Showing titles in Africa

In the past, all diamond mining in Sierra Leone had fallen under the control of the Sierra Leone Selection Trust - or SLST - a private investor body with exclusive rights to mine diamonds in Sierra Leone. By the mid-1950s and 1960s, illegal and illicit mining had taken over large areas of production. Armed groups began to appear, challenging private SLST security, eventually fermenting a situation of anarchy under which regulated and taxed diamond production diminished to a trickle.

"The West will begin to understand Africa when it realizes it’s not talking to a child—it’s talking to its mother.” So writes Jeff Pearce in the introduction to his fascinating, groundbreaking work, The Gifts of Africa: How a Continent and Its People Changed the World. We learn early on in school how Europe and Asia gave us important literature, science, and art, and how their nations changed the course of history. But what about Africa?

A historical exploration book set in Mashonaland during the late 19th century. Join an unforgettable journey into the heart of Africa's ancient realms with "Whispers From Ruins." This gripping expedition narrative transports you to the rugged landscapes and intricate cultures of late 19th century Mashonaland. Guided by the eyewitness accounts of an intrepid trio – the narrator, his resilient wife, and their steadfast cartographer, Robert McNair Wilson Swan – this tale unfolds with vivid descriptions of the African terrain, teeming with ancient ruins and the mystique of Zimbabwe's lost ...

By the mid-19th century, other European powers became interested not only in the exploration of Africa, but the exploitation of it, especially once the German Empire unified after the Franco-Prussian War. This began a rush, spearheaded mainly by European commercial interests in the form of chartered companies, to penetrate the African interior and woo its leadership with guns, trinkets, and alcohol, and having thus obtained their marks or seals upon spurious treaties, begin establishing boundaries of future European colonies.

In Mandela, former foreign correspondent Bob Crew demystifies the icon and his legacy. After over a decade of travels in South Africa, Crew seeks truth in the unexpected details of the lives of Mandela and current South African president Jacob Zuma, comparing them to other world icons in order to bring a new understanding of their legacies to Western listeners.

Known in the Dominican Republic and Togo as Vodu, in Benin as Vodún, and in Haiti as Vodou, West African religion has, for hundreds of years, served as a repository of sacred knowledge while simultaneously evolving in response to human experience and globalization. Spirit Service: Vodún and Vodou in the African Atlantic World explores this dynamic religion, its mobility, and its place in the modern world.

The Great War's East Africa campaign was, and remains, of huge importance. A 'small war', consisting of a few 'local affairs', was all that was expected in August 1914 as Britain moved to eliminate the threat to the high seas of German naval bases in Africa. But two weeks after the Armistice was signed in Europe, British and German troops were still fighting in Africa after four years of what one campaign historian described as 'a war of extermination and attrition without parallel in modern times'.

This is the story of Twesigye Jackson Kaguri, who grew up in rural Uganda, the son of an irascible small-time farmer and his loving wife. In spite of the family's poverty, Jackson succeeds and graduates from the national university with a calling to work in human rights that leads him to Columbia University. There he falls in love with and later marries an American scientist, Beronda. When Jackson returns to Uganda with his bride, they are overwhelmed by the many villagers who line up to ask for help with food and school fees....

You Hide That You Hate Me and I Hide That I Know by Philip Gourevitch is a forthcoming title from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

A perspective on the imperial history of Africa by Peter Baxter, from the advent of European imperialism to the liberation, setting the tone…

When most people think about the Middle Ages, they think about Europe. Images of knights, jousting, and even Christianity, seem ingrained in our understanding of the medieval era. However, the Middle Ages stretched far beyond Europe, which was struggling to rebuild after the fall of the Roman Empire. Europe may have fumbled along for about a thousand years, but Africa became a powerhouse of trade and wealth.

Africa has been known as "the cradle of mankind", and its recoverable history stretches back to the Pharaohs. But the idea of studying African history is itself new, and the authors show why it is still contested and controversial. This VSI, the first concise work of its kind, will prove essential for anyone interested in the African continent and the diversity of human history.

The biography of Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua was compiled by the abolitionist, Samuel Moore. Born in West Africa (now Benin) around 1830, Baquaqua was sold as a slave and lived in Brazil, Haiti, Canada, and the US where he escaped from slavery in New York City. He also visited England, but it is not known whether he realized his dream of returning to Africa.

Pacifique Irankunda’s childhood in Burundi was marked by a 13-year civil war - a grueling struggle that destroyed his home, upended his family, and devastated his country’s beautiful culture. As young boys, Paci and his brother slept in the woods on nights when the shooting and violence grew too intense; they hid in tall grass and watched as military units rolled in and leveled their village.

Renowned Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson leads us through space as much as time: From the river's mystical sources (the Blue Nile which rises in Ethiopia, and the White Nile coursing from majestic Lake Victoria); to Thebes, with its Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, and Luxor Temple; the fertile Delta; Giza, home of the Great Pyramid, the sole surviving Wonder of the Ancient World; and finally, to the pulsating capital city of Cairo, where the Arab Spring erupted on the bridges over the Nile.

The birth of South Sudan was celebrated the world round. But the celebration would not last: South Sudan's freedom-fighters soon plunged their new nation back into chaos, shattering the promise of liberation and exposing the hubris of their American backers. Drawing on extraordinary personal stories of identity, liberation, and survival, this narrative tells an epic story of paradise won and then lost. Zach Vertin's firsthand accounts, from deadly war zones to the halls of Washington power, bring listeners on an extraordinary journey into the rise and fall of the world's newest state.

Many terms were bestowed upon the mysterious Fritz Duquesne throughout his colorful life, but perhaps the most fitting ever attributed to him was: "the most dangerous prisoner to have ever lived." But before this Boer warrior-turned-spy reached the heights of infamy that awarded him such acclaim, Fritz Joubert Duquesne lived a life of adventure that many people wouldn’t experience in a hundred lifetimes. From a young age, Fritz harboured a burning resentment toward the British army, stemming from the brutal treatment suffered by his family during the Anglo-Boer wars.

Dive into the captivating history of ancient Egypt with "Nubian Pharaohs of Egypt," a compelling exploration of the remarkable reign of the Nubian pharaohs who left a lasting mark on the ancient land of the Nile Valley. In this illuminating book, the author delves into the tumultuous events that led to the revolt of the Nubians against the New Kingdom Egyptians. From the political intrigue and regional conflicts to the cultural tensions that simmered beneath the surface. The book expertly unravels the complex and symbiotic relationships of ancient Egyptian history, revealing the underlying ...

This work looks at South Africa in contemporary times since the end of apartheid. It is also a short history of South Africa since the arrival of the first Dutch settlers at the Cape more than 300 years ago. The author also look at some of the main events in the struggle against apartheid which were important milestones in the transformation of South Africa from a white-dominated country to a multiracial democratic society. Other subjects covered include structural reforms and institutional accountability in the post-apartheid era and the problems of immigration, with South Africa being the...

En esta obra el lector conocerá las principales etapas de la historia del continente africano: la prehistoria, con la aparición de los primeros homínidos en África; los tiempos antiguos, donde se observan similitudes culturales entre el Antiguo Egipto y las sociedades subsaharianas; los siglos oscuros, el período menos conocido de la historia africana....