Africa Books

I have been a professional hunter since 1994 and having worked and lived in countries like Botswana, Tanzania, Republic of the Congo, and Mozambique and having been in Bell's environment, albeit many many years later, his stories and his accounts are absolutely marvelous and it depicts an Africa that once was. His innocent comments on the natives and the abundance of wildlife is an absolute pleasure. Even more delightful, is his casual way of describing how you should go about brain shooting five bull elephant within a matter of seconds...a must for all serious hunters.

I found this book to be well written, informative, and entertaining. Written in the first person, the author makes no attempt to be the hero of the story-line. It is a matter of fact approach to the real life adventures of a man who truly had "Been there, Done that" in the wilds of Africa. The author relates not only the adventures of safari, but also the mundane, and sometimes dangerous aspects of it as well. His somewhat controversial recommendations of suitable calibers for elephant hunting are backed up by hundreds of real life experiences, with sound logic, as opposed to theoretical arm-chair ballistics. I didn't want to put the book down until I had finished it.

This is one of the best books on needlepoint patterns. The patterns are large, full color and easy to read. The instructions are easy to follow and there is additional information in the last chapter about needlepoint. The designs based on Kilim carpets and rugs are stunning! If you have any interest in needlepoint rugs this book is must have for your library.

The instructions for the 25 projects are well written and illustrated for the beginner as well as those how have done needlepoint for years. The color photographs are of high quality, making the finished projects extremely enticing to make. Each project not only has a description of the item, but also a well written brief history of the origin of the specific item to be stitched. The color charts was well illustrated and easy to follow. Thirteen pages are dedicated to materials and techniques from how to make the first needlepoint stitch to framing, hanging, finishing, making knotted fringes and tassels. This area of the book is a Big Plus! One last comment, This is truly a great needlepoint book!

A friend of mine wanted me to read this book so he let me borrow his version. He plans to go to Africa soon and climb Kilimanjaro and wanted me to know something about the experience. He couldn't have chosen a better book for this purpose. I loved the light humor, but also came away from the reading of this book with a deeper respect for those who are willing to take on this challenge. My comment to my friend was: "I think I would be dead if I tried to hike up that mountain"! The book is short and to the point, humorous, and the perfect book to share with a friend so they can better understand the experience. It's kind of written as though it was taken right out of the man's hiking journal (and probably was) so it's not a study in English grammar, but it was a joy to read. After reading my friend's copy, I came home, went online to Amazon and bought the book so my family could also enjoy it.

I am planning a trip to Kenya, and my friends are pushing me to join them when they hike Mt Kili. I bought all the technical books and felt I still didn't understand if this was right for me. After reading this book I've developed a new respect for individuals who push their limits for the sake of personal desire, not to prove they are tough or adventurous. I also developed a new respect for the term 'comic relief' -- it pointed out how dangerous this can be and in very memorable way prepared me better than a list of required gear. The author has a clever ability to bring humor to the potential dangers of this hike. This is a refreshing and honest funny voice. I enjoyed the book and highly recommend it.

My mom and brother both climbed Mt. Killimanjaro in Sept. 2001. And as a birthday gift to my mom I got her this book. I to have enjoyed looking at the pictuers and also I was in Africa as well but I only have seen the mountain through my mom's and brother's photos.
If you ever have a chance go and climb the moutain it will make you a different person.

What a gorgeous book! The photos and descriptions do a little justice to the real thing, making it much easier to try to explain to others the mulititude of ecosystems along the trail to the summit (brrrr!). Highly recommended!

This book examines the 1895 trip of Batswana Chiefs Khama, Sebele and Bathoen to London to negotiate a deal with Minister of Colonial Affairs Joe Chamberlain that would secure their land against seizure attempts by Cecil Rhodes. It relies primarily on archival sources including correspondence, diaries, papers and newspaper clippings and, to a lesser degree, on oral histories. Once the chiefs arrive in London, the book is organized by day and the author provides copious information about that day whether it is significant or simply a matter of who stayed in bed or who purchased souvenirs. At times, it seems that the main narrative will be overwhelmed by minutiae. Yet, Parsons does a brilliant job of showing how the chiefs and London Missionary Society administrator Willoughby used the temperance issue and the Non-Conformist sensibility in general to build a more sympathetic case for their position. He also demonstrates well how the journalism of the times seemed to drive much of the context and sometimes the actual negotiations.

This book will be a fascinating read for anyone interested in turn-of-the-century Southern Africa or for that matter Britain due to the many excerpts from archival sources. Parson's style is quite accessible to the lay-reader with little previous background in the subject though I would recommend he or she read the last chapter first for a framework. It is particularly important for scholars of the region and of Botswana. It addresses one of the central controversies of Botswana history, i.e., whether Botswana's non-absorption into Rhodesia was the result of the chiefs' visit or the failed Jameson raid. (Parson's comes down in favor of the former.) More generally, it is a revealing look at the agency of African colonial elites.

This book does an excellent job of telling the tale of the visit of three great African kings to England in the late 1890s. Provides an accurate portrayal of King Khama and his interaction with Joe Chamberlain and Cecil Rhodes. An excellent, factual, entertaining story of successful African resistance.

I would most likely want to buy this book if it had some scholarly backing. It looks to have some rather exciting information within it, but since I find no scholar reviewing it, I am held back for the present time. As a scholar myself dealing with Ancient Nubia/Kush, I find this subject relative to my interests.

Well, you're not much of a scholar of this subject if you haven't heard of Laszlo Torok. He doesn't need scholarly backing, he IS scholarly backing.

This is an excellent book to read to children at bedtime or during storytime at school or church. It's a short, easy read and it's full of excellent information about the history and culture of Western Africa. Don't be fooled by the title. This book has nothing to do with black magic; and everything to do with using ones own imagination. The storyline is rooted in reality as the main character enjoys his "travels" to other places; however he always wants to return home to the people he loves. The beautiful photographs in this book make it a great coffee table book as well. I encourage you to introduce the children in your family or neighborhood to Kofi and His Magic.

This book provides readers of all ages with a wonderful look into the life of Kofi, a "magician" from Bonwire. The children I have shared it with love it, and Kofi's magic serves as a reminder for all of us of the power of imagination. The photographs are rich, and the text is soothing. Look no further for a book that will put you in the mood to daydream.

Sidney Allinson's books are surprises. They can start off unassumingly and build up to rip snorting sagas of ceaseless adventure. In his finest work yet, Allinson doesn't even start off slowly. Kruger's Gold grips the reader at once and the pace never slows. As I read this action tale of the struggle a century ago between South Africa's Boers, and England and her "colonials," I was repeatedly struck with the idea this would be and should be a wonderful movie. Allinson's experience as a television producer may have given him that hot-shot cameraman's "eye" or it could simply be that any good yarn so stirringly told lends itself to theatre in the best sense.

On these pages, a segment of history that was soon obscured by two ensuing, bloodier world wars leaps to life. It is really the twilight of an era, with Europeans jostling for power and position and, in this case in particular, South African gold. Allinson fills in the historical perspective while following a Canadian soldier and his colonial troops who, late in the war, have been assigned to find the legendary government cache of gold that departing Prime Minister Paul Kruger was said to have stashed before leaving in 1900 for virtual exile in Europe.

Allinson writes sympathetically of the brilliant Boer commandos fighting to retain their homeland and their way of life. His story is not overly revisionist: the Boers have seized this land from the native tribes, after all, and even the most principled among them want to keep the blacks and "coloureds" in their place, lest their vast numbers overwhelm the white settlers. Even through a more politically correct prism, we must admire the self reliance of these men whose surprise tactics and talented marksmanship enabled them to strike at the enemy, melt away into the bush, and return to attack another day. Many if not most of the men have lost wives and children to the war; yet, while they can be ruthless, they treat surrendered prisoners with a decency and respect that arouses a sense of nostalgia in the reader. Their English counterparts do as well with their own prisoners, for the most part.

The story of the concentration camps where stranded Boer families and prisoners were placed to wait out the war is not as happy a one. Allinson paints a grim picture of these horrors where women and children and some men languished in filthy conditions with poor diets and disease and death dogging every step. A few selfless medical workers do their best, but there are no facilities and their supplies are woefully inadequate. The camps were not England's finest legacy to the history texts.

The romances in the book provide a lusty and pleasing counterpoint. Even the horses get to play a heart-warming role. And throughout the book, Allinson has peppered the story with fascinating historical minutiae, such as the Boer heroine not being allowed to play ragtime music, then the rage, because it was produced by black performers.

Read this book. It is a treat.

KRUGER'S GOLD: A GRIPPING, FAST-MOVING NOVEL SET IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN BATTLEFIELD OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO

In 1902, as in 2001, guerrilla fighters were challenging the might of the pre-eminent world power. Then it was the Dutch settlers called Boers fighting Great Britain for possession of South Africa. Today, Islamic extremists attack the U.S. and its allies anywhere and everywhere. The lesson from both: small forces are potent.

This is not a dry military history book, nor does the reader miss anything if, like this reviewer, he or she comes to it more or less ignorant of the Anglo-Boer War. The author, Sidney Allinson, has written the sort of gripping, fast-moving novel that keeps you turning pages long after bedtime. The characters and their loves and hatreds, their ideals and weaknesses, failures and triumphs, would have provided the human material for a thoroughly satisfying novel even if presented in an imagined setting.

The hero is a Canadian serving with the British Army, Lieutenant Harry Lanyard. Given the choice between disgrace before a court martial and leading a particularly hazardous mission, Lanyard takes the latter. With a rag-tag troop of Colonial mounted infantry, Lanyard is ordered to recover a king's ransom in stolen gold bullion - enough money to keep the Boers fighting for goodness knows how many more years. This gold had been looted by the Boer President, Paul Kruger, hence the book's title.

And hence also, the skilful merging of the fictional characters in the foreground of the story with the meticulously researched historical events that provide the backdrop. We are introduced to the tough Boer burgher fighters who adopted the title "Commando", to be handed down through the generations as the hallmark of military excellence. We discover to our chagrin that the war also fathered the concentration camp, a term synonymous with death. Although devised initially by the British as shelter for destitute families whose homes had been torched by one side or the other in this increasingly cruel and desperate campaign, disgraceful mismanagement reduced these camps to death traps.

Meanwhile the action continues: ambush, deception, espionage, mutiny, pitched battles and encounters with snipers - and all the time a forbidden romance struggling to survive across the invisible line separating friend from foe. Lieutenant Lanyard would be a real asset in today's Special Forces, but is this enough to gain his two objectives, Kruger's Gold, and the love of his life, Beth?

Advance copies of this book have stirred great interest among students of the period, some of whom have been brought up on "official" versions of events that omit what is unpalatable about your own side. The truth is that war brings out the best and the worst in mankind and there never was an unblemished battle record. Sidney Allinson pays his respects to Boers, Brits, and Colonials, and avoids any temptation to portray the fighting in terms of good guys and bad. To assist the keen researcher, the author includes a Glossary, Casualty Statistics, and Bibliography.

The book is presented in a handsome jacket carrying a contemporary action painting showing the Royal Canadian Dragoons in close-quarter fighting against the Boers.

Maurice Tugwell, retired British Army Brigadier, Military Analyst, and Author of Herzl Street (Xlibris, 1999)

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1IGFPZ0HY2ESV This book, while written as fiction, tells the real life saga of how iconic Hollywood legend, Tippi Hedren (aka Joan Tailor in the book) who starred in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" teams with embattled conservationist Meryl Harrison (aka Charlene Tynsworth in the book) and ex Special Forces commandos to expose ongoing brutal atrocities against endangered big game by some of the wealthiest men on earth. Meryl, who is also known as The Mother Theresa of Animals, has been awarded by almost every wildlife group on earth for her bravery in facing death to save and safeguard the lives of hundreds of thousands of animals in Zimbabwe. In this video she is seen winning yet another award, this time from the BBC in the UK. It also shows some real life footage of some of her animal rescues in terror-ravaged Zimbabwe. Please also cross reference the YOU TUBE video "Land of the Free" that contains some of the real life covert footage and documentation this team obtained as evidence of these atrocities... and who is committing them. [...]

This book is dedicated to Meryl Harrison, and every sale goes towards helping an animal's life. Please buy your copy here: Land Of The Free

Everyone should read this book - to know what is happening to our precious endangered species - who is doing it - and what you can do to help. Buy it now!Land Of The Free

Students of legal anthropology learn the phrase "customary law" early in their training. But seldom is it accompanied by nuanced understanding. Law of the Somalis fundamentally alters this default. Generations of legal anthropologists working in colonial Africa devoted themselves (usually with the best intentions) to "codifying" customary law, never pausing to ask whether customary law might possess advantages wholly antithetical to "legislated" law.
The late Michael van Notten, a Dutch-educated lawyer "adopted" into Somali society, has written a "brief" (using the Somali case) on behalf of the proposition that customary law succeeds in fulfilling natural law demands for justice in ways superior to law created by systems of representative democracy. Legislated law of necessity disenfranchises the minority (who failed to elect their representatives), while customary law, because it focuses on disputes situationally, and relies on customary legal principles not unbending statutes for solutions, is better suited to respecting the interests of all sides. A major factor in van Notten's argument in favor of the Somali example is his demonstration of how customary law performs in its intensely competitive environment. In order to preserve its general acceptance, customary law must provide non-governmental means whereby people can complain if they feel their rights were violated.
The name given to this customary law system is kritarchy, that is, a system of rule distinguished from monarchy and oligarchy, by its reliance on "judging through principle." Kritarchy rests not on political institutions, but rather simply on the rule of law.
In a world where "failed-state" can be a buzzword precursor to outside intervention, issues presented by nations relying on customary law are far from academic. Van Notten's polemic is thus also timely - and far from an abstract contemplation. To the contrary, based on firsthand experience the book urges that a customary law foundation, such as found in Somalia, provides an ideal basis for establishment of a Free Port dedicated to commercial relations with the highest regard for natural law property rights. The United Nations has poured billions of dollars, thus far without evident success, into the cause of re-establishing a Somali central government, a proposition anathema to the customary law systems of Somalia's clans. Van Notten, on the other hand, sees opportunity to vindicate an approach to law consistent with older forms honoring sage leadership and counsel without the power to coerce and tax.
The readability and relative brevity of the text highly recommend Law of the Somalis for classroom use. It fits comfortably alongside, and is a refreshing addition to, the scholarly tradition reflected in such classic ethnographic legal-political titles as, Tswana Law (I. Schapera), The Cheyenne Way (K. Llewellyn and E.A. Hoebel), and The Judicial Process among the Barotse (M. Gluckman).
Howard J. De Nike, J.D., Ph.D., Instructor, Anthropology Department, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM.

This book deserves the full five stars because it demonstrates dynamically that sustenance and better, and freedom, order and peace, are fully possible in a system of local, family/clan, traditional governance in its multiple manifestations over a fairly wide territory without the "assistance" or burden of a centralized ruler controlling any and all aspects of the economy, society or life of the citizenry or its institutions. And it does so in a readily accessible manner in the writing style and cogent illustrations of the customary law as applied. This pertains to the principal author, the editor and one other contributor.

The justice system in northern Somalia, Somaliland, works as a common law, less formal than the English common law, but formalized in its procedures and precedents. It uses (by retainer) recognized judges or arbiters who receive apprentice-like training, experience on the job, and are selected on the basis of reputation for a track record of wise rulings. This pertains in civil and in criminal matters.

The greatest flaw in the rules, not in the system, is the lack of absolute property rights. Common grazing ground has fairly comprehensive rules as to how it may be used, thus avoiding the tragedy of the commons. But it can't be sold which is a considerable constraint on achieving prosperity. Individually owned real property has similar restraints; it can be sold only within the clan. This also constrains prosperity.

Somaliland does immensely better that the southern regions of Somalia where repeated efforts to reestablish central government, and the fear of such, have encouraged "war-lordism" and have discouraged economic betterment.

This system of justice appears to have been the general modus operandi across most of Africa before colonization. It is remarkable that so much of the system has survived a couple centuries of colonization and several decades of tyrannical dictatorships, both very centralizing forces.

To this observer this system demonstrates the validity of the libertarian notion that man can govern himself better at the individual and local level than he can be governed by the central state, federated or otherwise.