African history Books

Book SynopsisSovereignty and Struggle: Africa and Africans in the Era of the Cold War, 1945-1994 provides students with a deeper insight into African history during the period of decolonization and the Cold War.Trade ReviewThis is a fantastic little book. It is smart, engaging, and thought-provoking in its coverage of sovereignty * and its many possibilities and variationsin Cold War era Africa. I particularly appreciate its efforts to move beyond well-trodden discussions of political and economic developments and to look at the various ways in which sovereignty was marketed, performed, defined, and embraced in 'unofficial' realms like the stage, newspapers, and airplanes. It is very well-conceived and carried out.Nate Plageman, Wake Forest University *The focus on decolonization, the debt crisis, and new cultural expressions and music will help students to appreciate the complex nature of Africa's relation with the external world. Reynolds is able to maintain a strong balance between the impact of the Cold War on Africa and how Africans responded. * Saheed Aderinto, Western Carolina University *Jonathan Reynolds has created another fine work relating to Africa and its peoples. He does an outstanding job exploring the relationship between Africa and the Cold War, and brings Pan-Africanism, women, and music effectively into the conversation. * Kenneth Wilburn, East Carolina University *Table of ContentsMaps and Figures ; Acknowledgments ; About the Author ; Series Introduction ; Introduction ; Chapter 1. A World Set Free? African Decolonization In The Era of Liberation ; Chapter 2. Development and Debt ; Chapter 3. A Tropical Cold War ; Chapter 4. Cultural Epicureanism: Music, Morality, and the African Nation ; Chapter 5. The Decolonization of Distance: Ghana Enters the Jet Age ; Index

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Book SynopsisJames Ferguson examines the rise of social welfare programs in southern Africa in which states give cash payments to their low income citizens. These programs, Ferguson argues, offer new opportunities for political mobilization and inspire new ways to think about issues of production, distribution, markets, labor and unemployment.Trade Review“Half comparative ethnography, half political pamphlet, Ferguson’s impressive narrative is a tour de force questioning, deconstructing and reconstructing classic and contemporary notions of poverty, development and the welfare state in the region and beyond. … With his creative and flexible analysis, he provokes thinking for action beyond narrow ideological boundaries. One could imagine enthusiastic endorsements of his work by Marxist campaigners, World Bank technocrats and traditional leaders alike. This highly original book is likely to leave a lasting mark not only on contemporary anthropological debates around poverty and development, but also policy and activist thinking in southern Africa and beyond.” -- Vito Laterza * Anthropology Book Forum *"The book offers an exciting challenge to many of the default ways of thinking in development and social policy. ... Give a Man a Fish is a remarkable combination of scholarly breadth, intellectual challenge and grounded reflection on the realities of people living with hardship. Avoiding the easy characterisations of left or right, it is a thoughtful, stimulating and ultimately hopeful book, which deserves to be widely read, discussed and acted on." -- Sarah C. White * Journal of Development Studies *"Overall, this is an ambitious, imaginative, and hopeful book. Although the notion that distributive processes must be understood and appreciated is already widely accepted in African studies, Ferguson's achievement is in analyzing the dynamism and implications of these claims and relations within his chosen region’s shifting political economy." -- A. Peter Castro * Journal of International and Global Studies *"[T]he book is beautifully written, and a pleasure to read. Ferguson seamlessly weaves together data, a wide range of social science literature, anecdotes, historical details, and a sprinkling of anthropological theory.... Ferguson’s book is an erudite, enjoyable, and important synthesis of facts, stories and ideas, bridging a wide range of topics around the rise of social grants in Southern Africa." -- E. Fouksman * Basic Income Studies *"James Ferguson’s latest book makes an important contribution to the basic income literature. The book draws its empirical ballast from cash transfer programs in southern Africa, but this is not an ethnographic text; rather, Ferguson leverages the idea of cash transfers and basic income to launch a theoretical meditation on the nature of money, value, society, welfare, justice, and the state. The end product is reflective, thought-provoking, and beautifully written. One is left with the distinct impression that Ferguson is feeling his way into a social theory of the future." -- Jason Hickel * Anthropological Forum *"Like the best kind of anthropology, James Ferguson’s latest book, Give a Man a Fish, invites readers to see the world differently, questions taken-for-granted truisms, and reasserts the significance of lives considered peripheral to the concerns of powerful elites.... In a world of radical inequality and chronic unemployment, few development agents are willing to spend time 'translating' anthropology into action. Ferguson has done this work with the sensibility of an anthropologist." -- Ilana van Wyk * American Anthropologist *Table of ContentsForeword / Thomas Gibson vii Preface and Acknowledgments xi Introduction. Cash Transfers and the New Welfare States: From Neoliberalism to the Politics of Distribution 1 1. Give a Man a Fish: From Patriarchal Productionism to the Revalorization of Distribution 35 2. What Comes after the Social? Historicizing the Future of Social Protection in Africa 63 3. Distributed Livelihoods: Dependence and the Labor of Distribution in the Lives of the Southern African Poor (and Not-So-Poor) 89 4. The Social Life of Cash Payments: Money, Markets, and the Mutualities of Poverty 119 5. Declaration of Dependence: Labor, Pesonhood, and Welfare in Southern Africa 141 6. A Rightful Share: Distribution beyond Gift and Market 165 Conclusion. What Next for Distributive Politics? 191 Notes 217 References 237 Index 259

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Book SynopsisIn this latest instalment of the series A History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps, Peter Adamson and Chike Jeffers delve into the fascinating world of Africana Philosophy. Africana Philosophy from Ancient Egypt to the Nineteenth Century is the first of two volumes in the History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps series to bring readers the story of Africana philosophy. This diverse topic is defined as philosophy emerging from and distinctively related to Africa or the African diaspora. The story starts at the very beginning by asking what it would mean to engage philosophically with evidence left by prehistoric peoples of Africa, and proceeds to discuss the philosophical traditions of ancient Egypt, late ancient and early modern Ethopia, and Islamic philosophy in West Africa. A number of chapters then explore the idea of philosophy in African oral traditions, considering the methodological debates that have raged between African philosophers like John Mbiti, Paulin Hountondji, and Henry Od

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Book SynopsisThe first international English-language publication of Hampate Ba's acclaimed novel.Trade Review"I think this is perhaps the best African novel on colonialism and it draws very richly on various modes of oral literature." Ralph Austen, University of Chicago "It is a wonderful introduction to colonial rule as experienced by Africans, and in particular, to the rule of African middlemen." Martin A. Klein, University of Toronto "The Fortunes of Wangrin is not only a wonderful novel by one of Africa's most renowned intellectuals, it is also literally filled with information about French colonization and its impact on traditional African societies, African resistance and collaboration to colonization, the impact of French education in Africa, and a host of other subjects of interest." Francois Manchuelle, New York UniversityTable of ContentsForewordOverture1. The Birth2. Diagaramba3. First Confrontation4. The Beginning of a Career5. Where the Calamities of Some. . .6. The Storm Breaks7. The Count's Messenger8. The Trial9. The Donkey Who Drank Honey10. Romo's Son and Beautiful Pugubila11. The Death of a Great Chief and What Came Out of It12. The Ambush13. The Calamitous Bird's Eggs14. A Cumbersome Turban15. Where Each Gets His Due16. The Dream of the Fulbe Shepherdess17. Pretty Much in the Lion's Jaws18. Where Wangrin is Off Once Again to a Good Start19. A Profitable Pledge20. The Reconversion21. An Elephant's Tale22. A Disquieting Arrival23. Pretty Doe of the Markets24. Two Birds with One Stone25. A Narrow Escape26. . . . In Which Romo Keeps His Promise. . .and Wangrin His27. A Souvenir That Bears Wangrin's Trademark28. First Warning: The Hausa Geomancer29. Madame White-White30. Second and Third Warnings: A Fatal Oversight and the Sacred Python31. Madame "Good Offices"32. The Irreparable Loss33. Last Warning: The Dove with a Black Ring Circling Half Her Neck34. Philosopher Tramp35. The Three Bloods and Death36. Adieu

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Book SynopsisTelling the history of the development of scientific racism, white nationalism, and segregationist philanthropy in the US and South Africa in the early twentieth century, this book focuses on the American Carnegie Corporation's study of race in South Africa, the Poor White Study, and its influence on the creation of apartheid.Trade Review"Hisorically grounded and politically provocative examination." Race & ClassTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface: Possessions, Belonging, Companionship, or Don't Mind the Gap Introduction 1. Forgeries of History: The Poor White Study 2. The Visual Culture of White Poverty as the History of South Africa and the United States: Repetition, Rediscovery, Playing with Whiteness 3. The White Primitive: Whiteness Studies, Embodiment, Invisibility, Property 4. The Roots of White Poverty: Cheap, Lazy, Inefficient ... Black 5. Origin Stories about Segregationist Philanthropy 6. Carnegie in Africa and the Knowledge Politics of Apartheid: Research Agendas not Taken 7. "I'll Give You Something to Cry About": The Intraracial Violence of Uplift Feminism in the Carnegie Poor White Study Volume, The Mother and Daughter of the Poor Family Conclusion: Race Makes Nation Acknowledgments Appendixes Notes Selected Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisMore Auspicious Shoreschronicles the migration of Afro-Barbadians to Liberia. In 1865, 346 Afro-Barbadians fled a failed post-emancipation Caribbean for the independent black republic of Liberia. They saw Liberia as a means of achieving their post-emancipation goals andpromoting a pan-Africanist agenda while simultaneously fulfilling their ''civilizing'' and ''Christianizing'' duties. Through a close examination of the Afro-Barbadians, Caree A. Banton provides a transatlantic approach to understanding the political and sociocultural consequences of their migration and settlement in Africa. Banton reveals how, as former British subjects, Afro-Barbadians navigated an inherent tension between ideas of pan-Africanism and colonial superiority.Upon their arrival in Liberia, anEnglish imperial identity distinguished the Barbadians from African Americans and secured them privileges in the Republic''s hierarchy above the other group. By fracturing assumptions of a homogeneous black identity, BaTrade Review'Caree A. Banton's book fills a significant gap in the story of Liberia's creation and its place in the larger Afro-Atlantic world. She skillfully renders the complex identities that Barbadians crafted at home and in Africa, while being mindful of their often conflicted notions of race, civilization, and empire.' Claude A. Clegg, III, Lyle V. Jones Distinguished Professor, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill'This book is a sustained, often stimulating, commentary on blackness and notions of social class that traverses two widely differing terrains, from post-slavery in Barbados to the political and social construction of the Liberian state. While one may not fully share the author's assertions about the 'failure' of emancipation in Barbados or about the class position that the migrant Barbadians had occupied in Barbadian society, or even about the content of the ideological baggage that they took to Liberia, one cannot help but be impressed by the verve and scholarly flourish with which the author states her case.' Woodville Marshall, University of the West Indies, Barbados'In this highly original, well-researched monograph, Banton emphasizes the singular place of Barbadian migrants in Liberia's history.' R. M. Delson, ChoiceTable of ContentsList of maps and figures; Preface; List of abbreviations; Introduction: 'who is this man and from whence comes he to rule?'; Part I. Caribbean Emancipation: 1. Not free indeed; 2. African civilization and the West Indian avant-garde; 3. The Liberian president visits Barbados to trade visions of freedom; Part II. The Middle Passage: 4. Middle passage baggage; Part III. African Liberation: 5. Barbadians arrival and social integration in Liberia; 6. Making citizenship and blackness in Liberia; 7. A changing of the guards: Arthur Barclay and Barbadian Liberia political leadership; Epilogue; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisLiberia was in the headlines in 1990 when thousands of teenage fighters, including young men wearing women's clothing and bizarre objects of decoration, laid seige to the capital, Monrovia. In response to the crisis, a West African peacekeeping force, ECONMOG, was sent to stabilize the country and prevent the main warlord, Charles Taylor, from coming to power. Seven years later, however, Taylor was elected President. The country had a fragile peace but the war had spread to its neighbour Sierra Leone. This book traces the history of the civil war that has blighted Liberia in recent years and looks at its roots in the way governments have been established in West Africa during the 20th century.Trade Review'The first half of this outstanding study of Liberia's civil war (1989-97) reviews the conflict's political, economic, military and international features, drawing on a comprehensive array of sources. the second half is a fascinating and profound exploration of what Ellis sees as Liberian's deep spiritual anarchy, manifested during the war in extreme brutality, incidents of cannibalism, and the fighters' bizarre sartorial affections. these things tend to boggle Western minds, as did the overwhelming support among Liberian voters for the unprincipled warlord Charles Taylor in the country's 1997 presidential election. But Ellis' persuasive analysis of Liberian religious ideology and culture does more than make sense of these strange phenomena. It offers rare insight into the political, physical, and spiritual power can be linked and legitimized in the popular imagination-and how each can run amok in the absence of durable institutional checks and balances. A model of lucid writing, thorough research, and penetrating interpretation, this is one of the best books on Africa in recent years.' -Foreign Affairs, Washington, DCTable of ContentsA death in the night; the first of the warlords; lean and hungry years; the mechanics of war; business and diplomacy; a nation long forlorn; men and devils; false prophets. Appendix: war deaths, 1989-1997.

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Book Synopsis"John K. Thornton’s new book is another must-read. It contains both translations of the extant letters of the most significant king of Kongo’s history, Afonso I (r. 1506–1542), and a powerful, learned, and highly readable analysis of what these letters tell us about the life and times of one of the most important rulers anywhere in the world during the sixteenth century. This book will be essential reading for scholars, teachers, and students engaged with the history of the Kingdom of Kongo." —Toby Green, King’s College LondonTrade Review"Historians of Africa and the Atlantic World have long known of King Afonso I’s pioneering efforts in establishing the Catholic Church in Kongo, as well as his efforts in fighting the Portuguese slave trade. But until now there has been no authoritative biography of one of the world’s most important political figures of the sixteenth century. Thornton’s account fills this gap, vividly revealing Afonso’s complicated life and legacies on the global stage. As Thornton deftly demonstrates, Afonso was neither a victim of European deception nor a naïve dupe. Rather, he was an astute, innovative statesman who advanced Kongolese political interests both at home and abroad. "Accompanying Thornton’s biography are unique, translated letters penned by Afonso that will also be of great interest to historians of Africa and the Atlantic World. In these letters, Afonso reveals his firsthand thoughts on Kongolese political sovereignty, the distinctiveness of Kongolese Christianity, and his demands to control the slave trade in his kingdom. Additionally, he expresses his desires to expand the technological capacity of the kingdom through education and literacy campaigns, as well as by offering apprenticeships in carpentry, masonry, and medicine. Afonso’s letters, along with those of his European and African contemporaries, are a treasure trove of primary source materials that reveal Kongo’s key role in early modern Atlantic history.” —James H. Sweet, University of Wisconsin-Madison"Only decades of research and engagement with primary sources and centuries of secondary historical analysis could yield such a detailed, insightful account of a pivotal reign in the history of Kongo, Atlantic Africa, and the early modern world at large. It may be the author’s most impressive book yet. “Both the biography and the translated letters will serve for many years to come as sources for research and material for teaching. They will bring knowledge about Afonso, Kongo, and their world-shaping role in the early modern period to students and researchers well beyond specialist circles. I look forward to the new wave of research, discoveries, and debates the book will spur.” —Cécile Fromont, Yale University"This is a page-turner that students and their professors will appreciate. Through a compelling narrative and translated primary sources focused on the life of an important African leader, Thornton examines larger issues around African development, religions conversion, slavery, the rise of the Atlantic trade in enslaved people, and interconnectedness of the 16th-century world." —Walter Hawthorne, Michigan State University"With this monograph, John K. Thornton, the doyen of West Central African history, has not only further cemented his place in the field, but has also steered the 'biographical turn' in the precolonial history of Africa into a new phase. This is regional history on a grand scale, an exceptional feat for Sub-Saharan Africa during the first half of the XVIth century, made possible by a career-long passion with understanding the Kingdom of Kongo." —José C. Curto, History, York University, Canada"Never has the voice of the ruler of the early sixteenth-century Kongo Kingdom, the renowned Christian Mwene Kongo, King Afonso, resonated in language so accessible to a modern audience and yet so faithful to original historical context. Luís Madureira provides a superb translation of Afonso's most significant correspondence along with an insightful translator’s note that contributes to confidence in his rigorous effort. Scholars and students can at last understand the original meaning of Afonso's letters. "With the translation and contextualization provided here, Afonso’s complaints of Portuguese slave trading, for example, can be better understood. Other episodes recounted in the letters, such as Afonso’s victory over his non-Christian brother, attributed to the miraculous appearance of Saint James, will provide for fascinating class discussions. Going beyond its key contribution to African history, this edition will be widely used in the study and teaching of early modern global history.” —David Gordon, Bowdoin College

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Book SynopsisCharles Hornsby holds a D.Phil on Kenyan politics from St Antony's College, Oxford and has combined a professional career in information technology with a deep engagement with Kenya. He is the co-author of Multi-Party Politics in Kenya (1998).Trade ReviewMagisterial * Richard Waller, Africa *...the definitive work on modern Kenya * Miles Osborne, International Journal of African Historical Studies *Table of Contents1: Introduction 2: Independence! 3: Struggle for the State, 1964-1965 4: Multi-Party, but not Democracy, 1966-1969 5: Golden Years, 1970-1974 6: Rigor Mortis, 1975-1978 7: Too Many Cooks, 1978-1983 8: Heavy Footsteps, 1984-1989 9: A Second Liberation? 1990-1992 10: Conflict and Change, 1993-1997 11: Unnatural Succession, 1998-2002 12: Back to the Future, 2003-2008 13: Epilogue: Cold War, 2008-2009 14: Conclusions Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisDenis Judd is Professor Emeritus of Imperial and Commonwealth History, London Metropolitan University, and Professor at New York University in London. His books include Empire; George VI (both published by I.B.Tauris); The Lion and the Tiger: The Rise and Fall of the British Raj; Balfour and the British Empire; Radical Joe - A Life of Joseph Chamberlain; The Victorian Empire; Palmerston; The Crimean War and Jawaharlal Nehru. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Keith Surridge is an independent scholar. He is the author of Managing the South African War 1899-1902.Table of ContentsIllustrations Acknowledgements Maps Preface Introduction: An Irrepressible Conflict? PART I: THE BACKGROUND TO THE WAR British Rule, Confrontation and Compromise 1815-1886 The Descent to War 1886-1899 PART II: THE COMBATANTS 3. The British Army 4. Rallying the Empire 5. The Boers PART III: THE CAMPAIGNS 1899-1902 6. The Opening Battles, October 1899 7. The Disasters of Black Week, December 1899: The Battles of Stormberg, Magersfontein and Colenso, and their less disastrous prelude 8. Humiliation, January and February 1900: The Battles of Spion Kop and Vaal Krantz 9. ‘I thank God we have kept the flag flying’: The Besieged Towns of Ladysmith, Kimberley and Mafeking 10. The Turn of the Tide, February 1900: The Relief of Kimberley, the Battle of Paardeberg, the Relief of Ladysmith 11. Marching to Pretoria (and Johannesburg): The British Advance through the Boer Republics, the Relief of Mafeking, the Start of the Guerrilla War 12. Methods of Barbarism? December 1900 to October 1901: The Guerrilla War, Farm Burning, the Concentration Camps 13. Seeking Peace, March 1900-June 1901 14. The Final Battles, May 1901-May 1902 PART IV: THE AMBIVALENCES OF WAR 15. Big Business, Capitalism and War 16. The Last of the Gentlemen’s Wars? 17. The Pro-Boers 18. Foreigners and the War 19. The Press and the War 20. The Literature of the War PART V: THE PEACE 21. The Talks Begin 22. Taking Stock Peace at Last

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Seeing the Unseen's broadest impact will be its revisionist call for scholars to both recognize and abandon the structures of knowledge that have shaped the representation of African histories and worldviews, flattened African identities, and reinforced dangerous misconceptions of African lives as bounded by ethnicity, language, and tradition."—Victoria L. Rovine, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillTable of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsNote on NamesIntroduction1. Power Associations2. Assemblages3. Performers and Performances4. Unseeing Audiences5. Komo on ScreenCodaNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisSPECIAL COMMENDATION in Africa's 100 Best Books of the Twentieth Century. The series is illustrated throughout with maps and black and white photographs. This set brings together all 8 volumes of the groundbreaking Unesco General History of Africa, which are all now available again as paperbacks. The series demonstrates the importance of African history from earliestpre-history, through the establishment of its ancient civilizations to the placing of Africa in the context of world history. The growth and development of African historiography, once written records became more common, documentthe triumph of Islam, the extension of trading relations, cultural exchanges and human contacts, as well as the impact and consequences of the slave trade. The European scramble for colonial territory in the 1880s is examined witha focus on the responses of Africans themselves to the economic and social aspects of colonial systems up to 1935, including the growth of anti-colonial movements and the strengthening of African political nationalism. The contributions document how the continent moved from international conflict under foreign domination to struggles for political sovereignty and economic independence. The last (unabridged) volume 8 examines the challenges of nation-building and the socio-cultural changes affecting the newly independent nations. The series is co-published in Africa with seven publishers, in the United States and Canada by the University of California Press, and in association with the UNESCO Press.Trade ReviewReviews of the Series: * . *... a real contribution to scholarship. - Roland Oliver in the * TLS *The General History of Africa was launched in 1970, when an International Scientific Committee of 39 scholars was formed to oversee the writing and publication of a complete survey of the African past, from pre-history to the present. The laudable aim of the project was to break free from the straightjacket of Eurocentrism, and to provide a history that reflected a range of African views without imposing any set historical interpretation. - David M. Anderson in * INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS *Table of ContentsGeneral History of Africa Vol 1: Methodology and African Prehistory [pbk abridged] General History of Africa Vol 2: Ancient Civilizations of Africa [pbk abridged] General History of Africa Vol 3: Africa from the 7th to the 11th Century [pbk abridged] General History of Africa Vol 4: Africa from the 12th to the 16th Century [pbk abridged] General History of Africa Vol 5: Africa from the 16th to the 18th Century [pbk abridged] General History of Africa Vol 6: Africa in the Nineteenth Century until the 1880s [pbk abridged] General History of Africa Vol 7: Africa under Colonial Domination 1880-1935 [pbk abridged] General History of Africa Vol 8: Africa since 1935 [pbk unabridged]

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Book SynopsisThrough detailed archival research, Hanson reveals the origins of Uganda’s strategies for good government—assembly, assent, and powerful gifts—and explains why East African party politics often fail.Trade ReviewIn this thought-provoking new book Holly Hanson has cut clean through the conventional but hated three-part periodization of African historiography—pre-colonial, colonial, and postcolonial—with its equally unhelpful oppositions of tradition and modernity. With persuasive evidence she shows that Ugandans have for centuries sought consultative, accountable governance, often with institutional checks on the caprice of kings, governors, or presidents. They have long spoken up in public in the conviction that loyalty from below deserves attention from above, and now hope that premodern strategies to secure good governance will help to conjure up a better modernity. -- John Lonsdale, coauthor of Unhappy Valley: Conflict in Kenya and AfricaThis book ‘speaks loudly’ in the hope that it will ‘be heard.’ Holly Hanson successfully demonstrates how in pursuit of a just and moral polity, physical and conceptual spaces created out of people’s presence and actions provided an opportunity through which people can speak to the powerful and expect to be heard. To Speak and be Heard is a prototype of how a blended study of overt ‘spaces’ and ‘speaking’ can reveal larger political engagement and accountability trends in a complex and rapidly changing world. It superbly demonstrates how those trends could be encapsulated and discerningly written about in the twenty-first century. -- Nakanyike B. Musisi, University of Toronto, coauthor of Decentralisation and Transformation of Governance in UgandaHolly Hanson weaves into her account of good government a history of inequality, revealing the kind of thing that can make the formula for direct democracy fail to produce the desired results and atrophy. The next challenge is to speak up, be heard, and figure out the obligations that will diminish inequality. Crossing all major periods in Ugandan history, but focused on the last century and a half, this is a landmark book in African history. -- David L. Schoenbrun, author of The Names of the Python: Belonging in East Africa, 900 to 1930Holly Hanson’s survey has unearthed massive evidence to show that autocracy, one person rule and tyranny did not define African precolonial systems, much as western visitors focused on it or as current media depicts African systems of governance. [Hanson] proves that there were defined mechanisms for the expression … of alternative views of managing society. These views were implemented because there were ample spaces for people to speak and be heard. -- A.B.K. Kasozi, author of The Social Origins of Violence in Uganda, 1964–1985Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: A Long History of Political Voice Chapter 1. Building Polities through Assent, Assembly, and Voice in Ancient East Africa Chapter 2. Incorporating Strangers in the Time of Two Lukikos Chapter 3. Seeking Justice at the Palace and the Lake Chapter 4. The Modernity That Might Have Been: How Ugandans Lost Mechanisms of Accountability in the Transition to Independence Chapter 5. The Pretense of Assent and the Power of Assembly in the Time of Amin Conclusion: The Shape of the Present Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThrough The Healing Wisdom of Africa, readers can come to understand that the life of indigenous and traditional people is a paradigm for an intimate relationship with the natural world that both surrounds us and is within us. The book is the most complete study of the role ritual plays in the lives of African people - and the role it can play for seekers in the West.

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Book SynopsisThis book makes available, for the first time in English, essays and poetry published in the seminal postcolonial Moroccan journal of culture and politics, Souffles-Anfas.Trade Review"Richly contextualized, this anthology not only helps to illuminate a tumultuous period in Moroccan history, but also offers a wealth of material to students and scholars with interests in postcolonial studies, Middle East and North African studies, and comparative literature. We need this collection."—Brian T. Edwards, Northwestern University"Postcolonial theory thrives in the academy, but the actual process of decolonization—as well as the texts produced and shaped by that cauldron—remain understudied and untranslated. This brilliant and meticulously assembled collection is an essential part of the revolutionary cultural politics characterizing national and global movements of the 1960s. It palpably demonstrates that true influence has nothing to do with size."—Ammiel Alcalay, City University of New YorkTable of ContentsContents and AbstractsIntroduction: Souffles-Anfas for the New Millennium chapter abstractThe introduction presents the history of the journal from 1966, when it was founded, to 1972, the year it was banned, a period that coincides with the beginning of the "years of lead," as the oppressive regime of Hassan II is known in Morocco, and discusses its evolution from Francophone poetry review to French and Arabic tribune of the radical left. The editors situate the journal's founding mission of "cultural decolonization" in relation to the seminal writings of postcolonial theorist Frantz Fanon and Maghrebi writers of the previous generation, such as Kateb Yacine, Malek Haddad, and Albert Memmi. After a brief explanation of the selection and translation of texts included in the anthology, the introduction ends by assessing the journal's enduring legacy in Morocco, the Maghreb, and the decolonizing world, and presents it as a precursor to the recent pro-democracy protests across North Africa and the Middle East. Part ISouffles 1–Souffles 3 (1966) chapter abstractThis section begins with the incendiary manifesto-prologue of the founding issue of Souffles, which breaks with previous attempts to imitate French poetry and announces a new era of aesthetic innovation. In addition to poetry by Abdellatif Laâbi, Mohammed Khaïr-Eddine, and Abdelkebir Khatibi, this section includes a long essay on popular Moroccan poetry by Ahmed Bouanani, a scathing critique by Abdallah Stouky of the 1966 World Festival of Negro Arts held in Dakar, and of the philosophy of Negritude that subtends it, and an essay on Maghrebi novel by Khatibi. Part IISouffles 4–7-8 (1966-1967) chapter abstractThis section is book-ended by two important editorials by Abdellatif Laâbi on the decolonization of Moroccan culture, a double process involving a sustained critique of Orientalism and the elaboration of non-derivative literary forms. Laâbi's defense of a novel by the Moroccan writer Driss Chraïbi as well as his fascinating interview with Chraïbi and a short autobiographical text by the Tunisian writer Albert Memmi are also included in this section, which is heavily focused on literary and artistic expression. The final essay, by the art critic Toni Maraini, presents the artwork of the "Casablanca group," as the graphic artists involved in the creation of Souffles are known. Alongside works by Souffles-Anfas artistic directors Mohamed Chebaa and Mohamed Melehi, this section includes reproductions of artwork by Jilali Gharbaoui, Ahmed Cherkaoui, and other pioneers of modern Moroccan art. Part IIISouffles 9–13-14 (1968-1969) chapter abstractThis section includes three bilingual issues featuring French-language poems by Mostafa Nissabouri, Mohammed Ismaïl Abdoun, Tahar Ben Jelloun, and Adbellatif Laâbi, and Arabic-language poems by Mohamed Zafzaf and Ahmed al-Madini, introduced by the noted critic and writer Mohammed Berrada. The journal sharpened its critique of Orientalism and racism during this period with a condemnation by the Haitian writer René Depestre of François Duvalier's oppressive regime—informed, according to him, by an essentialist version of Negritude—a biting critique of Albert Camus by founding member Bernard Jakobiak, and a sympathetic interview with the French anticolonial theater director Jean-Marie Serreau that nevertheless warns against the danger of appropriated Third World theater for European consumption. Part IVSouffles 15–Anfas 7-8 (1969–1972) chapter abstractThis section begins with the fifteenth issue of Souffles, devoted entirely to the Palestinian question, and ends with a poem by the Sudanese poet Muhammad al-Fayturi published in the last issue of Anfas, the companion Arabic-language journal launched in 1971 and banned alongside Souffles in 1972. This final period of the journal is marked by a clear engagement for Palestine, as evidenced in its special issue and subsequent editorials, as well as for other anticolonial and leftist causes, most notably the struggles for independence from Portugal in Africa and the plight of Vietnam. Adopting a more accessible format and tone and an overtly Marxist-Leninist editorial line, Souffles-Anfas became the tribune of the Moroccan radical left in the closing years of the 1960s, and one of the first victims of the clampdown on freedom of expression and opinion in Morocco.

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Book SynopsisThe History of Ashanti Kings and the Whole Country Itself is a key text for understanding the history of the great West African kingdom of Asante (now in Ghana). It is also an early - and perhaps the earliest - example of history writing in English by an African ruler and his amanuenses. It was begun in 1907 in the Seychelles on the instructions of the Asantehene Agyeman Prempeh I, who had been in British captivity with his family since 1896, during which time he had acquired proficiency in English.The chief source of information was his mother the Asantehemaa Yaa Kyaa, who possessed an encyclopaedic knowledge of the oral history of her own lineage, which was also the royal dynasty of Asante. The result is an indispensably detailed document that charts the history of the Asante monarchy from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. Context is provided by the inclusion of other writings by or about Agyeman Prempeh, together with four introductory essays by the world''s leading scholTrade ReviewReview from previous edition 'This book makes a milestone in more than one sense - as a major new source for precolonial Asante history, as a fascinating example of early historical writing by Africans, as a virtuoso demonstration of how to impose some intelligibility upon the perplexing detail of what was once oral tradition, and as a challenge to historians, who must decide how to respond to this kind of material.' * Anthropos *

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Book SynopsisA historical, spiritual, and literary portrait of a remarkable nineteenth-century African Muslim woman. This book provides a glimpse into the West African Muslim community at a pivotal point in its history.Trade Review"... this woman's intellectual contribution to a revolution, and her position at the heart of the military and organisational effort, deserves to be better known." -- Graham FurnissTable of ContentsPreliminary Table of Contents: PrefaceAcknowledgements1. Nana Asma'u and the Scholarly Islamic Tradition2. Qadiriyya Sufism: The Qur'an and the Sunna3. The Caliphate Community4. The Poetic Tradition5. Sokoto as Medina: Imitating the Life of the Prophet and Re-enacting History6. Caliphate Women's Participation in the CommunityAppendix: Poems by Nana Asma'uGlossaryNotesWorks CitedIndex

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Book SynopsisProvides a key to Egypt in all its layers - ancient and modern, Greek and Roman, and Christian and Islamic. This title gives an account of history that followed - from Greek and Roman conquests, the rise of Christianity, Arab-Muslim triumph, and Egypt's incorporation into powerful Islamic empires to Napoleon's 1798 invasion.Trade Review"Robert L. Tignor's ambitious Egypt: A Short History stretches from the Predynastic age to the present, tying the various periods together in a continuous 5,000-year narrative to create a lengthy history told in a short book... Tignor writes with an easy, assured style, and his history becomes more focused and more authoritative as it progresses. He tells us it was conceived as an alternative guidebook for discerning tourists wishing to learn about more than just pyramids and pharaohs: as such--as an enjoyable book written by someone who clearly knows and loves Egypt and the Egyptians--it serves its purpose very well."--Financial Times "[T]horough, engaging, and accessible... Concise and yet engagingly vivid, this outstanding little book should be enjoyed by any reader interested in Egypt or Middle Eastern history."--Joan W. Gartland, Library Journal "Ambitious in scope, Egypt: A Short History provides an informative and readable account for the interested general reader."--Anthony Gorman, Times Higher Education "[O]ne could not write a better account of Egypt's history--a gift from a master historian at the conclusion of his career."--Henry E. Chambers, Middle East Journal "If you love Egypt, then this book is an excellent introduction to its multi-faceted history and culture."--Ancient Egypt "Senior history Tignor presents an elegant yet accessible survey that carries readers from predynastic times to the present. Illustrated with 25 color plates, two maps, and six figures, this work aims to please the sophisticated reader whose objective is to learn the broad contours of Egyptian political, economic, and religious history... [S]tudents, tourists, travelers, and businesspersons alike will find this a useful text."--Choice "[An] excellent summation of the flow of Egyptian history."--Morris L. Bierbrier, Egyptian Archaeology "Tignor's book has arrived on bookshelves at a most fortuitous time, when the number of ... general readers seeking information about Egypt is greatly enlarged, given the extensive media coverage of the 'Arab spring' of 2011. In Egypt: A Short History, this audience will find an invaluable guide to the impulses that have stirred Egyptians in both the recent and the distant past."--Paul Sedra, Journal of World History "Clear prose, personal vignettes from his own travels to Egypt, perspectives and scenes familiar to any tourist in Cairo and Alexandria, and fine scholarship are all brought together in a book that could easily become a reference title for future generations, a title to be consulted by all those wishing to travel to that magical land."--Lavinia Stan, European LegacyTable of ContentsList of Illustrations vii Credits ix Preface xi CHAPTER ONE The Land and People 1 CHAPTER TWO Egypt during the Old Kingdom 26 CHAPTER THREE The Middle and New Kingdoms 51 CHAPTER FOUR Nubians, Greeks, and Romans, circa 1200 BCE-632 CE 80 CHAPTER FIVE Christian Egypt 105 CHAPTER SIX Egypt within Islamic Empires, 639-969 122 CHAPTER SEVEN Fatimids, Ayyubids, and Mamluks, 969-1517 146 CHAPTER EIGHT?Ottoman Egypt, 1517-1798 174 CHAPTER NINE Napoleon Bonaparte, Muhammad Ali, and Ismail: Egypt in the Nineteenth Century 196 CHAPTER TEN The British Period, 1882-1952 228 CHAPTER ELEVEN Egypt for the Egyptians, 1952-1981: Nasser and Sadat 256 CHAPTER TWELVE Mubarak's Egypt 282 CONCLUSION Egypt through the Millennia 311 Notes 321 Bibliography 327 Index 347

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewAfrica's First Democrats challenges several stereotypes about the workings and growth of democracy on the African continent. More than that, Africa's First Democrats opens up space for a broader rereading of African history and holds the possibility for a more extensive anti-racist and anti-colonial project that has long animated pan-African politics across the globe. -- Joshua Inwood, Pennsylvania State University * Politcal Geography *Abdi Samatar's book Africa's First Democrats is of significance to geographical studies of Africa for three main reasons: (i) its decolonial approach; (ii) its dissection of democratic political leadership and political parties; (iii) its documentation of a historical period in Somalia, when political leaders advocated a vision of a united Somalia that transcended contemporary representation of the country as a 'failed state' wracked by atavistic tribalism. -- Patricia Daley, Oxford University * Political Geography *This study is important because it draws attention to the gamut of stereotypes and wisdoms espoused by critics of African leaders. . . . We all must salute Samatar for his courage to exonerate a couple of African leaders from the court of academic vilification. * American Historical Review *Going beyond postcolonial analysis, decolonization encourages re-thinking the world from Africa, from Latin America, from indigenous places, and from marginalized academia. Samatar's book does precisely this, rethinking our concepts of statehood, democracy and leadership from Africa, and from Somalia particularly. -- Sarah Radcliffe, Cambridge University * Political Geography *Excellent.13 2014 * African and Asian Studies *Table of ContentsPreface & Acknowledgments List of Selected Dates 1. Leadership in Africa 2. Aden: From an Orphan to a Nationalist Leader 3. Abdirazak: From Camel Boy to Freedom Fighter 4. The Somali Youth League and the Nationalist Project: 1943–1960 5. The First Republic: Institutional Foundations of Democracy 1960–1964 6. The Second Republic: Democratic Trailblazing 7. The March toward Dictatorship: 1967–1974 8. Conclusion Bibliography Notes Index

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Book SynopsisChallenging the prevailing wisdom, Straus provides substantial new evidence about local patterns of violence, using original research to assess competing theories about about the causes and dynamics of the genocide.Trade ReviewThe Order of Genocide will be an enduring contribution to our understanding of the Rwandan genocide as well as to theories of ethnic violence and genocides more generally. Although his methods and findings will certainly interest scholars of genocides, violent conflicts, and African area studies, Straus does not obscure his work in specialist language. * Nations and Nationalism *Scott Straus ranks among the finest of the scholars writing in genocide studies. The Order of Genocide is fair-minded, important, and rigorous. Drawing on more than two hundred interviews that he conducted with convicted Rwandan killers, and on many other sources, Straus builds a dynamic process model seeking to explain why and how ordinary people could be mobilized to murder their neighbors in the Rwandan genocide. * African Studies Review *Straus examines the 1994 Rwandan genocide through a social science lens... and his approach yields interesting new insights.... Particularly compelling is his comparison of killers in Rwanda with those of the Holocaust. * Foreign Affairs *Straus shows tenacity and courage in explaining the unthinkable—how otherwise ordinary people could imagine, conceive, and carry out genocide. * Genocide Studies and Prevention *Straus's study is comprehensive, thorough, and cogently and carefully argued. It is altogether an impressive work that is compulsory for specialists and invaluable for students. Straus is a former journalist and his writing is a model of clarity and economy. * Perspectives on Politics *Straus's writing is lucid, the structure of the book is well thought out, and jargon is avoided, making The Order of Genocide accessible to anyone interested in the subject. A must-read for those interested in politics and violence. * Journal of Peace Research *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Background to the Genocide 2. Genocide at the National and Regional Levels 3. Local Dynamics 4. The Génocidaires 5. Why Perpetrators Say They Committed Genocide 6. The Logic of Genocide 7. Historical Patterns of Violence 8. Rwanda's Leviathan ConclusionAppendix Index

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Book SynopsisThis is a trilogy of Deneys Reitz's three compelling works, Commando, Trekking On and No Outspan. Since publication in 1999, it has become an outstanding seller in its own right.

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Book SynopsisIn 1977, Johnson's best-selling How Long Will South Africa Survive? offered a controversial and highly original analysis of the survival prospects of apartheid. Now, after more than two decades of the ANC in government, he believes the question must be posed again. 'The big question about ANC rule,' Johnson writes, 'is whether African nationalism would be able to cope with the challenges of running a modern industrial economy. Twenty years of ANC rule have shown conclusively that the party is hopelessly ill-equipped for this task. Indeed, everything suggests that South Africa under the ANC is fast slipping backward and that even the survival of South Africa as a unitary state cannot be taken for granted. The fundamental reason why the question of regime change has to be posed is that it is now clear that South Africa can either choose to have an ANC government or it can have a modern industrial economy. It cannot have both.'Trade ReviewWell-written and well argued, his book is at its best describing the eye-watering corruption, nepotism and gang-violence that seem to link powerful officials in Zuma's home province of KwaZulu-Natal to the wider ANC. ... That South Africa's black leaders appear to have fulfilled the worst predictions of their white supremacist predecessors makes uncomfortable reading. What surprises Johnson is how quickly they managed to do it. * The Times *Provocative polemic ... produces a devastating charge sheet against the ANC. * The Sunday Times *An immensely readable and disturbing book. Let us pray that his prophecies are this time mistaken. ...Ten years ago, Johnson would have been crucified for saying such things, but 'How Long?' was greeted by an ominous silence in South Africa, making its way on to local bestseller lists without any review attention, not even attacks from Johnson's enemies. It seems even they are reconciled to the fact that Johnson is right again: South Africa is in crisis. -- Rian Malan * The Spectator *'The Looming Crisis' confronts the Naipauline problem of post-colonial nation states: the transformation of freedom fighters into oppressors. ... the extreme prophesies in 'The Looming Crisis' do not diminish the value of Johnson's diagnosis of South Africa's problems. * Newsweek, 'The Most Important International Nonfiction Books of 2015' *An assembly of facts that illustrate and reinforce how, since the electoral victory of the ANC under Mandela in 1994, South Africa's governing apparatus has degenerated into an instrument of patronage and self-enrichment by the new black elite. * Times Literary Supplement *Johnson's newest book speaks to the corruption that now riddles the country's body politic. As a result, it is increasingly up to the country's politicians, economic and business leaders and others to explain how they, if they were in charge, would arrest the decay and reverse the process. The country clearly wants to hear such things and is increasingly hungry for solid answers. * Daily Maverick, South Africa *In 1977, Johnson was taking stock of where the apartheid state stood in relation to its likely end, and his prediction was more-or-less correct: 15 years later, it was officially dead, and South Africa had a new, democratically elected government. In the new nostradamic book, Johnson seems to be talking about a similar time frame, perhaps shortened to a decade or so, but in interviews he has given a much shorter period until we hit the wall, saying South Africa has a mere two years before it has to go begging to the International Monetary Fund for a bail-out. . . . Johnson has a great polemical gift . . . punchy * Mail & Guardian, South Africa *This book will undoubtedly be met with outrage among South Africa's political and intellectual elite. If so, it will not be because of any great deficiencies in the text, but because of the grip of ideology on the country's elite. By the same token, it will be hailed by some people in opposition circles simply because of the vigour with which it criticises not only South Africa's current government, but the entire history of the ANC since the late 1950s, as well as for its devastating critique of African nationalism more generally. -- Professor Stephen Ellis, Free University of Amsterdam, author of 'External Mission: The ANC in Exile, 1960-90'

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Book SynopsisAn engaging study into the Yoruba art of Egungun masking.

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Book SynopsisSPECIAL COMMENDATION in Africa's 100 Best Books of the Twentieth Century. The series is illustrated throughout with maps and black and white photographs.Trade ReviewA major theme of the volume, ... taken up in the first chapter, is the struggle for international trade and its implications for Africa... a worthy and worthwhile undertaking, bringing within reasonably affordable reach, a comprehensive survey which should long stand as a basic introductory text on the period. - -- Kevin Shillington * CORRUPTION & DEMOCRATISATION *Reviews of the Series: * . *... a real contribution to scholarship. - -- Roland Oliver * the TLS *The General History of Africa was launched in 1970, when an International Scientific Committee of 39 scholars was formed to oversee the writing and publication of a complete survey of the African past, from pre-history to the present. The laudable aim of the project was to break free from the straightjacket of Eurocentrism, and to provide a history that reflected a range of African views without imposing any set historical interpretation. - -- David M. Anderson * INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS *Table of ContentsThe struggle for international trade and its implications for Africa, M. Malowist; African political, economic and social structures, P. Diagne; population movements and emergence of new socio-political forms, J. Vansina; Africa in world history - the export slacve trade and the emergence of the Atlantic economic order, J.E. Inikori; the African diaspora in the old and new worlds, J.E. Harris; the Ottoman conquest of Egypt, R. Vesely; the Sudan, 1500-1800, Y.F. Hasan and B.A. Ogot,; Morocco, M. El Fasi; Algeria, Tunisia and Libya - the Ottomans and their heirs, M.H. Cherif; Senegambia from the 16th-18th century - the Wolof, Sereer and "Tukuloor", B. Barry; the end of the Songhay empire, M. Abitbol; from the Niger to the Volta, M. Izard and J. Ki-Zerbo; states and cultures of the Upper Guinean coast, C. Wondji; states and cultures of the Lower Guinean coast, A.A. Boahen; Fon and Yoruba - the Niger delta and the Cameroon, E.J. Alagao; the Hausa states, D. Laya; Kanem-Borno - its relations with the Meditteranean Sea, Bagirmi and other states in the Chad basin, B.M. Barkindo; from the Cameroon grasslands to the Upper Nile, E.M. M'Bokolo; the Kongo kingdom and its neighbours, J. Vansina and T. Obenga; the political system of the Luba and Lunda, Ndaywel al Nziem; the northern Zambesi-Lake Malawi region, K.M. Phiri, O.J.M. Kalinga and H.H.K. Bhila; Southern Zambezia, H.H.K. Bhila; Southern Africa, D. Denoon; the Horn of Africa, E. Haberland; East Africa - the coast, A.I. Salim; the Great Lakes region, 1500-1800, J.B. Webster, B.A. Ogot and J.P. Chretien; the interior of East Africa - the peoples of Kenya and Tanzania, 1500-1800. W.R. Ochieng; Madagascar and the islands of the Indian Ocean, R.K. Kent; the historical development of African societies, 1500-1800.

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Book SynopsisShortlisted for the 2023 Sunday Times Literary Awards‘One of the best works of narrative non-fiction to emerge from the country in years. Quite simply brilliant.’ – NIREN TOLSIAmid evictions, raids, killings, the drug trade, and fire, inner-city Johannesburg residents seek safety and a home. A grandmother struggles to keep her granddaughter as she is torn away from her. A mother seeks healing in the wake of her son’s murder. And displaced by the city’s drive for urban regeneration, a group of blind migrants try to carve out an existence.The Blinded City recounts the history of inner-city Johannesburg from 2010 to 2019, primarily from the perspectives of the unlawful occupiers of spaces known as hijacked buildings, bad buildings or dark buildings. Tens of thousands of residents, both South African and foreign national, live in these buildings in dire conditions. This book tells the story of these sites and the court cases around them, which strike at the centre of who has the right to occupy the city.In February 2010, while Johannesburg prepared for the FIFA World Cup, the South Gauteng High Court ordered the eviction of the unlawful occupiers of an abandoned carpet factory on Saratoga Avenue and that the city’s Metropolitan Municipality provide temporary emergency accommodation for the evicted. The case, which became known as Blue Moonlight and went to the Constitutional Court, catalysed a decade of struggles over housing and eviction in Johannesburg.The Blinded City chronicles this case, among others, and the aftermath – a tumultuous period in the city characterised by recurrent dispossessions, police and immigration operations, outbursts of xenophobic violence, and political and legal change. All through the decade, there is the backdrop of successive mayors and their attempts to ‘clean up’ the city, and the struggles of residents and urban housing activists for homes and a better life. The interwoven narratives present a compelling mosaic of life in post-apartheid Johannesburg, one of the globe’s most infamous and vital cities.

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Book SynopsisAn account of the golden trade of the Moors, and a source book on Saharan trade routes, caravan organization and Sudanese history. The author covers anthropology and economic geography as well as history, as he examines and explores the hot little towns, sharp traders and the brutal rulers. He seeks to encourage and inspire a generation of scholars to discover more about parts of Africa still surprisingly little known to the outside world.

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Book SynopsisWhen the Republic of Guinea gained independence in 1958, one of the first policies of the new state was a village-to-village eradication of masks and other ritual objects it deemed 'fetishes'. This book intends to understand why this program was so important to the state and examines the complex role it had in creating a unified national identity.Trade Review"Unmasking the State is an engaging and insightful work that constitutes an important contribution to African studies, political and religious anthropology, and the study of iconoclasm. Mike McGovern artfully weaves an edifying tapestry of the demystification programs launched by Sekou Toure in the 1960s among Loma-speaking people of Guinea, West Africa. This is a well-argued and timely book." (David Berliner, University of Brussels)"

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Book SynopsisWinston Churchill wrote five books before he was elected to Parliament at the age of twenty-five. The most impressive of these books, The River War tells the story of Britain’s arduous and risky campaign to reconquer the Sudan at the end of the nineteenth century. More than half a century of subjection to Egypt had ended a decade earlier when Sudanese Dervishes rebelled against foreign rule and killed Britain’s envoy Charles Gordon at his palace in Khartoum in 1885. Political Islam collided with European imperialism. Herbert Kitchener’s Anglo-Egyptian army, advancing hundreds of miles south along the Nile through the Sahara Desert, defeated the Dervish army at the battle of Omdurman on September 2, 1898. Churchill, an ambitious young cavalry officer serving with his regiment in India, had already published newspaper columns and a book about fighting on the Afghan frontier. He yearned to join Kitchener’s campaign. But the general, afraid of what he would write about it, refused to have him. Churchill returned to London. With help from his mother and the prime minister, he managed to get himself attached to an English cavalry regiment sent to strengthen Kitchener’s army. Hurriedly travelling to Egypt, Churchill rushed upriver to Khartoum, catching up with Kitchener’s army just in time to take part in the climactic battle. That day he charged with the 21st Lancers in the most dangerous fighting against the Dervish host. He wrote fifteen dispatches for the Morning Post in London. As Kitchener had expected, Churchill’s dispatches and his subsequent book were highly controversial. The precocious officer, having earlier seen war on two other continents, showed a cool independence of his commanding officer. He even resigned from the army to be free to write the book as he pleased. He gave Kitchener credit for his victory but found much to criticize in his character and campaign. Churchill’s book, far from being just a military history, told the whole story of the Egyptian conquest of the Sudan and the Dervishes’ rebellion against imperial rule. The young author was remarkably even-handed, showing sympathy for the founder of the rebellion, Muhammad Ahmed, and for his successor the Khalifa Abdullahi, whom Kitchener had defeated. He considered how the war in northeast Africa affected British politics at home, fit into the geopolitical rivalry between Britain and France, and abruptly thrust the vast Sudan, with the largest territory in Africa, into an uncertain future in Britain’s orbit. In November 1899, The River War was published in “two massive volumes, my magnum opus (up to date), upon which I had lavished a whole year of my life,” as Churchill recalled later in his autobiography. The book had twenty-six chapters, five appendices, dozens of illustrations, and colored maps. Three years later, in 1902, it was shortened to fit into one volume. Seven whole chapters, and parts of every other chapter, disappeared in the abridgment. Many maps and most illustrations were also dropped. Since then the abridged edition has been reprinted regularly, and eventually it was even abridged further. But the full two-volume book, which is rare and expensive, was never published again—until now. St. Augustine’s Press, in collaboration with the International Churchill Society, brings back to print in two handsome volumes The River War: An Historical Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan unabridged, for the first time since 1902. Every chapter and appendix from the first edition has been restored. All the maps are in it, in their original colors, with all the illustrations by Churchill’s brother officer Angus McNeill. More than thirty years in the making, under the editorship of James W. Muller, this new edition of The River War will be the definitive one for all time. The whole book is printed in two colors, in black and red type, to show what Churchill originally wrote and how it was abridged or altered later. For the first time, a new appendix reproduces Churchill’s Sudan dispatches as he wrote them, before they were edited by the Morning Post. Other new appendices reprint Churchill’s subsequent writings on the Sudan. Thousands of new footnotes have been added to the book by the editor, identifying Churchill’s references to people, places, writings, and events unfamiliar to readers today. Professor Muller’s new introduction explains how the book fits into Churchill’s career as a writer and an aspiring politician. He examines the statesman’s early thoughts about war, race, religion, and imperialism, which are still our political challenges in the twenty-first century. Half a century after The River War appeared, this book was one of a handful of his works singled out by the Swedish Academy when it awarded Churchill the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953. Now, once again, its reader can follow Churchill back to the war he fought on the Nile, beginning with the words of his youngest daughter. Before she died, Mary Soames wrote a new foreword, published here, which concludes that “In this splendid new edition…we have, in effect, the whole history of The River War as Winston Churchill wrote it—and it makes memorable reading.”Trade Review“…a towering work of scholarship and one of the most remarkable books to appear in many, many years.” —Andrew Roberts in The Wall Street Journal “Students of the thought and action of Winston Churchill, the preeminent statesman of the twentieth century, have reason to be grateful for James W. Muller’s Herculean efforts to make the original version of The River War available again. We discover a young soldier and writer who was a philosophically-inclined historian recounting great battles but also thinking about the enduring problems of war, empire, race, and freedom. The tyrannically-minded will be tempted to censor and cancel Churchill’s challenging insights. But the reader who opens himself to Churchill’s monumental work will discover a partisan of Western civilization who can admire the immense courage of the Sudanese Dervishes and who criticizes, like Burke and Macaulay before him, the excesses of empire shorn of mercy and restraint.” —Daniel J. Mahoney, Augustine Chair, Assumption University “There is always more to learn from Winston Churchill. James W. Muller’s carefully edited version of The River War gives today’s readers a chance to read Churchill’s eyewitness account, written at age twenty-four, of one of the world’s last cavalry battles at Omdurman in 1898, and his chilling look ahead to the twentieth century and the potentials of Muslim fanaticism.” —Michael Barone, Founding co-author, The Almanac of American Politics“To read The River War is to enter the mind of a brilliant, seemingly fearless young man destined to become one of history’s most unforgettable figures. Until now, however, it has been difficult even to find, let alone to own, an unabridged edition and to read Winston Churchill’s story as he intended to tell it. James W. Muller has not only given readers the original, two-volume book, carefully, thoroughly, and thoughtfully edited, but has written a deeply insightful introduction that adds immeasurable value to a treasured piece of history.” —Candice Millard, Author of Hero of the Empire“This book sets a new standard for Churchill scholarship and in doing so tells us much about how Churchill used his words and actions to launch his career.” —Allen Packwood, Director, Churchill Archives Centre“I have waited thirty years to hold these volumes in my hands, and it has been well worth the wait. Winston Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, and readers of these volumes will see why. Among Churchill’s books, The River War is in penetration, grandeur, and verve second only to Marlborough: His Life and Times. Now, thanks to Jim Muller’s critical edition, we have the original with its maps and illustrations; notes identifying nearly everyone mentioned in the text; a clear indication of everything the author subsequently dropped, and everything he added to the later, abbreviated editions; and the newspaper articles in draft and as published on which it was based. These volumes are a triumph.” —Paul A. Rahe, Charles & Louise Lee Chair in the Western Heritage, Hillsdale College

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Book SynopsisExpanded third edition of this key text on the complex underlying conditions of the civil war from the 1960s to the present day, including a new chapter on the current wars in Sudan's new south and South Sudan. Sudan's post-independence history has been dominated by political and civil strife. Most commentators have attributed the country's recurring civil war either to an age-old racial divide between Arabs and Africans, or to recent colonially constructed inequalities. This book attempts a more complex analysis, briefly examining the historical, political, economic and social factors which have contributed to periodic outbreaks of violence between the state and its peripheries. In tracing historical continuities, it outlines the essential differences between the modern Sudan's first civil war in the 1960s and today, including an analysis of the escalation of the Darfur war, implementation of the 2005 peace agreement and implications of the Southern referendum in 2011 and the new war in Sudan's new south and South Sudan. The author also looks at the series of minor civil wars generated by, and contained within, the major conflict, as well as the regional and international factors - including humanitarian aid - which have exacerbated civil violence. This introduction is aimed at students of North-East Africa, and of conflict and ethnicity. It is essential reading for those in aid and international organizations who need a straightforward analytical survey which will help them assess the prospects for a lasting peace in Sudan. Douglas H. Johnson is an independent scholar and former international expert on the Abyei Boundaries Commission.Trade ReviewFor readers interested in really engaging with the historical depth of the conflicts in Sudan and South Sudan, The Root Causes of Sudan's Civil Wars by Douglas H Johnson should be required reading. * AFRICA AT LSE BLOG *A third edition of what is rightly regarded as a classic work...useful for people who need a reliable and astute summary of war-related events. * SUDAN STUDIES *Table of ContentsPreface to Expanded 3rd Edition The Historical Structure of North-South Relations British Overrule 1899-1947 Nationalism, Independence & the First Civil War 1942-72 The Addis Ababa Agreement & the Regional Governments 1972-83 The Beginning of the Second Civil War 1983-85 - Interlude The Momentum of Liberation 1986-91 The SPLA Split: Surviving Factionalism The Segmentation of SPLA- United & the Nuer Civil War Multiple Civil Wars The War Economy & the Politics of Relief Comprehensive Peace or Temporary Truce? Epilogue: War in Sudan's New South and New War in South Sudan

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Book SynopsisReveals the theatricality of early colonial encounter and how it continues to influence Congolese and Belgian understandings of history todayTrade ReviewAllen Roberts uses . . . [the] assassination to explore the encounter between late nineteenth-century European and Congolese, specifically Tabwa, cultures. There is no scholar more familiar with Tabwa culture, art, and customs, as revealed in his many writings over the last few decades. But Roberts proves equally adept in describing a European culture steeped in an arrogant worldview that it claimed to be 'scientific' and progressive but was often little more than a justification for European conquest.March 2014 * Jrnl of African History *Ultimately, this is an excellent, well-crafted meditation on the collision of colonial and indigenous worlds, and how the indigenous world has enfolded and come to its own terms with an irruption that invading world has largely never understood. . . . Highly recommended. * Choice *At the end of the day, A Dance of Assassins makes a compelling case for the necessity of ethnography—quality ethnography—in the interpretation of history as a means of opening the past to a more equitable exchange of voices and the 'what-might-have-beens.' It is also, as John Mack notes in his endorsement, a 'veritable page-turner.' * African Arts *[The]broader themes [of this book] conjure up a bitter and dramatic sense of the colonial past, still contested and poorly understood by both Belgians and Congolese. It imaginatively shows how much may be learned by examining the colonial record from a combination of African and European (and other) points of view. It also suggests how material culture may teach us to fashion new analyses. * Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute *A Dance of Assassins . . . is a deeply engaging account of the complex struggles that connected the lives of Europeans and Africans in the earliest days of the colonial encounter in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Elegantly written, this book challenges prevailing thinking about colonization and its effects on Africans and Europeans. * H-Net Reviews H-AfrArts *"A Dance of Assassins" is an engaging, vigorously researched historical ethnography that uses a set of micro-level events and interactions to reveal the complexity and nuances of the early colonial encounter in what would become the Belgian Congo. This book would be of interest to upper-level undergraduates, graduate students, and scholars in African Area Studies, Anthropology, History, Museum Studies, and even Performance Studies. * Anthropos *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I. The "Emperor" Strikes Back1. Invitation to a Beheading 2. A Conflict of Memories3. Histories Made by Bodies4. Tropical Gothic5. Storms the HeadhunterPart II. Remembering the Dismembered6. The Rise of a Colonial Macabre7. Art Évo on the Chaussée d'Ixelles8. Lusinga's Lasting Laughs9. Composing Decomposition10. Defiances of the DeadAppendix A: Some Background on Our ProtagonistsAppendix B: A Note on IllustrationsGlossaryNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisStructure, Meaning and Ritual in the Narratives of the Southern San analyses texts drawn from the Bleek and Lloyd Archive - arguably one of the most important collections for the understanding of South African cultural heritage and in particular the traditions of the /Xam, South Africa's 'first people'. Initially appearing in a now rare 1986 edition and here re-issued for the first time, the doctoral thesis on which the book is based became the catalyst for much scholarly research.The book offers an analysis of the entire corpus of /Xam narratives found in the Bleek and Lloyd collection, focusing particularly on the cycle of narratives concerning the trickster /Kaggen (Mantis). These are examined on three levels from the 'deep structures' with resonances in other areas of /Xam culture and supernatural belief, through the recurring patterns of narrative composition apparent across the cycle, and finally touching on the observable differences in the performances by the various /Xam collaborators. The exposition of the connections between these levels is cogently argued and richly supported by detailed reference to the ethnographic record specific to the /Xam. The work also contains two supporting ethnographic appendixes relating to beliefs and practices concerning shamans and girls' puberty observances.Hewitt's text remains the only comprehensive and detailed study of /Xam narrative, and it has become itself the object of study by researchers and Ph.D candidates in South Africa, the UK, Canada and elsewhere. This new edition at last makes Hewitt's important work more widely available. It will be a welcome addition to the recently burgeoning literature on the place of the /Xam hunter-gatherers in the complex history of South African culture and society.Trade ReviewRoger Hewitt's 'centrally important thesis... was the first to recognize the significance of the [Bleek and Lloyd] archive and give us the inaugural scholarly introduction to it. Pippa Skotnes, director of the Bleek and Lloyd archive This remains a remarkable work of scholarship. Andrew Bank, historian, University of the Western Cape

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Book SynopsisThe 1955 Asia-Africa conference (the ""Bandung Conference"") was a meeting of 29 Asian and African nations that sought to draw on Asian and African nationalism and religious traditions to forge a new international order that was neither communist nor capitalist, and led six years later to the non-aligned movement. Few would dispute the notion that the inaugural meeting in 1955 was a watershed in international history, but there is much disagreement about its long-term legacy and its significance for present-day international affairs. Was it a post-colonial ideological reaction to the passing of the age of empire or an innovative effort to promote a new regionalism? Were its principles of peaceful coexistence a rhetorical flourish or a substantive policy initiative? Did the Conference help define North-South relations? And in what way did the Conference contribute to the regional order of contemporary Asia?The authors in the present volume argue that the Bandung Conference had a lasting normative influence on the contemporary regional order of Asia, and that it underlies the diplomatic principles and loosely defined normative framework that characterize present-day Asian international relations.

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Book SynopsisDraws on research in archeology, anthropology, linguistics and on historiography. This book charts the development of Ethiopian peoples and their society, placing emphasis on the African origins of Ethiopian civilization.Trade Review"Clear, balanced and well informed, drawing on the latest sources to valuable effect, especially in references to archaeological work." Times Literary Supplement "Richard Pankhurst's contribution to The Peoples of Africa series will be a useful tool for students and general readers who are new to Ethiopian history." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies "The Ethiopians makes an excellent introduction to the fascinating past of Ethiopia." Danny Yee's Book Reviews - For the full text of this review please visit: http://dannyreviews.com/h/Ethiopians.html "... excellent, based on current scholarship, factual and replete with the type of generalizations necessary for a good tertiary study." Journal of African HistoryTable of ContentsList of Plates. List of Maps. Series Editor's Preface. Table of Dates. Maps. 1. Prehistory and Geography. 2. Punt, Pharaohs and Ptolemies, the Aksumite Kingdom, and the Coming of Christianity. 3. The Zagwé Dynasty, Lalibala Churches, and Solomonic 'Restoration'. 4. Life in the Middle Ages, Contacts with Muslim Neighbours and Far-off Christians. 5. Ahmad ibn Ibrahim, Oromo Migration, and Ottoman Seizure of Massawa. 6. The Move of Capital North-West, and the Roman Catholic Interlude. 7. The Rise and Fall of Gondar. 8. The Early Nineteenth-Century, and the Advent of Téwodros II. 9. Yohannes, Menilek, and the European Powers. 10. Beginnings of Modernisation, Menilek, Iyasu, Zawditu, and Haile Sellassie. 11. Invasion, Occupation, and Liberation. 12. Restoration and Revolution. Bibliography. Index.

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