Africa Books

I reside in Libreville, Gabon and have not, until now, been able to find much literature about this place in English ... or French for that matter. Then this little gem was published! I take this little book with me everywhere I go, I make a point of consulting it before I plan a trip, ... where to eat in Cocobeach, where to stay in Nyonie, where to shop in Libreville ... it's all in there. I found a couple of phone numbers misprinted, but aside from that, the information on each of the places I have been to is up to date, useful and correct. This book tells it like it is, the good, the bad and the ugly! I highly recommend it to anyone thinking of visiting or living in Gabon.

I actually only visited São Tomé and I have to say that this guide, although short, is very detailed, both in terms of the historical background and of the present. The approach is straightforward and going through the places, and talking with the people, feels very close to what is described in the guide. Sophie did a great job in capturing the county's spirit.

A truly compelling and rivetting tale of the early exploration of Africa. By "early" I mean the previously little documented period of 1788-1830, prior to which virtually nothing was known of Africa's interior probably because almost all earlier travellers perished from thirst, starvation, disease, and hostile natives - most dangerous of all were the dreaded "Moors", whose self-proclaimed desert hospitality was invariably suspended whenever helpless and starving white explorers sought their compassion.

Virtually all the explorers sponsored by the African Association died on their journeys but decadent 21st century man must surely marvel at the incredible degree of honour and sense of duty possessed by these intrepid late 18th/early 19th century gentleman explorers.

In 1899 in London a group of geographers, scholars, and traders decided it was time to solve Africa's mysteries: they formed the African Association, the world's first geographical society, and several over decades sent adventurers to explore the 'dark continent'. These early adventurers were to change the image and shape of Africa, and Anthony Sattin describes their journeys of adventure in The Gates Of Africa, lending a lively and engrossing atmosphere of adventure and discovery to the account. Sattin is a journalist and broadcaster who himself has traveled extensively over the region in which the early African Association operated: his personal familiarity with the area lends Gates Of Africa an additional air of authority.

The volumes in Betterway's "Genealogist's Guide" series have been genrally excellent in leading researchers through the special problems, situations, and resources connected with non-Anglo-European-male ancestors. Anyone, even an otherwise experienced family historian, who has attempted to develop a black lineage more than three or four generations back in the United States knows the historical and social problems involved often are considerable - but they aren't insurmountable, as the authors show. Smith, a Houston librarian with legal training, learned early of the reluctance of his elderly relatives to discuss the "slave days" and of the tendency of black genealogists to end their quest with the 1870 census. He begins with the basics, the stuff we all learned (or should have) in the first year of research, but slants it toward the necessities of African-American history, including the need to deal with frequent name-changes, "consulting the elders," and evaluating family stories (both of which are especially important here). Likewise, in reading the federal census schedules, one must understand what was meant, both officially and locally, by "colored" and "mulatto," the definitions of which changed over time. Military service records, an important resource in most white pedigrees, are more problematic for black lineages before World War II. Church records are proportionately more important. Smith gives considerable space to the use of white (i.e., slaveholding) family records in tracing black families, and to the proper use of the federal census slave schedules -- subjects few of us have much experience with. Finally, he relates all this through three extended cases drawn from his own family research which exemplify the techniques and adjusted mind-sets he explained earlier. They're well written, carefully worked out, and inspirational as well as informative, and are worth the price of admission by themselves.

This book is so informative that I have also given it as a gift. The case studies were great. I was able to conduct more systematic research after reading this book.

For those interested in the genus Conophytum this book has to be an absolute must. Although the book is a full blown reference book Hammer's writing style is easy and there is no reason why anyone interested could not read it from cover to cover, rather than just use it a reference tool.

The photographs are superb and the plants almost leap off the page at you. The book is well produced and print and paper quality are excellent. Essential for a book that will be used on a regular basis.

It cannot be faulted and should be in the library of every enthusiast of these beautiful plants.

This botanical work is, quite simply, a classic. The author is the world's authority on his subject, genus Conophytum. Steve Hammer is a natural-born writer and his prose is clear and concise, while also being delightfully witty and informal. For me the most attractive aspect of the book isthe many, many color photographs by John Trager. They make anyone want to grow conophytums! Some plants are photographed to show their rainbow of colors; they are delicious looking.

Yet beyond the wit and color, this is a botanical monograph and will be for many years to come the standard reference on the genus. The book is laid out logically, with chapters devoted to each series within the two sections/subgenera. The early chapters talk about the group's taxonomic history, its cultivation and so forth.

All in all, I not only recommend this book; I urge you to peruse it!

This book is gorgeously illustrated with lots of graphics taken from authentic textiles and pottery. The legends are written in an easy to read narrative style and take readers from ancient myths through to modern theories on the history of this region. Highly recommended

I used this book as the text to give 28 6th Graders an introduction to the wealth of Africa's past--and they hung on every word. The mix of storytelling, political, economic, cultural and religious history served as the basis for several lively student presentations. In short, my only complaint about this book is the fact that its out-of-print status prevents me from ordering copies by the dozen for next year's class.

Publishers--Please get on the ball. With the addition of these African Kingdoms to the Virginia State Standards of Learning, you have an eager market and a product that beats anything else now on the market for this age group.

I read this book years ago and it has always stuck in my mind. I am glad to have found it again.

The story is fiction because it revolves around some Americans who supposedly found themselves in von Lettow's army. But the historical setting and many of the characters and events are real.

When WWI broke out, the small number of German troops in German East Africa (now Tanzania) rallied and trained the local tribes and the resident German farmers into a guerilla force to resist the much larger British army to the north in Kenya. The book details some of the tactics used, as well some remarkable inventiveness.

Paul von Lettow, the commander, had an ensemble of talent in his army's baggage train that proved very handy. There was a German fellow named Ersatz who invented a lot of things out of local ingredients. (Because the Royal Navy pretty much owned the seas, there was no resupply for the German soldiers in Africa.) Everyone knows what "ersatz" means now - but this campaign is where the concept got its name!

Like a medieval army, this one had no formal logistical support. It relied on many camp followers, including women and children, to keep the army fed and supplied. Many of these womens' efforts and what life was like for them in the field are described.

One incredible tale told of an Imperial Navy vessel marooned in the Rufiji Delta. Some of the German farmers had domesticated African elephants, and used then to haul guns off the ship up the slopes of Kilmanjaro to shoot at the British army. It sounds highly implausible, but Stevenson gives evidence for many of the points in his story at the end of the book.

This is one of those books where you learn a lot while reading a great story. Stevenson claims that von Lettow knew that the Germans couldn't hold East Africa, and that he felt he was just laying the groundwork for an African country free from future British rule. Whether this is true or historical revisionism I don't know, but the Tanzanian people did build a statue honoring von Lettow in Arusha several years later.

"Ghosts of Africa" is a great title, as it refers to an incredible story that not many people know - at least in the USA. It is the reverse of "the African Queen" - and far more interesting!

This novel really captures a lost part of Africa. It details the German resistance in Africa during WWI. The germans were led by german noble named Paul Von Lettow. For four years they tied down nearly half a million british troops with barely 12,000 of there own. Von Lettow wrote the book on guerilla warfare although he is largely forgotten today. The book contains a great cast of characters in addtion to Von Lettow, many of whom were based on real people. The book has plenty of action and romance. I highly recommend it.

As far as commercial outlines go, this is as good as any out there. It is very comprehensive. However, the more difficult parts of civil procedure (personal jurisdiction, subject matter jurisdiction, summary judgment) cannot be learned properly from any commercial outline.

That said, this outline provides an excellent structure for building your own class outline. The lazy student will also benefit from the clear explanation of the black letter law and the basic holding of important cases. Especially helpful are the index of cases and the index of federal rules of civil procedure in the back of the book which provides a quick reference to the materials in the outline proper. Also, the charts that Gilbert usually provides in its outlines are present in abundance and help frame the material in a quick, digestible fashion. I find the chapter approach section helpful to think about issue spotting and to provide an analytical framework for essay exams.

My advice: use this outline to get the big picture, to provide structure for your own outline, and to make sure you are clear on the black letter law. Then, use Glannon's Guide to provide a clear, prose review of the material and to test yourself on the concepts.

Civil procedure is one of the few classes where you can base the majority of your studying on a commercial outline and end up ok. This outline covers all the rules and mixes in the relevant case law at the same time. Great outline.

In these essays, J.M. Coetzee analyzes thoroughly and attacks the role and the (mis)use of censorship in arts.

Taking Offense
State censorship is an inherently bad thing. The cure is worse than the disease.
`A censor pronouncing a ban, whether on an obscene spectacle or a derisive imitation, is like a man trying to stop his pen.s from standing.'

Lady Chatterley's Lover
LCL is a tale about the transgression of boundaries - sexual and sexualized social boundaries.
D.H. Lawrence wanted `the end of taboos, the end of dirty language, the end of dirty books.'

The Harm of Pornography (Catharine MacKinnon)
MacKinnon treats pornography as a political issue, not as a moral one. She sees pornography as an instrument of male power, not pleasure. For her, male desire is one of the avenues through which male dominance realizes itself.
She shows a `striking absence of insight into the desire as experienced by man.'
Her analysis is also parochial, based only on specific US situations.

Censorship and Polemic: Solzhenitsyn
The heroic battle of one man against an enormous censor bureaucracy (more than 70,000 men).

Osip Mandelstam and the Stalin Ode
Stalin and his apparatus castrated a generation of writers, robbing it from its political power and its power of historical witness.

Zbigniew Herbert and the censor
In the face of the paranoia of state censorship, Z. Herbert opted for the `silence' solution.
He chose to work with allegories, thereby defending the autonomy of art (the power of art to validate itself) and proving that poetry can give a vision of an ideal world.

South-African censorship
For the censor, the call for the end of censorship in the name of free speech is part of a plot to destroy the existing order. The censor has the right to take what steps are necessary to protect society.
André Brink's device is Ars Longa: In the end, it is always the artist who wins, because one way or another truth will come out.
For Breyten Breytenbach, `censorship is an act of shame. It has to do with manipulation, power, and repression. For the writer to consent to being censored equals self-castration.

Erasmus: Madness and Rivalry
Erasmus disguised himself into a fool in order to be able to criticize the Catholic Church (The Praise of Folly). Coetzee's portrait shows us Erasmus as an independent and impartial individual, but therefore insulted from all sides: `I would rather die than join a faction'.
Coetzee's analysis is based on postmodernist theories. He shows us Lacan as a vitalist, an adept of Bergson's `acte gratuit' (`it is not at all necessary that the poet knows what he is doing; in fact, it is preferable that he doesn't know.') and Foucault as a romantic (`madness as a voice to contest reason').

J.M. Coetzee's book unmasks the real goal of censorship and the methods authors (try to) used to circumvent it. It is the work of a superb free mind.
A must read for all lovers of art, and specifically literature.

I'll resist writing a large review for this book, because the reader should be allowed to make up their own mind. I bought this book after reading many of Coetzee's novels, and 'Stranger Shores'. 'Giving Offense', in my opinion, is a much stronger collection of work than 'Stranger Shores', which is also exceptional, simply because the essays relate to each other far better than those included in 'Stranger Shores'. One can read 'Giving Offense' essay after essay and stay within the same frame of mind. His essays about 'Lady Chatterley's Lover', Osip Mendelstam and Solzhenitsyn are my personal favourites. A very impressive book.

The information contained within this text is thought-stimulating, thereby encouraging the reader to further research the specific area of his or her personal interest regarding the African Diaspora by providing a helpful selected bibliography, footnotes and endontes pertinent to each essay, as well as as an useful overall index.

Another excellent read for us Africans by a African who knows his history and not brain washed by His Storyof the intruder.

Excellent book handy size and all of the must see sights are clearly marked

The Globetrotter Zambia travel book is, in my opinion, the best book for a first time traveler to Zambia. It gives lots of insight on where to go and what to do from A to Z. It's easy to carry and enjoyable to ready. I am very glad I carried with me. Way to go Globetrotters.