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

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The Darker Nations - Vijay Prashad Cover Art

The Darker Nations

The Darker Nations A People's History of the Third World by Vijay Prashad

Here, from a brilliant young writer, is a paradigm-shifting history of both a utopian concept and global movement—the idea of the Third World. The Darker Nations traces the intellectual origins and the political history of the twentieth century attempt to knit together the world’s impoverished countries in opposition to the United States and Soviet spheres of influence in the decades following World War II. Spanning every continent of the global South, Vijay Prashad’s fascinating narrative takes us from the birth of postcolonial nations after World War II to the downfall and corruption of nationalist regimes. A breakthrough book of cutting-edge scholarship, it includes vivid portraits of Third World giants like India’s Nehru, Egypt’s Nasser, and Indonesia’s Sukarno—as well as scores of extraordinary but now-forgotten intellectuals, artists, and freedom fighters. The Darker Nations restores to memory the vibrant though flawed idea of the Third World, whose demise, Prashad ultimately argues, has produced a much impoverished international political arena.

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The Autobiography of W. E. B. DuBois - W. E. B. Du Bois Cover Art

The Autobiography of W. E. B. DuBois

The Autobiography of W. E. B. DuBois by W. E. B. Du Bois

The present volume is quite different from the other two autobiographies by Du Bois not only because of its additional two-decade span, and the significantly altered outlook of its author, but also because in it—unlike the others—he seeks, as he writes, "to review my life as frankly and fully as I can." Of course, with the directness and honesty which so decisively characterized him, he reminds the reader of this book of the intense subjectivity that inevitably permeates autobiography; hence, he writes, he offers this account of his life as he understood it and as he—would like others to believe—it to have been. Certainly, while Dr. Du Bois was deep in his ninth decade when he died, longevity was the least remarkable feature of his life. As editor, author, lecturer, scholar, organizer, inspirer, and fighter, he was among the most consequential figures of the twentieth century. Necessarily, therefore, the full and final accounting of that life and his times becomes an indispensable volume.

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Kenya - Daniel Branch Cover Art

Kenya

Kenya Between Hope and Despair, 1963-2011 by Daniel Branch

On December 12, 1963, people across Kenya joyfully celebrated independence from British colonial rule, anticipating a bright future of prosperity and social justice. As the nation approaches the fiftieth anniversary of its independence, however, the people's dream remains elusive. During its first five decades Kenya has experienced assassinations, riots, coup attempts, ethnic violence, and political corruption. The ranks of the disaffected, the unemployed, and the poor have multiplied. In this authoritative and insightful account of Kenya's history from 1963 to the present day, Daniel Branch sheds new light on the nation's struggles and the complicated causes behind them. Branch describes how Kenya constructed itself as a state and how ethnicity has proved a powerful force in national politics from the start, as have disorder and violence. He explores such divisive political issues as the needs of the landless poor, international relations with Britain and with the Cold War superpowers, and the direction of economic development. Tracing an escalation of government corruption over time, the author brings his discussion to the present, paying particular attention to the rigged election of 27, the subsequent compromise government, and Kenya's prospects as a still-evolving independent state.

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A Handful of Hard Men - Hannes Wessels Cover Art

A Handful of Hard Men

A Handful of Hard Men The SAS and the Battle for Rhodesia by Hannes Wessels

A biography of a Special Forces soldier who battled the forces of Mugabe and Nkomo, earning a reputation as a military maestro.   During the West's great transition into the post-colonial age, the country of Rhodesia refused to succumb quietly, and throughout the 1970s, fought back almost alone against Communist-supported elements that it did not believe would deliver proper governance. During this long war, many heroes emerged, but none more skillful and courageous than Capt. Darrell Watt of the Rhodesian SAS, who placed himself at the tip of the spear in the deadly battle to resist the forces of Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo.   It is difficult to find another soldier's story to equal Watt's in terms of time spent on the field of battle and challenges faced. Even by the lofty standards of the SAS and Special Forces, one has to look far to find anyone who can match his record of resilience and valor in the face of such daunting odds and with resources so paltry. A bush-lore genius, blessed with uncanny instincts and an unbridled determination, he had no peers as a combat-tracker—and there was plenty of competition. The Rhodesian theater was a fluid and volatile one, in which he performed in almost every imaginable fighting role: as an airborne shock-trooper leading camp attacks, long range reconnaissance operator, covert urban operator, sniper, saboteur, seek-and-strike expert, and, in the final stages, as a key figure in mobilizing an allied army in neighboring Mozambique. After twelve years in the cauldron of war, his cause slipped from beneath him, however, and Rhodesia gave way to Zimbabwe.   When the guns went quiet, Watt had won all his battles but lost the war. In this fascinating biography we learn that in his later years, he turned to saving wildlife on a continent where animals are in continued danger, devoting himself to both the fauna and African people he has cared so deeply about.

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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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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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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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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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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, with first-hand accounts of the continent's worst conflict in modern times. At the heart of Africa is the Congo, a country the size of Western Europe, bordering nine other nations, that since 1996 has been wracked 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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A Human Being Died That Night - Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela Cover Art

A Human Being Died That Night

A Human Being Died That Night A South African Woman Confronts the Legacy of Apartheid by Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela

Winner of the 2024 Templeton Prize “The story of an almost unimaginable dialogue…an exploration of evil, innocence, and the gray spaces in between.”— New York Times “A startlingly personal account…written with clarity, energy, and enormous empathy”— Washington Post A Mariner Books Classic Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, internationally reknowned for her understanding of violent histories and transgenerational trauma, recounts an extraordinary dialogue. As her book opens, in an act of inescapable symbolism and psychological courage, she enters Pretoria’s maximum security prison to meet Eugene de Kock, called “Prime Evil” for his role as killing machine for South Africa’s Apartheid regime. What follows is a journey into what it means to be human. In arresting scenes, Gobodo-Madikizela, who grew up in a Black township during apartheid South Africa, conveys her struggle with contradictory impulses to hold de Kock accountable and to forgive. Ultimately, she allows us to witness his extraordinary awakening of conscience. The author’s profound understanding of the language and memory of violence, and of the searingly complex issues surrounding apology and forgiveness after mass atrocity, have left a mark on international scholarship and on our emotional lives.   How does one confront the architect of apartheid’s atrocities—and find the empathy to see his humanity? A Dialogue with "Prime Evil": Step inside Pretoria’s maximum security prison for the unforgettable conversations between the author and Eugene de Kock, the head of apartheid’s death squad. The Psychology of Evil: A professional psychologist’s exploration of how ordinary people become perpetrators of state-sponsored terror, and whether a monster can rediscover his conscience. A Victim’s Empathy: The author grapples with her own history as a Black South African, navigating the stunning paradox of feeling compassion for the man who enforced her oppression. Beyond Retribution: An essential investigation into the difficult questions of justice, apology, and reconciliation in the aftermath of mass atrocity.

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African American Herbalism & Magick: A Practical Guide to Healing with Rituals, Plants and Ancestral Spells - Sofia Visconti Cover Art

African American Herbalism & Magick: A Practical Guide to Healing with Rituals, Plants and Ancestral Spells

African American Herbalism & Magick: A Practical Guide to Healing with Rituals, Plants and Ancestral Spells by Sofia Visconti

Are you curious about the healing traditions rooted in African American culture, or are you looking to reconnect with your ancestral heritage? Whether you want to reconnect or are just beginning to explore, this book will show you how to start using African American herbalism and magick —even if you've never practiced it before. You might think you need to be an expert or spend a lot of money to get started, but that's not the case.This book draws from centuries of African American traditions, guiding you step-by-step on how to use everyday plants and sacred rituals for healing and spiritual growth. Whether you're reconnecting with your cultural roots or exploring these practices for the first time, you'll find everything explained in a simple, accessible way. Here is a small taster of what you will discover inside: •Learn the history and significance of African American herbalism, passed down through generations. •Easy-to-follow instructions for using common herbs for healing and spiritual wellness. •Discover rituals and spells that honor African American traditions while helping you connect with nature and spirit. •Practical advice to incorporate these practices into your daily life without a big budget or lots of time. •Age-old secrets and practical advice to enrich your life, connect with your heritage and awaken your own magickal abilities. All of this and much, much more.. With easy steps, real-world advice, and the wisdom of these time-honored traditions, you'll bring balance, healing, and a deeper understanding of this powerful heritage into your life. Unlock the secrets of African American Herbalism & Magick and bring the power of ancestral wisdom into your life with this book.

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Echoes of a Glorious Past - African Empires and Cultures - Julius Thomas Cover Art

Echoes of a Glorious Past - African Empires and Cultures

Echoes of a Glorious Past - African Empires and Cultures by Julius Thomas

Africans and West Asians first fathered civilization. From Egypt, to Nubia, to Aksum, to Kush, to Carthage, to Ghana, Mali and Songhai and much more, Africans have always played a critical role in shaping the world with inventions, ingenuity, and advanced development.

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David Rattray's Guidebook to the Anglo-Zulu War Battlefields - David Rattray & Adrian Greaves Cover Art

David Rattray's Guidebook to the Anglo-Zulu War Battlefields

David Rattray's Guidebook to the Anglo-Zulu War Battlefields by David Rattray & Adrian Greaves

South African born and bred, David Rattray's name is today synonymous with the Anglo-Zulu War. Now for the first time, his encyclopaedic knowledge is available to the reading public. With its magnificent colour artwork, including superb paintings, detailed maps and lively and informative text, this book will be greatly welcomed by both readers at home and visitors to the sites themselves.

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Great Decisions 2026 - G. John Ikenberry & Foreign Policy Association Cover Art

Great Decisions 2026

Great Decisions 2026 by G. John Ikenberry & Foreign Policy Association

• America and the World: Trump 2.0 Foreign Policy Trump's return has marked a break from 80 years of U.S. foreign policy leadership, embracing an "America First" approach. This chapter explores the risks of isolation and diminished influence in relation to Trump 2.0 foreign policy. By G. John Ikenberry • Trump Tariffs and the Future of the World Economy Trump's aggressive trade and tariff policies have shaken global economic norms. What's the rationale behind this radical shift in economic policy, and what are the implications for multilateral trade and geopolitics? By Michael Mastanduno • U.S.-China Relations Relations with China remain tense, with tariffs, military modernization, and pressure on Taiwan. Does Trump have a coherent China policy, and will his tariffs on Rare Earth minerals be effective? What are America's strategic options? By Oriana Mastro • Ruptured Alliances and the Risk of Nuclear Proliferation U.S. alliance skepticism may drive countries like Japan and South Korea to reconsider nuclear options. What are the implications of the Trump administration's rethinking of the U.S. alliance system for regional and global security? Will this new uncertainty alter the way allies and rivals in various regions make decisions about security and nuclear weapons? By Gideon Rose • Ukraine and the Future of European Security With reduced U.S. support for NATO and Ukraine, Europe faces strategic uncertainty. The Trump administration has signaled an intention to reduce its security role in Europe. What are America's stakes in NATO and Europe's strategic dilemmas, and how might Europe respond? By Thomas Wright • Multilateral Institutions in a Changing World Order Can multilateralism survive amid shifting global power and rising nationalism? This chapter examines the future of global cooperation across trade, health, and finance. By Scott Bessent (SUBJECT TO CHANGE) • U.S. Engagement of Africa Africa's geopolitical role is growing. What lessons can the U.S. learn from China's presence there, and how might it strengthen ties, especially with leading nations like Nigeria? What tools of statecraft might the U.S. bring to its engagement with Africa? By Jendayi E. Frazer • The Future of Human Rights and International Law As democracy and human rights retreat globally—and the U.S. pulls back—how can civil society and legal norms remain effective in a divided world? What is the role and force of international law in this era of impunity?

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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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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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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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Diamonds, Gold, and War - Martin Meredith Cover Art

Diamonds, Gold, and War

Diamonds, Gold, and War The British, the Boers, and the Making of South Africa by Martin Meredith

Southern Africa was once regarded as a worthless jumble of British colonies, Boer republics, and African chiefdoms, a troublesome region of little interest to the outside world. But then prospectors chanced upon the world's richest deposits of diamonds and gold, setting off a titanic struggle between the British and the Boers for control of the land. The result was the costliest, bloodiest, and most humiliating war that Britain had waged in nearly a century, and the devastation of the Boer republics. The New Yorker calls this magisterial account of those years “[an] astute history.… Meredith expertly shows how the exigencies of the diamond (and then gold) rush laid the foundation for apartheid.”

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Hoodoo for Beginners: Connect To The Ancient Spirit World of Africa & Manifest Success With Spells, Root Magic, Conjuring, Herbs, Traditions, History & More - History Brought Alive Cover Art

Hoodoo for Beginners: Connect To The Ancient Spirit World of Africa & Manifest Success With Spells, Root Magic, Conjuring, Herbs, Traditions, History & More

Hoodoo for Beginners: Connect To The Ancient Spirit World of Africa & Manifest Success With Spells, Root Magic, Conjuring, Herbs, Traditions, History & More by History Brought Alive

Journey into The Mystical & Magical World of Hoodoo - from its African origins to its development in America. Hoodoo was a secret craft created by enslaved Africans in America to protect them from harm with the help of higher beings and their ancestors. It evolved from various traditional African religions and practices, and in the American South, incorporated elements of indigenous botanical knowledge. These practices taught believers how to invoke the blessings of spirits and deities through persuasion powers, herbs, rituals, spells, talismans, roots and nature. In this book you will discover historical facts, real stories and practices that prove the might of Hoodoo. Plus you will learn essential conjurer's tools for creating a bridge between the elements and spirits to open a doorway into the spiritual world. All of this and much more including: •Hoodoo History Uncovered - African Origins & The Transatlantic Slave Trade •Getting Started - From Black Magic to Conjuring, Spell Casting & More •A Practice of Evil? Harmful Intent? - Myths and Facts REVEALED •Rootworking, Herbs & Natures Elements to Heal, Manifest & Protect •Voodoo vs How Hoodoo is Different + Common Misconceptions & Truths Uncovered •Magical Tools of The Trade Explained - Gris Bags, Talismans, Candles, Powders & More •Ancestral Rituals & Harnessing The Cemetery Powers (communicate with the spirits for success, good fortune & healing) And much, much more If you're interested in the history, spells, rituals and you want to know all about this fascinating craft then join us on a journey into the mystical world of Hoodoo. Begin Your Journey with This Book

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The Troubled Heart of Africa - Robert B. Edgerton Cover Art

The Troubled Heart of Africa

The Troubled Heart of Africa A History of the Congo by Robert B. Edgerton

"This book serves as a basic primer on how one of the world's most mineral-rich countries was turned into one of its greatest tragedies." - Publishers Weekly Written over a century ago, Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness continues to dominate our vision of the Congo, unlikely as it might seem that a late-Victorian novella could encapsulate a country roughly equal in size to the United States east of the Mississippi. Conrad's Congo is hell itself, a place where civilization won't take, where literal and metaphor darknesses converge, and where human conduct, unmoored from social (Western, in other words) norms, turns barbaric. As Robert Edgerton shows in this crisply narrated yet sweeping work of history, the Congo is still trying to awaken from the nightmare of its past, struggling to pull free from the grip of the "heart of darkness" cliche. Plundered for centuries for its natural resources (which remain Africa's most abundant), the Congo was not always a place of horror. Before the Portuguese landed on its shores at the end of the 15th century, it was a prosperous and thriving region. The Congo River, the world's second longest as well as the deepest, and one of the only routes to the continent's interior, provided indigenous populations with ample means for living and trading. What the Portuguese found first to exploit were people, and with the slave trade began a dizzying downward spiral of conquest and degradation that continued for centuries. By the 19th century the race to explore the full length of the legendary river masked a fight for territorial and moral control among the French, Arabs, British, Germans, as well as American missionaries, all of whom dreamed of possessing Africa's very heart. When King Leopold of Belgium managed to solidify control in 1885, the Congo "question" seemed solved. His reign, of course, was almost pathological in its cruelty-the true source of Conrad's "horror"-and its grim legacy endures to this day. Edgerton documents the Congo's long, sad history with a sense of empathy with and admiration for the character of the land and its inhabitants. Since independence in June 1960, the country has endured the machinations and disappointments of one dictator after another, beginning with Patrice Lumumba, and continuing through Joseph Mobutu, Laurent Kabila, and today Kabila's son, Joseph, who assumed power after his father was assassinated in January 2001. Whether called the "Congo Free State," or "Zaire," or the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the country remains perilously unstable. The Troubled Heart of Africa is the only book to give a complete history of the Congo, filling in the blanks in the country's history before the advent of Henry Stanley, David Livingstone, King Leopold, and other figures, and carrying us straight into today's headlines. The Congo continues today to be the subject of intense speculation and concern, and with good reason: upon it hangs the fate of sub-Sahara Africa as a whole. Here is a book that helps us face the stark truths of the Congo's past and appreciate both the enormous potential and uncertainty of its future.

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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.

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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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Benghazi - Brandon Webb & Jack Murphy Cover Art

Benghazi

Benghazi The Definitive Report by Brandon Webb & Jack Murphy

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Written by the team of former Special Operations warriors who run SOFREP.com, here is the definitive account of what happened before, during, and after the deadly Benghazi attack that claimed the lives of four Americans. On September 12th, 2012, Brandon Webb learned Glen Doherty, one of his closest friends and his former Navy SEAL teammate, was killed alongside Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and two other Americans when the U.S. State Department and CIA headquarters in Benghazi, Libya, were sieged in a shocking terrorist attack. For the next four months, Webb and his team at SOFREP.com, the world’s premier Special Ops website, embarked on a relentless investigation to understand exactly what happened to their countrymen, as well as the roles played by the Obama administration, State Department, and CIA.  Drawing on unmatched sources, they spoke to individuals who would talk to no one else, including fellow Special Operations team members familiar with the African theatre, and to well-placed contacts in the Washington intelligence community. This is their report—an unforgettably gripping minute-by-minute narrative of the events and their aftermath as they really unfolded on that terrible day in Libya.

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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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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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The Desert and the Sea - Michael Scott Moore Cover Art

The Desert and the Sea

The Desert and the Sea 977 Days Captive on the Somali Pirate Coast by Michael Scott Moore

Michael Scott Moore, a journalist and the author of Sweetness and Blood, incorporates personal narrative and rigorous investigative journalism in this profound and revelatory memoir of his three-year captivity by Somali pirates—a riveting,thoughtful, and emotionally resonant exploration of foreign policy, religious extremism, and the costs of survival. In January 2012, having covered a Somali pirate trial in Hamburg for Spiegel Online International—and funded by a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting—Michael Scott Moore traveled to the Horn of Africa to write about piracy and ways to end it. In a terrible twist of fate, Moore himself was kidnapped and subsequently held captive by Somali pirates. Subjected to conditions that break even the strongest spirits—physical injury, starvation, isolation, terror—Moore’s survival is a testament to his indomitable strength of mind. In September 2014, after 977 days, he walked free when his ransom was put together by the help of several US and German institutions, friends, colleagues, and his strong-willed mother.  Yet Moore’s own struggle is only part of the story: The Desert and the Sea falls at the intersection of reportage, memoir, and history. Caught between Muslim pirates, the looming threat of Al-Shabaab, and the rise of ISIS, Moore observes the worlds that surrounded him—the economics and history of piracy; the effects of post-colonialism; the politics of hostage negotiation and ransom; while also conjuring the various faces of Islam—and places his ordeal in the context of the larger political and historical issues.            A sort of Catch-22 meets Black Hawk Down, The Desert and the Sea is written with dark humor, candor, and a journalist’s clinical distance and eye for detail. Moore offers an intimate and otherwise inaccessible view of life as we cannot fathom it, brilliantly weaving his own experience as a hostage with the social, economic, religious, and political factors creating it. The Desert and the Sea is wildly compelling and a book that will take its place next to titles like Den of Lions and Even Silence Has an End.

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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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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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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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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.

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Blood River - Tim Butcher Cover Art

Blood River

Blood River The Terrifying Journey through the World's Most Dangerous Country by Tim Butcher

A British journalist retraces the legendary 1874 expedition of H. M. Stanley in this "remarkable marriage of travelogue and history" (Max Hastings, author of Armageddon ).   When  Daily Telegraph  correspondent Tim Butcher was sent to Africa in 2000,. he quickly became obsessed with the Congo River and the idea of recreating H. M. Stanley's nineteenth-century journey along the nearly three-thousand-mile waterway. Despite repeated warnings that his plan was suicidal, Butcher set out for the Congo's eastern border with just a backpack and a few thousand dollars hidden in his boots.   Making his way in an assortment of vehicles, including a motorbike and a dugout canoe, helped along by a cast of characters from UN aid workers to a pygmy rights advocate, he follows in the footsteps of the great Victorian adventurer. Butcher's forty-four-day journey along the Congo River is an unforgettable story of exploration, survival, and history come to life.   "Quite superb . . . a masterpiece." —John le Carré, #1 New York Times –bestselling author   "Do NOT try to repeat Tim Butcher's audacious and terrifying Congo journey. If you do, you will probably die." — The Guardian   "[ Blood River ] keeps the heart beating and the attention fixed from beginning to end."—Fergal Keane, international bestselling author of Wounds   "It is the wit and passion of the writing that keeps you engrossed."—Giles Foden, author of The Last King of Scotland

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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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Precolonial Black Africa - Cheikh Anta Diop Cover Art

Precolonial Black Africa

Precolonial Black Africa by Cheikh Anta Diop

This comparison of the political and social systems of Europe and black Africa from antiquity to the formation of modern states demonstrates the black contribution to the development of Western civilization.

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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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The Defense of Duffer's Drift - Ernest Dunlop Swinton Cover Art

The Defense of Duffer's Drift

The Defense of Duffer's Drift by Ernest Dunlop Swinton

*Introductory Material *Linked TOC *Linked Glossary The Defense of Duffer’s Drift is one of the most important works ever written on small unit tactics and is required reading for junior officers in military organizations around the world. It was written by Major General Sir Ernest Dunlop Swinton in 1904 when Swinton was a Captain. It details a fictional encounter in the Boer War. The book is narrated by Lieutenant Backsight Forethought (BF) who has been left in command of 50 men to defend a ford in the river. BF has a series of dreams in which his force is defeated by the Boers. After each dream, BF analyzes his performance and determines lessons learned. By the final dream, his force is successful in holding out until relieved. The lessons BF learned are the timeless lessons of small unit tactics and are as valuable today as they were at the turn of the century. The prose are simple and powerful. This book is essential reading for soldiers and students of tactics or military history.