Africa Books

I was happy to buy this book to send to a school in Rwanda.

"One Child, One Seed: A South African Counting Book" is an excellent book for children age 4 - 8. It teaches counting, and tells the story of a South African child, her family, and their garden, and a seed that grows into a plant and yields a harvest of pumpkin that is made into . . . Isijingi. There are actually three texts in this book that can be read separately or together: the counting text; the story of the seed; and background about South African family life. The book is illustrated with a couple dozen color photographs, and also includes a map of Africa and South Africa. This book teaches more than counting, something just as valuable: a look at another people and their culture. Younger children will like the counting text, with its large font and big pictures, slightly older children will appreciate learning about South Africa, its people and food.

Thanks to Steyn we get a closer look at one of the most fascinating persons in modern history. Nelson Mandela demonstrates most convincingly that integrity and respect for fellow human beings of all levels is not a sign of weakness but rather the ultimate demonstration of greatness. This book ought to be mandatory reading for every person in a leading position, be it in the political or any other field. Thus, let us hope that it becomes more readily available outside of South Africa!

An excellent book! This book was very well written and contained in depth information about executive and personal protection that few people have the intimate knowledge to find out about. I was especially drawn to the special relationship that formed between Mr. Steyn & his protectee, President Nelson Mandela. This book also contained some very humerous passages, such as the incident where the driver for Mr. Mandala's principal car accidently locked the keys in the car, with the president's helicopter inbound a due to land in a few minutes! I would recommend this book to any protection specialist in the field and others alike.

This is a wicked book. It made the rounds on a family vacation and by the end of it, we'd all read it. It is a page-turner and gives an illuminating look into the savage thuggery of a particular rebel group in Sierra Leone and a window into some of what it's like in that part of the world.

OCD is a very thorough account of Operation Barras - the true story of British soldiers kidnapped by the rebel forces in Sierra Leone, and the dangerous and desperate mission to secure their release. This is a gripping read and a compelling page turner! Lewis has put a great deal of effort into characterisation which really pays off - I was transported from my armchair to the hideous hide-out of the infamous West Side Boys. There, the normal social rules had broken down and the hostages were subjected to horrendous and macabre displays of torture, rape and murder and were at the sharp end of beatings, humiliation and psychological terror. My only method of escape was to read on as fast and as furious as I could. Lewis finishes the book with thoughtful and timely comments about the failing role of the UN in its ability to keep the peace. It gives food for thought about how global security needs and the role of 'private armies' have to be reassessed.

Going to the archives can be a bore -- for historians and those who read their work. But going to and through the archives is also what great and true historiography is all about. In this book, I.R. Smith carries out the historians' craft with meticulous care and commendable merit. Smith demonstrates through this seminal case study that the British empire was not merely a scramble for one market after another. He demolishes the various conspiracy theories surrounding the South African War, particularly those put forward by left-wing economic determinists, proving a point that surely needs oft-proving: economics is often subordinated to politics and the pursuit of power.

This is a meticulously researched study of the events leading up to the outbreak of the Boer War. Particularly when tracing the events of 1899 the book is really impressive in its marshalling of the facts, and I thought its conclusions are well-reasoned. It was another age, when countries could look at war and decide that maybe it was worth while.

Anthropologist, academician and lecturer Jean Davison is the founder of the `International Development and Education Association', a non-profit group dedicated to linking small communities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America through developing seed funding for self-help projects with sponsoring groups in the United States and Canada. "The Ostrich Wakes: Struggles For Change In Highland Kenya" is the story of the women of Kenya who some twenty-five years ago lived under cultural, political, religious, and economic circumstances that subjected them to the devastation of female circumcision, lethal communicable diseases, forced marriages, physical and sexual abuse on a daily basis, and a lack of educational opportunities, but today are becoming educated and active in urban small businesses, seeing substantial improvements in health, and governmental laws providing them protections that include being able to reject genital cutting, refusal of marriage proposals, prosecution for rape (a practice so wide spread in Kenya that Kenyan leaders declared it as their nation's most pervasive human rights issue). A compelling, informative, and highly recommended history of social struggle and progress in Kenya, "The Ostrich Wakes" is enhanced with the inclusion of numerous notes and a glossary.

Reviewed by Richard R. Blake for Reader Views (5/07)

Dr. Jean Davison, an anthropologist, returns to visit the foothills of Mt. Kenya. Davison returns to Kenya to discover how the Gikuyu farmers view the changes of the last decade in their country. Her return to a land where she had lived, worked and studied twenty years earlier came at the very time the political party in power since Kenya received independence, had been replaced. Excitement was everywhere. Expectations were high.

The remote rural areas of Kenya have become linked to the global coffee and tea markets, as well as the internet, TV, and cell phones. Any change will benefit some and disadvantage others in this age of globalization. The title of the book "The Ostrich Wakes" speaks of the many changes in Highland Kenya: the coming of electricity, improved transportation, and the availability of education. This is a wakeup call at a time of crisis. Davison was particularly concerned about the impact of these changes in relation to "Women's Concerns" in education, economic opportunity, property rights, overpopulation, family planning skills, and "AIDS."

Dr. Davison contacted village elders and youth alike to learn how they had been impacted through these transitions. She visited old friends to interview them about the long awaited changes in the government, the uncertainties of the economy, of the trends in agricultural, and the educational opportunities available to the children and youth of Kenya.

As she retraced her steps of earlier visits she was particularly interested in how traditions, customs, rituals, and coming of age rites had changed since her last visit. Among others she interviewed four generations of one family to get a comparison of how time and education have impacted how they learn, what they had learned by observing their mothers, and what they had learned in the more formal school setting. Many of those interviewed were open and frank, and shared freely in their stories of coming of age, marriage and childbirth. Others were more private, especially when questions concerned the older rituals and rites associated with girls coming of age.

I appreciated the unique approach Dr. Davison used to present the results of her research. She writes using a story form narrative in her interviews. Her presentation of background material on the government, history, and geography of Kenya is woven into the stories in a unique and entertaining way.

The subject matter of "The Ostrich Wakes" is enlightening and useful, an important addition to the studies available on the threat, prevention, and treatment of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in third world communities. It is the story of an awakening of a people from the lethargy and sense of despair. This is a book of travel, of warm stories from peoples of another culture, as well as the results of an anthropology research study.

I read these memoirs with strict concentration on all features of the environment that provided the interesting material to this book.

From childhood of elderly relatives that was somewhat unhappy and bordering on deprivation, the family living off charity, in areas where the primary social groups' life revealed a pattern of neglect, moral [...] , and disregard for law.

I watched a collection of things making people of the same feather sharing a common attribute. Perhaps I should say that a small part of these features I lived myself (1952-56). The message Andre Aciman is giving me is also addressed to every member of a clan feeling alien in the environment in which one was found, and resisted to share.

You are taken back in time to the beginning of the twentieth century until the mid fifties. I never felt strange to uncle Vili, Aunt Clara, or Tante Lotte, like these people exist in the annals of many families' chronological account of events in any successive years.

How much true it is when one had become a success story and thus an object of intense jealousy on the part of his less fortunate confreres. One would definitely feel better off to keep ones apart from ones fellows.
Walking on tight ropes during WWII to keep balance between complete annihilation and survival is not impossible, or unethical, though the uncomplimentary remarks Uncle Vili used to make about the warring parties - about them both - in private, now remained no secret. We all tend to do the same thing when cornered; won't we? This is legitimate quest for survival amid a world run in madness, Uncle Vili appeared uncomplicated enough.

Those were the people we came to know in Egypt in the mid-fifties, their private life, their intimate charm, their gentleness, their direct and affectionate manner, their kindness and modesty which remained unchanged even at the very height of their predicaments.

We knew people like Uncle Vili, their sense of humor, coupled with caustic wit with their servants - Egyptians and/or Sudanese - that their good nature forsook them and their tongue became capable of mordant, wounding remarks. In the company of their intimate friends, they would throw off the habitual reserve they displayed on public occasions and behave like the big boy scouts which they remained in one corner of their personality - Pashas attitudes.

Andre Aciman: I salute you.

Out of Egypt, is a very special memoir about growing up in Alexandria before the author and his family were forced to move from Egypt in 1965 . It's a fascinating memoir of a time and place that no longer exists, and a wonderfully written account .

I had the good fortune of meeting co-author Andy Dawson on a plane a couple of years ago. He is a fascinating man, and got me interested in this very important story of early air logistics in the opening days of World War Two. The book does not disappoint. It is short and concise, but well written, well illustrated, and complete.

The story concerns the Pan Am contract flying over Africa in 1941, and although it is a relatively unknown story, it is utterly fascinating to anyone with an inclination to historical reading. Although I know a lot about World War Two history, I must confess to having been almost totally ignorant of the valiant work of these contract employees and their contribution to the war effort. This book made me appreciate their huge undertaking in extremely austere conditions, and I recommend it highly.

Tom Culbert and Andrew Dawson have done an outstanding job bringing to life this fascinating but little known story of the civilian and military men and their flying machines who paved the way for Allied success in North Africa.

The photographs and writing are both superb. This book would make a terrific gift for anyone interested in World II, the role of the civilian and military air services, or true stories of brave men who exhibited "grace under pressure" on a daily basis.

A great read and a must for anyone's reading list who believes history is more fascinating than fiction.

There's something magical about this book..

This is one of my famlies favorite books. We were lucky enough to find it with a tape of music and my kids can't get enough of this book and it is almost 2 years later! The story is inspiring and really got my kids interested in rainforests and what they can too to help the enviorment! This book should be in all schools, libraries and made a great gift to my children. It breaks my heart that is is out of print when the money went to help such a great cause! IT IS Truely Magickal!

I was recommeded this book by an evangelist before I went on a 2 week trip to Malawi, Africa. Boy was it a good and fast read. There are so many things that he mentions in his book that you would never know or comprehend unless you you were actually there. But more than that, his heart for Africa is so powerfully illustrated that you begin to develop a heart for Africa also.

A Passion for Africa is a missionary's memoir of his final travels into the interior of Zambia, as well as visits to Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, and Angola. Presenting a vivid picture of bustling nations with their fair share of problems, including floods, famines, fuel shortages and roaming so-called war veterans, A Passion for Africa tells of one man's striving with his soul, his unheeded call for more missionaries to come and assist his work, and the day when he must tell all the African people he has come to know and love goodbye. Black-and-white photographs illustrate this compelling firsthand testimony.

How can I review something that I haven't even read or browsed?

How can I review something that I haven't even read or browsed?