Africa Books

Just a wonderful romantic adventure story with a plucky heroine, great characters and setting. I reread it frequently and recommend it to my
friends. The Pollifax books are fun, but this Gilman is amazing. I wish it had a map of the heroine's journey through the Sahara.

Recently I was introduced to the writings of Dorothy Gilmore. Yes, I enjoyed the Mrs. Polifax series, but Caravan shows the depth and expertise of Gilmore in storytelling. Her descriptions of the desert are magnificent and I felt like I was there. The love story added to making this book even more interesting with a surprise twist at the end. Please, do not read the ending first because it will spoil the delightful trip through Gilmore's mind and eyes. I highly recommend this book because it is not only well written, but it is also a page-turner. Bettye Johnson, award winning author, Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls.

Caravan is an incredible book. For 11 years I had a medically fragile daughter and kept Caravan in a packed emergency bag for dashes to the Childrens Hospital 2 hours away. On many occasions, I would be at the hospital for weeks and would always re-read Caravan. The strength of the main character, her ability to "roll with the punches" was such an encouragement to me. Sections of the book spoke to me when I needed them the most. At one point Jared is near death and we are quoted "Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt...". My child was near death and risking the scorn of the ER doc, I called up the medical director of the hospital to demand a neurosurgeon consult. Whew, did that get action! My child had emergency surgery and lived to see another year. Dorothy Gilmans Pollifax books are great but none can touch the depth of Caravan. Thank you Dorothy!

I listened to this book on tape. I did not particularly enjoy the reader; I felt the main character's voice was too high, and another's voice sounded too contrived. But the story was quite entertaining and imaginative in spite of some parts stretching credibility, but that's why it's called fiction! There is a lot about Africa, African tribes and the Sahara, which is wonderful.

Dorothy Gilman's Mrs. Pollifax mysteries have delighted me. I am late in coming to them. They have been out for years. But I love the pattern of suspense and the new cultural treats that are in store for her readers. I always learn in a Gilman book. And her sense of respect for other ways of living, of relating to God and one another, enrich the tales she gives us.

I recently gleaned the shelves of Half-Price Books and found a few of her titles I had not read, among them was Caravan. And it is a true jewel of a tale.

One feels a bit like this character, a carny child sent to finishing school, is historical, a veritable Unsinkable Molly Brown, and yet the story, as told in retrospect by Lady Teal, encompasses only a small part of a very rich life. And what a vibrant small part that is!

Caressa's survival in the stark desert life of the early 1900's is impressive, and Gilman's finesse in presenting a foreign world and its pecularities make for suspenseful reading beyond the norm. One thing that Gilman never does is shy away from the brutal and the violent realities of her character's situations.

In the primitive 1914 imprisonment that Caressa faces among the conquering Tuareg tribesmen, there are an amazing set of obstacles that just shouldn't have been lived through. No Indiana Jones character could out do Caressa's challenges.

Most beautiful of all are the endearing friendships that she makes with the unusual likes of a fellow slave, a black boy, Bakuli, and earlier with Mohammed, her Arab host in Tripoli.

Delightful endings wrap up Gilman's books with happily ever after as their due. But one is not disappointed with Lady Teal's surprise to readers. In fact, one should have guessed such an ending would be in store.

Typical Gilman in some ways, but very nice escapist reading overall. Brava!

The titanic battles of the Great War on the Western front are probably well known to most readers of this review. Much has been written (and rewritten) and analyzed (and overanalyzed) about the Somme, Verdun, Ypres. Given the relative numbers of troops and the distance from the main action, the events in Africa can seem to be of little importance. The story of the fighting in Africa during the Great War contains no less heroism or bravery shown by many participants, and the actions of General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck are still mentioned amongst the greatest campaigns fought by any general at any time. Throw in a few harrowing and humorous anecdotes plus some unusual aspects to campaigning (like big game hunting), and you have a great read.

Byron Farwell has written a detailed, entertaining account of the events of the Great War in Africa. It is part military history and part adventure story. There were essentially four (largely) independent campaigns fought against the Germans in Africa: Togoland, the Cameroons, German Southwest Africa, and German East Africa. Farwell covers each of these in detail, the last of course taking up most of the book, as a succession of generals chase Gen. Lettow-Vorbeck and his native askaris through modern Kenya and Tanzania. From a purely military perspective, there is quite a bit of interest here. For the Germans, how do they defend a central position we surrounded by much stronger forces. For the British, how do they use their military and logistical superiority to advance into hostile (to say the least) terrain against a disciplined and motivated enemy?

One of the great aspects of this book is that Farwell occasionally takes detours from the narrative about the purely military aspects of the campaign to present accounts of many of the quirky events and people and the role they played in Africa. For example, Farwell discusses in detail the dragging of several ships over several thousand kilometers to Lake Tanganyika to contest naval control of the lake with the Germans. This expedition was probably unique in the annals of military campaigns, but it leader was particularly unusual. Farwell also discusses an attempt to resupply the Germans with zeppelins, some of the confuse naval actions along east Africa (the German cruiser Konigsberg sailed up the Rufiji river and it was quite difficult for the Royal Navy to get at it, to say the least). Finally, Farwell discusses some of the nasty diseases present in Africa that were often more of a scourge to the average soldier than combat. One type of parasite that infected the body and slowly ate the infected person from the inside out was particularly nasty. It is also annoying that Farwell tries to explain away every British defeat as the result of unreliable and poorly motivated natives, poor leadership, etc. To be fair though, he does give the natives (particularly the askaris fighting for the Germans) their due.

There are two reasons that I only give this book four stars (most reviewers to date have given it 5). First, while both detailed and highly readable, this book is not uniquely outstanding. Farwell is not David Chandler or Shelby Foote, and while anjoyable to read, this is not something that most readers may read 3-4 times in their lives. Second, this book is definitely written from the British perspective by someone who is obviously sympathetic to (and enamoured with) the Golden Age of the British empire. I certainly respect this view, but I think there is much more to the events in Africa during the Great War than what can be gleaned from General Smuts headquarters or in London. Working through Gen. Lettow-Vorbeck's memoirs after reading this book would give you a somewhat different perspective.

The bottom line is that this is a great (and easy) read for anyone (either casually or professionally) interested in one of the most unusual military campaigns in history. Definitely recommended.

Informative, insightful, & readable.
At last! A writer who both:
A)Knows his material
and
B) Can write in an absorbing & engaging fashion.
L. Sprague De Camp fans take note--you will like this book.

Also, try--
Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure: The Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika

Joseph Conrad would have loved and respected Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, and any woman would have been proud to have been his African Queen. This book is really three vignettes and one great story of courage and endurance.

At the outbreak of World War I, Germany had four African colonies, Togoland, Cameroon, South West Africa (now Namibia) and German East Africa (now mainland Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi). The stories about the conquering of the first three are very straight forward and give a very good idea of how the fighting in Africa differed from that in Europe. Of course the British made major mistakes of bringing in untried Indian troops who were totally unfit to fight in the 'Bush' but everyone kept a 'stiff upper lip' and died from disease and malnutrition.

The major story is how the commander of the "Schutztruppe" (local militia that were made up of European Officer and NCOs, African levies called Askaries, porters who were the most numerous and their wives and children) Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, managed to fight a four year war against over- whelming odds, and never lose a major engagement to the British. Throughout the war he was the consummate Guerrilla fighter, never facing the British head on but using hit and run tactics and always being one step ahead.

(There is a great side story that is better documented in "Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure by Brian Garfield", about the bringing of some British naval ships to fight on Lake Tanganyika; but Farwell does a good job of telling the story in a succinct manner.)

In the end, the British, mostly made up of South African Whites,Nigerians, Kenyans and Indian troops, spend four years chasing Lettow around Tanganyika, into Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique), Northern Rhodesia and back into Tanganyika. During all this time he would leave his sick and wounded behind to be tended by the British, and would release his European prisoners if they would give their parole (agree not to rejoin the war). At the end of WWI, he was leading four to five thousand troops and keeping 87,000 British Commonwealth troops tied down protecting ports and railroads that could have been shipped to France. (He didn't surrender until November 15, 1918.)

For any history buff who enjoys a story that is almost Kipling-esque, this is the book to read.

This book was ok, no way near how good you might think it was by reading all the glowing reviews. To me it read more like a university text book than an exciting story. If you read the other reviews and see them mention all the really interesting "forgotten" stories of WW1 in Africa you may be suprised when you actually read the book. Several reviews mention the "Battle of the bee's" - you may be suprised when you read the book & see that the "battle of the bee's" is one short paragraph in the book. The reviews mention an amazing story of zeppelin L59 - in the book this takes up about 2 pages of text & a picture. So if you have read some of the glowing reviews you know almost as much about the bee's & the Zeppelin journey as if you had read the whole 400 page book. I found most of the book of some interest but I wouldn't really recommend this book to someone unless they are really looking for info on a certain battle in WW1 Africa at this time - but even then the info isn't very in depth.

As an italian, I've always had unending difficulties in search of books or any other source about military operations in Africa during WWI. But now and then, the name of von Lettow-Vorbeck appeared, surrounded of the fame of glorious deeds and exceptional personality. Well, reading this book has been a really enjoyable experience: masterly well-written, with sound attention to details but always keeping in sight the overall perspective. Last but not least, really fair balanced, it depicts men and events almost flawless, without any irritating bias against the one or the other side of the battlefield. In the midst of all that, Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck emerges as a hero and one among the greatest soldier of history, maybe a forgotten one, but nonetheless as great as a von Moltke or a Napoleon.

Examines the roots of an aspect of what is currently being faced in other climes and places. The author is uniquely qualified to write on the subject.

Mr Poole does it again. Another lifesaver for the troops.

Will use it in our training. If you are into tracking; check out the chapter on urban tracking, it's old techniques put in a new environment, might just save your life.

My biggest challenge in reviewing Poole's books is trying to find new ways to say essentially the same things: they are a refreshing, authoritative source of well-documented research and in-depth analysis of modern tactical warfare that are unequivocally the troops' best reference tools and the status quo's greatest threats. This book certainly continues that tradition.

The book was organized into three inter-related parts. In the first part, Poole provided a great, detailed history of the terrorist relationships between Africa and the Middle East, and the increasing influence of Eastern (Chinese) methods and presence in the Middle East. Chapter 4, "Euphrates Pipeline," which read like a detailed intelligence summary of suspected infiltration routes in the Iraq-Syria border area, was the first of three `must-read' chapters for individuals and small units deploying to Iraq.

The second part was an analysis of small unit actions and lessons from many years of African insurgency-counterinsurgency conflicts. I was especially impressed with Chapter 10, the second `must-read' chapter, which highlighted the Rhodesian Selous Scouts. In the final part, Poole shared his experienced perspectives on how to train for and win against the terrorist threats we are likely to be facing for the foreseeable future. This final part includes the final `must-read' chapter, "To Truly Win in a Place Like Iraq," from which the following quote is taken that pre-dated and predicted the kinds of successes that we are starting to see from the surge efforts in Iraq:

"...America's leaders must override their cultural impulse to "think big" and start "thinking small." It will all come down to the basics - basic 4GW [4th Generation Warfare] skills for U.S. troops and basic services for oppressed populations. That means humanitarian light infantrymen instead of infrastructure destroying and jihadist-generating smart bombs. Some squads would anchor neighborhood security through CAP [Combined Action Platoon] platoons, while others mantracked and arrested perpetrators. Only then will the cycle of violence be broken."

I look forward to the challenge of reviewing my next Poole book, but not as much as I look forward to the day when our troops and small-units get the kind of training and leadership that they deserve. Read this book to see what they are facing and how they can be victorious against our terrorist foes.

Future historians will identify John Poole as one of those clairvoyant savants of military art who told us of the threat long before it happened, exactly what we should expect, and how to train to fight it. He will also be remembered as a perceptive author whose books were read and studied by the Soldiers and Marines who fought the wars of the 21st Century but, unfortunately, not read and studied by the generals who led them. In Terrorist Trail, he has again identified the threat, their modus operandi, and where to find them. He has identified why we haven't done very well at finding and eliminating the insurgents because of the lack understanding the threat, the absence of true soldier skills, and the burden of a very heavily laden attrition mind set on the part of most of the senior officer set.

Terrorist Trail is a well researched volume based on keen insights into the Arab mind and culture. Moreover, the Trail follows the flow of foreign fighters right through the valley of the Euphrates and across the borders of Iran. This is more than just insight, it is information - nay, intelligence - from what is happening on the ground based on first hand accounts and observations. It is a detailed account which could be used as a continuity document for units in Iraq to read and understand as they rotate into these areas.

Poole takes us on a tour d' force through successful counterinsurgency (COIN) operations throughout history and in the third world - pointing out lessons that should be learned if we are to ever master COIN ops. It doesn't take a mental giant to understand that this is a primer on "how to", but if unread, the lessons have no chance of being learned. If read, the lessons have to be implemented at a level to be effectively applied. Some of Poole's recommendations might be discerned in the new Army/Marine COIN Manual, FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5, December 2006, but these similarities exist in too few areas to think they are more than serendipitous. It would take an entirely different leadership, cultural mind-set, force organization, and training to implement Poole's recommendations, and there is no significant evidence of that in the conventional U.S. Army or Marine Corps.

There is some flavor of Poole's prescriptions in Special Forces, but they too suffer from conventional generals with 2d generation thinking. Poole makes the case for decentralization of training in order to be able to create the type of army that can successfully combat the terrorists. He goes so far as to suggest: "If America's brigade commanders can't figure out how to fight more effectively at short range, they should defer to the collective wisdom of those who do it for a living - their rifle squad leaders." Such an outrageous statement, no matter how true, will provoke more of a defensive reaction by the hierarchy than the more appropriate determination to improve. One suspects that just such a thing is happening as there is now a shortage of his books in the Post and Base Exchanges. As the world situation continues to deteriorate, being good has become far more important than looking good. Poole has developed and tested a new "bottom-up" squad training method. Until more U.S. infantry units adopt it, they will continue to have problems at short range in either conventional or unconventional warfare.

Thank you, John Poole, for doing some serious research and thinking on tactics, operations, and strategy and translating that into this newest great book, Terrorist Trail.

Terrorist Trail by LTC John Poole (USMC-Ret) is one of the great books explaining how operations should be run in Iraq (and Afghanistan) to minimize damage to the local civilian population, while downgrading the ability of the insurgents to re-supply & operate. The book explains irregular warfare at it's best. How to assist the local population without having to destroy it! Unfortunately the GameBoy Generals of the Pentagon do not understand that all that glitzy billion dollar weaponry they love so much causes more damage in the long run to the war effort than it helps. They like to use a sledge-hammer to pick-off a flea.

Instead of relying on massive firepower from the air or artillery, the US military needs to go back to training troops how to become excellent at small unit infantry skills. Let the Platoon & Squad leaders with eyes on the target, knowing his unit's capability, make the decision on how to attack a positon or control a target location. Instead of investing more billions in "real time" micro-managed command & control from CentCom, invest millions in highly effective light infantry training (*See the other works by John Poole regarding infantry training) on how to ID & target insurgent controlled areas while enlisting the help of the local population.
Tracking is one of man's oldest survival skills. Early man tracked to find food & when he "evolved" tracked other men to kill them. This skill is as old as it gets for survival - except for running. The fastest man survived, the slowest was dinner. If the US military wants to survive & even thrive in an asymmetric 4th GW environment it has to evolve & change it's methodology of warfare in the coming years. Terrorist Trail explains beautifully the "how to" methodology of fighting the insurgents and winning in Iraq & in other back waters of the world. Will our current military leadership look at this work as sage advice? Highly un-likely. Most senior military leadership is looking to retire & move on to high paying jobs in the military-industrial complex (better know as Beltway Bandits)& down & dirty combat tactics just won't get them a hi-tech job!

John Poole explains very clearly in Terrorist Trail who the insurgents are & where they come from, who & how are they supplied. The US military can acquire the intelligence to effectively fight & defeat the Jihadists. If you can ID the insurgent, know his mentality & fighting methodology, you can defeat him using the tactics & techniques recommended by LTC Poole in this book.
I highly recommend this book to anyone going in harm's way overseas & to anyone who wants to understand the dynamics of defeating the insurgents at their own game.

I own the original French version of this book: "Peau noire masques blancs"! Franz Fanon addressed very well the racial issues encounted by previously colonized civilizations like the French island of Martinique. But Martinique is just an example. The truth is raw, but it's the truth, and there is still a long way for the freedom of the mind.

Frantz Fanon was a contemporary writer of the 1950's. Born in Martinique, he studied psychiatry and medicine in France as a young man after volunteering his services in World War II. He had an educational background in post colonial studies including racism and colonization. At the age of 27 he published "Black Skin, White Masks" which played a vital role in civil rights and Black consciousness movements throughout its time. Fanon's analysis of the Black psyche, "Black Skin, White Masks", was amazingly interesting and educational. It gave me a fresh perspective to what it means to live as the minority, as a person of color in a White world. This is a wonderful review of how the French of different backgrounds interacted with each other. There are also a few downfalls in understanding "Black Skin, White Masks". This book is hard to follow because it jumps around quite a bit, making various points throughout the same train of thought. There are many topics covered, one of the most thoroughly explored being romantic love between interracial couples. It also explores the use of language and the importance of knowing one's familial, racial, and cultural history.
One of the topics Fanon concentrates on is the Black man and his goals in life. To understand what Black men go through, one has to first understand the history of the particular Black man he is talking about which is born in an island off of France then moves to France and faces the culture shock of entering a country where the language and customs are different. Here the Black man goes from being comfortable and part of a larger entity to being the minority. At this stage the Black man feels he is worthless because of the history of the relationship of Blacks and Whites, where the Black man has led a forced life of servitude and abuse which has caused him to believe that he is inferior to the White man. The White man's racism has created the White man's feeling of superiority which correlates with the Black man's feeling of inferiority. Because of this inferiority complex the Black man has an overpowering need to prove himself equal to the White man. Fanon goes on to argue that the Black man's goal is to prove to Whites, Blacks and himself that he is an intelligent, good, and worthy of pursuing happiness individual. One of the most detailed examples was how the Black man attempts to get closer to being White by having any relationship, be it friendship or romantic (preferably sexual), with a White person other than a master/slave association. As an example Fanon tells a story of a young mulatto woman who marries a White man and in a split second goes from being the slave to being the master. Yet there are other cases when the Black man succeeds and he is not only rejected by Whites, he is repudiated by Blacks.
Another theme was that of language and what happens to a Black person when he arrives to France. The Black man has to learn how to speak French as it is spoken in France in order to become "whiter", for example, an educated Black man is no longer seen as Black because Blacks are savages while the intellectual is civilized. Yet there have been many cases where despite the success of the Black man, Whites refuse to accept them as equals and show it by speaking to them in pidgin or as children. There is also the struggle of remaining part of the Black community after assimilating into the White world. After learning to speak French, he returns home as white in the eyes of other Black people. The Black man must be able to code change in order to survive in both worlds.
Antillean education is looked at carefully in this book. Fanon compares the children of France with those of Martinique. As French children learn about their culture and their ancestors, Martinique children learn of the ancestors of others. Fanon proposes that the Black Martinique children should learn about Black history as a separate section in order to build self esteem and confidence. Children need to learn that there have been others in similar situations that have pulled through and made it despite discrimination and hate. If the educational system increases the Martinique children's knowledge and understanding of their own heritage and history, they will be able to make connections with their own ancestors and their amazing accomplishments. This would thus curb ideas of inferiority.
There was a contrast between Blacks and Whites that kept the world as it was. In order for there to be white, there has to be black. In order for there to be a slave there has to be a master. In order for one group of peoples to be superior another group has to be inferior, and this is the case with Whites and Blacks. As a result, whatever one group is the other is the opposite. Here arise a series of stereotypes that support how people think of these two groups. Whites are intelligent, progressive, civil people while Blacks are primitive savages in need of taming. Since Blacks are savages they cannot control their emotional and sexual needs hence in contrast Whites are not sexual and have the ability to suppress their emotions. From this Fanon argues that a subtle jealousy was born; the White man envied the Black man's sexual freedom.
As I read this book I could not help but think of my students and how they embody many of the same believes as Black men in the 1950's. The children I teach Mathematics to are people of color, either Latino or Black. I spend much of my day listening to them speak among themselves about various topics and have picked up on certain ideas that reflect that of past colonized populations. Although there is this total rejection of anything and everything that is White, there is also an underlining want to be White (perhaps mainstream is a better word). For example, I have heard my students discuss accents and the implication that those who have one are in some way less intelligent than those who speak like Americans. Students have also expressed in happiness that they do not speak their parent's native tongue, typically Spanish, which is an indication that they are closer to being white than those who's first language is not English. Another disturbing behavior I have noticed is the animosity towards Whites. It seems my students have been programmed to be hostile towards White people, especially peers. They constantly refer to Whites in derogatory terms; for example, when one of my mentors (an older White woman) spend a period in my classroom the students were flustered and after she left referred to her as "the white b*$^%" as opposed to "the lady who was just here". At the same time they insult each other by using terms that are associated with being Black such as insulting the wideness of their nose and/or thickness of their lips. I find this to be an interesting contradiction and would like to explore it further in hopes of understanding the contemporary adolescent.
As a teacher I found this book to be very helpful in understanding why our children of color behave the way they do and why they consistently fail in a system designed for children who are not exposed to the gruesome situations the students in the South Bronx (where I teach) go through on a daily basis. These children could very well have an inferiority complex which they will have to overcome before being able to succeed in this White man's world.

Frantz Fanon was a black man born in the French colony and island of Martinique. He trained as a doctor specialising in psychiatry. He was deeply concerned about the impact of colonialism on the people of colour, particularly how it humiliated them, destroyed their culture, values and dignity. This led him to get involved in the Algerian war of independence in the 1950s.

The book "Black Skin, White Masks" was written almost fifty years ago. This was during the time when decolonisation of the African continent and elsewhere was gathering momentum.

To adequately capture and assimilate Fanon's thinking of the question of colonialism and racism and their impact on the coloured people, one also needs to read Fanon's other great works: "The Wretched of the Earth" and "Dying Colonialism". Here one can see his anger and the background to his conclusion that it was only through violence that people of colour could liberate themselves from colonialism, particularly from mental bondage and inferiority complex that accompanied colonial subjugation.

In "Black Skin, White Masks", Fanon develops his thesis about the impact of inferiority complex of subjugated peoples and the alienation of some of them from their kind resulting in their wish to identified with the colonialists or imitate the European. There are a number of celebrated and classic cases of coloured people who have tried various formulas to change the colour of their skins, the tone of their voices or their names so that they sound more civilised (European).

Fanon's ideas about how the coloured people can liberate themselves (physically and mentally) influenced many leaders of revolutionary movements that were fighting colonialism. Some organisations in the USA, such as the Nation of Islam, appear to embrace a lot of Fanon's ideas and thinking.

The book is recommended reading for those who wish to understand the impact of colonialism on the colonised around the world and their different reactions to this menace.

If you want to understand racial identity, you should read Fanon's approach. The most influential author on ethnicity and colonization in the twentieth century.

Fanon really draws you in with this book. One feels involved with Fanon's fight not just against racism and colonization, but also his own self evaluation and struggle within himself to accept himself for who he is.

Among other things, what struck me the most was the way Fanon showed that minorities do not feel inferior because they were thrust in the midst of a majority. Considering that South Africa has minority white population and yet the black population there took on the brunt of racism and that had nothing to do with the minority subjugation.

Another line of thought that Fanon brings about is the domination of the colonized language. In Martinique, the average middle class family would insist children to speak French like the French would and not the commonly spoken Creole. The Martinican returning from France was expected to uphold that standard and speak proper French. If he reverted to his old ways of speaking, it was looked down upon. Fanon shows that the black man of Martinique maintains locked in his own cultural impositions and unless that is shed it would make it difficult for him to rise out of it.

Fanon brings about how the psychological impact of colonization through language, culture and history plays on the black man. Fanon delves into studies done by others and compares or rejects ideas put forth by them either with by presenting his own experiences or a generalistic view of the colonized Martinique land.

Fanon digresses frequently from topics of discussion and jumps around wildly in some of the chapters. But overall the book is well written and makes you think and begs you to put your own experience and thought into it.

"Bullwhip Days - The Slaves Remember, An Oral History" is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of slavery in America. It is edited by James Mellon. But with respect to Mr. Mellon, it is not his story.

During the Great Depression, the US government created work programs for a besieged economy. One of these was the Writer's Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Someone realized that the last generation of African Americans who had been slaves was dying. Writers were dispatched to interview these ex-slaves and record/write their stories.

This work is a selection of transcripts from these vital historical records.

It is suspected some of the slaves may have moderated their comments to appease the interviewers sensibilities. I really doubt that. Having read a number of personal memoirs of people in their later years, I find their candor amazing. Just because an ex-slave speaks fondly of their former owner does not mean they are lying or have skewed perceptions.

There's no definitive slave experience. We have the account of one woman owned by the Vice President of the Confederacy, Alexander Stephens on a plantation operating entirely by slaves (including the overseers). Another woman agrees to be bred only because her `kind' master had agreed to buy her in addition to her parents.

One elderly couple had diametrically opposite experiences. She had an idyllic family existence with gifts and new clothes for Christmas. He was separately from his parents as a child, starved and beaten. Decades later, he hears of a child abused like himself. Despite being elderly, he and his wife take the boy and raise him as their own.

There is one major theme through the interviews. How a slave was treated was entirely a function of their owner. They had no rights, no recourse to the law. If caught without a pass, you were fair game for the infamous "paddyrollers" (patrollers). Even after freedom, the Ku Klux Klan terrorized the fomer slave population.

Another thing that I found interesting was the mortality rate after slavery. In multiple interviews, these old people were alone with no children or grandchildren surviving. A lifetime of slavery did not equip them well for freedom.

This is the first book I would recommend to anyone interested in the subject.

I have used this book as part of my Black history classes for 5 years now. It would be impossible to make up the stories that actually happened to a people held against their will and it is riveting to read about the memories and nightmares. This book gives a name to slaves, personalizes it and makes the suffering immortal. These recollections, though they belonged to individuals, makes the suffering universal. The experience of one is the experience of all. But yet, these people on occasion find some humor in various memories and you can share there collective joy over 150 years later. I highly recommend this book to anyone, not just students and historians.

I first read this book back in 1991. Even today, I will occasionally reread it. It is very informative and very much real. I can truly say that I love this book and this is a must have. You will truly enjoy it. My people have come a long way.

Wow...That's all I can say. This is a wonderful book and a must read for everyone. I read this as part of a book club discussion for Black History Month. What a way to open my eyes to a part of American history. Very moving.

This is the real deal. Ex-slaves telling their own experiences; a few not-so-bad, many extremely heartbreaking. This is one of the best insights into what slavery was really like during the 19th Century. This is the story, in there own words, of how a people were totally dehumanized during America's most shameful period. A country claiming "liberty and justice for all" while denying that freedom to millions of fellow human beings. And many still ask the question, "why do African-Americans still lag behind in so many areas, while other ethnic groups had to struggle as immigrants also?" This book is a reminder that blacks were forcibly brought here, and denied-for-years even the simplest education. Maybe the reading of this book, will help some realize the continual uphill struggle, blacks have tried to achieve in a few short decades since the Civil Rights Movement. Trying to make-up for Centuries of bondage, and inequality. Just as we can never forget the evils of the Holocaust, so it should be equaly true with the era of slavery.

I bought this book along with "Vanishing Africa" and I am pleased with its quality. I am happy I bought it, because I feel it brought me closer to Africa.

This book is amazing. It draws the reader into the lives of the African people! It stirred my heart to prayer and made me love them even more!

There are few words to describe Cowart's work and Jenna's commentary. If this book made it's way into every household in America, Africa would look like a completely different country, because we could not help but be moved to action.

i reccomment this book to anyone passionate about AIDS, who cares about people living in destitution or just enjoys great photography.

The pictures are beautiful; some of them are only templates begging for words, but they convey the stuff that Africa is made off: the wood, the mud... The children's faces are smiling, always innocent and beautiful. The older people show resilience, dignity, and an expression that seems to say: 'It's done, I'm almost there'. The more enigmatic faces are of those in between, the young and middle ages; they are going through it. Most of these people dress clean clothes, specially the women. The book does a good job in that it makes the pictures alive, and their protagonists almost speak to us (although whatever they say depends on the listener).

One gets an idea of what Africa looks like. The landscapes under ominous skies, the muddy lanes, the water streams in front of the doors threatening with floods. I felt, however, that I wanted to know more about specifics in these people's lives. Their problems are mentioned as in headlines. I know it wasn't meant to be for this book but, still, I feel I would have liked to know even just a little more about those people in the pictures, from themselves, in their words.

This is the first book that he wants to read over and over again, it keeps his attention from beginning to end. He has learned every animal in the book! I hope that we will see more meerkat adventures soon!!!! Thank you for such a sweet and whimsical book that we both enjoy!

This book is fun to read with my daughter as it keeps her interested with the guessing. She can also read the book to me so it is easy enough for her to memorize the words. I would say the book is for a 3-4 year old.

This delightful romp through an African safari is the book my son brings me again and again. The pictures are beautiful and the story is fun and informative. He loves pointing out things on the pages, such as the bananas that the monkeys are eating or the ball that the snake is swimming with. This is a book that he will enjoy for years to come!

Written by Claudia Graziano and illustrated by Michelle Barbera, Meerkat's Safari brings young readers on an exciting safari with an enthusiastically friendly meerkat, to see exotic wild animals such as zebras, flamingos, and monkeys. A two-page spread depicting each animal's footprints precedes the reveal of the animals themselves fluidly illustrated with gorgeous, full-color artwork. As rhyming, read-aloud adventures go, Meerkat's Safari is sure to please. "Congratulations! // Our safari is done / You've guessed all my friends / and met every one. // Until our next adventure, / it's time for me to go. // Take a trip to the zoo, / there are more animals to know.

We got this in paperback for my older son a year ago, and the book immediately received a lot of love. For a true animal head, it's tough to get much better. The writing is whimsical and clever, and the pictures are gorgeous. Although he's long since "guessed" which animals are next, he still likes to pretend to guess every time we read. The original book showed enough wear and tear from toddler reading that we just got another one, this time in hard cover. But the paperback will still come in handy--as our one-year-old takes up reading....

This commentary has been very helpful to our African church leaders and overseas missionary partners working in Africa. This is the book they request we bring on our annual visits, so we know they are using it. It's the first of it's kind - the ABC is not a critical, academic, verse-by-verse commentary. Rather, it contains section-by-section exegesis and explanation of the whole Bible, as seen through the eyes of African scholars who respect the integrity of the text and use African proverbs, metaphors and stories to make it speak to African believers in the villages and cities across the entire continent.

I have found this book to be very informative and helpful. I have decided to read the book from the beginning to end as a daily reading. It is also helpful in trying to understand what was going on in the chapter. I good resource for papers, speaking, and preaching.

This is a well written book with a perspective relative to the viewpoint of African scholars. It is definitely an enhancement to my library with the details required to grasp the full intent of the text.

After serving in West Africa on the mission field for a short time, I can instantly see the value of this book both for African scholars, those who teach and work with them, as well as a multi-cultural introduction to the Bible. Excellent insights, some of them seem to recycled Western ideas, but also shows the universality of the teaching of Scripture. Evangelical, Bible-believing, solid, well-thought. A good one volume to add to your library.

The "African Bible Commentary" is written by and for the Evangelical Protestant Community. All 70 African scholars signed the statement of faith of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa. Thus readers receive a comprehensive and culturally relevant conservative theology applied to African Christian living.

It truly is a unique book--the first one-volume Bible commentary produced in Africa by African theologians to meet the needs of African pastors, students, and lay people. However, African American believers, and for that matter, all Christians, will find this book refreshing and encouraging, as well as biblically informative.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction , Soul Physicians, and Spiritual Friends.

I just like Brink's stories! It is mostly difficult to have a break once you have started to read his book.

Ben Du Toit teaches history and geography in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is the period of the height of the youth riots in the township of Soweto. At Ben's school, Gordon Ngubene, a native, is a cleaner and he occasionally does little chores for Ben. When Ben sees that Jonathan, Gordon's son, is showing signs of intelligence and diligence, he decides to partly finance his education. One day however, Jonathan takes part in a demonstration which ends up in a violent riot and is arrested by the police. A few weeks later, after a harrowing quest through countless offices, Ben and Gordon are informed that Jonathan died "of natural causes" while in detention.
Due to the mystery surrounding his son's death, Gordon gives up his job in order to devote himself entirely to the enquiries which have become an obsession with him. Both the Special Branch and the Security Police are annoyed about Gordon's insistence and soon enough Gordon is arrested. After numerous attempts to try to trace Gordon and speak to him, Ben and Gordon's wife Emily are told by the spokesman of the Security Police that Gordon apparently committed suicide by hanging himself with strips torn from his blanket.
But Ben Du Toit senses that the official explanations for both Jonathan's and Gordon's deaths are just a pretext for poorly disguised murders and so he decides to take matters in his own hands and starts investigating.
Mr Brink's novel is a harrowing account of a solitary man's fight against all the atrocities of the Apartheid. During this dark period in the history of South Africa, a white man had to be a real hero to fight for the right of the Afrikaners. The author beautifully captures the fact that Ben has to fight not only the resentment of the people of the other race, but also that of the people belonging to his own race - his family for a start. The descriptions of the townships of Johannesburg, particularly that of Soweto, are breathtaking in their accuracy and poignancy.

Brinks sketches the life of a idealistic man - Ben du Toit that lives his life in Apartheid South Africa on the brink of normalcy until the mysterious death of a black American friend and his son points to government involvement. As du Toit becomes obsessed with discovering the truth he becomes the symbol of Afrikaner conscience struggling to cope with the conflict and alienation that this crusade against Apartheid causes. With Apartheid being woven into the Afrikaner concept of nationhood and religion Ben finds himself not only in conflict with his family or the government but with his own history and ultimately with his own identity and even his soul. du Toit becomes a classical Afrikaner in his stubborn steadfast refusal to sway from his course , irrespective of the consequences, that he believes to be the only just and morally acceptable one.

He painfully exposes the moral vacuum of Apartheid and how it alienates not just du Toit from himself and his family but ultimately the Afrikaner from their fellow South Africans, as well as their own ideas of justice and morality.

The original Afrikaans language edition packs a powerful punch and is beautiful to read. English translation loses a bit of impact and fails to capture the finesse of the master writer in his mother tongue but is never the less worth burning the midnight oil for. It should however be noted that the story is dated and not a balanced portrayal of South Africa, Afrikaners or Apartheid.

Good fiction but not a historical treatise of Apartheid as some reviewers seem to think.

During the 1970's in South Africa, several protests were happening against the apartheid acts and the education of African natives to speak Afrikaans, instead of their chosen language. In Andre Brink's brilliant novel, A Dry White Season, he presents the brutality of the African struggle for freedom from the white leaders by telling the story of one man's effort to clear his black friend's name. When Gordon Ngubene, a janitor at the local school in Johannesburg, finds his son dead without a clue of what happened, he asks his colleague Ben Dutoit for financial help and support. After certain inquiries were developed on Gordon's behalf for his son, Jonathan, he is arrested by the police and is marked by his own "suicide". However once Ben begins to unfold the evidence that leads to what truly happened, he is caught in a jungle of lies, danger, and an atrocious form of racism.

Ben Dutoit was a simple man content with his mediocre life based on his wife, two daughters, and his teaching. Although the Special Branch had become more involved in the town where he lived, he purely continued throughout his basic routine day in and day out. Once Gordon is told by the Security Police that his son has died of "natural causes" while in a severe detention for publicly protesting, it seems that he will stop at nothing to figure out what had occurred the night of Jonathan's death. "If it was me, all right. But he is my child and I must know. God is my witness today: I cannot stop before I know what happened to him and where they buried him. His body belongs to me. It is my son's body."(Pg.49 A Dry White Season). Throughout this time period, whites naturally assumed themselves superior to that of the African race, and ruthless acts were brought upon the blacks daily. Brink vividly described the numerous cruelties aimed at the "inferior race" due to such instinctive racism. The author conjures the understanding of the reader to see how simple it would be for Ben to turn a blind eye on Gordon's tragedy. Yet after Gordon is accused of strangling himself by tying bits of torn blanket together, Ben is convinced that it was torture that killed the prisoner, and Ben just cannot let the case go with injustice. One can sense just how stubborn Ben truly is regarding the truth of his friend's alleged murder, mainly because of the emotions depicted by Brink that the reader can pick up on. Assembling as much evidence against the Special Branch's summary of Gordon's arrest, with the help of taxi driver and informational guide Stanley, Ben attempts to prove that the police are sadistic liars that have crossed the line of racism and have entered a territory of the highest form of hatred. Publicity of his "Negro loving" efforts have provoked such racists to seek ways to harm Ben and his family, such as sending bombs in the mail and shooting through his windows at night. I simply cannot comprehend the motive of someone to physically or mentally abuse another for their own views. However nothing could frighten him from completing what he had started in the first place, not even the terrifying Captain Stolz who had threatened him many times during the case. The thorough detail Brink constructed to picture the startling police officer was amazing, admitting a very clear idea of just how alarming this character must have been. Aware of his immense caution in his own case, he presented one of his old college friends with pieces of information in order to write a biography of Ben Dutoit. Two weeks later, Ben was killed in a hit and run car accident, but fortunately for him, his story would not be left untold. I personally found myself having to read certain paragraphs repeatedly in order to really grasp what was happening in all of the excitement, which I appreciated from the author. The plot was persistently heart pumping, giving off the effect that South Africa's horrifying and unfair history was not given the deliberate attention it deserved.

Before this misfortune had happened, Ben had been conceived as having a rather introverted personality, spending most of his time alone playing chess in his den. However the demand for real facts about what had definitely taken place seemed to have changed his behavior. Suddenly Ben was actually offering his true opinions back to those that he would not dare before, such as Captain Stolz, no matter how harsh or unsettling. After this unexpected alteration, Ben began to become more aware of his surroundings, more observant of his daily routines that he had developed into over the years. The author made sure to explain Ben's strange emotions in noticing things in his life that seemed unfit to him. "All at once this is what seemed foreign to him: not what he had seen in the course of the long bewildering afternoon, but this. His garden, with the sprinkler on the lawn. His house, with white walls, and orange tiled roof, and windows and rounded stoop. His wife appearing in the front door. As if he'd never seen it before in his life."(Pg.99 A Dry White Season). If you take a considerable amount of time to glance at your own life, as I have done from the direction of this book, you perceive things that might belong to you, though they might seem impossible to be yours. The process is difficult to explain, until you try to complete it yourself. Brink wrote the character as if his own qualities were shifting along to the varied events of Gordon's death case. The author seemed to have used Ben's life as symbolism of how one moment could alter anyone's life as they know it. A calamity such as this could happen to anyone, even I, and this thought makes me wonder. How would the way I act now be changed?

The Soweto protests of the 1970's in South Africa led to many empty lots filled with tear-gas, public shootings, and violent massacres of black citizens. In the novel A Dry White Season, Andre Brink tells the tale of one honorable man that knew too much information for his own good at a time era like his generation, which guided him into a vast land of moral corruption. Ben Dutoit's story has captivated my imagination, gripped my heart, crossed my frustrations, and stirred my tears. This book has taught me, as well as numerous other readers as well, to follow your instincts and never let justice go unserved. "Perhaps all one can really hope for, all I am entitled to, is no more than this: to write it down. To report what I know. So that it will not be possible for any man ever to say again: I knew nothing about it. (Pg.316 A Dry White Season).

i read this while i was a high school student and i can honestly say it has been one of the few books that have made an impact on the way i view society. read it! you'll love it!

This book is very important to read: mostly because so few people know about the bushmeat trade in Africa and its impact on the great apes. The book goes into why apes are worth saving, the contribution of logging to crisis, how the crisis is kept hidden, and suggestions on how to alleviate the problem. You will be very surprised to learn the lengths, difficulties, and dangers the contributors of the book go through simply to bring this issue into the spotlight. I also found it very shameful how the crisis has been ignored and exacerbated by the media and the conservation groups.


Honestly though, I felt the book was a little long. It's not actually a long book, but its longer than it needs to be. It seemed to get a little repetitive as the author kept hammering the same points over again. Also, though the author does include an aside on vegetarianism and its merits (while discouraging veganism), he is not a vegetarian himself. While this is, of course, not the subject of the book I feel that if he is going to argue to protect the great apes on the grounds of their sentience, than it is wrong to overlook the sentience of cows, chickens, and especially pigs (who have the same mental capacity as a dog). This is just a minor criticism, but it did bother me a little throughout the book.

So yes, you should read this book. Its very thorough, detailed, complete, and compelling. You will learn a lot and, if the authors have succeeded (and I think they have), you will be sufficiently outraged and willing to contribute to the cause.

Sometime far in our past, humans took up rocks and sticks to hunt food instead of scavenging from other predators. With our meat available today in shrink-wrapped containers it's easy to lose sight of that long-standing tradition. Others in the world still obtain meat in the traditional environment. The difference is that instead of spears, the weapons are high-powered shotguns. Instead of skulking through the forest seeking prey, hunters are now given rides by timber carriers using deep-penetrating access roads. In this book, Dale Peterson reveals the transformations forest hunting has undergone in West African nations. It's not a
pleasing picture, but it's valid and it's important. And it must change.

The bushmeat trade has many implications, but Peterson has chosen three significant ones. One, of course, is that by killing chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas for food, we're consuming our nearest relations. The primate line divided only 12 million years ago, with the descendants of one line becoming today's mountain gorillas. The other line led to chimpanzees and bonobos with a spur turning off about 7 million years ago leading to you and me. The proximity of chimpanzee and human DNA patterns is no longer news, but the reminder needs to be flashed occasionally.

Another implication is health. With so much attention given to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, it's worth reflecting on its origins. More importantly, as Peterson reminds us, is to consider how it works. HIV/AIDS appears to be a recent evolutionary virus quirk. It adapts and evolves with amazing speed. The roots of it remain in the African forest and a new strain can emerge at any time. The best means of transmission from ape or monkey to human is through blood - that stuff the hunter is soaked in as he butchers his forest kill.

The third theme is the question of human relations with the rest of our environment. Human population growth is presented in a novel framework. How many humans come into existence every day is contrasted with the great ape population. Peterson calculates that the entire gorilla population is equalled by new humans every twelve hours. Population pressures in the "developed" world lead to demands for African timber products. In turn, the timber firms are cutting great swaths of forest using displaced populations for labour. To feed these workers, hunters are hired or loggers hunt and apes, due to their availability and size, become a major food source. In a feedback cycle of habitat reduction and hunting, the apes are simply being exterminated. Recovery would require sharply reduced logging. Peterson notes that trees are being taken that began growth in Michaelangelo's time, but their replacements will be cut in only forty years.

Peterson is effusive in his description of the significant role played by Swiss photographer Karl Ammann. Ammann's chance encounter with a logging truck driver revealed the role international logging firms play in the ape slaughter and the extended bushmeat trade. The logging firms, particularly CIB, contend they are providing "employment for locals, health services, food and education". Peterson explains the falsity of this contention, with "health services limited to a nurse and schools and teachers paid for by the workers' families.

Peterson argues that the long-established bushmeat tradition is already lost, displaced by commercial logging practices and new, mass hunting methods using guns, sometimes lent by government officials. If we can change a culture, such as was done with slavery, hunting traditions no longer tenable can be modified, as well. He cites the willingness of Americans to spend minimal annual funds to protect wolves, bears and other fauna. Why not establish a fund for ape protection. He calculates that US$1 billion per year could be raised with an individual contribution of but US$50. Not an enormous sum, given that other donations and military expenditures far exceed it. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

What animals we eat are selected by what culture we grow up in. Distant societies think nothing of eating dogs. Some closer ones think eating horse is completely acceptable. Then there are frogs, snakes, and insect larvae. It is all a matter of getting enough protein. One man's protein is another man's atrocity. Americans are used to eating meat they find in Styrofoam trays wrapped in plastic, but the indigenous peoples of central Africa have always eaten the animals living around them: elephants, antelopes, porcupines, rodents, and so on. They don't mind a stew of gorilla or a chimp's sirloin, and what of it? It's the way they have always done things. Tribal languages, in fact, often use the same word for wild animal as they do for meat. The world, however, is not the way it always was, and a shocking book, _Eating Apes_ (University of California Press) by Dale Peterson, shows that apes on the menu is not something the world ought to continue to accept.

We ourselves are members of the tribe of great apes; chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans are on the branch with us. But if African tribes don't share our scientific view or our squeamishness, traditional hunters, in predation balance over the centuries, surely are not going to do lasting harm. Traditional hunting, however, is no longer traditional. There has been an invasion from outside the continent by logging companies, making huge profits from our demand for hardwoods. The companies have lots of workers, many of them from the region, and all the workers have to be fed. Hunters, many of whom are also from the region, are hired to bring in the protein. Bows, arrows, and nets have given way to the far more efficient and deadly wire snares and automatic rifles and shotguns. Perhaps if greater firepower were the only threat to our primate cousins, they could still make it. But we are destroying their habitat (again, mostly by logging), and primates will suffer before other species because of their slow rate of reproduction. There are plenty of species headed toward extinction, but few because we are eating them, and none so close to us evolutionarily. In addition, butchering the apes may be the way humans got HIV and Ebola viruses. It may well be that you haven't heard of the problem of eating apes into extinction because the conservation organizations are keeping quiet about such a downer of a message, and because they are, believe it or not, in partnership with the loggers.

What will be needed is the courage to challenge cultural convictions. It is possible for the West to value (or at least claim to value) sensitivity to other cultures, but in the case of eating apes, it will have to impose scientific knowledge of close kinship, risk of disease, and impending loss of primates to get the native cultures to change. It may even be possible within the corporate culture, which mines habitats to get at profits, to insist not just on sustainable development (a nebulous idea the logging companies pay lip service to) but to take on a wider view of environmental improvement. You can figure up the odds of occurrence of these cultural changes, and especially if you look at our past record, you will not be optimistic. Peterson includes an appendix of what you, and what conservation organizations, can do; he obviously is not giving up hope. Perhaps it is a sign of hope that his reasonable and dispassionate account of this disaster will start many people thinking about the previously covert problem of the loss of the apes. Nevertheless, this is a profoundly disturbing and sad book, and will not be forgotten by those who can get through it.

American and international conservation organizations may be doing little more than feel-good guilt assuaging with many of their slick magazine glossy photos, while ignoring a huge elephant right in front of the world's faces and refusing to show readers the problem.

So says Peterson in the challenging and disturbing book Eating Apes.

Peterson writes about the hunting for bushmeat in Central Africa, specifically hunting great apes - gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos. He accuses the Wildlife Conservation Society of doing little more than giving PR flak to a German logging concern in the Congo, CIB, a decade ago, just at the time public pressure was starting to ratchet up on the issue, in large part due to photographer Karl Ammann.

He also accuses Wildlife Conservation, the magazine of WCS, along with National Geographic and other such magazines and other media for generally downplaying or even spiking the issue. Ammann, as interviewed in the book, is even blunter, noting how several wildlife conservation magazines said they didn't want his pictures specifically because they were too controversial and, in not so many words, too guilt-provoking while showing that the modern western-nation wildlife preservation industry wasn't wearing any clothes on this issue.

Read Eating Apes. Then rethink your donations to wildlife groups, at least without some strong letters to the editor.

With its appealing cover-picture of two baby chimps and its appalling title, "Eating Apes" is a must read for everybody interested in conservation in general and the survival of the great apes in particular. Although I've been already aware of the bushmeat crisis through voluntary work at a zoo, this book hit me hard. The scope of denial by many - individuals and conservation groups alike - paired with risky relationships between NGOs and logging companies is driving our closest living relatives - the great apes - to extinction. Dale Peterson's book encompasses every aspect of this difficult and very complex issue and Karl Ammann's pictures and comments provide further evidence of what really is happening. Everbody who makes or is going to make decisions regarding the bushmeat trade, logging, development and conservation in central Africa has to read this book before making those important and far-reaching decisions. My next task will be to check with the various conservation groups I support, to find out what they are planning to do about this subject. Depending on their answers, I may well choose to cancel some memberships. Something I haven't actually thought about before reading this book - so I hope that many others will follow suit and choose action over complacency!