African history Books

Book SynopsisMilitary coups are a constant threat in Africa and many former military leaders are now in control of ''civilian states'', yet the military remains understudied, especially over the last decade. Drawing on extensive archival research, cross-national data, and four in-depth comparative case studies, When Soldiers Rebel examines the causes of military coups in post-independence Africa and looks at the relationship between ethnic armies and political instability in the region. Kristen A. Harkness argues that the processes of creating and dismantling ethnically exclusionary state institutions engenders organized and violent political resistance. Focusing on rebellions to protect rather than change the status quo, Harkness sheds light on a mechanism of ethnic violence that helps us understand both the motivations and timing of rebellion, and the rarity of group rebellion in the face of persistent political and economic inequalities along ethnic lines.Trade Review'Kristen A. Harkness has revived the important subject of military politics and ethnicity, and she has shown not merely whom the likely coup makers are but under what conditions they are likely to strike. This is a very valuable addition to the field.' Donald L. Horowitz, Duke University, North Carolina'When Soldiers Rebel is a path-breaking, highly original, and forceful book on the causes of coups in post-independence Africa. The case studies are thorough, engaging and persuasive. Compellingly written, When Soldiers Rebel is an elegant and extremely plausible answer to a very important and long-standing question of comparative and international politics.' Hein Goemans, University of Rochester'Harkness' impressive book sheds new light on the prevalence of military coups in ethnically divided African countries. Full of interesting data and carefully argued, her study convincingly demonstrates that the efforts of rulers to exclude formerly privileged groups often leads to rebellion. It will constitute essential reading for students of the military and ethnic conflict for the foreseeable future.' Nicholas Van de Walle, Cornell University, New York'A major addition to the literature on ethnic conflict, African politics, and the dynamics of the state. Original, tough-minded, and compelling.' Richard English, author of Does Terrorism Work?: A History'In sum, [Harkness'] theory on [soldiers'] ethnic rebel behaviour offers a rich and new perspective on prevailing challenges in Sub-Sahara Africa: civil military relations and preventing military-led coups. In addition, her volume makes an important contribution to the literature on ethnic conflicts as well as democratization research by explaining how armed forces influence democratic transition and consolidation.' Lars Pelke, DemocratizationTable of ContentsIntroduction; 1. Ethnicity, military patronage, and soldier rebellion; 2. Statistical tests: ethnic armies and the coup d'état; 3. Building ethnic armies: Cameroon and Sierra Leone; 4. Creating inclusive armies: Senegal and Ghana; 5. Dismantling ethnic armies: African militaries and democratization; Conclusion; Appendix A. Preindependence ethnic violence and ethnic politicization; Appendix B. Military coup data; Appendix C. Ethnicity and the military data; Appendix D. Supplementary material for regression analysis.

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Book SynopsisDrawing on multinational oral history and archival research, Rachel Jean-Baptiste investigates the fluctuating identities of multiracial people, or 'métis' in colonial French Africa. Offering a nuanced history of race-making, belonging, and rights, she shows how métis carved out varied visions of belonging in Africa, Europe, and internationally.

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Book SynopsisAlthough refugee camps are established to accommodate, protect, and assist those fleeing from violent conflict and persecution, life often remains difficult there. Building on empirical research with refugees in a Ugandan camp, Ulrike Krause offers nuanced insights into violence, humanitarian protection, gender relations, and coping of refugees who mainly escaped the conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This book explores how risks of gender-based violence against women, in particular, but also against men, persist despite and partly due to their settlement in the camp and the system established there. It reflects on modes and shortcomings of humanitarian protection, changes in gender relations, as well as strategies that the women and men use to cope with insecurities, everyday struggles, and structural problems occurring across different levels and temporalities.Trade Review'This important and original work unpacks the ways in which confinement and encampment exacerbate gender-based violence against both women and men. Providing a granular focus on a single Ugandan refugee camp, it integrates insight into refugees' lived experiences with critical engagement with the role of humanitarian organizations. Ulrike Krause offers a voice to harrowing human stories and shows why they matter for policy and practice.' Alexander Betts, University of Oxford'Whether you are a scholar, a policy maker or a practitioner, you will find this thought provoking book extremely valuable and its richly informed polyphonic analysis persuasive. Drawing from her experience in a refugee camp in Uganda, Dr Krause engages in an in- depth, thoughtful yet robust dialogical interaction which unravels, contests or refines a wide range of theories, concepts and practices on gender based violence as a continuum (i.e: humanitarian/dehumanizing aid; women vulnerable objects/actors). Forced migration is a complex process in which gender roles and relationships are continuously and contextually renegotiated. A must-read.' Maroussia Hajdukowski-Ahmed, McMaster University'Through her in-depth knowledge of life and coping in a refugee camp and her careful attention to detail, Krause explores how gender-based violence needs to be understood in relation to humanitarian governance and coping strategies in the camp - moving beyond the moral binaries of much work on this contentious subject.' Simon Turner, University of Copenhagen'Difficult Life in a Refugee Camp: Gender, Violence, and Coping in Uganda by Ulrike Krause is a well documented and meaningful work related to subjects like gender-based violence, gender roles and relations, humanitarian aid as well as strategies of displayed women and men in encampment in Uganda's camp Kyaka II, for the refugees who mainly escaped the conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.' Carmen Ungur-Brehoi, Journal of Identity and Migration Studies'This book … will not only be a valuable reference for academics and students in related areas but also offer useful lessons for aid practitioners, particularly in light of increasing interest in the role of gender in refugee contexts. For these reasons, this inspiring work by Krause deserves wider readership amongst scholars, students and policymakers interested in gaining nuanced insights into gender dynamics taking place inside a long-term encampment.' Naohiko Omata, International Migration'… a well documented and meaningful work related to subjects like gender-based violence, gender roles and relations, humanitarian aid as well as strategies of displaced women and men … The message that the work transmits is a lucid, sympathetic and painful one.' Carmen Ungur-Brehoi, Journal of Identity and Migration Studies'… a masterpiece, a must-read for any scholar, policymaker, practitioner, or person seeking to work with refugees and/or study forced migrations and refugee studies from a feminist standpoint.' Tatiana Morais, Journal of Refugee StudiesTable of Contents1. Introduction; 2. Gender-Based Violence in the Camp and Beyond; 3. Humanitarian Aid and the Camp Landscape; 4. Changing Gender Relations in the Camp; 5. Coping during and with the Difficult Life in the Refugee Camp; 6. Conclusions.

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Book SynopsisIn this book, David Lindenfeld proposes a new dimension to the study of world history. Here, he explores the global expansion of Christianity since 1500 from the perspectives of the indigenous people who were affected by it, and helped change it, giving them active agency. Integrating the study of religion into world history, his volume surveys indigenous experience in colonial Latin America, Native North America, Africa and the African diaspora, the Middle East, India, East Asia, and the Pacific. Lindenfeld demonstrates how religion is closely interwoven with political, economic, and social history. Wide-ranging in scope, and offering a synoptic perspective of our interconnected world, Lindenfeld combines in-depth analysis of individual regions with comprehensive global coverage. He also provides a new vocabulary, with a spectrum ranging from resistance to acceptance and commitment to Christianity, that articulates the range and complexity of the indigenous conversion experience. LindTable of Contents1. Introduction; 2. Colonial Latin America: the Nahua (Aztecs) and their neighbors; 3. Native Norh America: the colonial Northeast, the Cherokee, and the Sioux; 4. Sub-Saharan Africa and the Diaspora; 5. The Middle East; 6. India; 7. East Asia: China, Japan, Korea; 8. The Pacific; Conclusion: reflections on concentrated and diffuse spirituality.

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Book SynopsisQuaggas were beautiful pony-sized zebras in southern Africa that had fewer stripes on their bodies and legs, and a browner body coloration than other zebras. Indigenous people hunted quaggas, portrayed them in rock art, and told stories about them. Settlers used quaggas to pull wagons and to protect livestock against predators. Taken to Europe, they were admired, exhibited, harnessed to carriages, illustrated by famous artists and written about by scientists. Excessive hunting led to quaggas'' extinction in the 1880s but DNA from museum specimens showed rebreeding was feasible and now zebras resembling quaggas live in their former habitats. This rebreeding is compared with other de-extinction and rewilding ventures and its appropriateness discussed against the backdrop of conservation challengesincluding those facing other zebras. In an Anthropocene of species extinction, climate change and habitat loss which organisms and habitats should be saved, and should attempts be made to restorTable of ContentsAcknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Zebras; 2. Quaggas; 3. Coat coloration; 4. Quaggas, zebras, and humans in Southern Africa; 5. Quaggas abroad; 6. Extinction; 7. Afterlife; 8. Rebreeding; 9. Identity and conservation; Appendix 1. Early illustrations of quaggas; Appendix 2. Records of quaggas kept in Europe; Endnotes; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisAs the first analysis of the archives of international courts, examining how these archives produce particular understandings of what the 'international community' is, the book is essential reading for IR and ILAW scholars and archival scientists, as well as historians interested in the relationship between history, memory and law.Trade Review'Focusing on the paperwork produced by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Redwood shows how paying attention to the materiality of the archive unearths understanding of anything from the shifting intentions of the trial to the different imaginings of the genocide and ideas of justice and community.' Tim Cole, Professor of Social History and Director of Brigstow Institute, Bristol University'In this masterful account, Henry Redwood dissects the complex social and political processes at play as diverse actors construct, interpret and deploy post-atrocity archives. Critiquing a literature that stresses the importance of judges and lawyers, Redwood illuminates the vital role of everyday Rwandan witnesses in the development of the ICTR archive. He brings the entire archival process alive, showing why these records of mass crimes matter – and why, decades after the conflicts in question, they remain so heavily contested.' Phil Clark, Professor of International Politics, SOAS University of London'Redwood's book offers a thought-provoking and beautifully crafted way of looking at the politics of mass violence, the international legal system and record-keeping. With layered and nuanced insight, Redwood forges new academic ground, building a vision of the agential and material power of the archive and the procedural labours of international courts that construct meaning rather than simply reflect or react to the horrors of genocide. The book shows us how legal and archival practices constitute the ideas of community which shape our international system in unequal ways. This work is a brilliant and vital contribution to scholarship on the complex power of knowledge processes and the ideas they produce about violence.' Hannah Partis-Jennings, Lecturer in International Relations and Security, Loughborough University'In this ground-breaking book, Henry Redwood shows, through a rich and detailed analysis of the ICTR, how a particular form of knowledge was produced that has implications for how we view international courts and their legacies. The book is a must-read for anyone interested in transitional justice, international law and politics and the production of historical memory.' Rachel Kerr, Professor of War and Society, King's College London'Dispelling the myth of neutrality that often accompanies the archives of international criminal courts, Henry Redwood's meticulously researched monograph reveals archives to be dynamic sites of production, in which particular accounts of violence are constructed and certain imaginings of the international community are constituted. Focused on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Redwood reveals the archive to be a highly contested political space where different actors bring distinct and often competing versions of justice and community to bare. This monograph is essential reading for anyone with even a passing interest in how law, knowledge and governance intersect within the practices of international criminal courts.' Barrie Sander, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs, Leiden University'This enlightening and path-breaking study of the ICTR's archive will be of value to all those concerned with the possibilities and limitations of international criminal law. Redwood does an excellent job of showing how the tribunal's archive, far from a neutral repository of the court's response to Rwandan genocide, stands as a site in which shifting legal priorities and the politics of knowledge find powerful - and, at time, disturbing - display.' Lawrence Douglas, Amherst College'This important and fascinating study of how the ICTR constructs “knowledge” of the Rwandan genocide offers a new perspective on international criminal justice. The book shows how international justice is both a constituted and contested field, and is crucial reading for academics and practitioners seeking new ways forward in this field.' Kirsten Campbell, Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths College, University of London'The book is a detailed and engaging analysis of the archives produced by international courts that makes an important argument about the discursive construction of justice. It is a valuable contribution to the burgeoning critical scholarly literature on legal archives … [and] demonstrates the potential for further analysis in relation to other international legal contexts.' Trish Luker, Frontiers of Socio-Legal StudiesTable of Contents1. The politics of archival knowledge in international courts; 2. The international criminal tribunal for Rwanda and its archive; 3: The force of law; 4. Contesting the archive; 5. Reconstituting justice; 6. Imagining community; 7. The residual mechanism and the archive.

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Book SynopsisThis open access book offers a detailed study of the foundation and expansion of the Dutch Cape Colony to ask why certain regions in the global south became European settler societies from the 16th century onwards. Examining the different factors that led to the creation of the Cape Colony, Erik Green reveals it was a gradual process, made up of ad hoc decisions, in which the agency of indigenous peoples played an important role. He identifies the drivers behind settler expansion, explores the effect of inequality on long-term economic development and examines the relationship between settlers and the colonial authorities, asserting that they should not be treated as one homogenous group with shared economic interests. Assessing specific characteristics of the Cape Colony, such as the proposition it was a slavery economy, and comparing key insights of this study with the historiography of other settler colonies, Creating the Cape Colony demonstrates the need to revise our underTrade ReviewIn this stimulating and sophisticated study, Erik Green lets loose the theories and questions of much recent economic history on the particularly detailed data of the Cape Colony. The results are often surprising, notably regarding the considerable importance played by Khoesan labour. It is a model of comparative, quantitative research. * Robert Ross, Emeritus Professor of African history, Leiden University, The Netherlands *Green has written a timely new economic history of the Cape Colony: one that uncovers the fragility of the Dutch East India Company operation, as well as the critical role played by indigenous Khoesan communities, as both laborers and resisters, in shaping economic and social institutions with a legacy that continues to impact South Africa in the present. * Anne EC McCants, Ann F. Friedlaender, Professor of History, MIT, USA *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations List of Maps List of Tables 1. Understanding the Establishment of Settler Colonies 2. Indigenous Agency, the Cost of Trade and Initial Steps Towards a Settler Colony 3. Factor Endowments, Institutions and the Expansion of the Frontier 4. Was the Cape a Slave Economy? 5. Unequal We Stand 6. Elites, Coalitions and Settler Resistance Conclusion Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisA revealing study of the confrontation between an eminent Victorian general and two of South Africa's warrior nations.

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Book SynopsisThe Anglo-Zulu war of 1879 was perhaps subjected to much controversy as a result of the epic Zulu victory at the battle of Isandlwana. Lord Chelmsford, the General Officer commanding the invasion force during the war, sustained severe criticism from both journalists and parliament following his actions and conduct at Isandlwana. In 1939 and on the sixtieth anniversary of the battle, Major, the Hon Gerald French, wrote a controversial but riveting book titledLord Chelmsford and the Zulu War, is based on defending both Lord Chelmsfords actions and reputation. The foreword to the book was written by General Sir Bindon Blood who served under Chelmsford in India and a devoted admirer.French however, had fallen into the error of selective inaccurate source material and false reports that were, at the time, specifically designed to shield Lord Chelmsford from the Isandlwana debacle and conveniently lay such blame on the shoulders of Colonel Anthony Durnford, Royal Engineers, who was present a

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Book SynopsisIntroduced by Lois Pryce, author of Lois on the Loose, Red Tape & White Knuckles and Revolutionary Ride.In 1959 Barbara Toy, famous for her solo overland travels in North Africa and Arabia, set out in her trademark Land Rover to drive from Libya to Ethiopia.Alone, she crossed the Sahara Desert and the equatorial forests of the Congo before ascending the highlands of Haile Selassie''s empire. Her Ethiopian travels took her from modern Addis Ababa to the ancient ruins of Aksum, through bandit-ridden countryside to the summit of Mount Wehni - where male heirs to the emperor were traditionally imprisoned for life - on a quest to explore the legend of the Queen of Sheba. Full of good humour and grit, In Search of Sheba chronicles a remarkable feat of endurance and adventure by one of the twentieth century''s greatest travellers.Trade ReviewToy's descriptions of her travels are as relevant now as they ever were . . . a gripping read * Classic Land Rover Magazine *

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Book SynopsisMy parents named me Vuyani, which simply means be happy and let us rejoice!' The Joy Dancer, by multi-award-winning dancer and choreographer, Gregory Vuyani Maqoma, co-written with the legendary Gcina Mhlophe.

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Book SynopsisThis long overdue, vivid and wide-ranging examination of the significance of the resistance of the enslaved themselves - from sabotage and running away to outright violent rebellion - shines fresh light on the end of slavery in the Atlantic World. It is high time that this resistance, in addition to abolitionism and other factors, was given its due weight in seeking to understand the overthrow of slavery. Fundamentally, as Walvin shows so clearly, it was the implacable hatred of the enslaved for slavery and their strategies of resistance that made the whole system unsustainable and, ultimately, brought about its downfall. Walvin''s approach is original, too, in looking at the Atlantic world as a whole, including the French and Spanish Empires and Brazil, as well as Britain''s colonies. In doing so, he casts new light on one of the major shifts in Western history: in the three-hundred years following Columbus''s landfall in the Americas, slavery had become a widesprTrade ReviewOver the years, probably no one has done as much as James Walvin to popularise the history of slavery and abolition. His work is consistently innovative . . . Rather than tackling this story through organised anti-slavery, or what might be thought of as a white narrative, Walvin sets out to 'explore how slaves were the critical element in securing their own freedom', a very different emphasis that reflects growinginterest on both sides of the Atlantic in notions of black resistance . . . Walvin synthesises this complex global history with skill and ingenuity. Freedom is beautifully written and clearly organised . . . thought-provoking, rich in detail and imbued with an emotional intelligence that pushes us to imagine what slave life meant, especially during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. * Family & Community History, Vol. 22/3, October 2019 *A wide-ranging history of resistance during the Atlantic slave trade that reminds us how captives fought their miserable fates every step of the way. -- David Olusoga * BBC History Magazine *

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Book SynopsisYoung Elizabeth captures in vivid detail perhaps the single-most important formative experience in Queen Elizabeth''s life, the 1947 royal tour of southern Africa with her parents King George VI, Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, during which she celebrated her twenty-first birthday.The year of the royal tour of southern Africa, 1947, marked both the high-water mark of the British Empire and the very moment at which it began to unravel. Graham Viney has written an intimate, revealing portrait of the young princess on tour with her parents and sister, Princess Margaret, hard at work in the national interest, and succeeding triumphantly against all odds. In the words of Rian Malan, South African author of My Traitor''s Heart, it is ''a story about a country teetering on the brink of convulsive change and yet almost united, at least for a moment, by love for a king and queen who weren''t really ours.'' The year 1947 was a pivotal moment not jusTrade ReviewA fascinating but too little noticed book which tells a great deal about [the Queen's] formation. It draws on a single royal trip [the 1947 royal tour of southern Africa] . . . The Last Hurrah, by Graham Viney, vividly tells the full tale. -- Charles Moore * Daily Telegraph *Brilliantly conveys the glamour and gruelling nature of a tour that temporarily united a divided nation, but ultimately failed to embed South Africa within "a Commonwealth of free peoples and many races". Casting a discerning eye on his royal protagonists and the people they encountered, Viney penetrates beyond the frippery and froth to provide fascinating sidelights on the history of twentieth-century South Africa -- Lady Anne Somerset, author of Elizabeth I and Queen AnneFor me, this was the literary surprise of the decade, to be so moved and enlightened by a book about British royals and their 1947 tour of South Africa. In Viney's hands, this . . . turns into an unforgettable excursion into a world peopled by gracious blue bloods, lovely princesses, bowing colonials and great throngs of Boers and Africans, inexplicably cheering the rulers of a kingdom that had subjugated their ancestors. Bathed in the fading glow of empire and buffeted by the coming storm of political struggle, Viney's South Africa is a country most of us will barely recognise, teetering on the brink of tumultuous change and yet almost united, at least for a moment, by love for a king and queen who weren't really ours. This is a very fine book. It deserves readers. -- Rian Malan, author of My Traitor's HeartWonderfully written and researched insight into South African Englishness. -- Dominique Botha, author of False RiverA colourful and entertaining socio-political account of the royalt tour that transfixed South Africa. -- Richard Steyn, author of Jan Smuts: Unafraid of Greatness and Louis Botha: A Man ApartMeticulously researched, and inspiringly evoked, Graham Viney relates the story of the 1947 Royal Tour of South Africa, and in so doing captures a defining moment in the history of the South African nation. -- Hugo VickersBrilliantly conveys the glamour and gruelling nature of a tour that temporarily united a divided nation, but ultimately failed to embed South Africa within "a Commonwealth of free peoples and many races". Casting a discerning eye on his royal protagonists and the people they encountered, Viney penetrates beyond the frippery and froth to provide fascinating sidelights on the history of twentieth-century South AfricaGraham Viney offers a dual feat: opening out from the popular spectacle of the Royal tour to a critical moment in English history. This book brings to life both the bonds of empire and its end, and has the breath of the past in the detail: the way people dressed to depart on the white train; the Queen's disarming reply to an old fighter unwilling to forgive England for the Boer War; the family appeal overcoming Afrikaner suspicions of snootiness; and the smells of the time: acrid railway engine smoke, stoep polish and teatime silver in the sun. This is a layered book, written with insight into the disparate views of Blacks, Indians, Coloureds, the party led by Smuts and the proponents of apartheid lurking in the wings. This is an appealing story of a might-have-been, the apparent success of the Royals in bringing a divided country together but, in the end, a success that could not change votes, dominated by racial issues. The Last Hurrah is a superb achievement, graceful, readable, deeply researched and enhanced by rare photographs. -- Lyndall Gordon, author of The Imperfect Life of T. S. Eliot and OutsidersA thoughtful, meticulously researched study. -- David Saks, Associate Director of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies and Editor of Jewish Affairs * Jewish Affairs *This book has the depth and beauty of an elegy. -- John Martin Robinson * Country Life *

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Book SynopsisWith decades of research to draw from, Philip Jowett explores this extraordinary David-and-Goliath conflict, where the rag-tag Igbo tribal army of secessionist Biafra faced off against the Nigerian Federal forces. It was an African war that captured the attention of the western media, with individual commanders such as Biafran leader Colonel Ojukwu and Federal Colonel Adekunle becoming familiar figures across the globe. The Nigerian forces easily outnumbered their opponents, and benefitted from British and Soviet equipment, yet against all the odds the Biafrans held out for two and a half years, inflicting many setbacks on the Federal forces before their eventual surrender in 1970. Specially commissioned artwork and historical photos, including some from respected Italian war photographer Romano Ganoni, reflect the diverse array of uniforms and equipment on both sides, with images ranging from Sandhurst-educated officers in immaculate uniform to ragged militiamen armed with Table of ContentsIntroduction – Nigeria from independence to the eve of civil war /Chronology /The Federal Nigerian Army – organization and character /The Biafran Army – organization and character /The mercenaries – Rolf Steiner and 4th Commando Brigade /The Nigerian and Biafran navies and air forces – MiGs and Ilyushins vs. Count von Rosen’s Swedish Minicons /Weapons /Uniforms /Plate Commentaries

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Book SynopsisThis fascinating study combines the latest archaeological research with an analysis of the available literary and non-literary evidence to examine the organization, equipment, and tactics of the Numidian warriors who fought in conflicts across the ancient Mediterranean as part of the armies of Carthage and Rome between 300 BC and AD 300.The Numidian light cavalry were among the best-known horsemen in the ancient world: riding without saddles or bridle, carrying only hide shields for defense and clutching a handful of light javelins, they were renowned for their darting attacks, swift retreats, and skirmishing prowess. Yet, as much as they were respected by their allies and enemies, they were unfairly derided for their indiscipline, their perceived lack of culture, and their fecklessness, and dismissed as uncivilized, nomadic barbarians from beyond the fringes of the cultured, settled Mediterranean world. The famous portrayal of Numidian horsemen on Trajan''s Column, oTable of ContentsIntroduction Historical Background Numidian Forces Appearance and Clothing Weapons and Equipment Conclusion Select Bibliography Plate Commentaries Index

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Book SynopsisThe Sahara: a dream-like, far away landscape of Lawrence of Arabia and Wilfred Thesiger, The English Patient and Star Wars, and home to nomadic communities whose ways of life stretch back millennia. Today it''s a teeth-janglingly dangerous destination, where the threat of jihadists lurks just over the horizon. Following in the footsteps of 16th century traveller Leo Africanus, Nicholas Jubber went on a turbulent adventure to the forgotten places of North Africa and the legendary Timbuktu.Once the seat of African civilization and home to the richest man who ever lived, this mythic city is now scarred by terrorist occupation and is so remote its own inhabitants hail you with the greeting, ''Welcome to the middle of nowhere''. From the cattle markets of the Atlas, across the Western Sahara and up the Niger river, Nicholas joins the camps of the Tuareg, Fulani, Berbers, and other communities, to learn about their craft, their values and their place iTrade Review[A] passionate paean to the Sahara. - New York Times, Season's Best Travel BooksNick Jubber's The Timbuktu School for Nomads is an abundantly energetic gold-mine of a book. Heaped with history and background information, with ideas, adventures, and poignant postulations, it stares right in the face of current events. This is a book that will remind us all to look with care at what is happening on the great sandscape of North Africa now. A work of inspiration and scholarship, it deserves all the attention it gets. - Tahir Shah, author of The Caliph's House and TimbuctooA well-informed and readable book based on time spent in nomad camps and a thorough survey of the literature. The Sahara and Sahel are complex, dangerous, productive, compelling places. The Timbuktu School for Nomads captures the feel of this in conversations with nomads about their livelihoods, with the constant threat of a drought or an al Qaeda squadron just over the next dune. - Dr Jeremy Swift, author of The SaharaThe Timbuktu School for Nomads takes us on an unforgettable journey through time and space, plenty of it, and gives voice to voiceless communities that inhabit one of the most problematic corners of the globeEngaging. Full of intriguing insights into little-visited countries. - WanderlustEffortless. Uses a light touch to explain complex, esoteric concepts. - GeographicalA writer who can deliver both serious historical research and entertaining escapades with credibility and passion.Impeccably researched and elegantly written. - The Irish Times

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Book SynopsisIn depth study of a significant but little known colonial war.

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Book SynopsisJames E. Baldwin examines how the interplay of these two conceptions of Islamic law religious scholarship and royal justice undergirded legal practice in Cairo, the largest and richest city in the Ottoman provinces.

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Book SynopsisAgainst the backdrop of the revolutionary upheavals that have shaken the region in recent years, the contributors to this volume interrogate a range of case studies from across the region - examining how museums engage inclusion, diversity and the politics of minority identities.

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Book SynopsisIn Unfixed Jennifer Bajorek traces the relationship between photography and decolonial political imagination in Francophone west Africa in the years immediately leading up to and following independence from French colonial rule in 1960. Focusing on images created by photographers based in Senegal and Benin, Bajorek draws on formal analyses of images and ethnographic fieldwork with photographers to show how photography not only reflected but also actively contributed to social and political change. The proliferation of photographic imagery-through studio portraiture, bureaucratic ID cards, political reportage and photojournalism, magazines, and more-provided the means for west Africans to express their experiences, shape public and political discourse, and reimagine their world. In delineating how west Africans' embrace of photography was associated with and helped spur the democratization of political participation and the development of labor and liberation movements, Bajorek tells a new history of photography in west Africa-one that theorizes photography's capacity for doing decolonial work.Trade Review“With intimate ethnography, urgent activism, and an intriguing mix of methodological and theoretical tools, Jennifer Bajorek presents a compelling set of arguments about photography's critical role in producing new publics with their own forms of political imagination and civic consciousness. Her book is an absolute pleasure to read and leaves readers with tantalizing possibilities for future scholarship in other sites at the reaches of the French colonial sphere.” -- Elizabeth Harney, coeditor of * Mapping Modernisms: Art, Indigeneity, Colonialism *“Jennifer Bajorek offers a nuanced and sophisticated understanding of the transformative power of photography all while telling a compelling story packed with detail and brio. Beautifully written, highly original, and built around a core of remarkable images, Unfixed is unquestionably a major contribution.” -- Christopher Pinney, author of * Camera Indica: The Social Life of Indian Photographs *“Unfixed…moves beyond topics that are by now familiar, even canonical. Grounded in rigorous theoretical inquiry and years of in-depth research in the major cities of Senegal and Benin, the book deftly shifts the field toward new terrain. While past scholarship has been concerned with demarcating the Africanity of photography and has focused on issues of identity formation, portraiture, and the colonial gaze, Bajorek instead challenges us to pay attention to photography’s political significance to Africans.” -- Prita Meier * CAA Reviews *“Bajorek’s approach, observations, and suggestions make Unfixed an insightful and illuminating read—not only for researchers of Black or African Studies, but for anyone concerned with vernacular photography.” -- Daniela Yvonne Baumann * Camera Austria International *“[Unfixed] contributes to the dismantling of the notion of a monolithic canon of photography history.... Unfixed is a richly layered book that explores a wide variety of concepts, raising thought-provoking questions along the way.” -- Jane Darcovich * ARLIS/NA *“Jennifer Bajorek’s book is a remarkable achievement; the product of an inquiry that began in 1999 and grew through seven years of field work in Senegal and Benin, Unfixed unearths the extraordinary and largely uncharted territory of photography’s role in what she describes as the ‘decolonial imagination’ of Francophone West Africa.” -- Jordan Troeller * History of Photography *“Jennifer Bajorek’s Unfixed convincingly and eloquently discusses the role that photography played in fostering decolonial imagination among francophone west Africans. . . . [It is] an engaging and accessible read, a rich resource for scholars and students, and a welcome addition to scholarly works on African photography and decolonization.” -- Haythem Guesmi * Africa Today *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations vii A Note on Geography, Spelling, and Language xiii Preface xvii Acknowledgments xix Introduction. At Least Two Histories of Liberation 1 Part I. What Makes a Popular Photography? 1. Ça bousculait! (It Was Happening!) 41 2. Wild Circulation: Photography as Urban Media 83 3. Decolonizing Print Culture: The Example of Bingo 117 Part II. Republic of Images 4. Africanizing Political Photography 163 5. The Pleasures of State-Sponsored Photography 203 6. African Futures, Lost and Found 240 Notes 265 Bibliography 307 Index 319

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Book SynopsisAbigail H. Neely explores social medicine's possibilities and limitations at one of its most important origin sites: the Pholela Community Health Centre (PCHC) in South Africa.Trade Review“Compelling and original, Reimagining Social Medicine from the South rethinks core concepts in historical and anthropological discussions of health and healing in Africa through the lenses of political ecology and relational ontologies. Drawing on rich ethnographic and archival examples, Abigail H. Neely illuminates how robust conceptions of the ‘social’ at the heart of a pioneering social medicine project in rural South Africa nonetheless struggled to incorporate more-than-human understandings of life and well-being. The book's insistence that health and illness are entanglements that exceed the confines of the individual body and academic renderings of the ‘social’ alike is a call for place-based models for improving health that challenge global health's narrow frames of measurability and efficacy.” -- Cal Biruk, author of * Cooking Data: Culture and Politics in an African Research World *“It is not easy to develop an analysis that incorporates both racial capitalism and witchcraft, but through her deeply respectful ethnographic examination of the work of a groundbreaking and highly influential health clinic in South Africa, Abigail H. Neely manages to do just that. Her penultimate chapter is a phenomenal rendition of the multiple ontologies of health.” -- Julie Guthman, author of * Wilted: Pathogens, Chemicals and the Fragile Future of the Strawberry Industry *"... Interested readers at all levels will gain important insights into the challenges posed by global initiatives in social medicine. Recommended. Graduate students and faculty. General readers." -- S. W. Moss * Choice *“Neely’s theorizing is smart, sophisticated, and intriguing.” -- Daniel Jordan Smith * International Journal of African Historical Studies *“Neely’s book will be especially useful for graduate students and professionals working with the large body of existing literature on health interventions . . . and need a strong model for how to rework this literature in exciting critical and theoretical frames.” -- Casey Golomski * Medical Anthropology Quarterly *"Reimagining Social Medicine from the South is bound to intrigue any family physician. . . . Abigail H. Neely has successfully highlighted the conceptual framework of the practice of social medicine in South Africa, its uniqueness, the strengths of the PCHC model, and its weaknesses. She has emphasized the importance of social elements in the practice of social medicine. Her personal narrative makes the book an easy read, more humane and appealing." -- Rashmi Rode * Family Medicine *Table of ContentsPreface ix Acknowledgments xvii Introduction. Telling the Story of Social Medicine from Pholela 1 1. Seeing Like a Health Center 17 2. Relationships and Social Medicine 41 3. Nutrition, Science, and Racial Capitalism 58 4. Witchcraft and the Limits of Social Medicine 79 Conclusion. Social Medicine in the Age of Global Health 99 Glossary 105 Notes 107 Bibliography 147 Index 163

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Book SynopsisIn Queer African Cinemas, Lindsey B. Green-Simms examines films produced by and about queer Africans in the first two decades of the twenty-first century in an environment of increasing antiqueer violence, efforts to criminalize homosexuality, and other state-sanctioned homophobia. Green-Simms argues that these films not only record the fear, anxiety, and vulnerability many queer Africans experience; they highlight how queer African cinematic practices contribute to imagining new hopes and possibilities. Examining globally circulating international art films as well as popular melodramas made for local audiences, Green-Simms emphasizes that in these films queer resistance—contrary to traditional narratives about resistance that center overt and heroic struggle—is often practiced from a position of vulnerability. By reading queer films alongside discussions about censorship and audiences, Green-Simms renders queer African cinema as a rich visual archive that documentsTrade Review“Conceptually rich and deeply pedagogical, Queer African Cinemas models how to think about African queer worldmaking. Lindsey B. Green-Simms wrenches resistance away from heteronormative duty and national obligation to track its wayward possibilities. Resistance is no longer an exhausted term that excludes African queers, but one that centers African queer practices and freedoms. Green-Simms listens for how African queer audiences navigate representation and find succor even in hostile places. A joy to read.” -- Keguro Macharia, author of * Frottage: Frictions of Intimacy across the Black Diaspora *“Lindsey B. Green-Simms’s compelling insights prod us to think about resistance as multilayered, incomplete, and even messy in ways that reveal how the vulnerabilities of queer life exist alongside multiple modes of survival, care, and aspirational imaginaries. Queer African Cinemas is engaging, generative, and remarkably persuasive.” -- Grace A. Musila, author of * A Death Retold in Truth and Rumour: Kenya, Britain and the Julie Ward Murder *“In Queer African Cinemas, Green-Simms offers an insightful and illuminating analysis. . . . Queer African Cinemas makes an important and necessary intervention in queer studies as it works to decenter queerness from the global north and to challenge common understandings of acceptable means of resistance, affect, and representation.” -- Bruno Guaraná * Film Quarterly *“[Green-Simms’s] musings on resistance, aspiration, and resilience, among other difficult-to-define and identity-specific terms, is cultural theory at its finest. Queer African Cinemas will be impactful far beyond its range of study. Highly recommended.” -- G. R. Butters Jr. * Choice *"Written in clear prose and brilliantly self-reflexive in method, this sophisticated reading of queer cinematic texts deserves attention. . . . [A] must-read for those interested in queerness and film studies in Africa and beyond." -- Naminata Diabate * GLQ *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction. Registering Resistance in Queer African Cinemas 1 1. Making Waves: Queer Eccentricity and West African Wayward Women 37 2. Touching Nollywood: From Negation to Negotiation in Queer Nigerian Cinema 73 3. Cutting Masculinities: Post-Apartheid South African Cinema 123 4. Holding Space, Saving Joy: Queer Love and Critical Resilience in East Africa 165 Coda. Queer African Cinema's Destiny 203 Notes 211 Filmography 227 References 231 Index 243

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Book SynopsisIn The Doctor Who Would Be King Guillaume Lachenal tells the extraordinary story of Dr. Jean Joseph David, a French colonial army doctor who governed an entire region of French Cameroon during World War II. Dr. David—whom locals called “emperor”—dreamed of establishing a medical utopia. Through unchecked power, he imagined realizing the colonialist fantasy of emancipating colonized subjects from misery, ignorance, and sickness. Drawing on archives, oral histories, and ethnographic fieldwork, Lachenal traces Dr. David’s earlier attempts at a similar project on a Polynesian island and the ongoing legacies of his failed experiment in Cameroon. Lachenal does not merely recount a Conradian tale of imperial hubris, he brings the past into the present, exploring the memories and remains of Dr. David’s rule to reveal a global history of violence, desire, and failure in which hope for the future gets lost in the tragic comedy of power.Trade Review“In this riveting account, Guillaume Lachenal discovers that French doctors seeking police powers and administrative control in colonial Cameroon did not lead to a health utopia, nor did these arrangements reverse decades of demographic decline in the battered colony. What they got was their own transformation into colonial governors. A superb translation of a gifted scholar and stylist, The Doctor Who Would Be King is as alive as any ethnography to social life in poorly known but much roiled parts of the French empire that once circled the globe.” -- Paul Farmer, author of * Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds: Ebola and the Ravages of History *"An absorbing . . . account of a French colonial doctor who was handed absolute political control of an African territory the size of Switzerland in the years 1939-44. . . . It is impossible not to feel the presence of Joseph Conrad’s tale of lordly isolation and madness. It is as if, by assembling this story from archival fragments and the oral accounts of present-day residents, Mr. Lachenal is seeking to bring Dr. David back to our metropolitan gaze in much the way Conrad’s Marlow sought to bring Kurtz back from the jungle." -- Tunku Varadarajan * Wall Street Journal *“[Lachenal] leaves us at a crossroads, torn as we are today between the WHO’s proclamations about the advent of global health and the disenchantment caused by emerging microbes and the worsening of inequalities. Depending on whether one reads The Doctor Who Would Be King as a novel . . . or as an essay on contemporary biopolitics, the reader will come out of it reinvigorated or shaken, but not unscathed.” -- Anne Marie Moulin * L’Histoire *“[The Doctor Who Would Be King] is an expansive and masterful project whose major contributions are to the history of French colonialism and to historical research methodologies more broadly. . . . Readers . . . will enjoy the ride.” -- Caitlin Barker * H-Sci-Med-Tech, H-Net Reviews *“[Lachenal’s] investigation, in which dreams of grandeur, violence, and the tragedy of power are intertwined, is as fascinating as it is disturbing.” -- Laurent Lemire * L’Obs *"The Doctor Who Would Be King is a beautifully written, engrossing book that analyzes the career of a French colonial doctor in both Central Africa and Polynesia but also reflects on the thrills and pitfalls of historical research, the instability of historical narratives, and how traces of the past live on in the present. ... This superb book will be of interest to wide-ranging audiences, including historians of medicine, Africa, Polynesia, European empire, and beyond." -- Sarah Runcie * Isis *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1 Part I. The Mandated Territory of Cameroon, 1939–1944 1. A Showcase for Colonial Humanism 17 2. An Archipelago of Camps 22 3. Madame Ateba 26 4. Advocating for a Regime of Exception 31 5. A French Dream 36 6. Haut-Nyong Must Be Saved 40 7. Lessons in Medical Administration 45 8. Paradise: A Guided Tour (December 2013) 52 9. A Real-Life Experiment 58 10. The Invisible Men 63 11. Social Medicine, French-Style 69 12. Life Has Returned 75 13. Colonel David Will Become a General 84 14. The Missionaries' Nightmare 92 15. The Dark Waters of the Haut-Nyong 95 16. Rubber for the Emperor 100 17. "Here We Are the Masters" 106 18. Koch! Koch! 111 Part II. The French Protectorate of Wallis and Futuna, 1933–1938 19. King David 125 20. Uvea, Desert Island 129 21. Chronicles of the Golden Age 140 22. I te Temi o Tavite (In the Time of David) 153 23. Doctor Machete 160 24. Becoming King, Part I: Coup d'état at the Dispensary 165 25. Becoming King, Part II: The Wallisian Art of Governing 172 26. Becoming King, Part III: Kicking Custom to the Curb 178 27. Te Hau Tavite 183 28. Tavite Lea Tahi (David-Only-Speaks-Once) 190 29. Doctor Disaster 198 Part III. Epilogues 30. Afelika (Africa) 215 31. Dachau, Indochina 223 32. The Light Riots 232 Afterword: Global Health Utopias from David to COVID-19 238 Acknowledgments 245 Notes 249 Index 293

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Book SynopsisUpon their independence, Moroccan, Algerian, and Tunisian governments turned to the Global South and offered military and financial aid to Black liberation struggles. Tangier and Algiers attracted Black American and Caribbean artists eager to escape American white supremacy; Tunis hosted African filmmakers for the Journées Cinématographiques de Carthage; and young freedom fighters from across the African continent established military training camps in Morocco. North Africa became a haven for militant-artists, and the region reshaped postcolonial cultural discourse through the 1960s and 1970s. Maghreb Noir dives into the personal and political lives of these militant-artists, who collectively challenged the neo-colonialist structures and the authoritarianism of African states. Drawing on Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and English sources, as well as interviews with the artists themselves, Paraska Tolan-Szkilnik expands our understanding of Pan-Africanism geographically, linguistically, and temporally. This network of militant-artists departed from the racial solidarity extolled by many of their nationalist forefathers, instead following in the footsteps of their intellectual mentor, Frantz Fanon. They argued for the creation of a new ideology of continued revolution—one that was transnational, trans-racial, and in defiance of the emerging nation-states. Maghreb Noir establishes the importance of North Africa in nurturing these global connections—and uncovers a lost history of grassroots collaboration among militant-artists from across the globe.Trade Review"Maghreb Noir takes us from Rabat to Algiers to Tunis to demonstrate how 1960s North Africa was an epicenter of pan-African thought and Black radicalism. Showcasing a region too long left out of histories of pan-Africanism and Black internationalism, Paraska Tolan-Szkilnik has written a meticulously researched, effortlessly transnational work."—Hisham Aidi, Columbia University, author of Rebel Music"Maghreb Noir is a much-needed addition to North African studies. Rich, archivally informed and subtly argued, it captures the voices and footsteps of a generation of Pan-African militants and artists who chose the Maghreb as their stage of contestation. An essential read for anyone interested in Pan-African revolutionary politics."—Aomar Boum, UCLA, author of Undesirables: A Holocaust Journey to North Africa"Stimulating and convincing, Maghreb Noir renews our perspectives on both the Africanity of the Maghreb and its wider history."—Jocelyne Dakhlia, École des hautes études en sciences sociales"Tolan-Szkilnik's command of her sources and analytical approach has provided readers with aninsightful work that allows them to better understand the Maghreb and the nature of its cultural production between the 1950s and the 1970s."—Tugrul Mende, The Markaz Review"Drawing on interviews, personal papers, and the archives of many of the surviving protagonists, this lively book revisits the heady age of anticolonial revolution and political ferment in North Africa in the middle decades of the twentieth century, when liberation was in the air and solidarity was glamorous."—Lisa Anderson, Foreign AffairsTable of ContentsIntroduction: Introduction Chapter 1: Revolt Respects No Borders: Luso-African Revolutionaries in Rabat Chapter 2: A Continent in Its Totality: Moroccan Literary Journal Souffles Turns to Angola Chapter 3: Poetry on All Fronts: Jean Sénac's Fight for Algeria's Airwaves Chapter 4: Nothing to Fear from the Poet: Hooking up at the Pan-African Festival of Algiers Chapter 5: The Red in Red-Carpet: The Journées Cinématographiques de Carthage Conclusion: Conclusion

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Book SynopsisExam board: EdexcelLevel: A-levelSubject: History First teaching: September 2015First exams: Summer 2016Target success in Edexcel AS/A-level History with this proven formula for effective, structured revision; key content coverage is combined with exam preparation activities and exam-style questions to create a revision guide that students can rely on to review, strengthen and test their knowledge.- Enables students to plan and manage a successful revision programme using the topic-by-topic planner- Consolidates knowledge with clear and focused content coverage, organised into easy-to-revise chunks- Encourages active revision by closely combining historical content with related activities- Helps students build, practise and enhance their exam skills as they progress through activities set at three different levels- Improves exam technique through exam-style questions with sample answers and commentary from expert authors and teachers- Boosts historical knowledge with a useful glossary and timeline

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Book SynopsisThe New York Times Book Review Editors'' Choice?A spellbinding work of history that reads like a Cold War spy thriller?about the U.S.-sanctioned plot to assassinate the democratically elected leader of the newly independent CongoA BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker, The Economist, Financial Times?This is one of the best books I have read in years . . . gripping, full of colorful characters, and strange plot twists.? ?Fareed Zakaria, CNN hostIt was supposed to be a moment of great optimism, a cause for jubilation. The Congo was at last being set free from Belgium?one of seventeen countries to gain independence in 1960 from ruling European powers. At the helm as prime minister was charismatic nationalist Patrice Lumumba. Just days after the handover, however, the Congo?s new army mutinied, Belgian forces intervened, and Lumumba turned to the United Nations for help in saving his newborn nation from what the press was already calling ?the Congo crisis.? Dag Hammarskjöld, the tidy Swede serving as UN secretary-general, quickly arranged the organization?s biggest peacekeeping mission in history. But chaos was still spreading. Frustrated with the fecklessness of the UN and spurned by the United States, Lumumba then approached the Soviets for help?an appeal that set off alarm bells at the CIA. To forestall the spread of Communism in Africa, the CIA sent word to its station chief in the Congo, Larry Devlin: Lumumba had to go.Within a year, everything would unravel. The CIA plot to murder Lumumba would ?zzle out, but he would be deposed in a CIA-backed coup, transferred to enemy territory in a CIA-approved operation, and shot dead by Congolese assassins. Hammarskjöld, too, would die, in a mysterious plane crash en route to negotiate a cease-?re with the Congo?s rebellious southeast. And a young, ambitious military officer named Joseph Mobutu, who had once sworn fealty to Lumumba, would seize power with U.S. help and misrule the country for more than three decades. For the Congolese people, the events of 1960?61 represented the opening chapter of a long horror story. For the U.S. government, however, they provided a playbook for future interventions.

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Book SynopsisThis edited volume encompasses a range of themes and approaches relevant to the field of South African history today, as viewed from the perspective of practicing historians at the cutting edge of research in the discipline. The collection features the historians offering critical reflection on the theoretical and methodological aspects of their work. This involves them both looking back at the inherited historiographical tradition in the respective areas of their research, while also pointing forwards to possible future directions for scholarly engagement.Table of Contents1.Towards a school of their own: the varieties of South African historiographyThula Simpson 2. Beasts of the southern world: multi-species history and the AnthropoceneSandra Swart3. Black academics matter: history and anti-blackness at South African universitiesJaneke Thumbran4. Black mothering, ‘maids’ and mixed-methods in women’s history: Zanele Muholi’s contemporary art and Sindiwe Magona’s short storiesMandisa Mbali5. Vernacular traditions as counter-hegemonic archives in Eastern Cape historiographyNomalanga Mkhize6. The revolution in South African historiographyThula Simpson7. From grand narratives to complicated subjects: biography in the post-apartheid eraLindie Koorts8. Whiteness must fall: whiteness, whites and insurgent history writingNeil Roos9. Bringing white workers back in: new histories of race and class in South AfricaDanelle van Zyl-Hermann10. The transnational nation: South African history beyond and across bordersRob Skinner

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Book SynopsisOne of the great tragedies of Africa is not only the fact that a million people-mostly civilians and a large proportion of them children-died in one of Africa's first post-independence wars, but that until it happened the world thought Nigeria was immune from the wasting disease of tribalism. It certainly was not because the Biafran War is still the most expansive tribal conflagration that the continent has experienced-barring perhaps the ongoing Great Lakes conflict-involving the forces of East and West, only this time, with the British siding with the Soviets. Worse, some of the religious differences that emerged before and after that dreadful carnage are still with us today. During the course of hostilities that lasted almost four years, a lot of other shortcomings surfaced in Africa's most populous nation, including the kind of corruption that, until then, had always been linked to countries rich in oil. Disunity, incompetence and instability-from which Nigeria never really recovered-also emerged. Two bloody army coups followed after the rebels capitulated, together with an appalling series of massacres, mostly of southern Christians by Muslim northerners. Half a century later the slaughter continues.

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Book SynopsisPharaoh Seti I ruled Egypt for only 11 years (1290-1279 BC), but his reign marked a revival of Egyptian military and economic power, as well as cultural and religious life. Seti was born the son of a military officer in northern Egypt, far from the halls of power in Memphis and Thebes. However, when the last king of the 18th Dynasty, Horemheb, died without an heir, Seti's father was named king. He ruled for only two years before dying of old age, leaving Seti in charge of an ailing superpower. Seti set about rebuilding Egypt after a century of dynastic struggles and religious unrest. He reasserted Egypt's might with a series of campaigns across the Levant, Libya and Nubia. He despatched expeditions to mine for copper, gold, and quarry for stone in the deserts, laying the foundations for one of the most ambitious building projects of any Egyptian Pharaoh and his actions allowed his son, Ramesses the Great to rule in relative peace and stability for 69 years, building on the legacy of his father.

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Book SynopsisJanet Wells achievements make for fascinating reading. She was only 18 when decorated for her nursing service to the Russians in the 1878 Balkan War. The following year she became the only nurse to serve at the Front in the Anglo Zulu War. After a period in Northern Zululand she was sent to the garrison at Rorkes Drift very soon after the legendary action. Revered by the soldiers, she had to make do in appalling conditions with scant supplies. She overcame extreme difficulties and prejudice despite her youth. After returning to England in time for her 20th birthday, her achievements were recognized by the award of the Royal Red Cross the highest accolade and the equivalent of the Victoria Cross. This is a gripping tale of a true heroine who refused to accept the conventions of the age and in so doing made a huge contribution to the welfare of the British Army.

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Book SynopsisThis book is a curation of insightful and engaging narrations aimed at freeing women from the margins of Nigeria’s history. It chronicles their protest movements against colonial administrations, including “monster” petitions on taxation and food price controls. It details a string of remarkable political landmarks which highlight women’s historical credentials as nationalists, as well as their voice in early male-dominated legislative institutions. It also narrates more contemporary episodes in women’s resistance against oil exploitation, environmental pollution and anger over the mass abduction of school girls. This timely preservation of the voice and agency of Nigerian women from a wide variety of colonial and contemporary documents will benefit readers interested in African history and gender and women's studies.

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Book Synopsis*** ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S BEST BOOKS OF 2021 ***'One of the most moving books of the new year' STYLIST'Gorgeous and unsettling' NEW YORK TIMES'Brilliant and devastating . . . tender and lacerating' PANDORA SYKES'One of the literary world's most promising new voices' REDNadia Owusu is a woman of many languages, homelands and identities. She grew up in Rome, Dar-es-Salaam, Addis Ababa, Kumasi, Kampala and London. And for every new place there was a new language, a new identity and a new home. At times she has felt stateless, motherless and identity-less. At others, she has had multiple identities at war within her. It's no wonder she started to feel fault lines in her sense of self. It's no wonder that those fault lines eventually ruptured.Aftershocks is the account of how she hauled herself out of the wreckage. It is the intimate story behind the news of immigration and division dominating contemporary politics. It is a nuanced portrait of globalisation from the inside in a fractured world in crisis.Trade ReviewA beautiful and ultimately redemptive story, written in lyrical prose that calls to mind Audre Lorde, Natasha Trethewey, and Toni Morrison. -- Vogue.com, The Absolute Best Summer ReadsOne of the literary world's most promising new voices . . . An intimate look behind the division of today's world. * Red *Triumphant: the survivor's account of a thoughtful, passionate young writer grappling with life's demons -- Claire Messud * Harper's Magazine *Powerful . . . [a] remarkable [story] of displacement, heartache and resilience. -- Fiona Sturges, Best biographies and memoirs of 2021 * Guardian *Gripping . . . Tackling themes of belonging, identity, race, notions of home and the ripple effects of trauma . . . Owusu's prose is as poignant as it is emotionally charged . . . Triumphant. * Cosmopolitan *Striking * Vogue US *Owusu's personal history intertwines with the political and geographical to create one of the most moving books of the new year. * Stylist *A devastating memoir about identity, immigration and fractured society from the daughter of an Armenian American mother and Ghanaian father. * Independent *In a literary landscape rich with diaspora memoirs, Owusu's painful yet radiant story rises to the forefront. The daughter of an Armenian-American mother who abandoned her and a heroic Ghanaian father who died when she was thirteen, Nadia drifted across continents in a trek that she renders here with poetic, indelible prose. * Oprah.com *An engaging and reflective new memoir focused on universal themes of home, abandonment, identity and autonomy. * Ms. Magazine *A memoir that broods on lost identity and statelessness. * Elle UK *A timely memoir, revealing the real lives behind the headlines of immigration that dominate our media, as Owusu - who grew up in Rome, Dar-es-Salaam, Addis Ababa, Kumasi, Kampala and London - shares her fascinating story. * Grazia *Extraordinarily intense . . . the way [Owusu] sustains her intensity is astonishing. Her fierce intelligence and commitment embrace the complexity and urgency of the issues . . . This is a book of almost ceaseless questions but undoubtedly the key one is: what is home? * Irish Examiner *Nadia Owusu's debut book tells the incredible story of her childhood. How does a girl - abandoned by her mother at age 2 and orphaned at 13 when her beloved father dies - find her place in the world? Aftershocks is the story of Nadia creating her own solid ground across countries and continents. This is an exceptionally gripping and hard-to-put-down memoir of a remarkable young woman - I can't wait to see what she does next. -- Malala Yousafzai * Recommended *A stunningly written, heart wrenching book that completely took me by surprise. The best book I've read so far this year. -- Abi Dare, author of The Girl With the Louding VoiceBrilliant and devastating, this memoir is an exploration of displacement, told through earthquakes both real and allegorical. Nadia, abandoned by her mother as a young child, and moved all over the world by a diplomat father, writes about her struggle to find a peace she can call home in a way that is both tender and lacerating. -- Pandora SykesA white-hot interrogation of the stories we carry in our bodies and the power they have to tear us apart. Owusu illuminates the blood and bones wrought by our borders and teaches us the necessity of owning our narratives when personal and collective histories have been shattered by violence. -- Jessica Andrews, author of SaltwaterIn reading Aftershocks, I went on an incredible (and moving) journey with a young woman whose past and present play out across Africa, Europe and America. I felt acutely Owusu's pain and the joy of her self-discovery through her intense and intimate prose. What a moving and beautifully written personal history, one infused with questions of post-colonial identity and the challenge of modern womanhood. I loved the book. I loved her voice. -- Xiaolu Guo, author of Once Upon a Time in the East and A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for LoversAftershocks is brilliant and devastating. Nadia Owusu employs language with precision and care, reckoning with herself and her various histories with a beautiful, tender rhythm. Her words will stay with me for a long time. -- Caleb Azumah Nelson, author of Open WaterNadia Owusu has lived multiple lives. And each has demanded much of her. She has met and surpassed those demands with her memoir, Aftershocks. Owusu is half-Armenian, half-Ghanaian; socially privileged and psychologically wounded. Her task and burden are threefold: to chronicle the historical wounds and legacies of each country; to chart her own descent into grief, mania and madness; to begin the work of emotional reconstruction. She does so with unerring honesty and in prose that is both rigorous and luminous. -- Margo Jefferson, author of Negroland: A MemoirNadia Owusu's Aftershocks bleeds honesty. It is a majestically rendered telling of all the history, hurt and love a body can contain. A wonderful work of art made of so many stories and histories it is bursting with both harshness and perseverance. An incredible debut. * Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, author of New York Times bestseller Friday Black *Aftershocks is more than just a book - it is delicate, intricate choreography. This memoir is a testimony to how certain books and writers can tell you their story in a way that mirrors your own. Even if the facts of that story are different, the emotion is familiar. Owusu is that writer. She has created a book full of shared emotional memories and I wanted to sit in those memories with her for as long as I could. Nadia Owusu is powerful, beautiful, poetic, and Aftershocks is a testimony to her commitment to constructing towering, lovingly-rendered sentences. Quite simply, Aftershocks is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. -- Bassey Ikpi, New York Times bestselling author of I'm Lying but I'm telling the TruthAftershocks is a triptych feat of style: the lucid language, the masterful handling of time, the brilliance of its seismic theme. It's also an astute exploration of the long legacy of colonialism. Owusu is a product of that political and cultural collision, and one of the great gifts of this compelling memoir is the moving narrative of her reconciling that identity. And if that weren't enough, Aftershocks is an indelible portrait of Owusu's resilience in the face of almost unfathomable familial trauma as well as her immortal love for her father. -- Mitchell S. Jackson, author of Survival MathThis earth-shattering memoir uses the aftershock - both literal and metaphorical - as a framing device and inspiration. Owusu explores the geopolitical, geological, and psychological traumas that have marked her young life, from moving between countries across Africa and Europe as the daughter of a United Nations employee to her estrangement from her mother and her father's eventual death, as well as living through a civil war in Ethiopia and the 9/11 attacks (to name a few!). * Entertainment Weekly *A stunning, visceral book about the ways that our stories-of loss, of love, of borders-leave permanent marks on our bodies and minds. * Booklist *Extraordinary . . . A writer to watch. -- Bookseller, Editor’s ChoiceEngrossing . . . an impressive debut memoir. [Owusu is] a promising writer. * Kirkus *In her enthralling memoir, Whiting Award-winner Owusu (So Devilish a Fire) assesses the impact of key events in her life via the metaphor of earthquakes . . . Readers will be moved by this well-wrought memoir. * Publisher's Weekly *In her aching memoir, she embarks on a tour de force examination of her childhood . . . In lyrical and lush prose, she crafts an intimate and piercing exploration of identity, family and home. -- Best Books of 2021 * Time Magazine (Europe) *

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Book SynopsisEquatorial Guinea is a tiny country roughly the size of the state of Maryland. Humid, jungle covered, and rife with unpleasant diseases, natives call it Devil Island. Its president in 2004, Obiang Nguema, had been accused of cannibalism, belief in witchcraft, mass murder, billiondollar corruption, and general rule by terror. With so little to recommend it, why in March 2004 was Equatorial Guinea the target of a group of salty British, South African and Zimbabwean mercenaries, travelling on an American-registered ex-National Guard plane specially adapted for military purposes, that was originally flown to Africa by American pilots? The real motive lay deep below the ocean floor: oil. In The Dogs of War , Frederick Forsyth effectively described an attempt by mercenaries to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea , in 1972. And the chain of events surrounding the night of March 7, 2004, is a rare case of life imitating art,or, at least, life imitating a 1970s thriller,in almost uncanny detail. With a cast of characters worthy of a remake of Wild Geese and a plot as mazy as it was unlikely, The Wonga Coup is a tale of venality, overarching vanity and greed whose example speaks to the problems of the entire African continent.

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Book SynopsisRomano Guardini described Rainer Maria Rilke as the “poet who had things of such importance to say about the end of our own age [and] was also a prophet of things to come.” The complexity of Rilke is, then, “highly relevant to modern Man.” Decades after Guardini’s assessment, the reader who rediscovers Rilke will find a depth of mind and soul that display a profundity the post-modern reader only thinks he possesses. In an expanded collection of Rilke’s sonnets, Rick Anthony Furtak not only makes this lyrical masterpiece accessible to the English reader, but he proves himself a master of sorts as well. His introduction that elaborates on Rilke’s marriage of vision and voice, intention and enigma, haunted companionship and abandonment is a stand-alone marvel for the reader. Furtak’s praised translation of Sonnets to Orpheus (University of Chicago Press, 2008) is surpassed in this much broader collection of verse that also includes the original German text. It is Furtak’s great achievement that Rilke resonates with the contemporary reader, who uncertain and searching wants to believe that the vision of existence can mirror much more than his own consciousness. In his feat of rendering Rilke in English, contextualizing the philosophical meanings of verse, and presenting literary romanticism, Furtak provides a formidable contribution to the vindication of true poetic voice.

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Book SynopsisAdolf Hitler considered the Mediterranean an unimportant theater of the war, leaving it to the troops of Benito Mussolini who wanted to dominate the “Mare Nostro.” Nevertheless, when the Italian army was defeated on the Libyan-Egyptian border at the beginning of 1941, the Führer was forced to help his ally by sending an air detachment first to Sicily, then Africa.This latest in the Casemate Illustrated series examines that tiny expeditionary force, solely devoted to protecting Italian possessions in North Africa. When General Erwin Rommel launched his Afrika Korps to the east, the Luftwaffe had to go on the offensive to cover that advance. With over 100 images, this book explores how German and British air forces were quickly reinforced and, in the following months, Germany was forced to engage more and more aerial units on what was initially considered a peripheral arena of the war for the German High Command. Losses in bombers and fighters were high on both sides and when, at the end of 1942, the Allies landed in Morocco and Algeria on the back of the Afrika Korps, the Wehrmacht’s fate was sealed. The depleted Luftwaffe did its best but could not change the course of the battle. The last German units capitulated in Tunisia in May 1943.Trade Review...packed with just enough information to satisfy the drive-by reader but leave the curious wanting more. * Wargames Illustrated *...this is an interesting and contains some remarkable detail on Luftwaffe operations for such a compact publication, including some enlightening recollections of aircrew involved. * Classic Wings *All in all an excellent package about one of the less well covered air campaigns. * Scale Aviation Modeller International *

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Book SynopsisWinner of the African Photobook of the Year AwardA Choice Outstanding Title of the YearA USA Today "Must-Read for Black History Month"An NPR "Goats and Soda" Editors'' PickA BookRiot Favorite Nonfiction Book of the YearAn unprecedented visual history of African women told in striking and subversive historical photographsfeaturing an Introduction by Edwidge Danticat and a Foreword by Jacqueline Woodson.Most of us grew up with images of African women that were purely anthropologicalbright displays of exotica where the deeper personhood seemed tucked away. Or they were chronicles of war and povertypoverty porn. But now, curator Catherine E. McKinley draws on her extensive collection of historical and contemporary photos to present a visual history spanning a hundred-year arc (18701970) of what is among the earliest photography on the continent. These images tell a different story of African women: how deeply cosmopolitan and modern they are in their style; how they were able to reclaim the tools of the colonial oppression that threatened their selfhood and livelihoods.Featuring works by celebrated African masters, African studios of local legend, and anonymous artists, The African Lookbook captures the dignity, playfulness, austerity, grandeur, and fantasy-making of African women across centuries. McKinley also features photos by Europeansmost starkly, striking nudesrevealing the relationships between white men and the Black female sitters where, at best, a grave power imbalance lies. It's a bittersweet truth that when there is exploitation there can also be profound resistance expressed in unexpected wayseven if it's only in gazing back. These photos tell the story of how the sewing machine and the camera became powerful tools for women's self-expression, revealing a truly glorious display of everyday beauty.

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Book SynopsisFirst published to mark the centenary of Nelson Mandela's birth, The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela sparked celebrations around the globe. Featuring 94 letters selected from that landmark collection, as well as new introductory material and six new letters that have never been published, this historic paperback provides an essential political history of the late twentieth century and illustrates how Mandela maintained his inner spirit while imprisoned. Whether they are longing love letters to his wife, Winnie; heartrending notes to his beloved children; or articulations of a human-rights philosophy that resonates today, these letters reveal the heroism of a man who refused to compromise his moral values in the face of extraordinary human punishment, invoking a "story beyond their own words" (The New York Times). This new paperback edition—essential for any literature lover, political activist and student—positions Mandela amongst the most inspiring historical figures of the twentieth century.Trade Review"Madiba's words give us a compass in a sea of change. Firm ground amidst swirling currents." -- Barack Obama"A veritable treasure trove, they grant a forensic insight into his courage, superhuman fortitude and clarity of political judgment; into his agony at failing in his duties as a husband and father of two girls, toddlers when he was snatched away; and his torment at being refused permission to attend either his mother's or his son’s funeral. To me, even as a biographer of Mandela, it is a revelatory volume." -- Peter Hain - The Daily Telegraph"... this mesmerising book of prison letters... through these compelling letters the thinking, feeling, loving man he was comes back to us." -- Gillian Slovo - The Guardian"Venter has done an excellent job of sifting through the South African national archives, which alone contain 57 boxes of his prison letters and papers, and smaller collections that are scattered all over the place." -- Ivan Fallon - The Sunday Times"So much rubbish has been written over the years by those who feared, revered or pretended to know Nelson Mandela that it is useful, finally, to be able to read about him and the privations of his prison years in his own contemporaneous, understated prose." -- The Spectator"Nelson Mandela’s long, thoughtful letters, written during his 27 years in prison, display an unwavering certainty that change would prevail." -- Tim Adams, Book of the Day - The Guardian"... as a series of illuminating snapshots into one of the most important political icons of post-colonial Africa, the book will have a timeless value." -- The Irish Times"Remarkably, this collection only serves to enhance and consolidate Mandela’s reputation as a defining figure of the last century and the present one. The letters are in multiple languages, English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa, but they speak the language of humanity, which is the language of that fraught but loaded prison word: time." -- The Herald"To commemorate what would have been his 100th birthday, a book of 250 letters has just been published, providing a remarkable insight into the man, his tenacity and endurance and the struggle for his country's freedom." -- The Independent"A superbly edited collection of the ANC chief's prison letters paint a portrait of Mandela the family man, the political thinker and the inmate... As well as presenting 255 letters across 640 pages here, the South African journalist Sahm Venter does a fine job of putting them into historical context." -- The Irish Independent"The back cover of The Prison Letters Of Nelson Mandela is adorned with several quotes from the book, all expressing the kind of noble sentiments you might expect from one of the Great Men of History. In fact, though, this is a bit misleading — because, taken as a whole, the book itself gives us a far more rounded, interesting and, above all, human portrait of Mandela than that." -- The Daily Mail"It may seem unlikely summer reading, nearly 600 pages of letters which Mandela spends trying to sort out problems, whether in the prison—he refused to take a blanket when only he was allowed one—or with the ANC or his family who were often in turmoil. But they are utterly gripping, inspiring and often mind-boggling. How did he remain calm, just and loving in such circumstances?" -- Rachel Billington - The Tablet

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Book SynopsisNorth Africa was one of the richest parts of the Roman Empire, the agricultural powerhouse of the Mediterranean. It was also home to some of the emperor’s biggest imperial estates, and prosperous cities of all kinds. Its loss to the Vandals in the first half of the 5th century AD was the mortal blow which precipitated the fall of the western empire, and set the eastern empire back for decades. Its reconquest then became an obsession with each new emperor in Constantinople. Time and again the eastern Romans failed in this goal, until Justinian I finally succeeded in the AD 530s. Although North Africa’s restoration to the world of Rome only lasted a short time, it has widely been regarded as a positive development.However, new research – published here for the first time – shows that post-Roman North Africa thrived under the Vandals. To them it was Vandal heaven, a place where they found a way as the new incumbent elite to live comfortably alongside the late Roman inhabitants, despite their different interpretations of Christianity. Together, the two cultures flourished. When the eastern Romans – now styled Byzantines – returned, they weren’t welcome. This is evidenced in the surviving built environments, namely chains of small forts along the frontier and interior, where the Byzantines used mounted troops to keep an unhappy local population under control. Dr Elliott presents a brand-new interpretation of post-Roman North Africa, providing a compelling argument for how the region today came to be part of the Arab world, in contrast to the regions along the northern Mediterranean freeboard which maintain their Roman-ness to this day.

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Book SynopsisNormally dealt with in a rather limited way, through the examination of a particular activity or geographical zone, the artisans of ancient North Africa are here, for the first time, the subject of an entire book. Focusing on urban production in Algeria during Antiquity, this critical study brings together new documentation drawn up on the basis of field data and the consultation of archives from a long history of survey in Algeria and France. This synthesis reviews the archaeological sites with workshops by defining their activities, at the same time as analyzing how they operated and looking at them typologically. Based on a comparison with documented workshops in the Western Roman world, the study of the techniques highlights the very strong similarities between the Roman regions but also the specific local variations of the methods used in Africa at this time. Maghreb ethnography shows the permanence of certain practices over time while attempting to reconstruct the "chaîne opératoire". Although it is still difficult to obtain an overall picture both from a spatial and a chronological point of view of the artisanal topography, the data reveals the existence of varied artisanal and commercial activities in urban areas throughout Antiquity. French description: Abordé généralement de façon ponctuelle à travers une activité particulière ou une zone géographique donnée, l’artisanat en Afrique du nord antique fait ici pour la première fois l’objet d’un ouvrage. Centrée sur la production urbaine en Algérie durant l’Antiquité, cette étude critique rassemble une nouvelle documentation élaborée à partir des données de terrain et de la consultation des archives à partir d’un long travail d’enquête en Algérie et en France. La synthèse fait le point sur les sites archéologiques présentant des ateliers en définissant leur activité tout en analysant leur fonctionnement et leur typologie. En s’appuyant sur une comparaison avec les découvertes d’ateliers dans le monde romain occidental, l’étude des techniques met en évidence les similitudes très fortes entre les régions romaines mais aussi les spécificités locales des méthodes employées en Afrique durant cette période. L’ethnographie maghrébine montre quant à elle la permanence de certaines pratiques à travers le temps tout en complétant l’essai de restitution de la « chaîne opératoire ». S’il est encore difficile d’avoir une vision d’ensemble tant d’un point de vue spatial que chronologique de la topographie artisanale, les données recensées révèlent l’existence d’activités artisanales et commerciales variées incluses dans l’ensemble du domaine urbain tout au long de l’Antiquité.Trade ReviewAmraoui’s main achievement is to assemble and evaluate the evidence for the spectrum of different ancient crafts, hitherto scattered widely throughout multiple publications, archives, and museum collections. As her supervisors remark in their highly supportive preface, by making clear the current foundation of evidence and what still survives in the museums, she manages to draw a line under more than a century of previous research and provide the point of departure for future study of artisanal crafts in this region. This alone will make the reworked version of the thesis published here essential reading for anyone engaging with the issues of craft production and the economic organization of Roman-period North Africa for a long time to come. -- Matthew S. Hobson * American Journal of Archaeology *Table of ContentsPréface; Introduction générale; Première partie. Les installations artisanales urbaines : descriptions et documentation; Chapitre 1: La Maurétanie césarienne; Chapitre 2: La Numidie; Chapitre 3: L’Afrique proconsulaire; Deuxième partie. La technologie et le fonctionnement des ateliers; Chapitre 4: La production de denrées alimentaires; Chapitre 5: L’artisanat du textile, de la matière première à l’entretien des vêtements; Chapitre 6: Les artisanats du feu; Troisième partie. Les ateliers et les artisans dans la ville en Afrique : réflexions sur la topographie artisanale et l’économie urbaines; Chapitre 7: Implantation et répartition des ateliers dans la ville; Chapitre 8: Les productions urbaines et l’économie des villes romaines en Algérie; English Summary: Urban crafts in ancient Algeria (Ist century BC – VIIth century AD); Arabic summary; Index

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Book SynopsisThis book is about how the author became an archaeologist at a time when opportunities for employment were rare and how he worked as a field researcher in West Africa and wrote about his work there. It traces his archaeological training and employment at Cambridge and his practical experience on British excavations and explains how he became one of the pioneers of Nigerian archaeology during a decade in that country. It is not so much a study of the archaeology that was done, as an account of how it was done; its circumstances, organization, and economic and social and cultural context. As a result, it is both a professional and personal account, for these two aspects of life were inseparably intertwined, his wife Beryl becoming an integral part of the story. Other archaeologists and many non-archaeologists also feature in the account. The period in Nigeria from 1961 to 1971 included the Nigerian Civil War from 1967 to 1970, when archaeological work continued with difficulty. Both circumstances and preference meant that the author always worked with a labour team of Nigerians and with Nigerian assistants, of whom few had any experience in archaeology and none had any formal training; there were no postgraduates or others from outside the country. Success in excavations in Benin City, in the south of the country, and in Borno, in its far north-east, was as much the achievement of those Nigerians as it was the author’s.Trade ReviewReading this book what surprises is the enormous amount of detail presented in it, textually as well as in figures and photographs. The documents from Connah’s excavations and fieldwork are a valuable addition to already published material, while the text passages are fun and exciting to read. ...[Connah’s] autobiography provides a fascinating insight into a personal life and career during the pioneering days of African archaeology. - Detlef Gronenborn (2019), AZANIA:Archaeological Research in AfricaTable of ContentsPreface ; 1. Restarting: March–September 1956 ; 2. Essays and excavations: Cambridge, October 1956–October 1959 ; 3. Lucky Jim: Cambridge, October 1959–October 1961 ; 4. A ‘first tour’ in Africa: October 1961–July 1962 ; 5. Rediscovering one’s own country: July–September 1962 ; 6. A Benin sequence and Borno reconnaissance: September 1962–June 1964 ; 7. A perfect summer: June–September 1964 ; 8. Getting to grips with Borno: October 1964–July 1965 ; 9. A long sequence at last: August 1965–June 1966 ; 10. Island refuge and Nigerian data analysis: July 1966–December 1966 ; 11. Borno again and work at Ibadan University: January–September 1967 ; 12. Civil war and analysing the Borno data: October 1967–September 1968 ; 13. War, analysis, and more excavation: October 1968–September 1969 ; 14. Adoption, writing, the war ends: October 1969–September 1970 ; 15. Study leave and goodbye to all that: October 1970–September 1971 ; References

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Book SynopsisSince Qaddafi’s ousting in 2011, Libya has been beset by instability and conflict. To understand the tumultuous state of the country today, one must look to its past. With great clarity and precision, renowned regional expert Ronald Bruce St John examines Libya’s long struggle to establish its political and economic identity amidst the interference of external actors keen to exploit the country’s strategic importance. This authoritative history spans the time of the early Phoenician and Greek settlements, colonization by Mussolini’s Italy, Qaddafi’s four decades of rule and, in this updated edition, the internal rivalries that have dominated the country in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. Essential reading for those seeking a greater understanding of this complex North African state, Libya: From Colony to Revolution is an insightful history, rich in detail and analysis.Trade Review‘An excellent political history of Libya…engaging.’ * Irish Times *‘Of all the books on Libya, Bruce St John’s is easily the most comprehensive and approachable.’ * Washington Post *‘A timely and necessary book…fluid in its writing and measured in its judgements.’ * New Internationalist *‘Excellent… accessible, informative and presented with clarity… You won't find a much better overview of Libya than this.’ * Herald *‘An excellent general overview, accessible, informative and presented with clarity… Until the secret archives in Tripoli have been raked over, you won’t find a much better overview of Libya than this.’ * Libya Herald *‘An excellent and concise history of this complex country.’ -- George Joffé, Centre of International Studies, Cambridge University‘Ronald Bruce St John is a committed scholar of Libya…his book offers the measured and confident tone of someone deeply familiar with the subject matter.’ * Richard Phelps, Quilliam Foundation, Journal of North African Studies *‘An excellent account of Libya’s often contentious history: clear, concise, accurate and balanced. It will be the best general work on the country available for the foreseeable future, very useful to anyone interested in the country.’ -- Lisa Anderson, James T. Shotwell Professor Emerita of International Relations, Columbia University‘For the general reader as well as for those with a good level of knowledge of Libya, there is perhaps no one better situated to...explain the country’s current and future dilemmas than Ronald Bruce St John…[an] admirable history.’ * Diederik Vandewalle, International Affairs *‘Rich in historical detail...containing rare insights into Libyan leader Qaddafi’s thinking, particularly on foreign affairs. Indispensable for every serious student of Libya or North Africa.’ -- Michele Dunne, Director and Senior Fellow, Middle East Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace‘An outstanding book...the best short history of Libya. St John has made us accustomed to first-rate analyses of Libya; this book is no exception and no students of Libya, from undergraduates to experts, could afford not to have it on their shelves.’ -- Yahia H. Zoubir, Professor of International Relations and International Management, and Director of Research in Geopolitics, Euromed Management, Marseille School of ManagementTable of ContentsPreface to Third Edition Preface to Second Edition Preface to First Edition Maps and Illustrations Note on Transliteration Select Chronology of Libyan History 1 Early History Historical Setting Phoenician Settlements in Tripolitania Greek Influence in Cyrenaica Roman Influence in Libya Arab Invasions Fatimids (910–1171) Hilalian Invasion Almoravids, Almohads, and Hafsids in Tripolitania Medieval Cyrenaica and Fezzan Lasting Impressions 2 Ottoman Occupation, 1551–1911 First Ottoman Occupation (1551–1711) Karamanli Dynasty (1711–1835) Barbary Wars Second Ottoman Occupation (1835–1911) Sanusi Order Foreign Schemes and Initiatives Young Turk Revolution Transformation 3 Italian Colonial Era, 1911–43 Misplaced Optimism Early Resistance and Collaboration Nascent Political Movements Tripoli Republic, 1918–22 Riconquista, 1923–32 Italian Colonial Policy Jewish Community Impact of Italian Occupation 4 Struggle for Independence, 1943–51 Liberation and Occupation Wartime Discussions Great Power Gridlock Regional and Domestic Politics Collide American Strategic Interests United Nations Decides Arab Nationalism, Aid, and Base Rights Conflicting Interests 5 United Kingdom of Libya, 1951–69 Socioeconomic Inheritance Palace System of Power Alliance Politics Western Dependence Impact of Oil National Identity Rise of Arab Nationalism Monarchy in Perspective The End 6 One September Revolution, 1969–73 Young Revolutionaries Great Power Denouement Primacy of Oil Socioeconomic Change Freedom, Nationalism, and Unity Popular Revolution Third Universal Theory 7 Revolution on the Move, 1973–86 The Green Book Direct Popular Authority Rush to Socialism Hydrocarbon Policy Confrontation with the West Arab Disunity Third Circle Declining Influence Abroad Confined to the Libyan Playhouse 8 Consolidation and Reform, 1986–98 Revolution within the Revolution Great Green Charter on Human Rights in the Era of the Masses Weapons of Mass Destruction Lockerbie European Relations Status Quo in Africa Turn to the Maghrib Rule of International Law Mounting Opposition 9 Libya Resurgent, 1998–2007 Out of Africa Looking East and West European Relations War on Terror Economic Reform Hydrocarbons, the Exception Social Conditions Political Developments Qaddafi’s Libya 10 A New Day Dawns, 2008–11 Socioeconomic Reform Political Reform Human Rights Africa Europe United States Arab Spring February 17 Revolution Military Events Political Developments End of the Beginning 11 Post-Qaddafi Libya General National Congress Elections Islamists Ascendant Constitutional Drafting Process Descent into Chaos Libyan Political Agreement Time for a Reset Europe United States Arab World Africa Who Lost Libya? Further Reading Notes Index

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Book SynopsisA magisterial and sweeping history of modern Africa.The end of the Second World War signalled the rapid end of the European African empires. In 1945, only four African countries were independent; by 1963, thirty African states created the Organization of African Unity. Despite formidable problems, the 1960s were a time of optimism as Africans enjoyed their new independence, witnessed increases in prosperity and prepared to tackle their political and economic problems in their own way. By the 1990s, however, the high hopes of the 1960s had been dashed. Dictatorship by strongmen, corruption, civil wars and genocide, widespread poverty and the interventions and manipulations of the major powers had all relegated Africa to the position of an aid 'basket case', with some of the world's poorest and least-developed nations. By exploring developments over the last fifteen years, including the impact of China, new IT technology and the Arab Spring, the rise of Nigeria as Africa's leading country and the recent refugee crisis, Guy Arnold brings his landmark history of modern Africa up to date and provides a fresh and insightful perspective on this troubled and misunderstood continent.Trade ReviewIt is difficult to imagine a better source for reading up on Africa's history. -- Gordon Brewer * Scotland on Sunday *Vast and brilliant... orderly but still managing to nip down a fascinating byway when necessary... a groundbreaking book. -- Giles Foden * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisA spellbinding new book by the much-acclaimed writer, a journey to South Africa in search of the lost people called the /Xam - a haunting book about the brutality of colonial frontiers and the fate of those they dispossess.In spring 2020, Julia Blackburn travelled to the Karoo region of South Africa to see for herself the ancestral lands that had once belonged to an indigenous group called the /Xam.Throughout the nineteenth century the /Xam were persecuted and denied the right to live in their own territories. In the 1870s, facing cultural extinction, several /Xam individuals agreed to teach their intricate language to a German philologist and his indomitable English sister-in-law. The result was the Bleek-Lloyd Archive: 60,000 notebook pages in which their dreams, memories and beliefs, alongside the traumas of their more recent history, were meticulously recorded word for word. It is an extraordinary document which gives voice to a way of living in the world which we have all but lost. 'All things were once people', the /Xam said.Blackburn's journey to the Karoo was cut short by the outbreak of the global pandemic, but she had gathered enough from reading the archive, seeing the /Xam lands and from talking to anyone and everyone she met along the way, to be able to write this haunting and powerful book, while living her own precarious lockdown life. Dreaming the Karoo is a spellbinding new masterpiece by one of our greatest and most original non-fiction writers.'An astounding, disarming book, full of grief and beauty' Olivia Laing'Blackburn's wise, wonderfully idiosyncratic books are poetic, informed by a...genius for serendipity' Lucy Hughes-Hallett, New StatesmanTrade ReviewAn astounding, disarming book, full of grief and beauty. It's a requiem for a lost world, but also a powerful dream of an alternative to our own age of extinction. -- Olivia Laing, author of EVERYBODYTravelling to the landscapes of the Karoo, yet remaining tied to a corner of the English countryside, Blackburn explores the ruthlessness of colonial frontiers... Here is a work of astonishing breadth, clarity and power. Again and again, as I read, I gasped at the intense relevance and importance, as well as the beauty of this book. -- Hugh Brody, author of THE OTHER SIDE OF EDENA miraculous act of retrieval and restitution. -- William Atkins, author of EXILESA fascinating, poetic response to our contemporary age. -- Joanna Kavenna * Literary Review *[Blackburn's] wise, wonderfully idiosyncratic books are poetic, informed by a drily downbeat humour and a genius for serendipity... Blackburn doesn't give us answers. Instead she works a miracle. In this book dead people talk in a dead language, describing a culture and way of life which is also dead, and yet, thanks to...Blackburn's tactful, beautifully-framed extrapolations, those dead come before us and speak. -- Lucy Hughes-Hallett * New Statesman *Parallels [with the present] bring complexity and immediacy to the book... Blackburn powerfully evokes the Karoo... Her observations of her fellow travellers are insightful. -- Barnaby Phillips * Times Literary Supplement *[Blackburn's] writing of history and memory - both personal and public - is so deft as to seem effortless. This elliptical and bewitching book is a delight. * Spectator *Dreaming the Karoo is at once a mesmerising meandering into the near-extinct language and sensibility of the /Xam, and a diary of that intangible sense of loss and loneliness that so many of us felt during lockdown. * Tablet *It is such a wonderful book. It made me stretch my hand to my lover. It made me want to show my children the footprints, scars and stones under our feet. It made me want to sit down to look at the sea... It made me deeply grateful that I am alive. * Max Porter (Praise for Time Song) *Both Wordsworthian and Woolfian ... This book is a wonder. * Adam Nicolson (Praise for Time Song) *

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Book SynopsisIn the cataclysmic decade that is the focus of this book, Nigeria was subject to several near-death experiences. These began when the country nearly tore itself apart after the northern-led military government annulled the results of a 1993 presidential election won by the southerner Moshood Abiola, and ended with former military ruler General Olusegun Obasanjo being the unlikely conduit of democracy. This mini-history of a nation’s life also reflects on three mesmerising protagonists who personified that era. First up is Abiola: the multi-billionaire businessman who had his election victory voided by the generals who made him rich, and who was later assassinated. General Sani Abacha was the mysterious, reclusive ruler under whose watch Abiola was arrested and pro-democracy activists (including Abiola’s wife) were murdered. He also oversaw a terrifying Orwellian state security operation. Although Abacha is today reviled as a tyrant, the author eschews selective amnesia, reminding Nigerians that they goaded him into seizing power. The third protagonist is Obasanjo, who emerged from prison to return to power as an elected civilian leader. The penumbra of military rule still looms over Nigeria nearly twenty years after the soldiers departed, and key personalities featured in this book remain in government, including the current president.Trade Review‘Sharply written and well-informed.’ -- Foreign Affairs‘Riveting, [with] crisp, disciplined sentences and an engaging pace plus expert descriptions of colourful characters. This is how history should be written. [Each chapter] is virtually a stand-alone booklet offering entertaining and informative insights.’ -- Ikhide R. Ikheloa in Brittle Paper'Writing on Nigerian politics is treacherous: rumours replace data, anecdotes are treated as history, and personal beliefs are stronger than reality. Siollun’s fascinating stories overcome this, revealing a dynamic country full of surprises. This book is a great accomplishment, and millions of Nigerians will connect with it.' -- Toyin Falola, Professor of African Studies and Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities, University of Texas at Austin'Rich in biographical details and elegantly written, Siollun brings to life the key political actors in this transformational period of Nigerian history. He reveals the complex web of civil-military relations in Nigeria and vividly demonstrates the immediate and long-term consequences of military rule.' -- Maggie Dwyer, Lecturer in Africa and International Development, Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh'In Nigeria’s Soldiers of Fortune, Max Siollun has succeeded remarkably in accomplishing what many have failed to achieve. Disentangles, in a lively yet dispassionate style, the web of intrigue, brinkmanship, patriotism, nepotism, ethno-regionalism, courage, and flamboyance associated with post-colonial Nigeria.' -- Gloria Emeagwali, Professor of History and African Studies, Central Connecticut State University

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Book SynopsisZimbabwe's party-internal 'coup' of 2017, and deposed president Robert Mugabe's death nearly two years later, demand careful, historically nuanced explanation. How did Mugabe gain and retain power over party and state for four decades? Did the suspected and nearly real 'coups', the conspiracies behind them, and their concurrent mythomaniacal conceits ultimately, ironically, spell his near-tragic end? Has Mugabe's particular mode of power reached a finality with his own downfall, as his successors struggle more to balance Zimbabwe's political contradictions? Will the phalanxes arrayed against Mugabe's control fray further, as Zimbabwe fades? Mugabe's Legacy delves deeply into such questions, drawing on more than forty years of archival and interview-based research on Zimbabwe's political history and current precariousness. Starting with the mid-1970s, it traces how Machiavellian moves allowed Mugabe to reach the apex of the Zimbabwe African National Union's already slippery slopes, through the complexities of Cold War, regional, ideological, generational, inter- and intra-party tensions. The lessons learned by the president and the nascent ruling party then turned gradually inward, ultimately arriving at a near-collapse that may now pervade all of the country's political space. David B. Moore vividly charts this rise and fall, all the way to Zimbabwe's tenuous chaos today.Trade Review'A fascinating account and analysis of the last five decades of the country's history... this book is a must-read for scholars interested not only in Zimbabwe (or Southern Africa) but also in politics and history in general.' -- Notebooks: The Journal for Studies on Power‘It’s difficult to call to mind another book in which the author has personally interviewed such a wide range of political players, and at the same time managed to support a political and historical reconstruction spanning forty years so succinctly.’ -- Zimbabwe Review'Moore's deft and dramatic political history of Mugabe's rise and humiliating fall unpacks a tragic and continuing Animal Farm legacy. Comprehensive in its treatment of Zimbabwe's major political events and actors, this is an intriguing and timely read.' -- NoViolet Bulawayo, Zimbabwean novelist'"Mugabe's Legacy" is sharp, erudite, often funny, and full of unexpected and unusual critical insights. I enjoyed reading it.' -- Joost Fontein, Professor of Anthropology, University of Johannesburg, and co-editor of 'Legacies of Struggle in Southern & Eastern Africa''What was the impact of Mugabe's life and death? Moore's answer is a fascinating journey through power, using Gramsci to give us an original reading of how it was conquered and how rule was exercised in Zimbabwe. A must-read!' -- Isabella Soi, Department of Social and Political Science, University of Cagliari'By far the best account I've ever read of the processes and events in and around Zimbabwe over the past 40 years. A most formidable work of scholarship and a sordid and sorry tale. This is Moore at the top of his game!' -- Ian Phimister, Senior Research Professor, University of the Free State, South Africa'An entertaining and rewarding read, combining personal memoir, rigorous scholarship, and an irreverent style. Moore links the generational struggles behind the military's overthrow of Mugabe to his violent purge of radical, younger challengers during the liberation war.' -- Norma J. Kriger, author of 'Zimbabwe's Guerrilla War''Insightful, impressively knowledgeable and masterfully presented, this analysis of decades of Mugabe's manipulative leadership and his legacy is a must-read for anyone who wishes to understand the forces that have shaped ZANU-PF's turbulent history and Zimbabwe's current crisis.' -- Alois Mlambo, Emeritus Professor of History and Heritage, University of Pretoria, and co-author of 'A History of Southern Africa''What Moore does well in analysing Mugabe’s legacy is to link the passage of time, struggle and political cultural practice (exercise of power) of what in academic circles we would refer to as ‘hegemony’.' -- Takura Zhangazha'A fascinating narrative addressing long-term questions on primitive accumulation, nation-building and democratisation, and interrogating the history of nationalist politics. Drawing on archival diplomatic sources, interviews, anecdotes and rumour, this is a compelling, radical critique, with an aura of magical realism.' -- Brian Raftopoulos, scholar, activist and co-author of 'Becoming Zimbabwe'

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