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The Black Hermit by Ngugi wa Thiongo
The Curse of Berlin Africa After the ...
Brief Summary
At the 1884-1885 Conference of Berlin a cartel of largely European states effectively set the rules for the partition of Africa, an event whose historical and structural importance continues to affect and shape Africa's contemporary international relations.
This 'Curse' is a recurring theme in Adebajo's trenchant historical analysis, even though its main focus is on contemporary African issues after the Cold War. The first part of the book examines Africa's quest for security with three essays on Africa's security institutions such as the African Union and sub-regional bodies; another on the political, peacekeeping, and socio-economic roles of the United Nations (UN) in Africa; and a third on Africa's two UN Secretaries-General between 1992 and 2006:
Egypt's Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Ghana's Kofi Annan. The second section of the book focuses on Africa's quest for leadership, and five chapters examine the hegemonic roles of South Africa, Nigeria, the United States, China and France on the continent. The five chapters in the final section of the study analyse Africa's quest for unity, and examine the roles and significance for Africa of six historical figures: Mandela, Mbeki, Kwame Cecil Rhodes, Obama, and Gandhi; as well as assessing the African Union and the EU in comparative perspective.
ISBN:9780199333417
Author:Adekeye Adebajo
The Real Politics of the Horn of Afri...
Brief Summary
The Real Politics of the Horn of Africa delves into the business of politics in the turbulent, war-torn countries of north-east Africa. It is a contemporary history of how politicians, generals and insurgents bargain over money and power, and use of war to achieve their goals.
Drawing on a thirty-year career in Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia, including experience as a participant in high-level peace talks, Alex de Waal provides a unique and compelling account of how these countries’ leaders run their governments, conduct their business, fight their wars and, occasionally, make peace.
De Waal shows how leaders operate on a business model, securing funds for their ‘political budgets’ which they use to rent the provisional allegiances of army officers, militia commanders, tribal chiefs and party officials at the going rate. This political marketplace is eroding the institutions of government and reversing state buildingÑ and it is fuelled in large part by oil exports, aid funds and western military assistance for counter-terrorism and peacekeeping.
The Real Politics of the Horn of Africa is a sharp and disturbing book with profound implications for international relations, development and peacemaking in the Horn of Africa and beyond.
ISBN:9780745695587
Author:Alex de Waal
The Assassination of Lumumba by Ludo ...
Brief Summary
Patrice Lumumba, first prime minister of the Republic of Congo and a pioneer of African unity, was murdered on 17 January 1961.
Democratically elected to lead the Mouvement National Congolais, the party he founded in 1958, Lumumba was at the center of the country’s growing popular defiance of the colonial rule of oppression imposed by Belgium. When, in June 1960, independence was finally won, his unscheduled speech at the official ceremonies in Kinshasa received a standing ovation and made him a hero to millions.
Always a threat to those who sought to maintain a covert imperialist hand over the country, however, he became within months the victim of an insidious plot and was arrested and subsequently tortured and executed.
This book unravels the appalling mass of lies, hypocrisy and betrayals that have surrounded accounts of the assassination since it perpetration. Making use of a huge array of official sources as well as personal testimony from many of those in the Congo at the time, Ludo De Witte reveals a network of complicity ranging from the Belgian government to the CIA.
Chilling official memos which detail ‘liquidation’ and ‘threats to national interests’ are analyzed alongside macabre tales of the destruction of evidence, putting Patrice Lumumba’s personal strength and his dignified quest for African unity in stark contrast with one of the murkiest episodes in twentieth-century politics.
ISBN:9781859844106
Author:Ludo De Witte
The Ghost of Sani Abacha by Chuma Nwo...
Brief Summary
A harassed servant plots his grim revenge (A History of Human Servitude)... Sheri puts a potential boyfriend to the test (Man Rating)... Phiri contends for his civil service career (The Fall of Phiri Bombai)...and a politician in his finest hour finds himself possessed by a be goggled demon (The Ghost of Sani Abacha)...
26 stories of life and love in the aftermath of autocracy, delivered with wit and insight by one of Africa's most incisive writers.
ISBN:9789782190109
Author:Chuma Nwokolo
Aman The Story of a Somali Girl
Brief Summary
This is the extraordinary first-person account of a young woman's coming of age in Somalia and her struggles against the obligations and strictures of family and society. By the time she is nine, Aman has undergone a ritual circumcision ceremony; at eleven, her innocent romance with a white boy leads to a murder; at thirteen she is given away in an arranged marriage to a stranger.
Aman eventually runs away to Mogadishu, where her beauty and rebellious spirit leads her to the decadent demimonde of white colonialists. Hers is a world in which women are both chattel and freewheeling entrepreneurs, subject to the caprices of male relatives, yet keenly aware of the loopholes that lead to freedom.
Aman is an astonishing history, opening a window onto traditional Somali life and the universal quest for female self-awareness.
ISBN:9780679762096
Author:Virginia Lee Barnes and Janice Boddy
The Sudan Contested National Identities
Brief Summary
This highly informative work digs into the intricate history of Sudanese politics. Lesch brings a welcome clarity to Sudan's tangle of political, ethnic, and religious problems by concentrating on the country's central dilemma: the inability of its leaders to negotiate a common definition of nationhood." ?Foreign Affairs
... the first correct account of what took place... after independence." ?Robert O. Collins
The Sudan is torn by ethnic and religious conflict, centered on the struggle over the definition of the Sudanese nation-state. Is the Sudan primarily Arab or African by culture and ethnicity? Should the political system privilege Islamic legal codes or accord equal citizenship to persons of all faiths? Ann Mosely Lesch provides a comprehensive and even-handed analysis of the unresolved struggle for a stable political system and a unified national identity.
ISBN:9780253212276
Author:Ann Mosely Lesch
From a Crooked Rib by Nuruddin Farah
Brief Summary
Written with complete conviction from a woman's point of view, Nuruddin Farah's spare, shocking first novel savagely attacks the traditional values of his people yet is also a haunting celebration of the unbroken human spirit. Ebla, an orphan of eighteen, runs away from her nomadic encampment in rural Somalia when she discovers that her grandfather has promised her in marriage to an older man.
But even after her escape to Mogadishu, she finds herself as powerless and dependent on men as she was out in the bush.
As she is propelled through servitude, marriage, poverty, and violence, Ebla has to fight to retain her identity in a world where women are "sold like cattle."
ISBN:9780143037262
Author:Nuruddin Farah
House of Stone by Novuyo Rosa Tshuma
Brief Summary
Bukhosi has gone missing. His father, Abed, and his mother, Agnes, cling to the hope that he has run away, rather than been murdered by government thugs.
Only the lodger seems to have any idea. Zamani has lived in the spare room for years now. Quiet, polite, well-read and well-heeled, he's almost part of the family - but almost isn't quite good enough for Zamani.
Cajoling, coaxing and coercing Abed and Agnes into revealing their sometimes tender, often brutal life stories, Zamani aims to steep himself in borrowed family history, so that he can fully inherit and inhabit its uncertain future.
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ISBN:9781786493163
Author:Novuyo Rosa Tshuma
Hunger Eats a Man by Nkosinathi Sithole
Brief Summary
When Father Gumede, known as Priest, loses his job as a farmhand, he realises he can't afford to love his neighbour as he does himself. Despondent and enraged, Priest cuts off all ties to the church and politics, determined to make a living - at whatever cost.
It will take a strange story written by his son Sandile - a comical, terrifying and prophetic tale in which the downtrodden rise up to march on the wealth of a neighbouring suburb - to show Priest the hope and humanity inherent in the human spirit.
Beautifully poetic, funny and highly relevant, Nkosinathi Sithole's debut novel highlights the ongoing plight of many rural South Africans and the power of a community working together to bring about change.
ISBN:9780143531449
Author:Nkosinathi Sithole
Into Africa A Guide to Sub-Saharan Cu...
Brief Summary
Across the globe, Africa is seen as the final frontier for economic development and has experienced renewed attention from both Western and Eastern nations, particularly in the last decade. The U.S., India, China and parts of Europe have all increased foreign direct investment in Africa, and yet the complexity and diversity of this vast continent pose risks and challenges for those investments.
For more than a decade, Into Africa has provided valuable advice to those who are interested in traveling to, living in or working in sub-Saharan Africa-businesspeople, human rights and development workers, diplomats, academics and trainers-and anyone else who seeks a better understanding of the cultural characteristics of this dynamic part of the world.
With depth and sensitivity, Into Africa examines the effects of community, ethnicity and language on doing business and establishing professional and personal relationships in African countries. The book explores regional differences, offers detailed guidelines for conducting training programs in Africa and examines issues that reflect the complex relationships involved. This new and expanded edition of Into Africa brings a fresh view on sub-Saharan Africa, showing how the nations of Africa have adapted to Western ways while retaining their cultural traditions and diversity.
Authors Yale Richmond and Phyllis Gestrin explore contemporary Africa in great depth, discussing increased trade with the U.S. and Europe, the role of politics and business, changes in mass communication and the continuing threat of HIV/AIDS. A thorough, lively and carefully researched book, Into Africa is the perfect companion for anyone wishing to gain a more rounded perception of Africa and its diverse cultures.
ISBN:9781931930918
Author:Yale Richmond and Phyllis Gestrin
Lament for the Fallen by Gavin Chait
Brief Summary
'Father, tell me a story?' asks Isaiah, moments before a strange craft falls from the sky and smashes into the jungle near his isolated West African community. Inside the ruined vessel the villagers find the shattered body of a man. His name is Samara and he is a man unlike any the villagers have seen before - a man who is perhaps something more than human.
With his city home of Achenia hiding in the rubble left by a devastating war, Samara has fallen 35,000 km to earth in order to escape the automated hell of an orbiting prison called Tartarus. As he struggles to heal himself, he helps transform the lives of those who rescued him but in so doing attracts the attention of the brutal warlord who rules over this benighted, ravaged post-21st century land. He is not a man to be crossed, and now he threatens the very existence of the villagers themselves and the one, slim chance Samara has of finding his way home and to the woman - and the world - he loves.
And all the while - in the darkness above - waits the simmering fury that lies at the heart of Tartarus . . .
ISBN:9780857523693
Author:Gavin Chait
Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor
Brief Summary
When a massive object crashes into the ocean off the coast of Lagos, Nigeria’s most populous and legendary city, three people wandering along Bar Beach (Adaora, the marine biologist- Anthony, the rapper famous throughout Africa- Agu, the troubled soldier) find themselves running a race against time to save the country they love and the world itself… from itself.
Told from multiple points of view and crisscrossing narratives, combining everything from superhero comics to Nigerian mythology to tie together a story about a city consuming itself.
‘There was no time to flee. No time to turn. No time to shriek. And there was no pain. It was like being thrown into the stars.’
ISBN:9781444762754
Author:Nnedi Okorafor
The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna
In contemporary Sierra Leone, a devastating civil war has left an entire populace with secrets to keep. In the capital hospital, a gifted young surgeon is plagued by demons that are beginning to threaten his livelihood. Elsewhere in the hospital lies a dying man who was young during the country’s turbulent postcolonial years and has stories to tell that are far from heroic.
As past and present intersect in the buzzing city, these men are drawn unwittingly closer by a British psychologist with good intentions, and into the path of one woman at the center of their stories.
A work of breathtaking writing and rare wisdom, The Memory of Love seamlessly weaves together two generations of African life to create a story of loss, absolution, and the indelible effects of the past—and, in the end, the very nature of love.
Rainbow in the Cloud The Wisdom and S...
Brief Summary
"Words mean more than what is set down on paper,” Maya Angelou wrote in her groundbreaking memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Indeed, Angelou’s words have traveled the world and transformed lives—inspiring, strengthening, and healing. Through a long and prolific career in letters, she became one of the most celebrated voices of our time.
Now, in this collection of sage advice, humorous quips, and pointed observations culled from the author’s great works, including The Heart of a Woman, On the Pulse of Morning, Gather Together in My Name, and Letter to My Daughter, Maya Angelou’s spirit endures. Rainbow in the Cloud offers resonant and rewarding quotes on such topics as creativity and culture, family and community, equality and race, values and spirituality, parenting and relationships. Perhaps most special, Maya Angelou’s only son, Guy Johnson, has contributed some of his mother’s most powerful sayings, shared directly with him and the members of their family.
A treasured keepsake as well as a beautiful tribute to a woman who touched so many, Rainbow in the Cloud reminds us that "If one has courage, nothing can dim the light which shines from within.”
ISBN:9780812996456
Author:Maya Angelou
Oil on Water by Helon Habila
Brief Summary
In the oil-rich and environmentally devastated Nigerian Delta, the wife of a British oil executive has been kidnapped. Two journalists-a young upstart, Rufus, and a once-great, now disillusioned veteran, Zaq-are sent to find her.
In a story rich with atmosphere and taut with suspense, Oil on Water explores the conflict between idealism and cynical disillusionment in a journey full of danger and unintended consequences.
As Rufus and Zaq navigate polluted rivers flanked by exploded and dormant oil wells, in search of "the white woman," they must contend with the brutality of both government soldiers and militants. Assailed by irresolvable versions of the "truth" about the woman's disappearance, dependent on the kindness of strangers of unknowable loyalties, their journalistic objectivity will prove unsustainable, but other values might yet salvage their human dignity.
ISBN:9780393339642
Author:Helon Habila
Poisoned Wells The Dirty Politics of ...
Brief Summary
Each week the oil and gas fields of sub-Saharan Africa produce over a billion dollars’ worth of oil, yet this rising tide of money is not promoting stability or development but instead is causing violence, poverty and stagnation.
'Poisoned Wells' exposes the root causes of this paradox of poverty from plenty.
ISBN:9781403971944
Author:Nicholas Shaxson
The Snow Angel by Lauren St John
Brief Summary
Lauren St John's stunning Christmas classic is about forgotten children, the power of nature to heal us and a girl who will climb mountains in search for a place to call home.
Growing up in vibrant, crowded Nairobi, Makena has only one dream: to climb Mount Kenya like her hero, her mountain guide father. But when her beautiful world is shattered, she finds that in the city's dark places there are a thousand ways to fall, each more deadly than any crevasse.
In a world of strangers, does she dare trust Snow, whose ballet dreams are haunted by a past she's still running from? And is the sparkling fox friend or foe?
After a fresh start in the Scottish Highlands turns bad, Makena flees to the mountains. But will they betray her or be the making of her?
ISBN:9781786695895
Author:Lauren St John
Small Country by Gael Faye
Brief Summary
Already an international sensation and prize-winning bestseller in France, an evocative coming-of-age story of a young boy, a lost childhood and a shattered homeland.
‘I was born with this story. It ran in my blood. I belonged to it.’
Burundi, 1992. For ten-year-old Gabriel, life in his comfortable expatriate neighborhood of Bujumbura with his French father, Rwandan mother and little sister Ana, is something close to paradise.
These are carefree days of laughter and adventure – sneaking Super match cigarettes and gorging on stolen mangoes – as he and his mischievous gang of friends transform their tiny cul-de-sac into their kingdom.
But dark clouds are gathering over this small country, and soon their peaceful existence will shatter when Burundi, and neighboring Rwanda, are brutally hit by civil war and genocide.
A novel of extraordinary power and beauty, Small Country describes an end of innocence as seen through the eyes of a child caught in the maelstrom of history. Shot through with shadows and light, tragedy and humor, it is a stirring tribute not only to a dark chapter in Africa’s past, but also to the bright days that preceded it.
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ISBN:9781524759872
Author:Gael Faye
Taxing Africa Coercion Reform and Dev...
Brief Summary
It has long been debated whether Africa’s lack of growth is best explained by the continent’s exploitation by the global system, or by internal failures of domestic political leadership, and taxation is no different. Some point to a global economic system that undermines Africa’s tax collection through tax havens and evasion by multinational firms and wealthy individuals.
Meanwhile, others highlight domestic barriers to effective taxation that are rooted in corruption and the unwillingness or inability of political leaders to take necessary action. Written by leading international experts, Taxing Africa moves beyond this polarizing debate, arguing that substantial cultural and political change must come from within African countries themselves.
From tackling the collusion of elites with international corporations to enhancing local democratic governance, the book examines the potential for reform, and how it may become a springboard for broader development gains.
ISBN:9781783604531
Author:Mick Moore, Wilson Prichard and Odd-Helge Fjeldstad
