iBookstore Top 50 African History Ebooks

Chart of the top 50 most popular and best selling African history ebooks at the Apple iBookstore.

Chart list of the top African history ebooks was last updated:

History Ebook Best Sellers

Top African History Ebooks

1

Born in Blackness - Howard W. French Cover Art

Born in Blackness

Born in Blackness Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War by Howard W. French

Revealing the central yet intentionally obliterated role of Africa in the creation of modernity, Born in Blackness vitally reframes our understanding of world history. Traditional accounts of the making of the modern world afford a place of primacy to European history. Some credit the fifteenth-century Age of Discovery and the maritime connection it established between West and East; others the accidental unearthing of the “New World.” Still others point to the development of the scientific method, or the spread of Judeo-Christian beliefs; and so on, ad infinitum. The history of Africa, by contrast, has long been relegated to the remote outskirts of our global story. What if, instead, we put Africa and Africans at the very center of our thinking about the origins of modernity? In a sweeping narrative spanning more than six centuries, Howard W. French does just that, for Born in Blackness vitally reframes the story of medieval and emerging Africa, demonstrating how the economic ascendancy of Europe, the anchoring of democracy in the West, and the fulfillment of so-called Enlightenment ideals all grew out of Europe’s dehumanizing engagement with the “dark” continent. In fact, French reveals, the first impetus for the Age of Discovery was not—as we are so often told, even today—Europe’s yearning for ties with Asia, but rather its centuries-old desire to forge a trade in gold with legendarily rich Black societies sequestered away in the heart of West Africa. Creating a historical narrative that begins with the commencement of commercial relations between Portugal and Africa in the fifteenth century and ends with the onset of World War II, Born in Blackness interweaves precise historical detail with poignant, personal reportage. In so doing, it dramatically retrieves the lives of major African historical figures, from the unimaginably rich medieval emperors who traded with the Near East and beyond, to the Kongo sovereigns who heroically battled seventeenth-century European powers, to the ex-slaves who liberated Haitians from bondage and profoundly altered the course of American history. While French cogently demonstrates the centrality of Africa to the rise of the modern world, Born in Blackness becomes, at the same time, a far more significant narrative, one that reveals a long-concealed history of trivialization and, more often, elision in depictions of African history throughout the last five hundred years. As French shows, the achievements of sovereign African nations and their now-far-flung peoples have time and again been etiolated and deliberately erased from modern history. As the West ascended, their stories—siloed and piecemeal—were swept into secluded corners, thus setting the stage for the hagiographic “rise of the West” theories that have endured to this day. “Capacious and compelling” (Laurent Dubois), Born in Blackness is epic history on the grand scale. In the lofty tradition of bold, revisionist narratives, it reframes the story of gold and tobacco, sugar and cotton—and of the greatest “commodity” of them all, the twelve million people who were brought in chains from Africa to the “New World,” whose reclaimed lives shed a harsh light on our present world.

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Fall of Civilizations - Paul Cooper Cover Art

Fall of Civilizations

Fall of Civilizations Stories of Greatness and Decline by Paul Cooper

"A treasure trove of myths and terror… Atmospheric as hell… Immersive."―The Times Based on the podcast with over one hundred million downloads, Fall of Civilizations brilliantly explores how a range of ancient societies rose to power and sophistication, and how they tipped over into collapse. Across the centuries, we journey from the great empires of Mesopotamia to those of Khmer and Vijayanagara in Asia and Songhai in West Africa; from Byzantium to the Maya, Inca and Aztecs of Central America; from Roman Britain to Rapa Nui. With meticulous research, breathtaking insight and dazzling, empathic storytelling, historian and novelist Paul Cooper evokes the majesty and jeopardy of these ancient civilizations, and asks what it might have felt like for a person alive at the time to witness the end of their world.

3

River of the Gods - Candice Millard Cover Art

River of the Gods

River of the Gods Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile by Candice Millard

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The harrowing story of one of the great feats of exploration of all time and its complicated legacy—from the New York Times bestselling author of The River of Doubt and Destiny of the Republic A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: THE WASHINGTON POST • GOODREADS "A lean, fast-paced account of the almost absurdly dangerous quest by [Richard Burton and John Speke] to solve the geographic riddle of their era." — The New York Times Book Review For millennia the location of the Nile River’s headwaters was shrouded in mystery. In the 19th century, there was  a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe – and extend their colonial empires. Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke were sent by the Royal Geographical Society to claim the prize for England. Burton spoke twenty-nine languages, and was a decorated soldier. He was also mercurial, subtle, and an iconoclastic atheist. Speke was a young aristocrat and Army officer determined to make his mark, passionate about hunting, Burton’s opposite in temperament and beliefs. From the start the two men clashed. They would endure tremendous hardships, illness, and constant setbacks. Two years in, deep in the African interior, Burton became too sick to press on, but Speke did, and claimed he found the source in a great lake that he christened Lake Victoria. When they returned to England, Speke rushed to take credit, disparaging Burton. Burton disputed his claim, and Speke launched another expedition to Africa to prove it. The two became venomous enemies, with the public siding with the more charismatic Burton, to Speke’s great envy. The day before they were to publicly debate,Speke shot himself. Yet there was a third man on both expeditions, his name obscured by imperial annals, whose exploits were even more extraordinary. This was Sidi Mubarak Bombay, who was enslaved and shipped from his home village in East Africa to India. When the man who purchased him died, he made his way into the local Sultan’s army, and eventually traveled back to Africa, where he used his resourcefulness, linguistic prowess and raw courage to forge a living as a guide. Without Bombay and men like him, who led, carried, and protected the expedition, neither Englishman would have come close to the headwaters of the Nile, or perhaps even survived. In River of the Gods Candice Millard has written another peerless story of courage and adventure, set against the backdrop of the race to exploit Africa by the colonial powers.

4

Congo - David van Reybrouck Cover Art

Congo

Congo The Epic History of a People by David van Reybrouck

"A magnificent, epic look at the history of the region. . . . A monumental contribution to the annals of Congo scholarship" ( Christian Science Monitor ). The International Bestseller From the beginnings of the slave trade through colonization, the struggle for independence, Mobutu's brutal three decades of rule, and the civil war that has raged from 1996 to the present day, Congo: The Epic History of a People  traces the history of one of the most devastated nations in the world. Esteemed scholar David Van Reybrouck balances hundreds of interviews with a diverse range of Congolese with meticulous historical research to construct a multidimensional portrait of a nation and its people. Epic in scope yet eminently readable, both penetrating and deeply moving, Congo—a finalist for the Cundill Prize—takes a deeply humane approach to political history, focusing squarely on the Congolese perspective, and returns a nation's history to its people. "A compelling mixture of literary and oral history that delivers an authentic story of how European colonialism, African resistance, and the endless exploitation of natural resources affected the lives of the Congolese." — Booklist "A vivid panorama of one of the most tormented lands in the world." — Washington Post

5

Black in Blues - Imani Perry Cover Art

Black in Blues

Black in Blues How a Color Tells the Story of My People by Imani Perry

A “vast, multifaceted and enchanting” (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) meditation on the color blue and its fascinating role in Black history and culture, from National Book Award winner Imani Perry, “the most important interpreter of Black life in our time” (Eddie S. Glaude, Jr.) Throughout history, the concept of Blackness has been remarkably intertwined with another color: blue. In daily life, it is evoked in countless ways. Blue skies and blue water offer hope for that which lies beyond the current conditions. But blue is also the color of deep melancholy and heartache, echoing Louis Armstrong’s question, “What did I do to be so Black and blue?” In this book, celebrated author Imani Perry uses the world’s favorite color as a springboard for a riveting emotional, cultural, and spiritual journey—an examination of race and Blackness that transcends politics or ideology. Perry traces both blue and Blackness from their earliest roots to their many embodiments of contemporary culture, drawing deeply from her own life as well as art and history: The dyed indigo cloths of West Africa that were traded for human life in the 16th century. The mixture of awe and aversion in the old-fashioned characterization of dark-skinned people as “Blue Black.” The fundamentally American art form of blues music, sitting at the crossroads of pain and pleasure. The blue flowers Perry plants to honor a loved one gone too soon. Poignant, spellbinding, and utterly original, Black in Blues is a brilliant new work that could only have come from the mind of one of our greatest writers and thinkers. Attuned to the harrowing and the sublime aspects of the human experience, it is every bit as vivid, rich, and striking as blue itself.

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Sufferings in Africa - James Riley & Dean King Cover Art

Sufferings in Africa

Sufferings in Africa The Incredible True Story of a Shipwreck, Enslavement, and Survival on the Sahara by James Riley & Dean King

Listed by Abraham Lincoln, alongside the Bible and Pilgrim's Progress , as one of the books that most influenced his life, few true tales of adventure and survival are as astonishing as this one. Shipwrecked off the western coast of North Africa in August of 1815, James Riley and his crew had no idea of the trials awaiting them as they gathered their beached belongings. They would be captured by a band of nomadic Arabs, herded across the Sahara Desert, beaten, forced to witness astounding brutalities, sold into slavery, and starved. Riley watched most of his crew die one by one, killed off by cruelty or caprice, as his own weight dropped from 240 pounds to a mere 90 at his rescue. First published in 1817, this dramatic saga soon became a national bestseller with over a million copies sold. Even today, it is rare to find a narrative that illuminates the degradations of slave existence with such brutal honesty.

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The Storm of War - Andrew Roberts Cover Art

The Storm of War

The Storm of War A New History of the Second World War by Andrew Roberts

“Gripping. . . . splendid history. A brilliantly clear and accessible account of the war in all its theaters. Roberts’s prose is unerringly precise and strikingly vivid. It is hard to imagine a better-told military history of World War II.” –New York Times Book Review Andrew Roberts's acclaimed new history has been hailed as the finest single-volume account of this epic conflict. From the western front to North Africa, from the Baltic to the Far East, he tells the story of the war—the grand strategy and the individual experience, the brutality and the heroism—as never before. Meticulously researched and masterfully written, The Storm of War illuminates the war's principal actors, revealing how their decisions shaped the course of the conflict. Along the way, Roberts presents tales of the many lesser-known individuals whose experiences form a panoply of the courage and self-sacrifice, as well as the depravity and cruelty, of the Second World War.

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Of Africa - Wole Soyinka Cover Art

Of Africa

Of Africa by Wole Soyinka

A member of the unique generation of African writers and intellectuals who came of age in the last days of colonialism, Wole Soyinka has witnessed the promise of independence and lived through postcolonial failure. He deeply comprehends the pressing problems of Africa, and, an irrepressible essayist and a staunch critic of the oppressive boot, he unhesitatingly speaks out.

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Cabo Verde and the Creole South Atlantic - Malyn Newitt Cover Art

Cabo Verde and the Creole South Atlantic

Cabo Verde and the Creole South Atlantic A New History by Malyn Newitt

The Cabo Verde Islands are now a popular tourist destination but, guidebooks apart, there is little in print in English that covers their history and culture. This book offers a readable account not only of the islands' past, but also of their place in the wider story of the South Atlantic's Portuguese-speaking communities. First settled in the fifteenth century, the inhabitants of Cabo Verde were of diverse origins. Some came from Portugal, others arrived as slaves from mainland Africa, and a third element comprised Jewish exiles from the Iberian Peninsula. From the earliest days, the islanders developed a mixed Creole culture with its own Creole Portuguese language. They had close relations with people of the upper Guinea coast, where many of them settled, and with the Guinea islands. Meanwhile the archipelago became a hub of the Atlantic slave trade. Cabo Verde has also had a strategic importance-- its history mustu be seen in a global context, broader than simply that of the Portuguese imperial story. Malyn Newitt also fills a major gap in the bibliography of Atlantic history, slavery and the history of the African diaspora in the Atlantic.

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Black Reconstruction in America (The Oxford W. E. B. Du Bois) - Henry Louis Gates, Jr. & W. E. B. Du Bois Cover Art

Black Reconstruction in America (The Oxford W. E. B. Du Bois)

Black Reconstruction in America (The Oxford W. E. B. Du Bois) An Essay Toward a History of the Part Which Black Folk Played in the Attempt to Reconstruct Democracy in America, 1860-1880 by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. & W. E. B. Du Bois

W. E. B. Du Bois was a public intellectual, sociologist, and activist on behalf of the African American community. He profoundly shaped black political culture in the United States through his founding role in the NAACP, as well as internationally through the Pan-African movement. Du Bois's sociological and historical research on African-American communities and culture broke ground in many areas, including the history of the post-Civil War Reconstruction period. Du Bois was also a prolific author of novels, autobiographical accounts, innumerable editorials and journalistic pieces, and several works of history. Black Reconstruction in America tells and interprets the story of the twenty years of Reconstruction from the point of view of newly liberated African Americans. Though lambasted by critics at the time of its publication in 1935, Black Reconstruction has only grown in historical and literary importance. In the 1960s it joined the canon of the most influential revisionist historical works. Its greatest achievement is weaving a credible, lyrical historical narrative of the hostile and politically fraught years of 1860-1880 with a powerful critical analysis of the harmful effects of democracy, including Jim Crow laws and other injustices. With a series introduction by editor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and an introduction by David Levering Lewis, this edition is essential for anyone interested in African American history.

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King Leopold's Ghost - Adam Hochschild Cover Art

King Leopold's Ghost

King Leopold's Ghost A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild

The 25th Anniversary Edition, with a foreword by Barbara Kingsolver  "An enthralling story . . . A work of history that reads like a novel." — Christian Science Monitor “As Hochschild’s brilliant book demonstrates, the great Congo scandal prefigured our own times . . . This book must be read and reread.” — Los Angeles Times Book Review A National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist * A New York Times Notable Book In the late nineteenth century, as the European powers were carving up Africa, King Leopold II of Belgium carried out a brutal plundering of the territory surrounding the Congo River. In a horrifying episode of colonial exploitation, he ultimately slashed the area’s population by ten million yet still managed to shrewdly cultivate his reputation as a great humanitarian. A tale far richer than any novelist could invent,  King Leopold’s Ghost is the horrifying account of a megalomaniac of monstrous proportions—a dark chapter in African history. It is also the deeply moving portrait of those who defied Leopold: African rebel leaders who fought against hopeless odds and a brave handful of missionaries, travelers, and young idealists who went to Africa for work or adventure but unexpectedly found themselves witnesses to a holocaust and participants in the twentieth century’s first great human rights movement. How did one man orchestrate a holocaust while cultivating a reputation as a great humanitarian, and who were the heroes that dared to fight back? A Megalomaniacal King: Discover the story of King Leopold II of Belgium, a ruler of monstrous greed who plundered the Congo, slashing its population by millions while living a life of luxury. The Forgotten Holocaust: Uncover a horrifying, state-sponsored campaign of terror and forced labor that stands as one of the great mass killings of recent history. The First Human Rights Movement: Meet the brave handful of missionaries, travelers, and African rebels who defied Leopold and gave birth to the twentieth century’s first great international human rights campaign. Gripping Narrative History: Praised as a work of history that reads like a novel, this meticulously researched account brings a dark, forgotten chapter of the past to vivid, unforgettable life.

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Operation Certain Death - Damien Lewis Cover Art

Operation Certain Death

Operation Certain Death The Inside Story of the Greatest SAS Battles by Damien Lewis

The terrifyingly true tale of a daring British special forces rescue mission and all-out assault on a savage Sierra Leone guerrilla gang: "What a story!" (Frederick Forsyth, #1 New York Times– bestselling author of The Day of the Jackal ). Officially, the SAS mission was called Operation Barras. The men on the ground called it Operation Certain Death.   In 2000, the British Special Air Service (SAS) attempted its riskiest rescue mission in more than half a century. A year before, an eleven-man patrol of Royal Irish Rangers who were training government troops in Sierra Leone was captured and held prisoner by the infamously ruthless rebel forces known as the West Side Boys. Their fortified base was hidden deep in the West African jungle, its barricades adorned with severed heads on spikes. Some four hundred heavily armed renegades were not only bloodthirsty—they were drink-and-drugs crazed. The guerrillas favored pink shades, shower caps, and fluorescent wigs, draping themselves in voodoo charms they believed made them bulletproof—a delusion reenforced by the steady consumption of ganja, heroin, crack, and sweet palm wine. This was the vicious and cutthroat enemy British special forces would confront in order to rescue their own.   Featuring extensive interviews with survivors, this gritty, blow-by-blow account of the bloody battle that brought an end to ten years of Africa's most brutal civil war is "as good as any thriller I have ever read. This really is the low down" (Frederick Forsyth).

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The Mirror at Midnight - Adam Hochschild Cover Art

The Mirror at Midnight

The Mirror at Midnight A South African Journey by Adam Hochschild

A "stunning blend of reportage, travelogue, history and meditation" by the New York Times –bestselling author of King Leopold's Ghost ( Publishers Weekly ). National Book Award finalist Adam Hochschild brings a lifetime's familiarity with South Africa to bear in this eye-opening examination of a critical turning point in that nation's history: the Great Trek of 1836–39, during which Dutch-speaking white settlers, known as Boers, journeyed deep into the country's interior to escape the British colonial administration.   The mass migration culminated with the massacre of indigenous Zulus in the 1838 Battle of Blood River. Looking at the tensions of modern South Africa through the dramatic prism of the nineteenth century, Hochschild vividly recreates the battle—and its contentious commemoration by rival groups 150 years later. In his epilogue, Hochschild extends his view to the astonishing political changes that have occurred in the country in recent decades—and the changes yet to be made.   Hochschild's incisive take on these events, noted Nadine Gordimer, "is far more than an outsider's perception of the drama of our country. Read him, in particular, to understand the rise of white extremism which is threatening the democratic vision of the African National Congress and its allied progressive constituency among people of all colors."   "A good book for anyone who wants a succinct and precise account of how this fascinating country has got where it is. . . . This is a book I recommend warmly." —Archbishop Desmond Tutu   "One of the most illuminating books ever written on contemporary South Africa." — Publishers Weekly   "Thoroughly researched, immensely readable . . . A work of vivid reportage and astute political analysis." — San Francisco Chronicle

14

1942 - Richard Hargreaves Cover Art

1942

1942 Hitler's Gamble for Victory by Richard Hargreaves

A unique history of the Axis powers attempt to win the Second World War in 1942, told through the eyes of those who were there. Drawing upon sources in German, Russian, Italian, Hungarian, Romanian and English, 1942: Hitler's Gamble describes the spring and summer campaigns in the Soviet Union and Africa which crowned the Axis forces with fresh laurels. Impressive victories were won at Kharkov, Sevastopol and Tobruk. Axis powers were then on the cusp of victory in Egypt, the Caucasus and Stalingrad until the seemingly unstoppable juggernaut was brought to a halt in the autumn of 1942. Based upon 15 years of research in archives, museums and libraries across Europe, this is a unique account of this critical year in World War II. No other history has looked at the Eastern and North African theatres in conjunction, masterfully illustrating how the crushing gains on both fronts would be lost by the end of the year. Richard Hargreaves shines a light on the little studied areas of the war such as the aftermath of Tobruk and challenges traditional German-centric accounts of the Caucasus campaign. Strategy and the hubris of Hitler and his generals is brilliantly illustrated but so too are the lives and deaths of ordinary soldiers caught up in these extraordinary events.

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African History - John Parker & Richard Rathbone Cover Art

African History

African History A Very Short Introduction by John Parker & Richard Rathbone

Essential reading for anyone interested in the African continent and the diversity of human history, this Very Short Introduction looks at Africa's past and reflects on the changing ways it has been imagined and represented. Key themes in current thinking about Africa's history are illustrated with a range of fascinating historical examples, drawn from over 5 millennia across this vast continent. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

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The Rhodesian War - Paul L Moorcraft & Peter McLaughlin Cover Art

The Rhodesian War

The Rhodesian War Fifty Years On by Paul L Moorcraft & Peter McLaughlin

A political and military analysis of this conflict in southern Africa with maps, photos, and a new introduction assessing its long aftermath. A half century after the Universal Declaration of Independence, this superb book depicts the military history of Southern Rhodesia from the first resistance to colonial rule, through the period of UDI by the Smith government to the Lancaster House agreement that transferred power. There are vivid accounts of the operations against the black nationalist guerillas by the security forces, and the intensity of the fighting and courage of the participants will surprise and enthrall readers. Atrocities were undoubtedly committed by both sides as the protagonists played for very high stakes. But this is more than just a book on military operations. The authors are able to provide expert analysis of the historical situation and examine events well into the twenty-first century, including Mugabe's operations against rival tribes and white farmers. With a new introduction, this is essential reading for those wishing to learn more about a counterinsurgency campaign and why despite the ingenuity of the Rhodesian military fighting against overwhelming odds and restricted by sanctions, the outcome culminating in the Lancaster House Agreement was inevitable.

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The Desert VCs - Brian Best Cover Art

The Desert VCs

The Desert VCs Extraordinary Valour in the North African Campaign in WWII by Brian Best

It was not just the searing heat of the day, hot enough to boil an egg on the bonnet of a lorry, or the sand that nestled in every crevice of the body, or the shivering cold of the starlit nights, that the British and Commonwealth troops had to battle in the North African desert it was also the tough and determined Axis forces under their brilliant leader, Erwin Rommel.The actions which resulted in the awarding of twenty-nine VCs in the Desert War included that of stretcher bearer Private Anderson walking alone into the gunfire of the enemy to rescue wounded comrades, not once, but time and time again until he too was shot and killed. Lieutenant George Gunn, who, at Sidi Rezegh, found his troop of the Royal Horse Artillery facing the onslaught of sixty German tanks. One by one the guns were put out of action, the crews killed or wounded. Eventually, only one gun was left, manned by the twenty-nine-year-old lieutenant and his sergeant. Regardless of the odds, Gunn fought on until he too was killed, shot through the head.The fighting in North Africa was not just in the harsh extremes of the rolling desert, but also the barren mountains of Tunisia, and the coastal strips of Libya. In every battle, every maneuver, the terrain was the limiting or enabling feature and it was over that unforgiving ground that twenty-nine men distinguished themselves and were awarded the highest of all gallantry medals, the Victoria Cross.

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Ties That Bound - J. C. Sharman Cover Art

Ties That Bound

Ties That Bound Slavery and Power in Africa by J. C. Sharman

How slavery and the slave trade provided African rulers with a path to political power Across history, slavery has been central to political power. By the nineteenth century, African rulers dominated the slave trade with the European and Islamic worlds. In Ties That Bound , J. C. Sharman shows how these rulers were empowered by slavery, converting profits from the market for humans into political might. As demand for African captives grew, a new breed of African bandit slave traders–turned–kings leveraged the increasing returns to seize and hold power, paying off followers and buying weapons. Eventually, there were more enslaved Africans within Africa than in the Americas; African kingdoms were secured and administered by slave soldiers and slave officials. Engaging in the slave trade became vital for political survival; success for a few powerful leaders meant misery for millions across the continent. Arguing that slavery is fundamentally political and relational, Sharman examines the effects of Africa’s slavery-centered connections and linkages with the wider world. This route to power by enslaving others required engagement with other countries, sometimes in war, sometimes in trade and sometimes in both. More than any other region, Africa’s experiences show how slavery as a foundation of power depended on ties between insiders and outsiders. Sharman describes how African rulers became locked into increasingly destructive competition with each other. As much of the continent was ravaged by warlords, the very factors that strengthened rulers individually weakened them collectively, and the resulting destruction paved the way for European conquest in the late nineteenth century’s “Scramble for Africa.”

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Three Sips of Gin - Timothy Bax Cover Art

Three Sips of Gin

Three Sips of Gin Dominating the Battlespace with Rhodesia's Elite Selous Scouts by Timothy Bax

The memoir of a special forces veteran of the Rhodesian War, with over a hundred photos included.   Nothing terrorized Russian and Chinese-backed guerillas fighting Rhodesia's bush war in the 1970s more than the famed Selous Scouts. The name of the unit struck fear in the hearts of even the most battle-hardened—rather than speak it, they referred to its soldiers simply as Skuzapu, or pickpockets. History has recorded the regiment as being one of the deadliest and most effective killing machines in modern counter-insurgency warfare.   In this book, a veteran of the unit shares his stories of childhood in colonial Africa with his British family, documenting a world where Foreign Service employees gathered at "the club" to find company and alcohol, leopards prowled the night, and his mother knew how to use a gun. Eventually he would move to Canada, only to feel drawn back to the continent where he grew up. There he would be recruited into the Selous Scouts, comprised of specially selected black and white soldiers of the Rhodesian army, supplemented with hardcore terrorists captured on the battlefield. Posing as communist guerrillas, members of this elite Special Forces unit would slip silently into the night to seek out insurgents in a deadly game of hide-and-seek played out between gangs and counter-gangs in the harsh and unforgiving landscape of the African bush.   By the mid-1970s, the Selous Scouts had begun to dominate Rhodesia's battle space. Working in conjunction with the elite airborne assault troops of the Rhodesian Light Infantry, the Selous Scouts accounted for an extraordinarily high proportion of enemy casualties. Not content with restricting themselves to hunting guerrillas inside Rhodesia, they began conducting external vehicle-borne assaults against camps situated deep inside neighboring countries.   Recounting his experiences while surviving in this cauldron of battle, while also relating with dry wit the day-to-day details and absurdities of the world that surrounded him, Timothy Bax provides a rare look at this time and place.

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An African History of Africa - Zeinab Badawi Cover Art

An African History of Africa

An African History of Africa From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence by Zeinab Badawi

Already a major international bestseller, Zeinab Badawi’s sweeping and much-needed survey of African history traces the continent’s extraordinary legacy from prehistory to the present from the African perspective. “Equal parts gripping and galvanizing. . . . Researched across more than 30 countries, it brings the dazzling civilizations of pre-colonial Africa vividly to life. A book that feels both long-overdue—and wholly worth the wait.” —British Vogue Everyone is originally from Africa, and this book is therefore for everyone. For too long, Africa’s history has been dominated by western narratives of slavery and colonialism, or simply ignored. Now, Zeinab Badawi sets the record straight. In this fascinating book, Badawi guides us through Africa’s spectacular history—from the very origins of our species, through ancient civilizations and medieval empires with remarkable queens and kings, to the miseries of conquest and the elation of independence. Visiting more than thirty African countries to interview countless historians, anthropologists, archaeologists and local storytellers, she unearths buried histories from across the continent and gives Africa its rightful place in our global story. The result is a gripping new account of Africa: an epic, sweeping history of the oldest inhabited continent on the planet, told through the voices of Africans themselves. This landmark history, told from an African perspective, reveals: Pre-colonial Civilizations: Journey from the origins of humankind to the dazzling medieval empires of Kush, Aksum, and Great Zimbabwe, long ignored by Western accounts. Legendary Rulers: Meet the remarkable warrior queens and kings—like Mansa Musa and Queen Njinga—who shaped the continent long before European arrival. An On-the-Ground Account: Discover a new narrative built from the author’s travels across 30+ countries and countless interviews with local historians, elders, and storytellers. Slavery, Conquest, and Liberation: Go beyond the Western narrative to understand the true legacy of conquest and witness Africa’s fight for independence, told through the voices of its own people.

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African Game Trails - Theodore Roosevelt Cover Art

African Game Trails

African Game Trails by Theodore Roosevelt

The twenty-sixth president of the United States was also a world-renowned hunter, conservationist, soldier, and scholar. In 1908 he took a long safari holiday in East Africa with his son Kermit. His account of this adventure is as remarkably fresh today as it was when these adventures on the veldt were first published. Roosevelt describes the excitement of the chase, the people he met (including such famous hunters as Cunninghame and Selous), and flora and fauna he collected in the name of science. Long out of print, this classic is one of the preeminent examples of Africana, and belongs on every collector's shelf. Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) was a heroic figure who served as the 26th president of the United States. During his eight years in office, he steered the United States more actively into world politics. Teddy "Rough Riders" Roosevelt was also a military leader, a prosecutor, a naturalist, and a prolific writer.  

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The African Origin of Civilization - Cheikh Anta Diop & Mercer Cook Cover Art

The African Origin of Civilization

The African Origin of Civilization Myth or Reality by Cheikh Anta Diop & Mercer Cook

Now in its 30th printing, this classic presents historical, archaeological, and anthropological evidence to support the theory that ancient Egypt was a black civilization.

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African Game Trails - Theodore Roosevelt Cover Art

African Game Trails

African Game Trails by Theodore Roosevelt

The twenty-sixth president of the United States was also a world-renowned hunter, conservationist, soldier, and scholar. In 1908 he took a long safari holiday in East Africa with his son Kermit. His account of this adventure is as remarkably fresh today as it was when these adventures on the veldt were first published. Roosevelt describes the excitement of the chase, the people he met (including such famous hunters as Cunninghame and Selous), and flora and fauna he collected in the name of science. Long out of print, this classic is one of the preeminent examples of Africana, and belongs on every collector's shelf. Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) was a heroic figure who served as the 26th president of the United States. During his eight years in office, he steered the United States more actively into world politics. Teddy "Rough Riders" Roosevelt was also a military leader, a prosecutor, a naturalist, and a prolific writer.  

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Beyond Timbuktu - Ousmane Oumar Kane Cover Art

Beyond Timbuktu

Beyond Timbuktu An Intellectual History of Muslim West Africa by Ousmane Oumar Kane

Renowned for its madrassas and archives of rare Arabic manuscripts, Timbuktu is famous as a great center of Muslim learning from Islam’s Golden Age. Yet Timbuktu is not unique. It was one among many scholarly centers to exist in precolonial West Africa. Beyond Timbuktu charts the rise of Muslim learning in West Africa from the beginning of Islam to the present day, examining the shifting contexts that have influenced the production and dissemination of Islamic knowledge—and shaped the sometimes conflicting interpretations of Muslim intellectuals—over the course of centuries. Highlighting the significant breadth and versatility of the Muslim intellectual tradition in sub-Saharan Africa, Ousmane Kane corrects lingering misconceptions in both the West and the Middle East that Africa’s Muslim heritage represents a minor thread in Islam’s larger tapestry. West African Muslims have never been isolated. To the contrary, their connection with Muslims worldwide is robust and longstanding. The Sahara was not an insuperable barrier but a bridge that allowed the Arabo-Berbers of the North to sustain relations with West African Muslims through trade, diplomacy, and intellectual and spiritual exchange. The West African tradition of Islamic learning has grown in tandem with the spread of Arabic literacy, making Arabic the most widely spoken language in Africa today. In the postcolonial period, dramatic transformations in West African education, together with the rise of media technologies and the ever-evolving public roles of African Muslim intellectuals, continue to spread knowledge of Islam throughout the continent.

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The End of Normal - Max du Preez Cover Art

The End of Normal

The End of Normal A Witness to the Unravelling of White Power in South Africa by Max du Preez

It was the beginning of 1976 and life was good. White South Africans danced along to Queen and ABBA. There was huge anticipation of the pending All Black rugby tour in July – and at last South Africa had TV! And then came the Soweto student uprising in June. It was the end of normal, setting in motion a series of events that culminated in the negotiated settlement of 1994. MAX  DU PREEZ, born and raised in a conservative Afrikaner Christian Nationalist family, witnessed the first stones thrown on 16 June – and the first shots fired – as a young newspaper reporter. That was also the end of his normal. In the half century since those seismic days, Du Preez has had a front-row seat to South Africa's darkest and brightest moments. The End of Normal explores how otherwise decent people came to implement and support the evil system of apartheid. He examines the long-term impact of 16 June and takes a hard look at attitudes today, in particular the recent resurgence of Afrikaner nationalism. In this highly readable account, replete with anecdotes, confessions and revelations, Du Preez pulls no punches.

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Khartoum and the Blue and White Niles (Complete) - George Melly Cover Art

Khartoum and the Blue and White Niles (Complete)

Khartoum and the Blue and White Niles (Complete) by George Melly

After a pleasant journey through Lombardy, and a very agreeable stay at the city of gondolas and palaces, we arrived at Trieste on the 25th of September, 1850, on our way to Egypt. Our party consisted of my father and mother, my brother and sister, and myself. We had all travelled much, and were thus pretty well accustomed to the small annoyances, which those who leave comfortable homes in England to visit other lands, must expect to encounter. But it should be borne in mind that two of our number were ladies, which may show that the journey we contemplated was neither too fatiguing nor too difficult; many may therefore follow in our steps, and enjoy, as we did, a tour full of new and interesting scenes. We hoped, before returning, to be able to penetrate far into the depths of Nubia; departing from the beaten track of Nile travellers, to reach the 14th degree of north latitude, and add our names to those of the few English who have gazed on the junction of the White and Blue Niles. Some of us might have had wild wishes relative to the undiscovered source of that mighty river: while others might have looked with some degree of apprehension to the task of making a road where none existed, and traversing a country hitherto explored only by men. We all agreed, however, to go as far as it appeared safe and easy; meanwhile to bind ourselves to nothing, but to be ruled entirely by circumstances; which, in fact, are the real guide-books of travellers—more especially in an unknown country. The morning of the 27th of September, far as the year had advanced, was a most charming one; for summer, like other visiters, lingers long on the beautiful shores of the Mediterranean—never leaving the southern, and but for a few brief months the northern coast of that blue lake. In the middle of the harbour of Trieste, gay with Austrian frigates, and Neapolitan corvettes, lay the ‘Europa,’ a large steamer, which was to start for Alexandria at half-past eight. Before that hour we were all on board; soon afterwards we bade adieu to Europe, and doubling the Pirano point, stood down the Adriatic, skirting its rocky shores that were backed by the distant blue hills of Illyria. Up to this moment we had scarcely been able to look round us, so crowded were the decks with shore-people, bidding adieu to Indian passengers, and Alexandria merchants; but when delivered from these intruders, we found ourselves in a large and commodious vessel, about the size of the boats plying between Liverpool and Glasgow. Some thirty persons were walking the deck, a few smoking cigars, and others lighting long chibouques, as if, on weighing anchor to quit Europe, we were already in the East. We might have thought that this was indeed the case; for the thick awning could not protect us from the intense heat of the sun; and the Gulf of Venice, unruffled by a single wave, looked more like a mirror than a sea. As soon as we were well off, I observed a young Englishman, in a spirit characteristic of our country, attack the captain about the passage—as to whether it was likely to be rough or pleasant, with many similar unanswerable questions as though the weather could be insured for the next five days in the most changeable of waters. The captain—and when does that authority not pretend to know the future movements of the winds and waves?—averred that it would be a dead calm to Corfu, and thence a “nasty bit.” That the dead calm might to a landsman be a stiff breeze, I well knew; but the prospect of the “nasty bit” was really serious, and remained a bug-bear to all concerned till the end of the voyage. Like many such things, however, it proved more imaginary than real; and we arrived at Alexandria after a beautiful passage of five days, no one on board having any cause for disagreeable impressions. Alexandria is flat, as is indeed all Egypt, up to the mountains which form the Valley of the Nile. We were nearly at the end of our voyage before we discerned any trace of the famous shores of Egypt; and then we saw only the summit of Pompey’s Pillar, rising up, like some witness from the past, to notify their antiquity and fame. Almost at the same moment, we distinguished the masts of the Pasha’s fleet, and about half an hour afterwards we could see the sand hills of Alexandria. At length, we reached the port, entering through a channel between two rocks, not two hundred yards apart, which constitute the natural defence of one of the strongest harbours in the Mediterranean. The instant we dropped anchor, the steamer was surrounded by boats, some bringing off friends, and others sanitary officers; while many twenty-four or thirty oared boats, full of sailors of the Pasha’s fleet, dressed in white, kept continually passing and repassing, spite of the burning sun, with all the animation of a regatta. In a few moments our deck was covered. We had several ladies on board, who had come to rejoin their husbands: they had deserted them and fled to Trieste on the approach of the cholera—notwithstanding their conjugal vow as to sickness and health. Their neglected spouses had hastened to receive them, and were much affected at the reunion, sobbing like so many children. Whether this, however, was in token of gladness, or in lamentation for the loss of the liberty enjoyed during their bereavement, it were hard to say. I observed that the gentlemen kissed one another, and was surprised to find, on inquiry, that no relationship existed between them, but that they were merely acquaintances. The ladies, though it is their peculiar privilege in our own happy land, were not complimented with these marks of affection; so completely is the order of things reversed in this country! Accompanied by a friend, who had kindly taken rooms for us at the principal hotel, we made our way to the shore, where a carriage and some donkeys, the animals most in fashion here, were pressed into service, and we proceeded towards the great square, the chosen quarter of the Franks. In the afternoon Mr.—— acted as our cicerone to the lions of Alexandria. This, the first Eastern town to Europeans, and last of their country to the Arabs—is of considerable extent. The houses are all flat-roofed, and being chiefly white, look peculiarly glaring under the burning sun of Egypt. The principal European square is a very gay place; and there the traveller may take a last look at the mantillas, polkas, silks, crapes, large-pattern trowsers, and black hats, which adorn the English and French visitors and merchants, as they walk up and down on the shaded side, parading themselves in the latest imported fashions. Each Consul has his national flag flying from a high flagstaff, surrounded by a circular staircase, from the top of which he can command a view of the flat-roofed houses; the harbour sparkling with the flags of all nations, and the beautiful blue sea beyond. English people, averse as they are to public scrutiny, would, if exposed to it, consider these points of view extremely disagreeable, they afford the means of discovering all that is going on in neighbouring houses which they overlook. In our way round the town we were obliged to resort once more to the donkeys, and, to say the truth, they made no bad steeds. They are a different race from those of England. The Egyptian donkey is always pulling away at his bit, and is anxious to be off as fast as possible. He never lies down, goes well, and scarcely ever seems spent. Instead of a saddle, his equipment is a cushion of carpets, strapped over his sleek and well-kept hide affording a comfortable seat.

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Nine Faces Of Kenya - Elspeth Huxley Cover Art

Nine Faces Of Kenya

Nine Faces Of Kenya by Elspeth Huxley

In this marvelous anthology, Elspeth Huxley, our best and most popular writer on Africa, has drawn on her unparalleled knowledge of Kenya and its literature to present a fully rounded portrait of one of the most fascinating countries in the world. In nine sections focusing on exploration, travel, settlement, war, hunting, wildlife, environment, life-styles, and legend and poetry, using only first-hand accounts, she guides the reader through the story of Kenya from AD100 to the present with her characteristic candour and directness.

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Atlantic - Simon Winchester Cover Art

Atlantic

Atlantic Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms,and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories by Simon Winchester

"Variably genial, cautionary, lyrical, admonitory, terrifying, horrifying and inspiring…A lifetime of thought, travel, reading, imagination and memory inform this affecting account." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Blending history and anecdote, geography and reminiscence, science and exposition, New York Times bestselling author Simon Winchester tells the breathtaking saga of the Atlantic Ocean in a masterful work of narrative nonfiction. A gifted storyteller and consummate historian, Winchester sets the great blue sea's epic narrative against the backdrop of mankind's history of exploration and intellectual evolution, telling not only the story of an ocean, but the story of civilization. Fans of Winchester's Krakatoa, The Man Who Loved China , and The Professor and the Madman will love this masterful, penetrating, and resonant tale of humanity finding its way across the ocean of history. How did a sea once seen as an impassable barrier become the cradle of Western civilization? A Biography of an Ocean: Follow the Atlantic from its violent geological birth millions of years ago, through its vibrant middle age, to its predicted eventual demise. Maritime History: Discover the human story—from exploration and trade to piracy and warfare—told through the unique framework of Shakespeare’s Seven Ages of Man. Science and Storytelling: Journey with Winchester as he blends personal anecdote from his own sea voyages with deep scientific and historical research. The Story of Civilization: Understand how this single body of water became the fulcrum for the modern world, connecting continents and shaping empires.

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The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu - Joshua Hammer Cover Art

The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu

The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu And Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts by Joshua Hammer

**New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice** To save ancient Arabic texts from Al Qaeda, a band of librarians pulls off a brazen heist worthy of Ocean’s Eleven in this “fast-paced narrative that is…part intellectual history, part geopolitical tract, and part out-and-out thriller” ( The Washington Post ) from the award-winning journalist and author of The Falcon Thief . In the 1980s, a young adventurer and collector for a government library, Abdel Kader Haidara, journeyed across the Sahara Desert and along the Niger River, tracking down and salvaging tens of thousands of ancient Islamic and secular manuscripts that were crumbling in the trunks of desert shepherds. His goal: preserve this crucial part of the world’s patrimony in a gorgeous library. But then Al Qaeda showed up at the door. “Part history, part scholarly adventure story, and part journalist survey…Joshua Hammer writes with verve and expertise” ( The New York Times Book Review ) about how Haidara, a mild-mannered archivist from the legendary city of Timbuktu, became one of the world’s greatest smugglers by saving the texts from sure destruction. With bravery and patience, Haidara organized a dangerous operation to sneak all 350,000 volumes out of the city to the safety of southern Mali. His heroic heist “has all the elements of a classic adventure novel” ( The Seattle Times ), and is a reminder that ordinary citizens often do the most to protect the beauty of their culture. His the story is one of a man who, through extreme circumstances, discovered his higher calling and was changed forever by it.

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There Was a Country - Chinua Achebe Cover Art

There Was a Country

There Was a Country A Memoir by Chinua Achebe

From the legendary author of Things Fall Apart —a long-awaited memoir of coming of age in a fragile new nation, and its destruction in a tragic civil war For more than forty years, Chinua Achebe maintained a considered silence on the events of the Nigerian civil war, also known as the Biafran War, of 1967–1970, addressing them only obliquely through his poetry. Decades in the making, There Was a Country is a towering account of one of modern Africa’s most disastrous events, from a writer whose words and courage left an enduring stamp on world literature. A marriage of history and memoir, vivid firsthand observation and decades of research and reflection, There Was a Country is a work whose wisdom and compassion remind us of Chinua Achebe’s place as one of the great literary and moral voices of our age.

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Africa: A History - Alvin M. Josephy Cover Art

Africa: A History

Africa: A History by Alvin M. Josephy

Most of us still know less about Africa's past and peoples than we do about the continent's wild animals. And what we do know is colored by romance - safaris and treks and camel caravans, Solomon's mine and Tutankhamun's curse, the shores of Tripoli and the snows of Kilimanjaro. Yet the ancestor of all humankind may have lived in Africa. The world's longest-lived, literate civilization was African. Through the ages, great civilizations rose and fell in what was once called "darkest" Africa, leaving behind mysterious fortresses and splendid art. Christianity and Islam battled age-old beliefs - and each other. Traders on camels were followed by explorers in caravels and by a plague of invaders, hungry for ivory and diamonds and the "black gold" of slavery. In just the last half century, independence has swept away the old maps and colonial ways to jar the balance of the world. Here is Africa's story.

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Machete Season - Jean Hatzfeld & Linda Coverdale Cover Art

Machete Season

Machete Season The Killers in Rwanda Speak by Jean Hatzfeld & Linda Coverdale

A chilling and illuminating account of the Rwandan genocide, as told by the killers themselves. In Machete Season , veteran foreign correspondent Jean Hatzfeld reports on his interviews with nine Hutu killers who participated in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, during which 800,000 Tutsis were massacred by their Hutu fellow citizens—about 10,000 a day, mostly hacked to death by machete. The killers, all friends from a single region, helped slaughter 50,000 out of their 59,000 Tutsi neighbors. Now in prison, some awaiting execution, they provide extraordinary testimony about the genocide they perpetrated. With shocking candor, the men describe how the killing was easier than farming, recount their first murders, and reflect on their actions. Hatzfeld's lucid and humane meditation on their horrific testimony considers what this means for human morality and ethics. Suggesting that such atrocities may be within the realm of ordinary human conduct, this disturbing yet enlightening book offers a new perspective on the foundations of morality in the wake of crimes against humanity.

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South Africa: History in an Hour - Anthony Holmes Cover Art

South Africa: History in an Hour

South Africa: History in an Hour by Anthony Holmes

Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour. With the passing of Nelson Mandela, ‘the father of the nation’, comes the end of an era, and the moment to look back on his remarkable saving, and remaking, of South Africa. After years of oppression and racial inequality, concentrated violence and apartheid, Mandela led the country to unite ‘for the freedom of us all’ as the country’s first black President. SOUTH AFRICA: HISTORY IN AN HOUR gives a lively account of the formation of modern South Africa, from the first contact with seventeenth-century European sailors, through the colonial era, the Boer Wars, apartheid and the establishment of a tolerant democracy in the late twentieth century. Here is a clear and fascinating overview of the emergence of the ‘Rainbow Nation’. Know your stuff: read about South African history in just one hour. Reviews ‘If the past is a foreign country, History in an Hour is like a high-class tour operator, offering delightfully enjoyable short breaks in the rich and diverse continent of our shared past’ Dominic Sandbrook ‘The practice of History is ever-evolving, and the History In An Hour idea brings it back up to date for the digital age’ Andrew Roberts, Bookseller ‘This is genius’ MacWorld.com About the author After a career in the management of international engineering companies, Anthony Holmes retired in 2000 and from that time he has concentrated on writing books and articles, mainly in the field of history. He has lived in South Africa since 1949 and witnessed the events leading up to the transition to a fully democratic country in 1994.

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Playing the Enemy - John Carlin Cover Art

Playing the Enemy

Playing the Enemy Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation by John Carlin

Read the book that inspired the Academy Award and Golden Globe winning 2009 film INVICTUS featuring Morgan Freeman and Matt Daymon, directed by Clint Eastwood. Beginning in a jail cell and ending in a rugby tournament- the true story of how the most inspiring charm offensive in history brought South Africa together. After being released from prison and winning South Africa's first free election, Nelson Mandela presided over a country still deeply divided by fifty years of apartheid. His plan was ambitious if not far-fetched: use the national rugby team, the Springboks-long an embodiment of white-supremacist rule-to embody and engage a new South Africa as they prepared to host the 1995 World Cup. The string of wins that followed not only defied the odds, but capped Mandela's miraculous effort to bring South Africans together again in a hard-won, enduring bond.

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Into Africa - Thomas Sterling Cover Art

Into Africa

Into Africa by Thomas Sterling

When the explorer René Caillié returned to France from Africa in 1828, he published a sketch of the legendary city he had discovered - Timbuctoo. But neither that simple drawing nor his matter-of-fact description gave Caillié’s countrymen a sufficiently colorful picture to match their preconceptions of how Africa should look. They turned their backs on the young explorer, ignored his accomplishments, and let him die neglected. Here are the epic adventures of the European explorers who opened Africa – from Mongo Park and Vasco da Gama to Francis Burton and David Livingstone and Henry Stanley.

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Invictus - John Carlin Cover Art

Invictus

Invictus Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation by John Carlin

Read the book that inspired the Academy Award and Golden Globe winning  2009 film INVICTUS featuring Morgan Freeman and Matt Daymon, directed by Clint Eastwood. Beginning in a jail cell and ending in a rugby tournament—the true story of how the most inspiring charm offensive in history brought South Africa together. After being released from prison and winning South Africa’s first free election, Nelson Mandela presided over a country still deeply divided by fifty years of apartheid. His plan was ambitious if not far-fetched: use the national rugby team, the Springboks—long an embodiment of white-supremacist rule—to embody and engage a new South Africa as they prepared to host the 1995 World Cup. The string of wins that followed not only defied the odds, but capped Mandela’s miraculous effort to bring South Africans together again in a hard-won, enduring bond.

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How Europe Underdeveloped Africa - Walter Rodney & Angela Davis Cover Art

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney & Angela Davis

“A call to arms in the class struggle for racial equity”—the hugely influential work of political theory and history, now powerfully introduced by Angela Davis ( Los Angeles Review of Books ).   This legendary classic on European colonialism in Africa stands alongside C.L.R. James’ Black Jacobins , Eric Williams’ Capitalism & Slavery , and W.E.B. Dubois’ Black Reconstruction . In his short life, the Guyanese intellectual Walter Rodney emerged as one of the leading thinkers and activists of the anticolonial revolution, leading movements in North America, South America, the African continent, and the Caribbean. In each locale, Rodney found himself a lightning rod for working class Black Power. His deportation catalyzed 20th century Jamaica's most significant rebellion, the 1968 Rodney riots, and his scholarship trained a generation how to think politics at an international scale. In 1980, shortly after founding of the Working People's Alliance in Guyana, the 38-year-old Rodney would be assassinated. In his magnum opus, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa , Rodney incisively argues that grasping "the great divergence" between the west and the rest can only be explained as the exploitation of the latter by the former. This meticulously researched analysis of the abiding repercussions of European colonialism on the continent of Africa has not only informed decades of scholarship and activism, it remains an indispensable study for grasping global inequality today.

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The Explorers - Martin Dugard Cover Art

The Explorers

The Explorers A Story of Fearless Outcasts, Blundering Geniuses, and Impossible Success by Martin Dugard

Learn to unlock your inner explorer in this riveting account of a great, forbidding adventure and “a fascinating examination of the seven key traits of history’s most famous explorers…[with] infusions of insight and enthusiasm” ( Publishers Weekly , starred review). In 1856, two intrepid adventurers, Richard Frances Burton and John Hanning Speke, set off to unravel a geographical unknown: the location of the Nile River’s source. They traveled deep into an uncharted African wilderness together, arrived at two different solutions to the mystery, and parted ways as sworn enemies. The feud became an international sensation on their return to England, and a public debate was scheduled to decide whose theory was correct. What followed was a massive spectacle with an outcome no one could have foreseen. In The Explorers , New York Times bestselling author Martin Dugard shares the rich saga of the Burton and Speke expedition and guides readers through the seven traits that history’s most legendary explorers called on to survive their impossible journeys. In doing so, Dugard demonstrates that these traits have a most practical application in everyday life. We see St. Brendan the Navigator, driven by hope, sail into the unknown, and the curiosity that inspired John Ledyard to attempt to walk around the globe, and the perseverance Howard Carter needed to discover Tutankhamen’s tomb. From these and other examples, Dugard extracts lessons for unlocking the explorer in us all.

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The Fall of the Ottomans - Eugene Rogan Cover Art

The Fall of the Ottomans

The Fall of the Ottomans The Great War in the Middle East by Eugene Rogan

An International Bestseller * An Economist Best Book of the Year The thrilling and definitive history of World War I in the Middle East. “A page-turner as well as an accurate and comprehensive history of the Ottoman struggle for survival…. Remarkable.” — Wall Street Journal By 1914 the powers of Europe were sliding inexorably toward war, and they pulled the Middle East along with them into one of the most destructive conflicts in human history. In The Fall of the Ottomans , award-winning historian Eugene Rogan brings the First World War and its immediate aftermath in the Middle East to vivid life, uncovering the often ignored story of the region's crucial role in the conflict. Unlike the static killing fields of the Western Front, the war in the Middle East was fast-moving and unpredictable, with the Turks inflicting decisive defeats on the Entente in Gallipoli, Mesopotamia, and Gaza before the tide of battle turned in the Allies’ favor. The postwar settlement led to the partition of Ottoman lands, laying the groundwork for the ongoing conflicts that continue to plague the modern Arab world. A sweeping narrative of battles and political intrigue from Gallipoli to Arabia, The Fall of the Ottomans is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the Great War and the making of the modern Middle East.

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The Looting Machine - Tom Burgis Cover Art

The Looting Machine

The Looting Machine Warlords, Oligarchs, Corporations, Smugglers, and the Theft of Africa's Wealth by Tom Burgis

An “impressive” ( Wall Street Journal ) exposé of  twenty-first century individuals and companies who have become obscenely rich from the resource trade in Africa Africa is the world’s poorest continent and, arguably, its richest. In The Looting Machine , Tom Burgis takes readers on a gripping journey into the world of the magnates and militiamen, the despots and jet-setting executives who gorge on Africa’s vast stocks of oil, gas, metals, and precious stones. Combining deep reporting with an action-packed narrative, Burgis presents a blistering investigation of the plunder of a continent and the terrible human toll.

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Imperial Reckoning - Caroline Elkins Cover Art

Imperial Reckoning

Imperial Reckoning The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya by Caroline Elkins

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction “Caroline Elkins has written an important book that can change our understanding not just of Africa but of ourselves. —Bill Berkeley, author of The Graves Are Not Yet Full: Race, Tribe and Power in the Heart of Africa A major work of history that for the first time reveals the violence and terror at the heart of Britain's civilizing mission in Kenya. As part of the Allied forces, thousands of Kenyans fought alongside the British in World War II. But just a few years after the defeat of Hitler, the British colonial government detained nearly the entire population of Kenya's largest ethnic minority, the Kikuyu—some one and a half million people. The compelling story of the system of prisons and work camps where thousands met their deaths has remained largely untold—the victim of a determined effort by the British to destroy all official records of their attempts to stop the Mau Mau uprising, the Kikuyu people's ultimately successful bid for Kenyan independence. Caroline Elkins, an assistant professor of history at Harvard University, spent a decade in London, Nairobi, and the Kenyan countryside interviewing hundreds of Kikuyu men and women who survived the British camps, as well as the British and African loyalists who detained them. The result is an unforgettable account of the unraveling of the British colonial empire in Kenya—a pivotal moment in twentieth-century history with chilling parallels to America's own imperial project.

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Too Close to the Sun - Sara Wheeler Cover Art

Too Close to the Sun

Too Close to the Sun The Audacious Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton by Sara Wheeler

Denys Finch Hatton was adored by women and idolized by men. A champion of Africa, legendary for his good looks, his charm, and his prowess as a soldier, lover, and hunter, Finch Hatton inspired Karen Blixen to write the unforgettable stories in Out of Africa . Now esteemed British biographer Sara Wheeler tells the truth about this extraordinarily charismatic adventurer. Born to an old aristocratic family that had gambled away most of its fortune, Finch Hatton grew up in a world of effortless elegance and boundless power. Tall and graceful, with the soul of a poet and an athlete’s relaxed masculinity, he became a hero without trying at Eton and Oxford. In 1910, searching for novelty and danger, Finch Hatton arrived in British East Africa and fell in love–with a continent, with a landscape, with a way of life that was about to change forever. Wheeler brilliantly conjures the mystical beauty of Kenya at a time when teeming herds of wild animals roamed unmolested across pristine savannah. No one was more deeply attuned to this beauty than Finch Hatton–and no one more bitterly mourned its passing when the outbreak of World War I engulfed the region in a protracted, bloody guerrilla conflict. Finch Hatton was serving as a captain in the Allied forces when he met Karen Blixen in Nairobi and embarked on one of the great love affairs of the twentieth century. With delicacy and grace, Wheeler teases out truth from fiction in the liaison that Blixen herself immortalized in Out of Africa . Intellectual equals, bound by their love for the continent and their inimitable sense of style, Finch Hatton and Blixen were genuine pioneers in a land that was quickly being transformed by violence, greed, and bigotry. Ever restless, Finch Hatton wandered into a career as a big-game hunter and became an expert bush pilot; his passion that led to his affair with the notoriously unconventional aviatrix Beryl Markham. But Markham was no more able to hold him than Blixen had been. Mesmerized all his life by the allure of freedom and danger, Finch Hatton was, writes Wheeler, “the open road made flesh.” In painting a portrait of an irresistible man, Sara Wheeler has beautifully captured the heady glamour of the vanished paradise of colonial East Africa. In Too Close to the Sun she has crafted a book that is as ravishing as its subject.

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A Savage War of Peace - Alistair Horne Cover Art

A Savage War of Peace

A Savage War of Peace Algeria 1954-1962 by Alistair Horne

This celebrated history of the Algerian War “captures a contingent moment in the conflict between the West and the Arab world”, reminding us that “modern history is not made by the ‘clash of civilizations’ but by people” ( Harper’s Magazine ).   “This universally acclaimed history . . . should have been mandatory reading for the civilian and military leaders who opted to invade Iraq.” — The Washington Times The Algerian War lasted from 1954 to 1962. It brought down six French governments, led to the collapse of the Fourth Republic, returned de Gaulle to power, and came close to provoking a civil war on French soil. More than a million Muslim Algerians died in the conflict and as many European settlers were driven into exile. Above all, the war was marked by an unholy marriage of revolutionary terror and repressive torture. Nearly a half century has passed since this savagely fought war ended in Algeria’s independence, and yet—as Alistair Horne argues in his new preface to his now-classic work of history—its repercussions continue to be felt not only in Algeria and France, but throughout the world. Indeed from today’s vantage point the Algerian War looks like a full-dress rehearsal for the sort of amorphous struggle that convulsed the Balkans in the 1990s and that now ravages the Middle East, from Beirut to Baghdad—struggles in which questions of religion, nationalism, imperialism, and terrorism take on a new and increasingly lethal intensity. A Savage War of Peace is the definitive history of the Algerian War, a book that brings that terrible and complicated struggle to life with intelligence, assurance, and unflagging momentum. It is essential reading for our own violent times as well as a lasting monument to the historian’s art.

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Between Man and Beast - Monte Reel Cover Art

Between Man and Beast

Between Man and Beast An Unlikely Explorer and the African Adventure the Victorian World by Storm by Monte Reel

In 1856, Paul Du Chaillu ventured into the African jungle in search of a mythic beast, the gorilla. After wild encounters with vicious cannibals, deadly snakes, and tribal kings, Du Chaillu emerged with 20 preserved gorilla skins—two of which were stuffed and brought on tour—and walked smack dab into the biggest scientific debate of the time: Darwin's theory of evolution. Quickly, Du Chaillu's trophies went from objects of wonder to key pieces in an all-out intellectual war. With a wide range of characters, including Abraham Lincoln, Arthur Conan Doyle, P.T Barnum, Thackeray, and of course, Charles Darwin, this is a one of a kind book about a singular moment in history.

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They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky - Benjamin Ajak, Alephonsion Deng, Benson Deng & Judy A. Bernstein Cover Art

They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky

They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky The Story of Three Lost Boys from Sudan by Benjamin Ajak, Alephonsion Deng, Benson Deng & Judy A. Bernstein

The inspiring story of three young Sudanese boys who were driven from their homes by civil war and began an epic odyssey of survival, facing life-threatening perils, ultimately finding their way to a new life in America “A moving, beautifully written account, by turns raw and tender.” — Los Angeles Times A  Washington Post  Best Book of the Year Between 1987 and 1989, Alepho, Benjamin, and Benson, like tens of thousands of young boys, took flight from the massacres of Sudan's civil war. They became known as the Lost Boys. With little more than the clothes on their backs, sometimes not even that, they streamed out over Sudan in search of refuge. Their journey led them first to Ethiopia and then, driven back into Sudan, toward Kenya. They walked nearly one thousand miles, sustained only by the sheer will to live. They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky is the three boys' account of that unimaginable journey. With the candor and the purity of their child's-eye-vision, Alephonsion, Benjamin, and Benson recall by turns: how they endured the hunger and strength-sapping illnesses-dysentery, malaria, and yellow fever; how they dodged the life-threatening predators-lions, snakes, crocodiles and soldiers alike-that dogged their footsteps; and how they grappled with a war that threatened continually to overwhelm them. Their story is a lyrical, captivating, timeless portrait of a childhood hurled into wartime and how they had the good fortune and belief in themselves to survive.  

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Country of My Skull - Antjie Krog Cover Art

Country of My Skull

Country of My Skull Guilt, Sorrow, and the Limits of Forgiveness in the New South Africa by Antjie Krog

Ever since Nelson Mandela dramatically walked out of prison in 1990 after twenty-seven years behind bars, South Africa has been undergoing a radical transformation. In one of the most miraculous events of the century, the oppressive system of apartheid was dismantled. Repressive laws mandating separation of the races were thrown out. The country, which had been carved into a crazy quilt that reserved the most prosperous areas for whites and the most desolate and backward for blacks, was reunited. The dreaded and dangerous security force, which for years had systematically tortured, spied upon, and harassed people of color and their white supporters, was dismantled. But how could this country--one of spectacular beauty and promise--come to terms with its ugly past? How could its people, whom the oppressive white government had pitted against one another, live side by side as friends and neighbors? To begin the healing process, Nelson Mandela created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, headed by the renowned cleric Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Established in 1995, the commission faced the awesome task of hearing the testimony of the victims of apartheid as well as the oppressors. Amnesty was granted to those who offered a full confession of any crimes associated with apartheid. Since the commission began its work, it has been the central player in a drama that has riveted the country. In this book, Antjie Krog, a South African journalist and poet who has covered the work of the commission, recounts the drama, the horrors, the wrenching personal stories of the victims and their families. Through the testimonies of victims of abuse and violence, from the appearance of Winnie Mandela to former South African president P. W. Botha's extraordinary courthouse press conference, this award-winning poet leads us on an amazing journey. Country of My Skull captures the complexity of the Truth Commission's work. The narrative is often traumatic, vivid, and provocative. Krog's powerful prose lures the reader actively and inventively through a mosaic of insights, impressions, and secret themes. This compelling tale is Antjie Krog's profound literary account of the mending of a country that was in colossal need of change.

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Dancing in the Glory of Monsters - Jason K. Stearns Cover Art

Dancing in the Glory of Monsters

Dancing in the Glory of Monsters The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa by Jason K. Stearns

A “meticulously researched and comprehensive” (Financial Times) history of the devastating war in the heart of Africa’s Congo   At the heart of Africa is the Congo, a country the size of western Europe. It borders nine other nations, and since 1996 it has been racked by a brutal war in which millions have died. In Dancing in the Glory of Monsters , renowned political activist and researcher Jason K. Stearns has written a compelling and deeply reported narrative of how Congo became a failed state that collapsed into a war of retaliatory massacres. Stearns brilliantly describes the key perpetrators, many of whom he met personally, and highlights the nature of the political system that brought these people to power, as well as the moral decisions with which the war confronted them. Now updated with a new introduction, Dancing in the Glory of Monsters tells the full story of Africa’s great war.

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Mukiwa - Peter Godwin Cover Art

Mukiwa

Mukiwa A White Boy in Africa by Peter Godwin

Mukiwa opens with Peter Godwin, six years old, describing the murder of his neighbor by African guerillas, in 1964, pre-war Rhodesia. Godwin's parents are liberal whites, his mother a governement-employed doctor, his father an engineer. Through his innocent, young eyes, the story of the beginning of the end of white rule in Africa unfolds. The memoir follows Godwin's personal journey from the eve of war in Rhodesia to his experience fighting in the civil war that he detests to his adventures as a journalist in the new state of Zimbabwe, covering the bloody return to Black rule. With each transition Godwin's voice develops, from that of a boy to a young man to an adult returning to his homeland. This tale of the savage struggle between blacks and whites as the British Colonial period comes to an end is set against the vividly painted background of the myserious world of South Africa.

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The Fate of Africa - Martin Meredith Cover Art

The Fate of Africa

The Fate of Africa A History of the Continent Since Independence by Martin Meredith

The definitive story of African nations after they emerged from colonialism -- from Mugabe's doomed kleptocracy to Mandela's inspiring defeat of apartheid. The Fate of Africa has been hailed by reviewers as "A masterpiece....The nonfiction book of the year" ( The New York Post ); "a magnificent achievement" ( Weekly Standard ); "a joy," ( Wall Street Journal ) and "one of the decade's most important works on Africa" ( Publishers Weekly , starred review). Spanning the full breadth of the continent, from the bloody revolt in Algiers against the French to Zimbabwe's civil war, Martin Meredith's classic history focuses on the key personalities, events and themes of the independence era, and explains the myriad problems that Africa has faced in the past half-century. It covers recent events like the ongoing conflict in Sudan, the controversy over Western aid, the exploitation of Africa's resources, and the growing importance and influence of China.

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White Gold - Giles Milton Cover Art

White Gold

White Gold The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and Islam's One Million White Slaves by Giles Milton

Giles Milton's White Gold tells the true story of white European slaves in eighteenth century Algiers, Tunis, and Morocco. "An elegantly discursive retelling . . . customarily elegant prose." --Simon Winchester, The Boston Globe In the summer of 1716, a Cornish cabin boy named Thomas Pellow and fifty-one of his comrades were captured at sea by Barbary corsairs. Their captors--Ali Hakem and his network of Islamic slave traders--had declared war on the whole of Christendom. Pellow and his shipmates were bought by the tyrannical sultan of Morocco. Drawn from the unpublished letters and manuscripts of Pellow and survivors like him, Giles Milton's White Gold is a fascinating glimpse at a time long forgotten by history.