African history Books

Book SynopsisA meticulously written and moving report of the groundbreaking events that dramatically accelerated the downfall of the apartheid movement, this new edition focuses on a particularly violent period in South Africa’s tumultuous history. Clearly and without bias, this book discusses the Sharpeville Six Trial, the Delmas Treason Trial, the 1984 uprising that led to international sanctions against South Africa, the first-ever army invasions of the Vaal townships, and the still controversial Boipatong massacre. With firsthand accounts—including those from formerly despised councillors—this record clarifies many misconceptions regarding the important events that were instrumental in bringing down the apartheid regime.

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Book SynopsisTaking the Great Rift Valley - the geological fault that will eventually tear Africa in two - as his central metaphor, Alex Perry explores the split between a resurgent Africa and a world at odds with its rise. Africa has long been misunderstood - and abused - by outsiders. Perry travelled the continent for most of a decade, meeting with entrepreneurs and warlords, professors and cocaine smugglers, presidents and jihadis, among many others.Opening with a devastating investigation into a largely unreported war crime in Somalia in 2011, he finds Africa at a moment of furious self-assertion. This is a remade continent, defiantly rising from centuries of oppression to become an economic and political titan: where cash is becoming a thing of the past, where astronomers are unlocking the origin of life and where, twenty-five years after Live Aid, Ethiopia's first yuppies are traders on an electronic food exchange. Yet, as Africa finally wins the substance of its freedom, it must confront the three last false prophets of Islamists, dictators and aid workers, who would keep it in its bonds.Trade ReviewAn epic, rich, endlessly surprising narrative of a fast-changing Africa by one of the few Western journalists to have spent enough time there to understand it. Calls to mind the best African writing of Ryszard Kapuscinski -- Douglas Rogers * author of THE LAST RESORT *In this stunning book about the past, present, and future of Africa, foreign correspondent Perry (who's written for Time and Newsweek) achieves the seemingly impossible: he writes about the continent from a Western perspective without trying to define Africa to the West, inviting Africans to speak directly to his readers...Perry examines widely discussed issues affecting Africa (including famine, AIDS, humanitarian aid, terrorism, corruption, and Chinese influence), always mindful of the bearing each has on Africa's future. Along the way, Perry bumps into George Clooney in South Sudan, watches Robert Mugabe speak to a crowd in Zimbabwe, and confronts Jacob Zuma in South Africa. The stories he tells, of average Africans trying to carve out a better life, have the vividness of fiction. Perry also exposes the flaws of large-scale humanitarianism in Africa, addressing the inflated claims made for its success and its often counterproductive strategies. Candid, smart, and self-aware, this work is an impressive accomplishment that does more to give Western readers context for Africa's current condition than any book in recent memory. * Publishers Weekly - USA *

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Book SynopsisThis book examines the history of the European Scramble for Africa from the perspective of the Omanis and other Arabs in East Africa. It will be of interest not only to African specialists, but also those working on the Middle East, where awareness is now emerging that the history of those settled on the southern peripheries of Arabia has been intimately entwined with Indian Ocean maritime activities since pre-Islamic times. The nineteenth century, however, saw these maritime borderlands being increasingly drawn into a new world economy, one of whose effects was the development of an ivory front in the interior of the continent that, by the 1850s, led the Omanis and Swahili to establish themselves on the Upper Congo. A reconstruction of their history and their interaction with Europeans is a major theme of this book. European colonial rivalries in Africa is not a subject in vogue today, while the Arabs are still largely viewed as invaders and slavers. The fact that the British separated the Sultanates of Muscat and Zanzibar is reflected in European research so that historians have little grasp of the geographic, tribal and religious continuum that persisted between overseas empire and the Omani homeland. Ibadism is regarded as irrelevant to the mainstream of Islamic religious protest whereas, during the lead up to establishing direct colonial rule, its ideology played a significant role; even the final rally against the Belgians in the Congo was conducted in the name of an Imam al-Muslimin. Back home, the fall out from the British massacre that crushed the last Arab attempt to reassert independence in Zanzibar was an important contributory cause towards the re-founding of an Imamate that survived until the mid-1950s.Table of ContentsList of maps Abbreviations and conventions Foreword PART I PRE-SCRAMBLE PERSPECTIVES 1 The Omani perspective: part 1 2 The Omani perspective part II: growing British influence 3 The early Arab penetration into the African mainland 4 Oman and Zanzibar: Britain and France 5 Barghash's reign: the first dozen years 6 The mainland 7 AIC phase I PART II ENTER GERMANY 8 German colonization in East Africa 9 Confrontation 10 The Swahili uprising PART III THE ETAT INDEPENDANT DU CONGO 11 The Emin Pasha Relief Expedition (EPRE): part 1 12 The Emin Pasha Relief Expedition: part II 13 EIC: consolidation of state: the Arab Zone 14 The Arab Zone 15 First clashes 16 War 17 Envoi: Zanzibar 1896 Appendix. Arab Material in Belgian Archives

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Book SynopsisOn 27th May 1977, a small demonstration against the MPLA, the ruling party of Angola - led to the slaughter of thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people. These dreadful reprisals are little talked of in Angola today - and virtually unknown outside the country. In this book, journalist Lara Pawson tracks down the story of what really happened in the aftermath of that fateful day. In a series of vivid encounters, she talks to eyewitnesses, victims and even perpetrators of the violent and confusing events of the 27th May and the following weeks and months. From London to Lisbon to Luanda, she meets those who continue to live in the shadow of the appalling events of 40 years ago and who - in most cases - have been too afraid to speak about them before. As well as shedding light on the events of 1977, this book contributes to a deeper understanding of modern Angola - its people and its politics; past, present and future.Trade Review'...compelling...[her] conversational tone, her musings, and lively descriptions, make In the Name of the People as engaging as it is informative.' - Lucy Popescu, TLS; '...beautifully written, shaped by astounding imagery that keeps the reader anchored to the sights, sounds, smells and feelings Pawson encountered as she traversed the often gruesome realities of lives affected by the vinte e sete and in years that followed...the true value of Pawson's exceptional book resides in her illumination of the often ignored psychologies of post-colonial Africa...Pawson should be celebrated for embracing the complexity that is the nature of post-colonial African politics, for her willingness to discuss the ugly side of the liberation struggle in Angola, for creating a platform for those who grieve over this event to be heard. It is in the telling of these uncomfortable truths, that we can avoid the repetitions of past mistakes in the future.' - Rochelle Burgess, Africa at LSE blog; 'a variety of fascinating characters...she [Lara] succeeds in creating some kind of a true record of what happened on that terrible day and its long term effect. She also nicely evokes the ambience of Luanda.' - Nigel Watt, The Chartist; '...a towering success... brims with life, with a curiosity that is both moral and unwavering... Pawson has written an African non-fiction classic, which is the toughest kind. The book serves not as an answer, but the Answer: if we hope to understand our present circumstances, then we must go in search of the past, and what we fail to find must somehow be worked into our stories regardless... a story of an investigation into a plot that ends up revealing the soul of a people.' - Richard Poplak, Daily Maverick (South Africa); 'The recounting of encounters... are where Pawson's innovative methodology - mixing academic rigor, investigative journalism, and the prose of a non-omniscient detective-novel narrator - is most powerful. The unrelenting lack of repentance of certain MPLA-sympathizing writers who were either taken for a ride or complicit with Angola's self-serving elites is juxtaposed with Pawson's increasing willingness to question the pillars of what she had held to be self-evident truths about Angola.' - The L.A. Review of Books;'Pawson's writing style, with its vivid imagery, is captivating... Pawson supplies an illuminating account of Angola's contemporary history and politics. The book is digestible, entertaining and informative for those new to the topic and region as well as being in-depth enough to cater to those with more expertise in the region.' - Megan Smith, LSE Review of Books; '...a timely new perspective...it is testimony to Pawson's investigative eye, and also to her courage, that she has written a book about one of the biggest taboos in Angolan history...her candid conversations with survivors, widows and Angolan establishment figures draw the reader into an adventure-like study of post-colonial life in the country...a highly engaging read...' - Joana Ramiro, The New Humanist; '...drafted with poetic skill...a fascinating examination of how societies which try to lock away their traumas remain haunted by ghosts rattling their chains.' - Michela Wrong, The Spectator (chosen as a Book of the Year);Table of ContentsIntroduction PART I 1 Meeting Maria 2 In the shadow of DISA 3 The saboteurs, the parasites, the opportunists 4 When normal things don't go normally 5 Fascism was finished. Socialism had begun 6 Just like the movies 7 The brother 8 Sounds of microfiche 9 Never meet your heroes 10 Sent to Cuba 11 Closing in on the kill PART II 12 So many dragonflies 13 Saved by a poet 14 To Sambizanga 15 The little red book 16 Kilometre 14 17 Cold War paradox 18 Appearances 19 A death camp 20 Metamorphoses of the enemy 21 On the beach 22 How our heads are formed PART III 23 Loose ends 24 A Cuban connection Epilogue Notes Bibliography

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Book SynopsisAfter decades of civil war, the people of southern Sudan voted to secede from the north in an attempt to escape the seemingly endless violence. On declaring independence, South Sudan was one of the least developed places on earth, but with the ability to draw upon significant oil reserves worth $150 million a month, the foundation for a successful future was firmly in place. How, then, did the state of the new nation deteriorate even further, to the point that a new civil war broke out two years later? Today, with both Sudans still hostage to the aspirations of their military and political leaders, how can their people escape the violence that has dominated the two countries’ recent history? By giving voice to those who, after the break-up of Sudan, have had to find ways to live, trade and communicate with one another, Jok Madut Jok provides a moving insight into a crisis that has only rarely made it into our headlines. Breaking Sudan is a meticulous account, analyzing why violence became so deeply entrenched in Sudanese society and exploring what can be done to find peace in two countries ravaged by war.Trade Review‘This book is valuable as an articulation of important ideas and perspectives that are part of the South Sudanese debate. The book is also important as it places the reader in the middle of these complicated, unfolding and sometimes contradictory debates.’ * Sudan Studies *‘In Breaking Sudan,Jok Maduk Jok attempts to explain why the end of the prolonged north–south conflicts and the break-up of the country…has paradoxically created more conflict… He listens closely to how violence and militarization have affected individuals’ lives.’ * New Internationalist *‘There are lessons here for all those mediators, diplomats and politicians who carve up countries in the name of peace.’ * Richard Cockett, Literary Review *‘An extraordinarily ambitious account…[Jok’s] impressive research is critical to the very large success of this book, particularly as it draws on extensive fieldwork that very few are capable of.’ -- Eric Reeves, Senior Fellow, François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard University‘One of South Sudan’s leading writers shows that his country cannot be understood if its history as part of Sudan is brushed aside.’ -- Gill Lusk, Chair, Society for the Study of the Sudans UK‘This is a prodigious effort that unpacks the intricate and often multi-layered aspects of political fragility in Sudan and South Sudan…Jok does not pull punches…Whether one agrees or not with his assertions, this book is a wonderful addition to the body of literature on a restive corner of Africa.’ -- Brian Adeba, Associate Director of Policy on Sudan and South Sudan, Enough ProjectTable of ContentsMaps Preface Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction: The “New Sudan”: How Sudan’s Break-Up Prepared the Ground for More War Sudan after the CPA South Sudan after the CPA 1 The Two Sudans and the Defeat of the CPA Reform Project South Sudan and the burden of independence Post-separation relations The cooperation agreements The cooperation agreements and continued military raids 2 Independent South Sudan and the Burden of Liberation History The burden of the liberation wars Political violence and the development of a sub-culture of guns The CPA and the unrelenting violence The CPA and the exclusionary peace South Sudan and the legacy of liberation ideologies 3 Sudan’s Wars: The Experience of One Village 4 Political Rivalries, the New Wars and the Crumbling Social Order The 2013 outbreak of conflict: what caused this crisis? How political disagreement turned violent Power politics or tribal wars? 5 Reporting Sudan’s Wars: The Media and the Blurred Line Between Informing and Inciting War and sexual violence Displacement and social life 6 Mixed Economies, Corruption and Social Disparity The decentralized system of government and its shortfalls Mixed economies, social disparities, conflict and the role of corruption Governance and the role of policy research 7 Ethnic Relations, the New War and the (Dis)Unity of South Sudan Obstacles to collective belonging Public goods and services as the success of the state History as the foundation of nationhood The new civil war and prospects for a united South Sudan Cultural exclusion could keep South Sudan in perpetual conflict 8 Conclusion: The Fates of the Two Sudans Landing on hard ground Ambivalent new neighbors A history of violent interactions or a future of links? Invisible connections and the promise of peaceful co-existence Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisIn 1953 Dag Hammarskjöld became the second Secretary-General of the United Nations--the highest international civil servant. Before his mission was cut short by a 1961 plane crash in then Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), he used his office to act on the basis of anti-hegemonic values, including solidarity and recognition of otherness. The dubious circumstances of Hammarskjöld’s death have received much attention, including a new official investigation; but have perhaps overshadowed his diplomatic legacy--one that has often been hotly contested. Henning Melber explores the years of African decolonisation during which Hammarskjöld was in office, investigating the scope and limits of his influence within the context of global governance. He paints a picture of a man with strong guiding principles, but limited room for manoeuver, colliding with the essential interests of the big powers as the ‘wind of change’ blew over the African continent. His book is a critical contribution to the study of international politics and the role of the UN in the Cold War. It is also a tribute to the achievements of a cosmopolitan Swede. Trade Review'Melber’s book is a compelling one, based on assiduous research, which avoids slipping into hagiography. … [Dag Hammarskjöld] provides a forceful counterargument that explains how Hammarskjöld embodied a short-lived zeitgeist and why his application of an ethical vision to international diplomacy remains pivotal today.' -- Journal of African History

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Book SynopsisFor a long time, Cyril Ramaphosa was the nearly-man of South African politics. He was Nelson Mandela's preferred successor, but the ANC opted for his rival, Thabo Mbeki, as the second post-apartheid president. Ramaphosa had led South Africa's huge mineworkers' union against the apartheid regime and was the key architect of the much-praised 1996 'rainbow' constitution. He later prospered in business on the back of the first big empowerment deals with white-owned enterprises, before returning to politics and the ANC in 2012. His eyes firmly on the prize, Ramaphosa played a long game as President Zuma became mired in scandal. In early 2018, Deputy President Ramaphosa persuaded the party to throw out Zuma and install him in his place. Announcing a 'new dawn', he has captivated the nation, but now faces his greatest challenge: fixing a broken economy, weeding out Zuma's corrupt minions and the legacy of 'state capture' by the Gupta brothers, and delivering on the promise of a better life for the poor. This captivating biography outlines Ramaphosa's extraordinary political and business career. It tells the story of one of the greatest political comebacks of modern times.Trade Review'A fine biography: Ray Hartley reveals the complexities of an enigmatic President with effortless prose and the sure touch of a veteran journalist.' -- Martin Plaut, former BBC World Service Africa Editor, and author of 'Understanding Eritrea''A good mystery deserves a good detective and Hartley delivers with a crisp and timely exploration of the enigmatic man promising to steer a struggling South Africa away from the cliff’s edge.' -- Andrew Harding, BBC Africa Correspondent and author of 'The Mayor of Mogadishu'

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Book SynopsisNigeria and Nigerians have acquired a notorious reputation for involvement in drug-trafficking, fraud, cyber-crime and other types of serious crime. Successful Nigerian criminal networks have a global reach, interacting with their Italian, Latin American and Russian counterparts. Yet in 1944, a British colonial official wrote that 'the number of persistent and professional criminals is not great' in Nigeria and that 'crime as a career has so far made little appeal to the young Nigerian'. This book traces the origins of Nigerian organised crime to the last years of colonial rule, when nationalist politicians acquired power at a regional level. In need of funds for campaigning, they offered government contracts to foreign businesses in return for kickbacks, in a pattern that recurs to this day. Political corruption encouraged a wider disrespect for the law that spread throughout Nigerian society. When the country's oil boom came to an end in the early 1980s, young Nigerian college graduates headed abroad, eager to make money by any means. Nigerian crime went global at the very moment new criminal markets were emerging all over the world.Trade Review'In This Present Darkness, Stephen Ellis, one of Britain's most accomplished Africanists, provides a cautionary reminder of how much tougher the job is now, and how blurred the lines between officially sanctioned and illicit activity have become ... this is the most deeply researched book yet on the nature and origins of Nigerian organised crime.' * Financial Times *'For decades Nigeria has suffered a doubly dubious reputation: recognised as a kleptocracy and notorious for its armies of imaginative criminals, formed into organisations with international reach. ... This state of affairs is ably documented and explained by Stephen Ellis-a British expert on African affairs, who died last year-in an excellent history of Nigerian organised crime, This Present Darkness.' * The Economist *'In his final book, the eminent Africanist Stephen Ellis explores how the country became a hotbed of illicit trade, endemic corruption and organised crime after the collapse of the oil industry.' * Times Higher Education *Table of ContentsIntroduction * How to read this bookChapter One: Rules of Law * The civilizing mission* Indirect rule and law* A school for deceptionChapter Two: Wonder-Workers * The Professor of Wonders* Wealth, risk, destiny* A hollow systemChapter Three: Enter the Politicians * The impact of the Second World War * Nationalism and corruption* Political parties and corruptionChapter Four: The National Cake * Independence* The foreign contribution* Corruption spreads to daily lifeChapter Five: The Men in Uniform * Coup and counter-coup* The oil issue* The new criminalityChapter Six: Boom Time * Nigeria rampant* Corruption, crime, cults* The Second RepublicChapter Seven: Crime Goes Global * The drug trade* Four One Nine* The rise and fall of anti-corruption* Ethnic issuesChapter Eight: Godfathers * Babangida...and another criminal arrives* Oil as loot* Democrats/kleptocratsChapter Nine: The Business of Crime * Crime as a career* The Kings of Four One Nine* Drugs * Sex work* Organization Chapter Ten: Cosmic Powers * Cults and shrines* The Okija shrine* Law versus reality* Society and anti-societyChapter Eleven: Nigerian Organized Crime * State crime* Why Nigeria?* Nigerian crime in globalizationAnnexeBibliography

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Book SynopsisDemocracy Works asks how we can learn to nurture, deepen and consolidate democracy in Africa. By analysing transitions within and beyond the continent, the authors identify a 'democratic playbook' robust enough to withstand threats to free and fair elections. However, substantive democracy demands more than just regular polls. It is fundamentally about the inner workings of institutions, the rule of law, separation of powers, checks and balances, and leadership in government and civil society. It is also about values and the welfare and well-being of its citizens, and demands local leadership with a plan for the country beyond simply winning the popular vote. This volume addresses the political, economic and extreme demographic challenges that Africa faces. It is intended as a resource for members of civil society and as a guide for all who seek to enjoy the political and development benefits of democracy in the world's poorest continent. Finally, it is for donors and external actors who have to face critical decisions––especially after ill-fated electoral interventions such as Kenya 2017––about the future of observer missions and aid promoting democracy and good governance.Trade Review‘Democracy Works is an important book which should be read by African leaders, and students and teachers of African politics and African Studies.’ -- African Studies Quarterly'Politics matters to development -- the more competitive the system, the better the prospects. If you read one book this year on why democracy is important, make sure it’s 'Democracy Works''. -- Karin von Hipple, Director General'At a time when democratic values around the world are under threat, Democracy Works is a timely, clear and impressively researched analysis.' -- Sarah Sands, editor'Ethiopia shows – as does this handbook for democrats – that democracy and development are indivisible.' -- Hailemariam Desalegn'Democracy is essential to governance, the rule of law and economic well-being. In Venezuela, we know to our cost what happens when democracy dies – we die with it. I urge all those concerned with the state of their nation to read Democracy Works, and act on its findings.' -- María Corina Machado'Much is made these days of Africa’s buoyant prospects, of the dynamism to be found in the continent’s youthful demographic profile and rapid urbanisation, especially when coupled with the embrace of new technologies. But this positive future is only possible if, as the authors vividly demonstrate here, African institutions are both democratic and effective.' -- J. Peter Pham

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Book SynopsisThe Somali people are fiercely nationalistic. Colonialism split them into five segments divided between four different powers. Thus decolonisation and pan-Somalism became synonymous. In 1960 a partial reunification took place between British Somaliland and Somalia Italiana. 'Africa Confidential' wrote at the time that the new Somali state would never be beset by tribal division but this discounted the existence of powerful clans within Somali society and the persistence of colonial administrative cultures. The collapse of parliamentary democracy in 1969 and the resulting army—and clanic— dictatorship that followed led to a civil war in the ‘perfect’ national state. It lasted fourteen years in the ‘British’ North and is still raging today in the ‘Italian’ South. Somaliland ‘re-birthed’ itself through an enormous solo effort but the viable nation so recreated within its former colonial borders was never internationally recognised and still struggles to exist economically and diplomatically. This book recounts an African success story where the peace so widely acclaimed by the international community has had no reward but its own lonely achievement.Trade Review'Employing an interdisciplinary approach that draws on history as well as anthropology, his research goes beyond superficial or abstract theoretical assumptions in a bid to understand the connections between geography, social structures and the challenges faced by Somalis in meeting the demands of the post-colonial world order.' -- Survival'Prunier provides an insightful and comprehensive analysis of the formation of the Republic of Somaliland. He manages to connect local details to regional and global developments, and delivers a timely and highly accessible interpretation of the turbulent history of the region.' -- Jutta Bakonyi, Associate Professor of Development and Conflict, University of Durham, and author of 'Country without a State: Economy and Society in Wars, the Example of Somalia''The Country That Does Not Exist is the book on how a post-nation-state world order may unfold. A breath of fresh air, it is a must-read for academics and policy experts alike, showing the elusiveness (and futility) of conventional approaches to rebuilding states.' -- Will Reno, Professor of Political Science at the Program of African Studies, Northwestern University'This compulsively readable book, filled with eyewitness testimonies, tells the story of the birth of still-unrecognised Somaliland from the wreckage of the collapsed Somali state. It provides an unrivalled guide to how governance among Somalis can, and cannot, be created.' -- Christopher Clapham, Centre of African Studies, University of Cambridge'A very readable history of the enigma that is Somaliland--a country that does not exist in the eyes of other nations, but whose people crafted a political settlement that has endured for decades. Prunier describes Somaliland’s remarkable story, but also the risks of young Somalilanders living in their parents' "frozen dreams".' -- Mark Bradbury, Executive Director of the Rift Valley Institute and author of Becoming Somaliland

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Book SynopsisMany studies focus on film in Africa. Few, however, study cinema as a leisure activity: one that has influenced several generations and opened up spaces to dream, discuss or contest. Movie theatres offered a break from the daily routine, as places of escape and of education. Cinema was also potentially subversive, offering an alternative to colonial discourse. 'Tropical Dream Palaces' seeks to trace this history in a West African context: of broadening horizons on the one hand, and of censorship and control on the other. It fills a historiographic void, following cinema's arrival in the region in the early twentieth century up until the Independence era, and also looking further afield to Central Africa and its different models. Goerg addresses questions of film distribution in colonial times; of screening venues, their implantation, spread and different categories; while also focusing on audiences, their gender or age; the acquisition of a film culture; and the impact of screening foreign images. Her book draws on extremely varied sources to paint a broad picture of this cinematographic landscape: archives, the accounts of African and European spectators or administrators, novels, autobiographies, the local press, interviews and iconography.Trade Review'Tropical Dream Palaces is an intriguing story of the origins, productions, and various development levels of the motion picture industry in the region. … Georg’s book adopts a unique approach in its use of various sources and hermeneutic cues to deliver an engaging history of the connections between cinematics, leisure, and the West African imperial landscape… a pleasurable and educational read.' -- African Studies Review

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Book SynopsisIn early 1900, the paths of three British writers—Rudyard Kipling, Mary Kingsley and Arthur Conan Doyle—crossed in South Africa, during what’s become known as Britain’s last imperial war. Each of the three had pressing personal reasons to leave England behind, but they were also motivated by notions of duty, service, patriotism and, in Kipling's case, jingoism. Sarah LeFanu compellingly opens an unexplored chapter of these writers’ lives, at a turning point for Britain and its imperial ambitions. Was the South African War, as Kipling claimed, a dress rehearsal for the Armageddon of World War One? Or did it instead foreshadow the anti-colonial guerrilla wars of the later twentieth century? Weaving a rich and varied narrative, LeFanu charts the writers’ paths in the theatre of war, and explores how this crucial period shaped their cultural legacies, their shifting reputations, and their influence on colonial policy.Trade Review'Through careful research and compelling writing, Sara LeFanu brings to life three great writers of the Victorian world and draws them together in a moment of imperial reconfiguration. … [Something of Themselves] succeeds in avoiding the predictability of conventional biography and helps us rethink the literary geographies of the period.' -- Journeys journal

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Book SynopsisOver two separate twelve-year periods, two opposing states' governed in parallel in Angola (19791991) and Sudan (19902002), each with competing conceptions of society, history and national identity. Deeply dividing communities with their counter-nationalist programmes, rebel parties UNITA in Angola and the SPLM/A in Sudan, which had fought Africa's longest and bloodiest civil wars, built political and military enterprises in opposition to the established governments. ''Insurgent Nations'' unpacks the complexities of these movements, exploring the charisma of their leaders, the ruthlessness of their military operations, their political manoeuvrings, and their multiple transformations in war and peace. Using first-hand, unpublished accounts from their leaders and cadres, Paula Cristina Roque provides unique insight into UNITA and the SPLM/A''s governing strategies. She details the ''nations'', ''states'' and ''societies'' that were forged by the parties'' ideologies, sub-nationalist conc

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Book Synopsis'A must read...!!!' will.i.am'Each encounter is framed and presented with enormous literary skill and grace' David OlusogaWITH A FOREWORD FROM BERNARDINE EVARISTOConversations with some of the most extraordinary Black minds of our age, discussing race, decolonisation, systemic inequalities, and the climate crisis.In a series of incisive and intimate encounters, Sarah Ladipo Manyika introduces some of the most distinguished Black thinkers of our times, including Nobel Laureates Toni Morrison and Wole Soyinka, and civic leaders first lady Michelle Obama and Senator Cory Booker.She searches for truth with poet Claudia Rankine and historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr. She discusses race and gender with South African filmmaker Xoliswa Sithole and American actor and playwright Anna Deavere Smith. She interrogates the world around us with pioneering publisher Margaret Busby, parliamentarian Lord Michael Hastings and civil rights activist Pastor Evan Mawarire - who dared to take on President Robert Mugabe and has lived to tell the tale. We also meet the living embodiment of the many threads, ideas and histories in this book through the profile of her fabulous 102-year-old friend, Mrs Willard Harris.In journeys that book-end the collection, Sarah Ladipo Manyika reflects on her own experience of being seen as 'oyinbo' in Nigeria, African in England, Arab in France, coloured in Southern Africa and Black in America, while feeling the least Black and most human among her fellow travellers, explorers all, against the sharp white relief of the South Pole.Trade ReviewA must read...!!! -- will.i.amExtraordinary conversations with many of the greatest minds and most inspiring figures of our age. Each encounter framed and presented with enormous literary skill and grace. Together they form a snap-shot of the where the peoples of the Black diaspora stand, today in the early 21st Century, and how much has been overcome to get here. -- David Olusoga * author of Black and British *Sarah Ladipo Manyika brings an intimate, eclectic, and delightfully startling freshness in this remarkably curated celebration of the African Diaspora. Her curiosity and ranging insights sharpens the genius, and the humanity, of her (already familiar) subjects, and our appreciation of them, and what an absolute joy to savor Between Starshine and Clay -- NoViolet Bulawayo * author of Glory *What draws me to this work is what inspired it: A desire to bring Black voices from the African diaspora to the foreground. And Sarah Ladipo Manyika has assembled her subjects very carefully; each person in this book indeed conveys the power, strength and sheer diversity of the African diaspora. This is a one-of-a-kind book, a necessary and important one -- Delroy LindoEven though Sarah Ladipo Manyika's medium is language, to read her Between Starshine and Clay is like seeing an animator at work. Little by little, we see her subjects taking shape, and then, with a sudden blink, we are being invited to participate in choices made, joys, regrets, and lives fully lived. A lesson in magic from Manyika's writing -- Ato QuaysonSarah brings us an important book full of inspiring voices and leaders engaged in the most important issues of the day. It is an amazing collection that will inspire readers young and old -- Dame Vivian Hunt

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Book Synopsis'A must read...!!!' will.i.am'Each encounter is framed and presented with enormous literary skill and grace' David OlusogaWITH A FOREWORD FROM BERNARDINE EVARISTOConversations with some of the most extraordinary Black minds of our age, discussing race, decolonisation, systemic inequalities and the climate crisis.In a series of incisive and intimate encounters, Sarah Ladipo Manyika introduces some of the most distinguished Black thinkers of our times, including Nobel Laureates Toni Morrison and Wole Soyinka, and civic leaders first lady Michelle Obama and Senator Cory Booker.She searches for truth with poet Claudia Rankine and historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr. She discusses race and gender with South African filmmaker Xoliswa Sithole and American actor and playwright Anna Deavere Smith. She interrogates the world around us with pioneering publisher Margaret Busby, parliamentarian Lord Michael Hastings and civil rights activist Pastor Evan Mawarire - who dared to take on President Robert Mugabe and has lived to tell the tale. We also meet the living embodiment of the many threads, ideas and histories in this book through the profile of her fabulous 102-year-old friend, Mrs Willard Harris.In journeys that book-end the collection, Sarah Ladipo Manyika reflects on her own experience of being seen as 'oyinbo' in Nigeria, African in England, Arab in France, coloured in Southern Africa and Black in America, while feeling the least Black and most human among her fellow travellers, explorers all, against the sharp white relief of the South Pole.

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Book SynopsisSince 2017, Mozambique has been confronted with a jihadi insurgency. This book looks at the origins of that insurgency, and the broader and longer history of the relationship between Islam and politics in the country. Did Mozambique's Muslim politics always point towards jihad? Eric Morier-Genoud examines the period immediately after independence, when the state engaged in anticlericalism; he then moves across the decades to the 2000s, when the ruling party and the opposition alike courted Muslims for electoral purposes, before reaching the 2010s, when tensions between 'mosque and state' returned. Along the way, he explores a wide variety of phenomena, including the rise of Wahhabism, religious competition, state mediation, secularism, the alleged growth and radicalisation of Islam, and the origins of the ongoing insurgency. What emerges is a rich history, attentive to different branches and elements of the Muslim community, looking far beyond the narrow perspective of jihad. Taking a socio-historical perspective, 'Towards Jihad?' unpacks a complex dynamic, which the jihadi insurgency is in fact now disrupting. Understanding the long history of Muslims' engagement with politics in Mozambique sheds light on where the country has come from, where it stands now amidst violent unrest, and where it might go next.Trade Review'An excellent demonstration of how real grievances meeting an ideology can evolve into political violence. Morier-Genoud describes the evolution of the local insurgency in Mozambique into an affiliate of the Islamic State, accurately focusing on key local factors without denying the impact of IS central on the actual and future processes.' -- Wassim Nasr, journalist, France 24'A clearly argued, intellectually honest and carefully nuanced interpretation of the relationship between Islam and the State that challenges most current readings of both the context and origins of the jihadist struggle in northern Mozambique.' -- Edward A. Alpers, Research Professor Emeritus of History, University of California, Los Angeles'A sensitive exploration of the complex divisions within Mozambican Islam, providing welcome historical context for the insurgency.' -- William G. Clarence-Smith, Emeritus Professor of History, SOAS University of London'Documents succinctly that the insurgency comes not so much from a continuation of Muslim politics in modern Mozambique but as a rupture with it. Business, governments and NGOs concerned by the insurgency, its roots and its future trajectory should read this.' -- Alex Vines, Director of the Africa programme, Chatham House'A thoughtful discussion, shedding precious light on a pressing issue. This will be fundamental for all those trying to understand the jihadi movements in Mozambique, Africa and elsewhere.' -- Vincent Foucher, Senior Research Fellow, CNRS

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Book SynopsisWritten by two authors with unparalleled first-hand experience of Darfur, this is the definitive guide. Newly updated and hugely expanded, this edition details Darfur's history in Sudan. It traces the origins, organization and ideology of the infamous Janjawiid and rebel groups, including the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement. It also analyses the brutal response of the Sudanese government. The authors investigate the responses by the African Union and the international community, including the halting peace talks and the attempts at peacekeeping. Flint and de Waal provide an authoritative and compelling account of contemporary Africa's most controversial conflict.Trade Review'Disentangling myth from reality in Darfur is so difficult that the credentials of those who judge events there are particularly important. Those of both authors of this ... work are excellent' 'A masterpiece.' Sudan - The Passion of the Present http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2005/11/the_word_is_gen.html 11-29-2005 'This brilliant book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the complex history of Darfur and how the very name became synonymous with suffering.' Mia Farrow 'Alex de Waal and Julie Flint have written the definitive history of the Darfur conflict. Very detailed and thoroughly documented from first hand sources, the book will quickly become a classic and will correct some of the outside misperceptions of who did what to whom and why. They have written a balanced account of a very disturbing story, made more confused by government and rebel propaganda, by letting participants and eyewitness observers tell their stories.' Andrew Natsios, Former Administrator of USAID and US Special Envoy to Sudan 'This is among the best works available on the current Darfur crisis. For a blow by blow account of developments, there is none better.' Mahmood Mamdani, University of Columbia ‘The book is an impressive source of detailed information about a conflict that has been grossly over-simplified by most western reporters and advocacy groups.' Alan J. Kuperman, Lyndon B. Johnson, School of Public Affairs University of Texas 'That is the book Darfur: fast: moving, insightful, elaborate and intriguing; ... So graphic the stories, it is as good as watching a movie on Darfur; you see what you read' 'For anyone who wants to understand the politics of Sudan, the history of the suffering peoples and the possible solutions, this is the right book.' Sunday Monitor Praise for the First Edition: 'The best introduction is Darfur: A Short History of a Long War by Julie Flint and Alex de Waal...their accounts are as readable as they are tragic' Nicholas D. Kristof in 'The New York Review of Books' ‘A very clear-sighted account ... the book I would give first to anyone wanting to become acquainted with the crisis in Darfur.’ African AffairsTable of Contents Acknowledgements Maps Chronology Glossary Dramatis Personnae Preface to Second Edition 1. The People of Darfur 2. The Sudan Government 3. The Janjiwiid 4. The Rebels 5 . A War of Total Destruction, 2003-04 6. Wars within Wars, 2005-06 7. International Reaction 8. The Abuja Peace Talks 9. Endless Chaos Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe Nile Basin is a vast and varied area of 350 million people. Parts of the basin have become the very symbols of African misery, suffering drought, genocide, state failure and aid dependency. At its heart lies the Nile itself. Yet whilst the importance of the river is well documented for the colonial period there is no comprehensive account of its management after independence. "The River Nile in the Post-Colonial Age" details the modern development of the Nile Basin and the efforts to manage its waters. With important new material by researchers from each of the countries through which the Nile passes, it provides an indispensable aid to understanding the complex history of the basin, the politics surrounding it and the efforts being made to jointly manage it.

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Book SynopsisThis collection presents rare documents relating to the development of various forms of communication across Africa by the British, as part of their economic investment in Africa. Railways and waterways are examined.

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Book SynopsisDuring the 1970s, owing to their oil 'rents', Algeria, Iraq and Libya all seemed engaged in a swift modernization process. Oil was the godsend that would enable these states to catch up economically. Algeria was a Mediterranean dragon,A" Libya an emirateA" and Iraq the rising military powerA" of the Arab world. From a political perspective, progressive socialism suggested that profound changes were underway: women's liberation, urbanization, education for all, longer life expectancy and so on. A few decades later, the disillusion is a cruel one. The sense of wealth led these countries to undertake political, economic and military experiments that would lead to impasses with disastrous consequences that they are still trying to overcome. How did it all happen? Can these countries dispense with far-reaching reforms? Can the EU export its norms and values and protect its gas supply? The present work offers the first global approach to the subject.Trade Review'Martinez offers fresh insight and analysis on the issue of the 'resource curse' and its impact on economic development.' * Choice *'A compact, readable analysis, full of insight, of three Arab states seldom examined as a whole. Highly accessible, his book is of value to specialists, graduate students and undergraduates alike. The CERI Comparative Politics and International Studies Series, which supports translations of noteworthy social science works emanating from French researchers at Sciences Po, is also to be congratulated for bringing this book to an English-speaking audience.' * International Affairs *'A cogent, intelligent analysis of the perils and pitfalls of hydrocarbon wealth in these troubled states, adding much fuel to the "oil curse" debate and examining the structures that are seemingly its result.' * Christopher Davidson, author of After the Sheikhs: the Coming Collapse of the Gulf Monarchies *'Martinez has produced a compact, readable analysis, full of insight, of three Arab states seldom examined as a whole. Highly accessible, his book is of value to specialists, graduate students and undergraduates alike. The CERI Comparative Politics and International Studies Series is to be congratulated for bringing this book to an English-speaking audience.' * Ronald Bruce St John, International Affairs *'Luis Martinez has produced yet another fascinating and thought provoking book on political dilemmas in the Middle East. His analysis of how oil-rich authoritarian regimes can survive socio-economic and political crisis by turning the national rent into a personal asset sheds some new light on the future of authoritarianism in the region. That the key to regime longevity in Algeria, Libya and Iraq should be selective economic mismanagement is an argument that Martinez makes with great authority. This work undoubtedly provides anyone interested in political change in the Middle East with a brilliant new perspective on the challenges for democratic reform in the region.' * Frederic Volpi, Director, Institute of Middle East and Central Asia Studies, University of St Andrews, and author of Political Islam Observed *'Amid the uncertainty and upheaval unleashed by the events that have come to be described as the Arab Spring, it is important not to lose sight of the structures underlying the economic, political and social failures that have led to these events and continue to threaten the sustainability of many states in the MENA region. Martinez's book provides a refreshing analysis of the debilitating role that hydrocarbon rent has played in three major MENA oil and gas producing countries that have in the past twenty years gone through different forms and phases of instability. By grouping Algeria, Libya and Iraq together, his study draws useful contrasts for understanding the nuances of political violence, authoritarianism and failed state building - all key features of the transition currently underway in the region.' * Dr Hakim Darbouche, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. *

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Book SynopsisWhen we think of Ethiopia we tend to think in cliches: Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, the Falasha Jews, the epic reign of Emperor Haile Selassie, the Communist Revolution, famine and civil war. Among the countries of Africa it has a high profile yet is poorly known. How- ever all cliches contain within them a kernel of truth, and occlude much more. Today's Ethiopia (and its painfully liberated sister state of Eritrea) are largely obscured by these mythical views and a secondary literature that is partial or propagandist. Moreover there have been few attempts to offer readers a comprehensive overview of the country's recent history, politics and culture that goes beyond the usual guidebook fare. Understanding Contemporary Ethiopia seeks to do just that, presenting a measured, detailed and systematic analysis of the main features of this unique country, now building on the foundations of a magical and tumultuous past as it struggles to emerge in the modern world on its own terms.Trade Review'Prunier and Ficquet in Understanding Contemporary Ethiopia aim to present a "wide-angle snapshot" of one country by bringing together a diverse range of authors to explain it on its own terms. The book includes thorough, detailed and highly contextual studies of Ethiopian history, politics, religions and economics.' * Times Literary Supplement *'Understanding Contemporary Ethiopia is an impressive volume, one which contains a wealth of information on the historical, cultural and religious underpinnings of the landlocked country in the Horn of Africa ... The editors have assembled an impressive series of contributions.' * Nick Branson, LSE Review of Books *'This volume on all things Ethiopian by a group of noted experts is a tour de force. Focussing on the nature of power in Ethiopian state and society, the contributors provide powerful and provocative accounts that chart the process of rapid societal change as Ethiopia assumes its place as a rising regional power. In doing so they uncover a new model of economic development and state-building, pointing to the importance of the Ethiopian state in conditioning violence, social change and economic accumulation. A must-read.' * Will Reno, Professor, Director of the Program of African Studies, Northwestern University *'Ethiopia can no longer be caricatured or mythologised. No one could have envisioned the extent to which this country would be transformed nearly twenty-five years after the end of its long civil war. To help us make sense of the dynamics shaping contemporary Ethiopia, this much-needed volume brings together important insights from the world's most notable experts on the country's culture, history, politics, and society. They offer a comprehensive and accessible account that should be widely read.' * Leonardo R. Arriola, University of California, Berkeley *

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Book SynopsisOn 25 January 2011, tens of thousands of Egyptians came out on the streets to protest against emergency rule and police brutality. Eighteen days later, Mubarak, one of the longest sitting dictators in the region, had gone. How are we to make sense of these events? Was this a revolution, a revolutionary moment? How did the protests come about? How were they able to outmanoeuvre the police? Was this really a 'leaderless revolution,' as so many pundits claimed, or were the protests an out- growth of the protest networks that had developed over the past decade? Why did so many people with no history of activism participate? What role did economic and systemic crises play in creating the conditions for these pro- tests to occur? Was this really a Facebook revolution? Why Occupy a Square? is a dynamic exploration of the shape and timing of these extraordinary events, the players behind them, and the tactics and protest frames they developed. Drawing on social movement theory, it traces the interaction between protest cycles, regime responses and broader structural changes over the past decade. Using theories of urban politics, space and power, it reflects on the exceptional state of non-sovereign politics that developed during the occupation of Tahrir Square.Trade Review'Gunning and Baron have combined social theory, an excellent grasp of the structural and historical context, and a sharply observant eye for detail to explain the extraordinary phenomenon of the Egyptian uprising against President Mubarak in 2011. The result is an outstanding and lively analysis of this episode that will likely stand the test of time. It also helps to throw light on subsequent events as Egyptians follow their uncertain course into the future.' * Charles Tripp, Professor of Middle East Politics, SOAS, University of London *'Gunning and Baron provide an innovative corrective to conventional views of Tahrir Square. Deftly deploying theoretical insights and first-hand observations, they highlight the deeper roots of urban protest and explain the critical roles played by informal networks and social organisation. This book speaks equally powerfully to those in academia, the media and policy circles struggling to make sense of why the events of the Arab Spring have defied standard, top-down expectations and, in so doing, it provides an instructive insight for the future.' * James Piscatori, Professor of International Relations, Durham University *'This is the most rigorous explanation currently available of the unforgettable mass mobilizations in Cairo which helped topple the Mubarak dictatorship.' * Jeff Goodwin, Professor of Sociology, New York University *'This well-crafted and comprehensive study — a useful combination of social movement theory and international relations — proves how revolution is and remains possible in the Arab world.' * Jean-Pierre Filiu, Professor of Middle East Studies, Sciences Po (Paris) and author of The Arab Revolution: Ten Lessons From the Democratic Uprising *'This excellent book goes a long way toward dispelling the dual myths that the 25 January Revolution in Egypt came out of nowhere or was an inevitable consequence of political and socioeconomic frustration. The resulting synthesis is highly readable and will be of immense value those who want make sense of the daunting complexities of Egyptian politics over the last two decades.' * Ewan Stein, Lecturer in International Relations, University of Edinburgh *'Anyone who wants to think through the ways in which political movements are going to arise and do their work during the rest of the 21st century would be advised to get a copy of this book.' * Don Flynn, Chartist *'This is a staggeringly good book. After reading so many accounts of the Egyptian Revolution and Arab Spring that are mainly descriptive, or even speculative as to causes, it seemed we were doomed to have to wait many years… Gunning and Baron have proven that we needn't wait any longer.' * Jack A. Goldstone, Professor of Public Policy, George Mason University *

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Book SynopsisMagnificent and Beggar Land is a powerful account of fast-changing dynamics in Angola, an important African state that is a key exporter of oil and diamonds and a growing power on the continent. Based on three years of research and extensive first-hand knowledge of Angola, it documents the rise of a major economy and its insertion in the international system since it emerged in 2002 from one of Africa's longest and deadliest civil wars.The government, backed by a strategic alliance with China and working hand in glove with hundreds of thousands of expatriates, many from the former colonial power, Portugal, has pursued an ambitious agenda of state-led national reconstruction. This has resulted in double-digit growth in Sub-Saharan Africa's third largest economy and a state budget in excess of total western aid to the entire continent.Scarred by a history of slave trading, colonial plunder and war, Angolans now aspire to the building of a decent society. How has the regime, led by President Jose Eduardo dos Santos since 1979, dealt with these challenges, and can it deliver on popular expectations?Soares de Oliveira's book charts the remarkable course the country has taken in recent years.Trade Review'[T]his little-studied kleptocracy is an accepted part of the western system. Expat western workers keep Angola ticking. Angolan oligarchs inhabit the global luxury economy of British public schools, Swiss asset managers, Hermès stores etc. In fact, argues the Oxford political scientist Ricardo Soares de Oliveira in his marvellous new book, Magnificent and Beggar Land: Angola Since the Civil War, we live in an oligarch's ideal world . Western countries barely even pretend to disapprove of kleptocrats any more.' * Financial Times *'A lucid, clear and remarkably well-informed look at a particularly complex and so often absurd country, served by writing of a rare literary quality. Brilliant!' * Jose Eduardo Agualusa, Angolan novelist *'Soares de Oliveira charts an extraordinary oil-fuelled state-building project. With an eye for realpolitik, de Oliveira is a deft guide through Angola's phoenix-like rise. His real achievement is not merely to have obtained such rich source material from a country where it is notoriously difficult to speak critically. Rather, it is to have analysed the crafting of an African petro-state with an ethnographic sense of detail and a political scrutiny that is global in its reach, closely woven to Angola's historical roots.' -- Times Literary Supplement'This engrossing, authoritative account of Angola's history since 2002, when its three-decade-long civil war finally ended, explains how a Marxist-Leninist government morphed into one of the most corrupt crony-capitalist regimes in the world.' -- Nicolas van de Walle, Foreign Affairs'Soares de Oliveira offers a fascinating account of the Machiavellian adaptability of the MPLA leadership ... [He] has a particular skill in understanding how what begins as one thing can transmute into another -- including how [President] dos Santos the malleable puppet became dos Santos the almighty. He offers a detailed account of the aging president's accumulation of nearly unchallengeable power.' -- Los Angeles Review of Books'Soares de Oliveira's book is an important academic and methodological achievement [...] a classic work not only for an understanding of post-conflict Angola, but also for an understanding of post-independence Angolan politics and society.' -- Jean-Michel Mabeko-Tali, Portuguese Literary and Cultural Studies'Soares de Oliveira has a real enthusiasm for Angola as it emerges from "its postwar political hibernation" into a harsh, polarising version of African capitalism. He acknowledges the country's right to lead the field in the media-chic "Africa rising" narrative - plentiful resources, prodigal inward investment, dynamic barter with the Chinese - but its social disarray and its vast inequality trouble him deeply. He thinks that the best Angolans can hope for, living in the shadow of Ozymandian public-private projects and a glittering oligarchy, is to position themselves in the path of government handouts. Angola replicates "the distributional clientelism of petro-states" - Saudi Arabia, Venezuela or Iran - "which provide large, but not overly large, segments of their populations with some disbursements". He envisages ethnic and race anger, a growing dislike of foreigners, even the emergence of a Chávez lookalike to challenge the postwar order. ... He is far too sane to wish another major upheaval on a country that has spent more than half its life since independence mired in conflict. Even so, he can't imagine the Angolan poor, or for that matter educated dissidents, getting anywhere without a fight.' -- London Review of Books'This is a stunning book, which takes the lid off Angola in a way that I have never seen equalled for any African state - and does it, moreover, for a state which is both extremely important and very little known. It is superbly written, and draws on a detailed familiarity that gives a feel for the place that no amount of simple fact gathering could ever convey. It will be absolutely essential for understanding Angola. At the same time, it paints a convincing picture of the African oil state that will have a resonance well beyond Angola, and should bring it to the attention of anyone concerned with African development, and especially the "African miracle" that has been built largely on the back of temporarily booming commodity prices.' * Christopher Clapham, Professor, Centre of African Studies, University of Cambridge *'Fascinating, provocative, and based on extensive field research, the book is an in-depth contribution to understanding Angola's path after the end of the civil war'. * Manuel Ennes Ferreira, Professor, ISEG, Technical University of Lisbon *'Nothing like this book has existed. Drawing on a large number of interviews and years of closely following the country's politics, Soares de Oliveira provides a hugely informative insight into Angola's extraordinary postwar transformation. He provides a detailed analysis of the emergence of an Angolan oligarchy and its roots in an exercise in postwar parallel state building. And he shows superbly how this state has completely monopolised politics, and has rebuilt its place in the world - and in Angola itself - but has not, at any rate as yet, become a developmental state delivering widespread material benefits.' * Christopher Cramer, Professor of the Political Economy of Development, School or Oriental and African Studies, University of London *'Ricardo Soares de Oliveira's profound knowledge of the political economy of petroleum in Angola is once again revealed in his new book on the country's post-2002 trajectory.' * Alves da Rocha, Professo, Catholic University of Angola and Director of CEIC *'This is the best study of Angola in English, and one of the best books in any language on what remains a poorly understood country. It also serves to illustrate some of the deeper complexities underlying the "Africa Rising" narrative that has become so prominent in international business circles.' * Stephen Ellis, Desmond Tutu Professor, Free University, Amsterdam and author of External Mission: The ANC in Exile, 1960-1990 *

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Book SynopsisThis issue covers the politics, history, literature, and culture of The Maghreb. Robin Yassin-Kassab has an enlightening sojourn in Morocco; Hicham Yezza examines the role of the Berbers in the Arab Spring; Marcia Lynx Qualey is dazzled by the transformative power of Maghrebi poetry; Louis Proyect spends some time with the Jews of the Maghreb; Cecile Oumhani provides a daily account of the Tunisian revolution; Paul Mutter tangles with al-Qaeda in Mali; Robert Irwin wonders if Ibn Khaldun had a mystical vision of history; Julia Melcher explores the absurd world of exiled western writers in Tangiers; John Liechty attempts to get a US visa for his Moroccan wife; Jamal Bahmad watches some revolutionary films; Arie Amaya-Akkermans admires Algerian art; and Anissa Helou tastes some Moroccan street food. Also in this issue: Extracts from a new novel by Amal Hanano and poems by George Szirtes.Table of ContentsArticles include: A Moroccan Journey - Robin Yassin-Kassab Hicham Yezza - the Berbers and the Arab Spring Poetry, identity, and power by Marcia Lynx Qualey The Jews of the Maghreb by Louis Proyect Diary of the Tunisian Revolution by Cecile Oumhani Al-Qa'ida in Mali by Paul Mutter Moroccan Street Food by Anissa Helou Ibn Khaldun and History by Robert Irwin Western Writers in Tangier by Julia Melcher (William S. Burroughs, Paul Bowles, Tenessee Williams and others) An American Abroad - John Liechty's attempts to get a US visa for his Moroccan wife Revolution in Maghrebi Cinema - Jamal Bahmad Algerian Art - Arie Amaya-Akkermans Skirting on the Surface - by Amal Hanano (Extract of a novel set in the Maghreb) Two Poems by George Szirtes

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Book SynopsisThe atrocities of civil wars present us with many difficult questions. How do seemingly ordinary individuals come to commit such extraordinary acts of cruelty, often against unarmed civilians? Can we ever truly understand such acts of 'evil'? Based on a wealth of original interviews with perpetrators of violence in Sierra Leone's civil war, this book provides a detailed response. Moving beyond the rigid bounds of political science, the author engages with sociology, psychology and social psychology, to provide a comprehensive picture of the complex individual motives behind seemingly senseless violence in Sierra Leone's war. Highlighting the inadequacy of current explanations that centre on the anarchic nature of brutality, or conversely, its calculated rationality, this book sheds light on the critical but hitherto neglected role played by the emotions of shame and disgust. Drawing on first-hand accounts of strategies employed by Sierra Leone's rebel commanders, it documents the manner in which rebel recruits were systematically brutalised and came to perform horrifying acts of cruelty as routine.In so doing, it offers fresh insight into the causes of extreme violence that holds relevance beyond Sierra Leone to the atrocities of contemporary civil wars.Trade Review'Kieran Mitton goes beyond analysis of violence as “breakdown” or “strategy” to provide a compelling, fascinating and very insightful account of the psychological functions of violence in Sierra Leone's vicious civil war.' * David Keen, Professor of Complex Emergencies, London School of Economics *'No author to date has been able to supply a convincing explanation of the reasons for the RUF's extraordinary brutality, but in this lucid, well organised and well expressed book Kieran Mitton does just that. A significant and original contribution.' * Stephen Ellis, author of External Mission: The ANC in Exile, 1960-1990 *'Kieran Mitton's readable book seeks to explain atrocity in the Sierra Leone civil war, rather than the causal factors of the war which occupy much of the literature, and presents a new and very plausible thesis to comprehend the incomprehensible. Mitton challenges assumptions of rationality or irrationality within explanations of the worst sorts of violence and offers thought-provoking analysis of why people who are not inherently violent become brutalised and brutal.' * David Harris, Lecturer in African Studies, University of Bradford, author of Sierra Leone: A Political History *'Rebels in a Rotten State is an important and interesting addition to the remarkably vast, and growing, literature on the war in Sierra Leone. It is distinguished by its careful and learned attention to the causes and nature of the atrocities of the war, rather than to the war itself. The author is consistently informative and fair – even where he disagrees with the interpretation of others, including mine, he does so with reason, diffidence and charm.' * Lansana Gberie, author of A Dirty War in West Africa: The RUF and the Destruction of Sierra Leone *'This outstanding study, so impressively and carefully researched, makes important contributions in number of areas: to our understanding of the war in Sierra Leone, to the political economy of civil wars more generally, to the challenges of "reconciliation" after horrendous periods of blood-letting and, above all, to the dynamic and complex sources of atrocious violence in conditions of civil war. What makes the book stand out is, not least, the even-handedness, respect and sophistication with which the author critically assesses the many attempts that have been made to explain what many find inexplicable. As such, it is also a deeply humane treatment of the human capacity for extreme violence and evil.' * Mats Berdal, Professor of Security and Development, Department of War Studies, King's College London *

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Book SynopsisNairobi's Eastleigh estate has undergone pro- found change over the past two decades. Previously a quiet residential zone, the arrival of vast numbers of Somali refugees catalysed its trans- formation into 'Little Mogadishu', a global hub for Somali business. Dozens of malls and hotels have sprouted from its muddy streets, attracting thousands of shoppers. Nonetheless, despite boosting Kenya's economy, the estate and its residents are held in suspicion over alleged links to Islamic terrorism, especially after the 2013 Westgate Mall attack, while local and international media have suggested with little evidence that its economic boom owes much to capital derived from Indian Ocean piracy. In contrast to such sensationalised reporting, Little Mogadishu is based on detailed historical and ethnographic research and explores the social and historical underpinnings of this economic boom. It examines how transnational networks converged on Eastleigh in the wake of the collapse of the Somali state, attracting capital from the Somali diaspora, and bringing goods - especially clothes and electronics - from Dubai, China and elsewhere that are much in demand in East Africa. In so doing, Little Mogadishu provides a compelling case-study of the developmental impact diasporas and transnational trade can have, albeit in a country where many see this development as suspect.Trade Review'More nuanced than any recent studies on Somalis in Eastleigh. . . very important and timely . . . Little Mogadishu is hopeful and humane.'A rich and colourful ethnography. . . one of the most detailed explorations of the regional impacts of Somali diasporic ties and remittances in East Africa . . . a path-setting contribution.''Everything you need to know about modern Africa can be found on the crowded streets of Nairobi's "Little Mogadishu" -- the dazzling energy, the unnerving challenges. Neil Carrier has walked those streets, and his rich, nuanced book strips away the cliches and misconceptions to reveal a community in furious flux, wrestling with the dilemmas of a whole continent.' -- Andrew Harding, BBC Africa correspondent and author of The Mayor of Mogadishu'I have no doubt that this is a book to revisit again and again. It will without a doubt become a classic in studies of the African city.' -- The Journal of African History'In this impeccably researched overview, Carrier sheds light on the buzzing economic life of an enigmatic, super-diverse, and marginalized urban neighbourhood. Eastleigh has long been represented through false contradictions (Is it fundamentally Kenyan or Somali? A home or a transit zone? Entrepreneurial success story or cover for pirates and terrorists?). Carrier's expert demystification contributes to our grasp of refugee studies, urban anthropology, globalization, and development economics.' -- Janet McIntosh, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Brandeis University and author of The Edge of Islam and Unsettled: Denial and Belonging among White Kenyans'Nairobi's Somali enclave of Eastleigh is an extraordinary place -- a major centre of East African trade as well as of Islamic faith, political intrigue, and refugees seeking a better future. In this wonderful book, Neil Carrier depicts Eastleigh in all its vitality and complexity. I immensely enjoyed reading it, and learned much from it.' -- Gordon Mathews, Professor of Anthropology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and author of Ghetto at the Center of the World: Chungking Mansions, Hong Kong'Carrier's brilliantly researched and skillfully crafted book challenges the widespread negative perceptions about Somalis in Kenya. He unearths the deep historical roots of this entrepreneurial community in Nairobi's Eastleigh neighbourhood and how, against all odds, they have overcome barriers and transformed this sleepy place into a dynamic global business hub.' -- Yusuf Hassan, MP for Kamukunji Constituency (of which Eastleigh is part)'In this compelling and breathtakingly thorough account, Carrier documents the vast reach of Eastleigh's "refugee economy" - throughout Kenya and across the world, from China's sites of production and Dubai's sites of consumption through Somali financial diaspora networks in Europe and North America. The superb review of Eastleigh's historic dynamism takes the reader through colonialism in east Africa, Somalia's collapse, the intersection of diasporic networks and global finance, contemporary security worries, and anticipatory views of the city of the future. A terrific read.' -- Catherine Besteman, author of Making Refuge: Somali Bantu Refugees and Lewiston, Maine'Little Mogadishu is an exhilarating and colourful ride through the streets of Eastleigh, a compelling ethnographic account of those seeking the "Eastleigh dream"...Carrier reveals with extraordinary detail and care the energy, passion and commitment of those who find hope and opportunity in displacement.' -- Africa at LSE blog‘An important contribution to the scholarship on diasporas, exemplifying how an ethnography of global networks and flows can remain grounded in local context. It should be required reading for students of transnationalism in migration and refugee studies, and it is also a valuable contribution to urban anthropology in eastern African.’ -- Berghahn Journals

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Book SynopsisExternal Mission is the Winner of the Recht Malan Prize for Non-Fiction awarded by Media24 in South Africa. Nelson Mandela's release from prison in February 1990 was one of the most memorable moments of recent decades. It came a few days after the removal of the ban on the African National Congress; founded a century ago and outlawed in 1960, it had transferred its headquarters abroad and opened what it termed an External Mission. For the thirty years following its banning, the ANC had fought relentlessly against the apartheid state. Finally voted into office in 1994, the ANC today regards its armed struggle as the central plank of its legitimacy. External Mission is the first study of the ANC s period in exile, based on a full range of sources in southern Africa and Europe. These include the ANC s own archives and also those of the Stasi, the East German ministry that trained the ANC's security personnel. It reveals that the decision to create the Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) -- a guerrilla army which later became the ANC's armed wing -- was made not by the ANC but by its allies in the South African Communist Party after negotiations with Chinese leader Mao Zedong.In this impressive work, Ellis shows that many of the strategic decisions made, and many of the political issues that arose during the course of that protracted armed struggle, had a lasting effect on South Africa, shaping its society even up to the present day.Trade Review'The real message of Stephen Ellis's history of the African National Congress (ANC) in exile painfully and palpably obvious between the lines is how the conspiratorial past affects the ruling party to the present day. It makes uncomfortable reading, for it goes some way towards explaining why President Jacob Zuma, a former head of the ANC s intelligence service in exile, and his comrades now running South Africa find it so hard to embrace the notion that a diversity of opinion and tolerance of dissent must be at the heart of any functioning, decent democracy.' -- The Economist'[A] book that contains startling revelations about the ANC s flirtation with totalitarianism. ... Mr Ellis is a clear-eyed observer of all things African, a fearless butcher of sacred cows. External Mission begins by annihilating conventional understandings of the circumstances surrounding the ANC s 1961 declaration of war on apartheid. According to Mr Ellis, all critical decisions were actually taken by the South African Communist Party (SACP), which sought support from Moscow and Beijing and then bounced the ANC into following its lead. ... Mr Ellis goes so far as to report that Mr Mandela was almost certainly a member, at least for a time, of the SACP's central committee.' -- Wall Street Journal'The remarkably prolific Ellis has written a fascinating history of the internal politics of the African National Congress (ANC) in the 30 years during which it was banned in South Africa and was forced to operate from bases outside the country. Ellis' research suggests that the South African Communist Party enjoyed a higher degree of influence on the ANC's decision-making than has been acknowledged by the ANC's leadership.' -- Foreign Affairs'Ellis's evidence is impressive and he makes his case forcefully. A battery of archival sources including the ANC's own records help to underpin his argument.' -- Times Literary Supplement'There is hardly a page of this fascinating book does not throw fresh light on South Africa s murky past. Impeccably researched and written in the clear, dispassionate prose of a historian, Stephen Ellis has provided an indispensable guide to the ANC.' -- Martin Plaut, Africa editor, BBC World Service'[External Mission] will probably cast Ellis as a troublemaker in the ANC's South Africa, but there can be little doubt that his research is sound and his interpretations credible ... He provides exhaustive evidence for what are now recognized to have been the most significant weaknesses of the ANC in exile [and] adds much data on the extent of corruption within the party ... Ellis's book will undoubtedly stand as the definitive account of the ANC in exile.' -- Patrick Chabal, International Affairs'External Mission clarifies what has long been a rather murky area: the precise origins of the armed struggle. [...] Ellis marshalls this information convincingly. Best of all, he weaves it all into a densely patterned history that combines local detail and broader context -- and still comes out as a very readable narrative. [...] If you read only one work of history in the coming year, this should be it.' -- Shaun De Waal, Weekly Mail & Guardian (South Africa)'Meticulously researched and passionately argued, this book casts valuable new light on the ways that the African National Congress was formed and deformed by its years in exile.' -- Mark Gevisser, author of Thabo Mbeki: The Dream Deferred'This thoroughly researched book explains much about why SA is in the condition it is today. It makes it depressingly obvious that our "rainbow nation" is no longer the legacy of Nelson Mandela, or even Thabo Mbeki, but rather of Joe Modise. [...] a remarkable new study of the ANC in exile.' -- Financial Mail (South Africa)'Ellis has produced an excellent, even brilliant, book that greatly adds to our knowledge of the ANC.' -- Professor David Welsh, author of The Rise and Fall of Apartheid'It is time that the ANC's mythology about its years in exile gives way to critical history. Stephen Ellis's new book is to be welcomed as a step along the journey from myth to history.' -- Jonny Steinberg, author of The Three-Letter Plague'An explosive exposé that is timeous and relevant as much as it may be discomforting to some.' -- Barney Pityana, theologian and human rights lawyer'Stephen Ellis lays bare a history that the ANC would prefer to forget. Basing his account on ANC and other historical archives, including those of the Stasi--the former East German secret police--complemented by confidential information from former comrades, he shows that the history of the ANC is less noble than usually presented. This book is full of shocking surprises. Not only does Ellis shows the crucial role of the South African Communist Party in the ANC's decision to launch the armed struggle, but he also reveals Nelson Mandela's role as a secret Party member.' -- Rian Malan, Media24 (South Africa)'This is a book ANC-ologists will pore over (or maybe pour things over), dissect, discover what's new, what's already out in the open but newly contextualised, by a tireless student of the liberation movement and South Africa's Communist party. ... At the conclusion of this densely-researched roller-coaster of a book, Ellis writes that the ANC's "sanitised" version of its immediate past, propagated by means of official documents, speeches, monuments and commemorations, is that the liberation movement initiated an armed struggle that, after much sacrifice, was the main factor forcing the apartheid government to negotiate in circumstances that handed effective victory to the majority of the population.' -- Denis Herbstein, African Arguments'Stephen Ellis' book provides a readable, detailed and well-researched account of these events ... If you read nothing else, I would strongly recommend his brilliant final chapter entitled "Perspectives".' -- Nigel Watt, Chartist'The depth of evidence makes this an important work, especially given how the micro-history of ANC archives raises questions about what may never be known. ... Ellis open[s] new pathways for the study of the uncomfortable realities of exile.' -- Journal of African History

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Book SynopsisSpared by the Arab revolts, Bouteflika's Algeria continues to intrigue observers. How does its political system function? Who really governs? Who are behind the protests? How strong are the Islamists? Are there alternatives to dependence on hydrocarbons? And how will the regime securitise its vast and unstable Sahara hinterland? Algeria has been depicted for many years as politically opaque, incomprehensible, and under the control of powerful, occult-like intelligence agencies. While these caricatures are all partly true, they understate how much the country has changed since the 1990s. Algeria today is com--plex, and challenging to comprehend; but it is no longer opaque. Algeria Modern analyses the complexity of state and society and the strategies that social and political actors employ. It demonstrates how interest groups that constitute the core of the regime are linked to both the security and busi-ness sectors, which while defending their turf and united by shared values are, however, in perennial competition.Embedded in a broader Maghreb and Sahel region that has been marked by civil war, rebellions, and foreign military intervention, many Algerians seem, albeit reluctantly, willing to endure the current hybrid form of authoritarian order as long as it provides a minimum of security and welfare.Trade Review'This book is timely and significant. It both reveals how Algeria has changed since its civil war in the 1990s and how scholars now interpret North Africa's most important country. The contributors, moreover, are acknowledged specialists of the country, or have recently completed research there, and so are ideal guides to its evolving complexities.' -- George Joffe, Lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge, and editor of 'Islamist Radicalisation in North Africa'; 'This volume provides a judicious assessment of how the Bouteflika regime has demilitarized the Algerian polity without, however, altering the architecture of control. It provides a provocative reinterpretation of how politics and power in Algeria have evolved and yet remain the same despite the wholesale house cleaning of the intelligence service. A must-read for those interested in authoritarian resiliency.' -- John P. Entelis, Professor of Political Science, Fordham University, and author of, among others, 'Algeria: The Revolution Institutionalized'; 'An extremely timely book that addresses comprehensively one of the least known and understood countries in the Arab world, just as it enters a new period of political and economic change. The contributors provide important insights into how Algeria emerged from its traumatic experiences of the 1980s and 1990s and the lessons this provides for the tumult the Arab world is currently experiencing.' -- Michael Willis, King Mohamed VI Fellow in Moroccan and Mediterranean Studies, University of Oxford, and author of 'Politics and Power in the Maghreb'This volume provides a judicious assessment of how the Bouteflika regime has demilitarized the Algerian polity without, however, altering the architecture of control. It provides a provocative reinterpretation of how politics and power in Algeria have evolved and yet remain the same despite the wholesale house cleaning of the intelligence service. A must-read for those interested in authoritarian resiliency. -- John P. Entelis, Professor of Political Science, Fordham University, and author of, among others, Algeria: The Revolution InstitutionalizedAn extremely timely book that addresses comprehensively one of the least known and understood countries in the Arab world, just as it enters a new period of political and economic change. The contributors provide important insights into how Algeria emerged from its traumatic experiences of the 1980s and 1990s and the lessons this provides for the tumult the Arab world is currently experiencing. -- Michael Willis, King Mohamed VI Fellow in Moroccan and Mediterranean Studies, University of Oxford, and author of Politics and Power in the MaghrebAlgeria Modern contributes greatly to the literature on Algerian politics by offering a refreshing perspective and understanding of complex inter-relations and transformations in recent years. ... It is therefore particularly timely for those interested in Algeria's political trajectory to read Algeria Modern. -- Africa at LSE Blog

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Book SynopsisNelson Mandela is dead and his dream of a rainbow nation in South Africa is fading. Twenty years after the fall of apartheid the white Afrikaner minority fears cultural extinction. How far are they prepared to go to survive as a people? Kajsa Norman's book traces the war for control of South Africa, its people, and its history, over a series of December 16ths, from the Battle of Blood River in 1838 to its commemoration in 2011. Weaving between the past and the present, the book highlights how years of fear, nationalism, and social engineering have left the modern Afrikaner struggling for identity and relevance. Norman spends time with residents of the breakaway republic of Orania, where a thousand Afrikaners are working to construct a white-African utopia. Citing their desire to preserve their language and traditions, they have sequestered themselves in an isolated part of the arid Karoo region. Here, they can still dictate the rules and create a homeland with its own flag, currency and ideology. For a Europe that faces growing nationalism, their story is more relevant than ever. How do people react when they believe their cultural identity is under threat?Bridge Over Blood River's haunting and subversive evocation of South Africa's racial politics provides some unsettling answers.Trade Review[Norman] takes on the future of the embattled Afrikaner with remarkable tenacity and intelligence ... Assured and scrupulously reported, this is perhaps the most interesting book about South Africa to have appeared since Rian Malan's My Traitor's Heart 26 years ago. * The Spectator *There is much of interest to be learned here about the rival attempts by die-hard Afrikaners on the one hand and the ANC on the other to commemorate this battle on the banks of the Ncome River in diametrically opposed ways, leading to a frigid standoff that says much about contemporary South Africa. * R.W. Johnson, Literary Review *'Kajsa Norman is a skilful journalist, courageous in entering dangerous situations, shrewd in investigating, patient in listening. … Altogether, this book gives a fascinating insight into one of the worst periods of religion-dominated social cruelty.' * The Church Times *'[A] fascinating tapestry, wefted by history and warped by anecdote.' * Irish Examiner *Norman does not minimise the horrors of the apartheid era, but she does delve into the paradoxes of the Afrikaner in their perpetual quest for survival: despite their often brutal form of racism they were also capable of humane acts ... With Bridge over Blood River, Kajsa Norman has made a significant addition to available literature on the Afrikaners. * The South African *Thick-skinned and fearless, Kajsa Norman has embarked on a daring journey through South Africa, deep into the landscapes of the tensions that still prevail there. She's looking for the only thing worth seeking: that which, in the clearest and most unambiguous way, describes a society in transition where there is every reason to be vigilant. * Henning Mankell *

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Book SynopsisIn February 1937, following an abortive attack by a handful of insurgents on Mussolini's High Command in Italian-occupied Ethiopia, 'repression squads' of armed Blackshirts and Fascist civilians were unleashed on the defenceless residents of Addis Ababa. In three terror-filled days and nights of arson, murder and looting, thousands of innocent and unsuspecting men, women and children were roasted alive, shot, bludgeoned, stabbed to death, or blown to pieces with hand-grenades. Meanwhile the notorious Viceroy Rodolfo Graziani, infamous for his atrocities in Libya, took the opportunity to add to the carnage by eliminating the intelligentsia and nobility of the ancient Ethiopian empire in a pogrom that swept across the land. In a richly illustrated and ground-breaking work backed up by meticulous and scholarly research, Ian Campbell reconstructs and analyses one of Fascist Italy's least known atrocities, which he estimates eliminated 19-20 per cent of the capital's population.He exposes the hitherto little known cover-up conducted at the highest levels of the British government, which enabled the facts of one of the most hideous civilian massacres of all time to be concealed, and the perpetrators to walk free.Trade Review'[A] masterly history ... Ian Campbell has performed a tremendous service by rescuing from historical neglect and European propaganda the stories of the victims of 20th-century Italy's homicidal push for greatness.' - The National; 'A masterly examination of a hideous war crime which has never been so comprehensively researched. This forensic investigation is chillingly brought to life by the vivid memories of survivors whom the author has tirelessly tracked down. Campbell has done the world a great service by so clinically exposing such brutality.' - Keith Bowers, broadcaster and author of 'Imperial Exile: Emperor Haile Selassie in Britain 1936-40'; 'A detailed and fully documented account of one of the great under-reported atrocities of the twentieth century. Campbell makes a highly important contribution in exposing this extremely brutal yet virtually unknown episode. The entirely original testimony of surviving eyewitnesses adds striking vividness to this valuable book. Genuinely original.' - Christopher Clapham, Centre of African Studies, University of Cambridge and author of 'The Horn of Africa'; 'Whilst the British and French were appeasing Mussolini, his blackshirts were slaughtering thousands of Ethiopians--a massacre completely ignored by the League of Nations. 80 years later, Ian Campbell's latest oeuvre is a concisely researched, well-documented and brilliantly written tribute to those forgotten victims of barbarous Italian Fascism in Ethiopia.' - Prince Asfa-Wossen Asserate PhD, historian, bestselling author and political analyst; 'Ian Campbell's book is a chilling account of one of the most terrible crimes against humanity of the twentieth century: the massacre by occupying Italians over three days in February 1937 of thousands of Ethiopian citizens in Addis Ababa. Campbell reconstructs in meticulous detail, from a wide range of sources, including many eyewitness testimonies, the initial trigger for the massacre, its various stages, the responsibilities of different groups of perpetrators, and its legacy in later memory... The result is the most comprehensive and accurate account now available in any language of the Yekatit 12 massacre.' - David Forgacs, Guido and Mariuccia Zerilli-Marimo Professor of Contemporary Italian Studies, New York University; author of 'Italy's Margins'; 'This book rounds out the trilogy that Ian Campbell has worked on for such a long period of time. The first, The Plot to Kill Graziani, was a great success; the second, The Massacre of Debre Libanos, was another research feat. The third has all the makings of a blockbuster. It is a meticulously researched, brilliantly written and abundantly illustrated book. It is a must read for all those interested in the history of Fascism globally and in the modern history of Ethiopia.' - Shiferaw Bekele, Professor of History, Addis Ababa University; 'The February 1937 massacre by Fascist Italy of thousands of defenceless Ethiopian civilians stands as the first and least known genocide of World War II. Ian Campbell spent more than twenty years conducting research on that killing field, in which countless men, women and children were wiped out, and educated Ethiopians, community leaders and notables were systematically eliminated. It is good to have this authoritative synthesis of that horrifying event between two covers at last.' - Donald N. Levine, Peter B. Ritzma Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of Chicago; author of Wax and Gold: Tradition and innovation in Ethiopian Culture and Greater Ethiopia; 'Campbell's detailed research, which cuts much new ground, provides the reader with a daily, almost hourly, picture of the infamous three days, enhanced by many photographic images not previously in the public domain.' - Richard K. Pankhurst, Professor of History, Addis Ababa University; author of 'The Ethiopians: A History', and 'Sylvia Pankhurst: Counsel for Ethiopia'

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Book SynopsisSocial Currents in North Africa presents a multi-disciplinary analysis of social phenomena unfolding in the Maghreb today. It explores some of the most salient institutional and cultural parameters at work, through topics ranging from the workings of religious belief in the public sphere to the moral economies of language instruction and cultural production. Abi- Mershed delivers critical comments on the genealogies of contemporary North African behavioural and ideological norms, and offers insights into the new rationalities of governance after 2011. This volume raises important conceptual interpretations for the field of North Africa studies.Trade Review'Osama Abi-Mershed has pulled together a comprehensive and insightful edited volume that covers several important aspects of Maghrebi political and social currents. Ranging across several countries and topics, but with a focus on social currents in the region, this volume is testimony to the emergence of a new, younger generation of North Africa scholars that promise to provide new and continuing insights into a region of the world that is not usually the subject of sustained inquiries.' -- Dirk Vandewalle, Associate Professor of Government, Dartmouth University, and author of 'A History of Modern Libya''Given the trauma and turbulence experienced in recent years by North African peoples, societies, and polities, Social Currents in North Africa is a breath of fresh air. Rather than viewing the region as a hotbed of dysfunction and disintegration, as the media would have it, this book provides an insightful and empathetic cross-disciplinary comparative study by a distinguished group of scholars and keen observers. Both serious and lay students of the subject will find this book deeply informative and rewarding.' -- John P. Entelis, Professor of Political Science, Fordham University'This excellent book covers salient issues about the Maghreb, which academics have hitherto overlooked, covering such questions as the transformation of the Islamist parties in the region, the Amazigh movement, non-state actors support for the Western Saharan nationalist movement, or Jewish heritage tourism in Morocco and Tunisia. A welcome addition to the literature, I strongly recommend it.' -- Yahia H. Zoubir, Professor of International Relations, KEDGE Business School, France

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Book SynopsisSouth Africa's transition to democracy took place against a backdrop of shadow war between the apartheid regime's counterinsurgency forces and the African National Congress' armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK). This book analyses in unprecedented detail the hidden history of MK's struggle and its contribution to South Africa's liberation, while exposing new dimensions of clandestine apartheid-era violence. Drawing on interviews with former MK guerrillas, Daniel Douek traces the evolution of MK's operations across southern Africa from the 1960s, culminating in the 1990-4 negotiations between the ANC and the white-supremacist regime. As political violence escalated, the battle waged in the shadows became nothing less than a struggle to shape South Africa's future. Counterinsurgency forces recruited spies, deployed death squads, engaged in psychological warfare, and targeted ANC leaders, including MK chief Chris Hani. Even once ANC elites had come to power, apartheid counterinsurgency operations continued to undermine South Africa's new democracy by marginalising MK guerrillas within the 'new' security forces, leaving legacies of violence and instability still felt today.Trade Review'As rigorous--and disturbing--an account of insurgency and counterinsurgency in South Africa as you'll find. Highly recommended.' -- Deane-Peter Baker, Associate Professor of International and Political Studies, UNSW Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy'A provocative book raising important questions about the toxic legacies of dysfunctional states' violent repression of insurgencies: authoritarian security elites, urban violence and persistent criminal networks. Douek reaches far beyond South Africa in his analysis and arguments for meaningful security sector reform in post-conflict societies.' -- Sue Onslow, Deputy Director & Reader in Commonwealth History, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London

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Book SynopsisYorkshireman Lionel Abson was the longest surviving European stationed in West Africa in the eighteenth century. He reached William's Fort at Ouidah on the Slave Coast as a trader in 1767, took over the English fort in 1770, and remained in charge until his death in 1803. He avoided the ‘white man's grave’ for thirty-six years. Along the way he had three sons with an African woman, the eldest partly schooled in England, and a bright daughter named Sally. When Abson died, royal lackeys kidnapped his children. Sally was placed in the king's harem and pined away; her brothers vanished. That king became so unpopular as a result that the people of Dahomey disowned him. Abson also mastered the local language and became an historian. After only two years as fort chief, he was part of the king’s delegation to make peace with an enemy, a unique event in centuries of Dahomean history. This singular book recounts the remarkable life of this key figure in an ignominious period of European and African history, offering a microcosm of the lives of Europeans in eighteenth-century West Africa, and their relationships with and attitudes towards those they met there. Trade Review'A fascinating account.''This well-researched study tells the intriguing story of an erudite Yorkshireman who "went native" in West Africa and spent thirty-six years organising the export of slaves there -- a strange figure but, as Alpern shows, not altogether unique.' -- Adam Jones, Professor of African History and Culture, University of Leipzig'A spirited, well-sourced and well-written biography of Yorkshire-born Lionel Abson, who spent years on the West African coast trading in slaves for the Caribbean. The author achieves excellent discussions of the indigenous background, the slave trade itself, the fate of Abson's children after his death, and much else besides in this commendable book.' -- Deryck Scarr, Emeritus Senior Fellow, Australian National University and author of 'The Seychelles Since 1770'‘First-rate research.’

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Book SynopsisIn mid-2004 the Darfur crisis in Western Sudan forced itself on to the centre stage of world affairs. A formerly obscure 'tribal conflict' in the heart of Africa has escalated into what could be the first genocide of the twenty-first century. Its characteristics - Arabism, Islamism, African consciousness, famine as a weapon of war, mass rape, international obfuscation and a refusal to look evil squarely in the face - reflect many of the problems of the global South in general and Africa in particular. Because of the urgent need for knowledge about this humanitarian catastrophe, journalistic explanations of the unfolding crisis have often been rushed and given to hurried generalisations and inaccuracies. Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide explains what lies behind the conflict, how it came about, why it should not be over-simplified and why it is so relevant to the future of the continent. Prunier sets out the ethnopolitical make up of the Sudan and explains why the Darfur rebellion is regarded as a key threat to Arab power in the country, much more so than the secessionism of the Christian south. This, he argues, accounts for the government's deployment of 'exemplary violence' by the Janjaweed militias in order to cow other Black Muslims into subservience.Trade Review'A passionate and highly readable account of the current tragedy that combines intimate knowledge of the region's history, politics, and sociology with a telling cynicism about the polite but ineffectual diplomatic efforts to end it. It is the best account available of the Darfur crisis.' * Foreign Affairs *'A fierce logic at the service of a powerful moral purpose'. -- The Guardian'Rightly treats with scorn the monumental humbug displayed by the outside world towards this tragedy ... A timely analysis of the history and present condition of Darfur.' * The Telegraph *'Anyone attempting to understand Darfur's intricate aspects of African consciousness and Arabian manifest destiny will appreciate this careful study.' -- Nairobi Arts Review'Prunier's book is as impressive as the sheer audacity of his message: eleven years after the genocide in Rwanda, it is as if nothing has been learnt by the United Nations and the African Union'. -- Africa Today'Essential for anyone wanting to learn about this complex conflict.' -- The Library Journal

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Book SynopsisThe conflict in Cote d'Ivoire has the characteristics of Shakespearean drama - the key figures are larger than life, each with a fatal flaw, and the self-destructive path each is following is clearly visible to all but themselves. Mike McGovern's book gives full play to the vibrant personalities involved, from Felix Houphouet-Boigny, 'The Ram', who cannily managed Ivorian politics for the country's first 33 years of independence, to the contemporary First Lady Simone Gbagbo. However, the analysis is of the dynamics in place that give certain predictability to the actions of each of the key figures in the drama. Does the conflict in Cote d'Ivoire derive from 'real' problems such as inter-ethnic competition within a shrinking economy, or is it in some way a series of man-made disasters, a kind of grotesque misunderstanding created out of hate-filled rhetoric? The answer proposed throughout is that since the 1990s politicians in Cote d'Ivoire have concentrated on perfecting the art of 'instrumentalising realities', or manipulating and amplifying existing tensions and resentments, and turning them into political capital.Trade Review'Under the leadership of President Felix Houphouet-Boigny, who managed Cote d'Ivoire's transition to independence, the country was perceived as one of West Africa's few success stories, at least until the late 1980s. Domestic political stability and close relations with France aided steady growth in the economy, which was based on agricultural exports, most notably cocoa. By the time Houphouet-Boigny died, in 1993, the Ivoirian miracle had already been seriously tarnished after a collapse in cocoa prices. But few predicted the country's descent into ethnic polarization and civil conflict. McGovern demonstrates how ethnic identities became entrenched over the decades, as a result of the mass migration of northerners encouraged by the government to find work in southern cocoa-producing regions. When the economy stalled in the 1990s, politicians such as Laurent Gbagbo took advantage of the resentments generated by conflicts over land and social inequalities. McGovern skillfully unmasks the financial interests at stake in the country's politics: the cocoa sector continues to generate substantial revenues, which the state elite controls through an opaque web of public and semipublic organizations.' * Foreign Affairs *'Cote d'Ivoire is rather little-known in the English-speaking world. This is surprising in view of the fact that for some two decades, from the mid-1960s onwards, it was considered one of the most economically successful countries in Africa. Since the 1990s, the shine has gone. From 2002 until recently (and even now the position remains precarious), the country was marked by a low-intensity war that was a volatile situation of neither peace nor war, or a mixture of both. ... There is no serious book in English on the Ivorian war. This is a gap that Mike McGovern, sets out to fill. ... He brings to his task a first-hand knowledge of leading actors in the Ivorian conflict and of some of the country's war zones, gained through academic and policy-oriented research.' * Professor Stephen Ellis, Free University of Amsterdam *'With the craft of an expert anthropologist who knows something about political science and sociology, Mike McGovern explains how local customs, burning political issues, and the economies of patronage and privilege fuel the politics of violence, showing how conflicts are made, not just how they happen.' * William Reno, Northwestern University *'A model for how to understand a mesmerising situation without reducing its complexity.' * Peter Geschiere, author of The Perils of Belonging - Autochthony, Citizenship and Exclusion in Africa and Europe *Table of ContentsContents Introduction: Socialists and Skinheads--The West African forest-savannah frontier as an ecological, cultural and political boundary--The politics of resentment: decolonisation and dramaturgy--Following the money: the history of the cocoa-coffee filiere--Neither peace nor war: the sociology of a state of emergency

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Book SynopsisIoan Lewis details the history and culture of the Somali people, providing a unique window into this little-known culture and its increasingly public predicaments. He provides insight into the complex social, historical, and cultural hinterland that is the Somali heritage and pays close attention to the pervasive influence of traditional nomadism, especially its extremely decentralized nature. Lewis also addresses developments in the Somali political region since the collapse of the Republic in 1991, including the formation and steady development of the democratic state of Somaliland. Though it has grown into a de facto personality, this self-governing outpost of democracy is still officially unrecognized internationally. Lewis concludes with a discussion of the Islamist movement that brought a brief but astonishing period of stability to much of Southern Somalia in late 2006.Table of ContentsContentsPart One: The Social Setting1. The Somali Ethnic Region2. Migration and the Islamic Tradition3. The Somali Nation and its Traditional Divisions4. Family Organisation5. Marriage Arrangements6. Religion and General Cultural Characteristics7. The Oral Heritage8. Self-image and National CharacteristicsPart Two: Pre- and Post-Colonial History9. The Imperial Partition (1880-1941)10. The Re-partition of the Somalis (1941-60)11. Independence 1960-196912. The Pan-Somali Struggle (1960-9)13. Military Rule and Revolution (1969-74)14. Scientific Socialism in Somalia15. The Resumption of the Pan-Somali Struggle (1974-8)16. The Russian Legacy17. Government and Rural SocietyPart Three: Society and Economy18. Traditional Rural Social Institutions19. Local Groups and Settlement Patterns20. Livestock Trade and Labour Migration21. Northern Cultivating Settlements22. Southern Cultivating Settlements23. State Settlement Schemes Following the 'Drought of the Long Tail'24. The Refugee Crisis (1978-80)25. Internal Dissent After the Ogaden WarPart Four: Civil War and the Birth of New Polities26. Peace with Ethiopia, Chaos at home27. The Rebirth of Somaliland28. International Intervention29. The Arta 'transitional government'30. The Mbagathi 'transitional federal government'31. Islam brings peace to Mogadishu32. Somaliland: the power of home-made democracy33. Puntland and other possibilitiesAppendicesDiagrams, Tables & Maps

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Book SynopsisThe period between the two World Wars were troubling years for colonial empire. Individuals and organizations called for major reforms and an end to white supremacy and colonial rule, contributing first to local unrest and protest and then to anticolonial activity not only in Africa but the United States and Europe as well. In this compelling history, Jonathan Derrick recounts the opposition to British and French rule practised both by Africans living on the continent and by European anticolonialists and members of the Black Diaspora. He covers campaigns waged by an early incarnation of the ANC and other groups in South Africa who fought against legal and other aspects of white minority rule. He also analyses the Kikuyu protests against the settler regime in Kenya; Marcus Garvey's African American movement and its role in sparking interest in Africa; the Etoile Nord Africaine, formed mainly by Algerians in France, that called for the independence of French North Africa; protests led by European critics against forced labor in Kenya and French Equatorial Africa; and the activity of small militant groups like the Ligue de Defense de la Race Negre (LDRN) in France and George Padmore's International African Service Bureau (IASB) in Britain. Derrick also examines the role of the Comintern and Western Communist parties that were opposed to Western colonialism and ready to support militant action against it. He shows that, although colonial rulers greatly feared the specter of Communism in Africa, actual Communist activity was in fact quite small. The onset of the Second World War pushed colonial issues to the background, but as Derrick argues, in the long term the anticolonialists of the interwar era helped pave the way for later decolonisation.Trade ReviewA richly detailed, well-researched study of African political activism between the two World Wars ... an important contribution to an under-explored period in African history. Derrick presents a study that is valuable for both its breadth of information and the arguments it raises for the role of Africa in global anti-imperialism during the first half of the twentieth century. -- Benjamin Talton, International Journal of African History StudiesThis is an impressive and scholarly synthesis of a huge amount of historical data that succeeds in presenting a strong narrative of African agitation against colonial rule at the height of European imperialism. As such, this project makes a novel contribution to knowledge. -- Dr Robert Shilliam, Oxford University

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Book SynopsisFull Title - Narrative of a Ten Years Residence at Tripoli in Africa - From the Original Correspondence in the Possession of the Family of the Late Richard Tully, Esq.Nothing can be more curious than the appearance of the caravans when they set out, as they are by that time composed of crowds from all nations, as different in their dress as in their complexions. They carry with them besides gold dust, Venetian sequins, silver piastres, corn, wheat, beans, iron, lead and cochineal, and return through Tripoli with muslins, ostrich feathers, shawls, Arabian coffee, pearls, diamonds from Golconda...This extract illustrates the wealth of fascinating detail to be found in this handsome volume. First published in 1817, it contains correspondence from Miss Tully whose brother-in-law was British Consul in Tripoli from 1783-1793.These letters, detailing every aspect of life, contain exact descriptions of houses, mosques, palaces, clothing, people and customs. No event has escaped the writer''s notice and his account remains as fascinating today as it was to contemporary readers.This fine facsimile edition retains the beautifully illustrated colour plates of the original.

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Book SynopsisA splendid narrative of the author''s encounters with the Moslem community in Tripoli and its hinterland during his medical mission in 1912, set up to aid the Moslem casualties of the Italian occupation of 1911.

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisEdward William Lane (1801-1876), Arabic scholar, first went to Egypt in 1825 for the sake of his health. He made several voyages up the Nile and came to speak Arabic fluently, even adopting Egyptian manners and dress. He was therefore perfectly equipped to begin work on an intimate study of Egyptian life. His other works include a translation of the Thousand and One Nights, and an exhaustive thesaurus of the Arabic language. Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians was first published in two volumes in 1836. It remains a standard work on the subject. Every page contains some item of essential information regarding Arab life: from religion, law and literature, through to domestic matters, art and superstition. The edition is reproduced in facsimile from the 1896 edition, and it retains the abundance of rich and usual photographs and engravings.

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Book SynopsisOn the 1st January 1900 the British Nation assumed the responsibility of governing the inhabitants of a vast area of the African continent, and entrusted the task to a handful of British officials. In this book, therefore, I have endeavoured to give a brief history of the manner in which the duty has been performed, and to indicate some of the main problems which have demanded solution.So writes the author in his preface to this work in which he describes the fulfilment of the task he and his fellow Britons were charged to undertake: the establishment of British rule in Northern Nigeria.First published in 1911, and here reproduced in facsimile, the work is now of particular importance for the information it contains on the history of the region, its study of contemporary life, and as an account of how European dominance was maintained in West Africa.

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Book SynopsisSudan has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. After decades of civil war, rebel uprisings and power struggles, in 2011 it gave birth to the world’s newest country – South Sudan. But it’s not been an easy transition, and the secession that was meant to pave the path to peace, has plunged the region into further chaos. In this updated edition of his ground-breaking investigation, Jok Madut Jok delves deep into Sudan’s culture and history, isolating the factors that continue to cause its fractured national identity. With moving first-hand testimonies, Jok provides a decisive critique of a region in turmoil, and addresses what must be done to break the tragic cycle of racism, poverty and brutality that grips Sudan and South Sudan. .Trade Review"In a set of skillfully argued and well-researched chapters, the author examines the role of religion, race and resource wars." * Choice *"Jok Madut Jok's book is a useful guide to the multiple forces, economic, religious and ethnic, facing each other in Sudan." * Transnational Perspectives *Table of ContentsPreface Chapter 1: Introduction: The Quest for Unity that Further Disunited Chapter 2: Military Regimes and the Divisive Quest for a Unified National Identity Chapter 3: Arab Nationalism and Revolts in Sudan's Peripheries Chapter 4: Threat of Disintegration: Race, Religion and the North-South Wars Chapter 5: A Deadly Combination: Militant Islam and Oil Production Chapter 6: Insurgency and Retaliation Chapter 7: Sudan and the Rest of the World: The Search for Peace and Regional Security Chapter 8: Conclusion: Which Way Sudan? Bibliography

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Book SynopsisIn this extraordinary debut – called ‘gripping’ by The Times of London – Ben Rawlence sets out to gather the news from a forgotten town deep in Congo’s ‘silent quarter’ where peace is finally being built after two decades of civil war and devastation. Ignoring the advice of locals, reporters, and mercenaries, he travels by foot, bike, and boat, introducing us to Colonel Ibrahim, a guerrilla turned army officer; Benjamin, the kindly father of the most terrifying Mai Mai warlord; the cousins Mohammed and Mohammed, young tin traders hoping to make their fortune; and talk show host Mama Christine, who dispenses counsel and courage in equal measure. From the ‘blood cheese’ of Goma to the decaying city of Manono, Rawlence uncovers the real stories of life during the war and finds hope for the future.Trade Review"A compelling debut." * The Bookseller *"Rawlence gets under Congo's skin… He makes a self-effacing guide with a necessary sense of the ridiculous, an eye for the telling detail and a talent for evocative description. But it is his closeness to the Congolese that really stands out." * The Times *

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Book Synopsis

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