illustration. It has meant sitting still and integrating remarkable experiences with human beings all around the world. It has meant failing forward and living simply in rural Eldoret with my parents for the many months of creation, a time I cherish all the more now that my Dad is far away recovering from cancer treatment. It has meant appreciating nature. It has also shown me the power of community. Most of all, I ‘found’ my number one crazy nut fan — and the love of my life, Sarah.
Passion is the true power of the polymath.
In this series of Blog Posts about The Art of Unlearning, I will explore the bliss and inevitable blisters of finding a new learning path for a new generation of digital natives who are negotiating the most transformational period in human history without a map.
But wait! We do have a map, dumbo! Comics and graphic novels have been raving for decades about a post-singularity and post-scarcity humanity who having achieved energy abundance, universal connectivity and near-omniscience. Without the arousal of survival anxiety which so animates us at present, how will these beings flower? Will they be a boundlessly creative and generous community untethered from ignorance, disease and war? Science fiction writers have also explored the unsettling potential dangers of making human labour redundant to the goals of capital, as has been done to our environment already.
ISBN:ArtofUnlearning001
Author:Chief Nyamweya
