Africa Books

-sheds a lot of light on Morocco and on the perspective of the British guy who wrote it at the end of the 19th century. In some ways Morocco at that time was perhaps a bit like Afghanistan today...? --Worth thinking about...

Cunninghame Graham is a superb observer and writer. In Mogreb-el-Acksa, published in 1898, Graham describes his attempt to cross the Atlas Mountains and reach the forbidden city of Tarudant. However, he was detained in the mountains for four months by the Kaid of Kintafi, and ultimately turned back to Marakesh. The places he visits and the people he meets come alive, and a current of humor bubbles throughout the narrative. His observations on western vs. eastern cultures, in many instances unfavorable to both but usually funny and profound, apparently made the book unpopular when it was published. I recommended the book to two friends, one a world traveller, the other a Moroccan. Both loved it.

Cunninghame Graham is a superb observer and writer. In Mogreb-el-Acksa, published in 1898, Graham describes his attempt to cross the Atlas Mountains and reach the forbidden city of Tarudant. However, he was detained in the mountains for four months by the Kaid of Kintafi, and ultimately turned back to Marakesh. The places he visits and the people he meets come alive, and a current of humor bubbles throughout the narrative. His observations on western vs. eastern cultures, in many instances unfavorable to both but usually funny and profound, apparently made the book unpopular when it was published. I recommended the book to two friends, one a world traveller, the other a Moroccan. Both loved it.

The pictures are beautiful, vibrant. Quietly raucous story of commerce in a simpler place. Story is a little complex for 6 yr olds, maybe better for 8-9.

A delightful, engaging story that not only entertains but teaches children about the value of a true gift and about the lives of those from different cultures. The colorful illustrations are beautifully rendered and produced by a unique process.

This Congolese market story introduces children to a village where peoples' lives are intertwined and their talents and services contribute to village life. The cause and effect trading process challenges children to follow sequence in an inventive and entertaining way as they ponder the meaning of value beyond money. Luzolo and Kiese show children how they can reach beyond their immediate desires to care for someone in need. Rich illustrations and a unique printmaking process make the brightly colored African clothing pop from the warm village backgrounds.

This is excellent book, full of facts.
I congratulate the writer for this marvelous work.

This is excellent book, full of facts.
I congratulate the writer for this marvelous work.

...as a long standing student of Morocco I found this book focused and factually correct. Unlike some other books written about this country, 'Morocco Under King Hassan' provides a balanced picture that allows the reader to make his or her own judgements. If asked which books a student of Morocco should put at the top of their reading list I would start with Maxwell's 'Lords of the Atlas' and then Mr. Hughes' book.

This book was fantastic! Incredible! Inspiring, enchanting, lyrical, phenominal -- I don't know what else to say! Set in Africa, this novel continues the story that began with Flame Trees of Thika. Luscious, vivid and real, the setting is described in delicious detail. I felt as though I was in Africa. The characters are flawless proof of the author's talent. Tilly and Robin, the main character's parents, are engaging, funny, clever people with a stream of schemes to strike it rich. Interestingly enough, they don't care much for money, and only want it so that they can begin a new project. The picture the author paints of the Kikuyu (the natives) and their complex society is a clear window into another culture that captivates the reader with its striking vividness and the differences from our own. Social stature revolves around the number of goats and wives one possesses; disputes, or shauri, are as interweaved as a spider's web. The animals in the story are also described very well, and given personalities that are as real to the reader as the crinkling pages of this incredible book. I only wish that I could never stop reading it. I would recommend spending any amount of money or searching through any number of libraries to find this crisp, brilliant jewel of a novel.

Having lived in Africa for over 23 years, and also being an avid reader, I fell in love with Elspeth Huxley's books which I read while staying at our rented house while on our last home leave. She obviously loved Africa and her style of prose is so descriptive of this fascinating continent. I want my children, who were all born in Africa, to read these books, not only to remember the land of their birth, but also for the rich writing style that I find lacking in many modern books.

many people have enjoyed Huxley's first autobiographical stories of her childhood in colonial Africa, `the flame trees of thika', but few seem familiar with this luscious sequel. it seamlessly follows the first book, and like it features almost no plot or character development. instead (also like dineson's `out of Africa') it merely relates a series of loosely connected moments of colonial life in Africa. as a simplistic, action-oriented guy, i do not usually enjoy lyrical and descriptive-focused writing - but how does Huxley do it?? this book is simply charming and beautifully written, and possibly even a hair better than the first.

This story, set in Tanzania in the 1960's, is about a boy who wants a bicycle to help his mother carry loads of produce to the market. The boy saves up his money to buy the bicycle, occasionally getting the money out of his secret box, putting it into neat piles, and counting it up.

There are a couple of places in the book where the boy is laughed at as he tries to accomplish his goal. The reader feels for the boy as he goes to the market to buy the bike and is laughed at because he doesn't have enough money. The author helps the reader to understand that there may be obstacles that you have to overcome in order to be successful.

A good picture book to use with 3rd and 4th graders to discuss character traits, cause and effect, sequential details, plot. Drawing conclusions- at the very end of the book it shows the boy counting up his money again- students can conclude that he will buy his mother a cart for her load. Themes in the book: patience, perseverance, helping others, determination.

The young boy in this story shows exceptional selflessness and a touching concern for his mother's well-being when his dream is to get a bicycle so that he can help her carry their load of goods to market. Truly a wonderful storyline.

The illustrations are superb; not only do they accurately depict village life, but they are simply beautiful in their own right, and convey the emotion of the text, for example, the look on the father's face as the boy falls off the bicycle.

The familial love in this story is extraordinary, without being the least bit saccharine. A gem.

This book is so beautifully illustrated and written. The story line of saving money for a desired purchase (a red and blue bike), took me back to my own childhood. Readers can feel the child's disappointment over not having enough money. As a wonderful addition, the child wants to save for a bike in order to help his mother carry her heavy loads. This was a truly enjoyable read.

Quincy S. Smith tells an incredible story while taking the reader on an incredible journey. Read to learn, read to become aware and read to enjoy. This is a hard-hitting book very similar to Shelby Steele's Content of our Character.
My Skin was My Sin can be used and enjoyed by all.

Author Quincy Smith takes you on an emotional journey through his life and shows you how racism still exists in America and the ways it can affect a life.

The autobiography of Quincy S. Smith is truly an inspirational story. It's a story full of hard-hitting facts about racism in America. The information the author provides regarding the pain and anguish felt as a child growing up in a racist world is something everyone can benefit from. Quotes and citations from some of his favorite literature give the reader an understanding of the knowledge gained from his mentors and how he overcame the many obstacles that children face when growing up without parents. In spite of all the obstacles that would have prevented his success, he becomes a strong, determined, and spiritual black man in the world today.

I'm surprised to be the first to review this book. It was recommended to me a couple of years ago by a professor and I've only now gotten around to reading it: it's definitely one of the best books I've read recently.

As the title suggests, the book explores the myth of continents. The authors show the origin of the idea of the continent in ancient Greece and show its continued use throughout the centuries even as the addition of the Americas and Australia to the world map caused more and more incongruities with the original Greek and medieval world system.

The authors also look at the concepts of 'East' and 'West' and the similarly overused (but underdefined) 'Orient' and 'Occident', arguing against Edward Said for the continuation of a world divided into geographical regions, albeit ones that does not draw upon geographical determinism or cartographic ethnocentrism. Unlike Samuel Huntington they stress their world regions (i.e. African-America and Central Asia) as not always coherent territories with distinct borders. Agreeing with Herodotus and Toynbee about the need to examine the continental system, they thoroughly discuss the philosophical and political views of continents in recent centuries, looking at Rousseau, Herder, Hegel, Montesquieu, H.G. Wells, J. Burckhardt, Wallerstein and others.

This book is so good at deconstructing the built-up assumptions of the aforementioned terms that I hesistate to list any faults, although I should at least mention that I would have liked a few more maps and a separate section on how and why the authors chose each world region and its borders (i.e. why not a separate region for Madagascar).

In any case, this is a convincing and powerful book.

This stimulating challenge to conventional geography should be an essential ingredient to your next upgrade of your metageographical basics, world history as one for a change. The book is a nice debriefing of the several myths that distort that history. One of the main culprits is the East-West divide, whose illusory divide as to culture obsesses too many, butis one of the chief offenders, along with the notion of a 'western civilization' whose boundaries, content and latent ethnocentricism deserve a reminder that the East was always built into the West and vice versa. The Greek myth of Europa was always misleading, no? and isn't the realm of the Israelites the East, then?
One of the liabilities of Toynbean style analysis into 'civilizations' has been the failure to see the inherent unity of one 'Civilization' emerging in a series of partially diffentiated versions, rendering the many distinctions misleading, and quite tribalistic. A good example is the case of Japan which modernized sooner than much of Europe, it is a question of 'information', not of continents.
Fascinating take on 'metageography' and a good rolfing of some archaic concepts we take for granted.

...and never the twain shall meet." Kipling was wrong about that. This fascinating book shows how culture and world-view influenced not just Kipling and others of the past, but continues to do so with us today. Our maps, both mental and otherwise, are largely shaped by our own realities. Indeed the authors argue we are all unwitting believers in THE MYTH OF CONTINENTS. The metageography that this book critiques is defined as "the set of spatial structures through which people order their knowledge of the world." Such structures are arbitrary, but it's not just continents. It extends to world regions, culture areas, zones, and even civilizations. Also any depiction in atlases, on globes, in texts, and on political maps. It's all extremely subjective.

One of the strengths of this book is how it shows these artificial views emerging, changing, and adjusting to the dynamism and power of cultures. The concept of the continent of Europe is directly connected to the power of that region. Why else, the authors ask, should India be a sub-continent and China only a part of Asia? "In physical, cultural and historical diversity, China and India are comparable to the entire European landmass, not to a single European country."

The book traces the origins of the continental system from Herodotus through Ptolemy, the Romans, Medieval Europe to the Age of Discovery and beyond. The whole idea of what defined a continent (large landmass seperated by water) was always very fungible. The authors say that as late as 1599 "any reasonable large body of land or even island group might be deemed a continent". They give the example of a geographer referring to the West Indies as a "large and fruitful continent". The West Indies themselves are a perfect example of perception dictating form. We know that the "Indies" part came about because Columbus thought he had arrived in the East. The metageographies of West and East then are concepts that, like continents, are open to criticism. So too are the New and Old worlds, the First and Third Worlds (was there ever a Second World?) The same vagueness surrounds the North and the South, the Occident and Orient, Far East, Middle East, South Asia and the Pacific Rim.

In offering their own system for organizing human space the authors replace continents with "world regions". Arnold Toynbee and more recently Samuel Huntinton's system of using civilizations as the organizing principle gets a nod from the authors. In the classification they use, Europe is now "Western Eurasia", "African-America" includes not just the West Indies but the entire Caribbean and North-Eastern Brazil. North America remains and Ibero-America emerges.

Obviously geographers will thoroughly enjoy this book but it has a much broader appeal. Wherever we are in the world we use some of the terms above to describe our place. If nothing else this book will make us all a little more aware of how we define ourselves and others.

There are three great characters that Haggard created - that is three great stars: Ayesha( She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed), Allan Quartermain, and Umslopogaas of the Axe. This is the tale of Umslopogaas as a youth, a tale of his great love, his wandering as an outlaw under sentence of death, and of his alliance with Galazi the Wolf Brother, weilder of the great club Watcher of the Fords. Fabulous battle scenes, strong characters - what more does the reader want? And then the reader can advance to the only other two books to feature Umslopogaas: She and Allan and Allan Quartermain.

Sadly, Rider Haggard is no longer required reading in the school system. Nevertheless, this rip-roaring action story about the early life of Umslopogas, a character more usually found in a supporting role in the novel Alan Quartermain, is probably Haggard's most poetic and free-flowing yarn. A multiplicity of interesting characters is to be found in this tale, although the central theme is the moving love story of Umslopogas and Nada (a native girl of great beauty). If you have been moved by West Side Story or Romeo and Juliet, and also enjoy a rollicking action-packed adventure saga, this book is a must for you!

Almost everyone is familiar with King Solomon's Mines, She and Alan Quatermain etc but I have encountered relatively few readers of Nada the Lily. This is extraordinary since it is one of Haggard's greatest stories. Given the scenario of an adventure/love story spread out accross the South African landscape during the ruthless and absolute rule of the Zulu king Chaka, this is, as they say, a story that has everything. In this regard I have often wondered that whilst Haggard is one the most filmed if not over filmed authors, Nada the Lily has never made it to the cinema even though it reads as if it was written for the big sreen and the bigger the screen the better.

I love this book - and my children love it too! I sat with a child on each lap and read them this story. Though too young to grasp the concept right now, (they're just 20 months old), they delighted in the pictures and listening to me ad-lib the story page by page. This book will remain on my shelf as one of my family's favorites to read to our children over and over. How refreshing to find such a unique story...the lessons for our children can be found on each and every page. Enjoyable and educational. Thought-provoking and heart warming. I bought one of these for each of my nieces that are now expecting and will continue to make this one of my "must have" gifts to give to every new parent.

I was introduced to this wonderful book by a friend. I was drawn to the book by it's beautiful front cover. As I read this story for the first time, in front of a live audience of 6-9 year olds,I was stunned by thier interest and constant interuption to examine each and every illustration. Completely unaware myself, apparently the children had found a different little creature in each picture. When the story came to its conclusion smiles and a lively discussion on the concepts of conservation insued. I knew, dispite its meager appearance, that I had found a relative "classic" for me to share with the children again and again.

This is such a sweet book, especially for the youth of today. I bought this for my nephew who is 3 years old and is at the age where he listens and learns from everthing said and from everything that he is exposed to. Sometimes as adults we get tied up in the hustle and bustle of our professional lives, that we need to slow down and take in each moment, and appreciate the simple things in life. - Fantastic read for our youth, simple life lesson clearly stated, along with beautiful illustrations!

I bought this book for my newborn and I recommend it for children of all ages. The stories are great tales to share with your family. They are even entertaining for adults. I highly recommend this book.

The stories are rich and full of life. Storytelling lives on...thank you!

These stories are delightful, the illustrations are superb...I bought a copy for my grand-daughter, and was so enthralled that I ordered a second copy for me!