Africa Books

Henry Stedman looks like a guy who knows.
I'm planning a trip to Kilimanjaro witha group of friends. The guide looks pretty practical. Henry, we'll check it

My husband is planning to trek Kilimanjaro, and apparently this has been a helpful, great starting source!

Detailed maps and route information make this guide to Mount Kilimanjaro a must-have for those wanting to climb it.

I bought this book as a gift for my brother John last Christmas because he had a trip to Kilimanjaro scheduled for July.
He told me before the trip that he was suprised how detailed the info in the book actually was....very helpful in planning and knowing what to expect.
When he returned after the trek he said the book was very accurate indeed. He showed me a few photo copied pages he had taken along with him.

Now normally he is not a big talker so for him this was like gushing about this book. I think this is THE book to buy if you are planning to visit Kili.

I purchased the Second Edition (September 2006) of "Kilimanjaro: The Trekking Guide to Africa's Highest Mountain" in July 2007. Within a week (as I was sitting on airplanes far too often and had time to read), I had read the 300+ page book cover to cover.

The book is excellent, informative, and often humorous. The trail descriptions are detailed and precise, and the other guidance (medical, financial, logistical) is essential. With a little effort, I matched the trail descriptions to a superb map that I purchased at the same time and quickly gained an understanding of the various routes, options, outfitters, and issues. (The map is "Kilimanjaro Map," scale 1:62,500, 3rd edition, ITMB Publishing.)

One comment: there are many trails (or potential trail combinations) offered by the various outfitters and trekking agencies on Kilimanjaro, so you will likely find yourself flipping back and forth through the book to follow YOUR route. Give yourself time to absorb the book thoroughly. And be prepared with your highlighter and notepad close at hand so that you can identify the portions of the book most relevant to your specific route and itinerary.

If you're considering a climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro, or have a friend or family member considering doing so, you will find this book to be very useful.

this is a great phenomenal saga. an adventure that rarely successfully delivered with a pen. 'the last hero' is a modern classic that should be on your bookshelf with 'lonesome dove', 'brules', 'shantaram', 'the kite runner', stephen hunter's 'point of impact' swagger series, robert ludlum's genuine creations from 'the gemini contender' to 'the matarese circle', all of a. j. quinnelle's novels, all of louis la'mor's westerns....they are all good memories, touched your soul and made your life more vividly colorful.

This book is quite simply amazing. From the first page you are hooked and become an invisible member of the crew hacking your own way through the Ituri Forest. Stanley is brought to life along with many other real-life people, including Tipoo Tib, the slave dealer. Read this book and you will never forget it, the whole atmosphere of unexplored Africa and its hidden tribes will be with you always. The unknown beauty of the Congo River and its people take you into a new world with different standards, different morales and a very different slant on life. The actions of Emin Pasha will move you to tears and the whole experience of this book is one that every person should enjoy.

Compulsively readable, thrilling story, vivid evocation of darkest Africa and a potrait of Henry Morgan Stanley that leaps right of the page and grabs you by the throat, this story of the insane expedtion to rescue Emin Pasha's people from the conquering dervishes is everything you want a serious book of historical fiction to be. Especially recommended for those interested in the literature of exploration and discovery into land's unkown in the Western world in the 19th century. How many 700+ page books are you sorry to see come to an end? This is such a one. Enjoy.

This awesome novel of exploration into Central Africa during a time of civil unrest is by far one of the best books I have ever read. The characters are well developed and the tale gripping, based on actual historical events, the novel is a must read. Once you pick it up, you will not want to put it down. Since reading this novel, I have acquired all, of the late, Peter Forbath's novels. His vivid detail of the surroundings, the authority figure that demostrates both compassion and understanding as well as harsh punishments, and the intertwining of the characters' lives make this an amazing tale of Central Africa events in the late 1800's.

The story told in "The Last Hero" is that of Sir Henry Morton Stanley (of "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" fame, but that's another story) who, in 1885 organized and led a mission to rescue Emin Pasha, governor of Equatoria, the southernmost province of the Egyptian Sudan, which was surrounded by the Mahdist uprising. Amazingly, Stanley decided to approach Equatoria from the Atlantic side of Africa by going up the Congo river and overland through central African forest. The expedition crossed hundreds of miles of then-unknown Africa, encountering every obstacle and difficulty along the way. The eventual end of the mission is one of history's great ironies, but I don't want to give anything away.

"The Last Hero" is a very well-written adventure story, all the more interesting because it is true. My only complaint (a very minor one) concerns the absence of notes and bibliography which could have given some historical documentation and sources.

Another good book is "The River Congo: The Discovery, Exploration and Exploitation of the World's Most Dramatic River" (nonfiction) which is also by Peter Forbath (a journalist who reported on Africa). Henry Morton Stanley was also a bestselling author, he wrote: "How I Found Livingstone" (1872); "Through the Dark Continent" (1878); and "In Darkest Africa" (1890).

I am one of the many fortunate people to have visited the Texas Museum of Natural History. Doubly fortunate in that "Lucy" was on exhibit.
I am not one to just observe and not have many questions, i knew i would find a book about her in the gift shop. What better than to read the account actually written by the one who found her!!
This story takes one through the in's and out's of anthropology,geology,personalities,and intricacies of the search for our past.It was easy to understand and became a book i could not put down.
I had to keep reminding myself this story was in 1974 and written in 1981.
I am now interested in books that have filled in the time period from 1981-I hope they are written by Johanson, or in this style.

This book is great. It outlines the dicoveries in Africa of the earliest hominids, our ancestors. It is very interesting and written in a manner that makes it want to be read, like a good fiction story, except it's science. Science that can be read by anyone and enjoyed because it is written in a style that makes it easy to understand.

How did we (humans) come about is a mystery that is intelligently discussed, and the story of how Lucy was found and how she fits into our evolutionary past is a story that should be read by any seeking answers to who we are.

Johanson's work definitely changed dogma. His story is very interesting. I recommend books by others (e.g. Leakey) to prevent being biased by Johnason's hypotheses alone.

If you are only going to buy one book on paleoanthropology, don't make it this one. If, however, you are interested in seeing the progression of paleoanthropological thought and getting a first-hand account of the process of excavating and surveying millions-of-years-old sites, it would be hard to find a more satisfying read.

Much of Johanson's work is quite thorough. He goes to great lengths to lean on the specialized knowledge of experts in many different areas of science, and does a beautiful job of weaving them together for a plausible view of our "ancestor", as he refers to the title skeleton find, a 40% complete skeleton of australopithecus afarensis. Of course, no respectable modern paleoanthropologist would consider Lucy to be our ancestor today, but Johanson's analysis is interesting nonetheless.

Another of Johanson's follies is his dependence upon "the Lovejoy hypothesis" of bipedal locomotion being a biological response to a need to carry food and tools. While this is interesting in and of itself, I would recommend reading Richard Leakey/Roger Lewin's rebuttal to Lovejoy in their "Origins Reconsidered..."

Overall, this book is best described as a historical document. Much of its scientific value is reduced to an example of how controversial the major finds of human ancestors will always be.

As a reader who has a sparse knowledge of anthropology, I can say this book was a pleasurable and informative read.

Dr. Johanson divided the book into a prologue and five parts. The prologue describes the events of November 30, 1974, the day Lucy was discovered. The first part covers a brief background to the earliest fossil finds and is invaluable to any reader who is interested in who's who among some of the earliest scientists working on human origins. Part two covers his actual field expeditions to East Africa. During his first field season, Johanson became concerned about financing when his original grant of $43,000 was dwindling away. It is interesting to note, as Johanson describes about anthropology, that science is more than just field work and analysis. There is political, financial, and human relation issues that need to be mastered for the mission to succeed.

I found part three, the analysis of Lucy, to be the most compelling. Johanson includes Le Gros Clark's paper and accompanying illustrations to highlight eight differences between chimpanzee jaws and human jaws. Knowledge of these differences were of immeasurable value in the analysis of an australopithecine jaw. Part four delivers a brief account of how our ancestors began to walk upright. I found this to be interesting but highly speculative. The final section includes drawings of how australopithecus afarensis may have appeared.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone with a desire to know more about human ancestors and how a paleoanthropologist proceeds in uncovering our past.

I have turned away from pictures of swollen-bellied starving children.

It's not that I don't care. It's that I care so much.

I've helped emotional basket cases until I couldn't tell where they ended and I began and I had to step away to save my own sanity.

I made eye contact with a two or three-year-old-girl one day. I watched her walk down the hall and smile over her shoulder until she disappeared around the corner. My heart broke for her because her little face was dirty and her adult seemed harsh. I still pray for that child, years later, and my eyes still fill with tears.

My friend just surrendered an eleven-month-old foster baby back to the conditions into which it was born. A mother who has no children though she's given birth eight times. An addict who was clean for four months and therefore earned her right to a child she poisoned with drugs.

To say that Red Letters - a Faith that Bleeds sucker punched me is an understatement. I didn't want to read the statistics of pandemics and poverty. I live so far away. What can I do for those dying in Africa and India when I can't seem to make a difference in my own neighborhood?

But Tom Davis tells the truth without leaving bleakness and hopelessness behind. Little steps towards help and healing are all it takes. After presenting the history and the medical details of AIDS and extreme poverty, Tom then encourages and charges believers in Jesus to offer cups of water and mercy to the "least of these."

I appreciated the practical help options and I appreciated Tom's charge.

If you have someone who is difficult to buy gifts for then buy them this book and make a donation on their behalf.

Red Letters -- with a little work -- could be a great small group/youth group discussion piece. Make Red Letters a building block for a learning project -- try something like looking into the provided medical and historical information regarding AIDS and then making it personal. Assign each person in the group to bring a local story and then as a group do something about them. Or decide as a group to begin a weekly five hour fast and/or one less pop or coffee purchase then pool your money and "adopt" a child or ministry. Take it outside of church. Why not start a "healing" fund at work. Maybe those who are involved could take turns making treats from Fair Trade products, selling them, and sending the proceeds to an organization. There are additional suggestions in the back of the book. Selling products made in a third world country to help supplement income is one of the options.

I'd suggest Red Letters to anyone who is sick and tired of feeling selfish, or who is disgusted with a society made up of millions of people who are out for Number 1.

Warning: This is a heavy, but quick and well-written read, and it will leave readers feeling convicted.

Davis wondered what the world would look like if we all chose to do something to help others. As I watch out my window at the falling snow I can't help but realize that one tiny, unique snowflake falling from the sky, mixing with other unique snowflakes, within hours, even minutes changes the face of a neighborhood. Couldn't one good decision after another mix into a warm blanket of love and charity that can change the world? I think so. If you do too, then start today.

This book is life changing! I could not put it down, and finished it in a couple of hours. As Christians, we are called and commanded to care for the orphans and the widows. We are told that which we did for the least among us, we also did for our Lord. This books shares real life examples of how to live out your faith in this day and age.

Social concern is a hot topic these days. Fires seem to be burning in the hearts of men and women who are tired of injustice and who seek to make this world a better place. Author Tom Davis invites us to join him on his own journey of living life as Jesus would, reaching out to widows, orphans, and the poor. Davis reminds us that we are to be "doers" of the Word, not only hearers.
This book is powerful. It's definitely not a "feel good" book, but after reading it you will be called to change for lifestyle...not only for your own benefit, but for the good of others.

A child becomes an orphan every 14 seconds because of AIDS.

The number of children orphaned by AIDS is expected to exceed 25 million by 2010.

With these realities, someone is desperately needed to "stand in the gap" (Eze 22:30) on behalf of Christ's church for the children and adults in the world suffering with HIV/AIDS, especially those affected most in Africa. Author and President of Children's Hopechest, Tom Davis, has answered this call. In his book, RED LETTERS: Living a Faith That Bleeds, effectively persuades all of Christ's followers to be Jesus' hands and feet to our neighbors effected by HIV/AIDS in Africa and around the world and provides practical steps on how each follower of Christ can begin to do this. In RED LETTERS, Tom Davis beautifully captures and portrays God's heart for the poor and oppressed, namely those living with HIV/AIDS in Africa, and what it means for those who confess to be Christ-followers to live out their faith by being Christ to the hurting world. Through his gift of storytelling, Tom brings the reader into the lives of those suffering because of HIV/AIDS. Tom builds a bridge by helping the reader relate to those suffering, by putting faces, names and stories on individuals who were once merely seen as statistics. Being confronted with the reality of the enormity of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, it is easy to become overwhelmed and frozen by not knowing where to start ministering. Tom clearly gives the reader practical ways to help and minister to the children, women and men in Africa and around the world who are suffering because of HIV/AIDS.
I was deeply moved, encouraged, inspired and empowered by RED LETTERS. Just like Tom's other book, Fields of the Fatherless, I am sure I will use RED LETTERS time and time again in my ministry to orphans. I enthusiastically recommend every Christian read this book and then give it to a friend to read. RED LETTERS will inspire and empower you to see Christ in others and, by living the words of Jesus, become His hands and feet to your neighbors, those suffering because of HIV/AIDS in Africa, the orphan, the widow, the stranger and those living right next door. Please purchase this book (by purchasing it you will feed and orphan for a month), read it, and live the words of Christ.
[...].

I really liked this very readible, convicting yet practical book. With heart-wrenching stories Davis shines the spot light on the devastation surrounding the issues of world poverty and the HIV/AIDS pandemic. His message to the church is that the gospel is not just to be read, but it is to be lived. Furthermore, there is absolutely no excuse for the church to not step up to the task. He writes:

"Poverty has many faces and none of them is pretty. Consider these difficult-to-comprehend facts: 1.2 billion people are estimated to live on less than one dollar per day, and almost 3 billion on less than two dollars per day. Do the math: That's 3.9 billion of the 6.5 billion people who live in our world.

Doesn't it seem ridiculous to you that billions of people are living in poverty? With all our wealth, all our technology, and all our resources, why haven't we solved this problem? Almost 2.5 million children die every year because of malaria. Hello? We have medicine that kills malaria. It's cheap. It's easy to transport. Yet, we aren't doing what it takes to get the medicine to the people who need it. Here's a surprising and disturbing truth about poverty that really ticks me off: It's preventable."

In regards to AIDS, which Davis calls the "greatest crisis" he states the following:

"Experts tell us World War II killed 62 million people. Even with all of the advances in medicine, AIDS continues on a path to eclipse that number, having already killed 25 million people since the first case in 1981. The UN estimates that 39.5 million people are now living with HIV. Of that total, 4.3 million were new infections in 2006. There were 2.9 million AIDS deaths in 2006, the highest number reported in any year. How do you describe a crisis like this? Catastrophic? Disastrous? Devastating? Words just can't paint an accurate picture of what this disease is doing to our world. Dr. Peter Piot, the executive director of UNAIDS, said, "Countries are not moving at the same speed as their epidemics." Without rapid improvements, the pandemic will only worsen, the officials said. This is the greatest crisis humanity has ever faced."

Davis doesn't leave the topics of poverty and AIDS without some specific ways to get involved. "Taking a step of faith can rescue someone from poverty, provide life-saving medicine for a person suffering from AIDS, or offer an educational opportunity otherwise unavailable to a school-age child."

In the last chapter of Red Letters Davis shares 5 things every person can do to help the 50 million people in our world suffering from HIV/AIDS. Here's how it works:

Give 5 minutes a day to pray for those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
Give 5 hours a week to fast for those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
Give 5 dollars a month to the Five for 50 Fund and support worthy causes.
Give 5 days a year to travel overseas & help alleviate poverty & suffering.
Give 5 people an opportunity to join you on your journey.

You can learn more about what you and your church can do at www.fivefor50.com

To pick up Isak Dinesen's Seven Gothic Tales is to pick up one of the world's greatest literary masterpieces. Here in these seven stories we are presented with a universe that's compelling, beautiful and strange in a way that no other author has (in my opinion) ever equalled. If I was ever on a desert island and had one book I would hope it was this one.

If you enjoy stories by J. Sheridan Lefanu, Ray Bradbury, Hans Christian Anderson or Susanna Clarke, here you'll find similar ethereal qualities, but brought to a level of artistic beauty that surpasses everything that has been written before or since.

It is a mystery to me why this author is as little-known as she is - these tales represent, for me, the quintessential short fiction of the 20th Century.

dinesen/blixen was a true, living Scheherazade. this is an astounding collection of stories within stories within stories within stories. beautifully, elegantly written and set in various european locales, starring wonderfully alive characters straight out of fairytales, dreams and myth. these are strange, magical narratives (novellas, to be a stickler) with a modern sensibility. brimming with metaphors that will make you pause. kind of a cross between e.t.a. hoffman and a.s. byatt. definitely going to read more of her stuff.

This is a demanding work of seven multilayered and esoteric stories in this, Dinesen's first book.

We know of Dinesen more commonly by way of Meryl Streep, who played Dinesen, or the Baroness Karen Blixen, in "Out of Africa." But the woman we find here as the author of these stories is no easily-understood, Hollywood character. Her stories within stories are rich in symbolism, imagination, and a "long ago and far away" feeling that is carefully, carefully, controlled by the author. Dinesen wrote some of these tales in Africa, and finished others along with ordering the book back home in Denmark, after her farm had failed. She wrote, interestingly, in English (and did her own translations back into Danish later on). Many books follow this one, including LAST TALES and, of course, OUT OF AFRICA. Dinesen, while the heroic, strong, individualist of Streep's portrayal, is also kind of strange, introspective, and fabulously bizarre. She uses her stories' plot lines as a means, one feels, to work out her life philosophies, reshape and recast ideas and symbolic imagery, and impart creative insights. After getting to about the fourth or fifth story, one can see that she uses the same imagery repeatedly and even the same turns of phrase.

I have read this volume at least once before, and wanted to go through it again knowing just that much more literature and biblical references. (It helps to be well read in the classics when reading Dinesen.) Anything is up for her use, and if you don't see it, something will be lost to you as you interpret the stories and what they meant, or even, what happened. She loves Shakespeare (OUT OF AFRICA was written in five sections, after the five-act structure of Shakespearian drama), and Don Giovanni, she has interesting ideas about femininity and independent women, and symbolizes these issues with women who are doll-like, women who seem as if they can fly, women who are witches in some way or another, etc. She likes to toy with the mind of God, as well, having characters pronounce his proclivities, likes and dislikes, etc., quite often. I found these to be some of the most interesting passages, after some of the gender-defining ones, that is. (She chose her pseudonym, "Isak," as it is Hebrew for "He who laughs" and she definitely plays with many ideas here, many humorously.)

Of the seven tales (The Old Chevalier, The Roads Round Pisa, The Monkey, The Supper at Elsinore, The Dreamers, The Poet, and The Deluge at Norderney), The Roads Round Pisa is my favorite, and I have studied it for a graduate class. In the book, a mistake is the central event, and we learn of it only at the end. Our main character, Count Augustus Von Schimmelmann, is writing a letter to a friend, when a carriage accident occurs in front of him. An old woman, who seemed at first to him to be a man, is injured and asks that he go and seek out her granddaughter so that she may forgive her for an estrangement before she dies, as she believes she will do shortly. Augustus sets out for Pisa and in an inn meets a young man, with whom he engages in an interesting conversation. Soon, however, he finds out that this man is a woman, and whereas before he had been asking "him" for help in finding his way into the city, now he offers her his assistance as a gentleman. Their subsequent conversation holds a particularly compelling passage I have never forgotten. In it, Dinesen explicates a concept of women's differences, physically, psychologically and societally, from men through the artful use of the host and guest metaphor.

This passage is a key to the story's mood when toward the end the mistake around which the characters swirl is revealed. But the passage is also an interesting philosophical and societal analogy that provokes thought and discussion. This is, then, quintessential Dinesen.

The other stories deal with identity and loss (The Dreamers), a ghost who is allowed to rise up from hell whenever the sound between Denmark and Sweden freezes over (Supper at Elsinore), the mirage of lost love (The Old Chevalier), poetry and power (The Poet), the societal roles of women (The Monkey), and identity (The Deluge at Norderney), but these are very brief and basic categorizations. One could safely say that all the stories deal with many of the others' main themes. The book as a whole is an excellent study of the power of fiction to suggest and manipulate, with beautiful, evocative writing and deep and stirring underlying meanings. I recommend it.

These are strangely compelling stories, all of which evoke a sense of mystery and poetry. Floods and monkeys, skulls and puppet shows, vie with each other and figure here in short works that are too realistic for fables but too bizarre to be mistaken for reality.

Gothic surrealism might be the best way to describe the tone achieved by the author, whose real name was Karen Blixen (made familiar to modern audiences by the film "Out of Africa"). This is a reissue of a volume that first appeared in 1934.

Borrowing the author's phrase, each story is "like an echo in the engulfing darkness." Atmospheric and brooding, these tales are part Poe and part Brothers Grimm. Exotic in characterization as well as setting, we are introduced to a polyglot collection of virgin nuns and wandering n'er do wells, who cling to rooftops and journey on rhino-horn laden dhows.

Escape from the ordinary world is promised and delivered, but somehow, the people in these stories also remind us of people we know and situations that might not be as straightforward as we have assumed. A scarf may not be a scarf. The wind may be more than the wind. A scarf blown in the wind recalls to one character the memory of a little white snake -- madness is hinted at, at every turn.

They are seven distinctive tales. Yet, the evocation of place, the depiction of eccentricity, the precariousness of life, suffuse them all. They are magnetic and memorable. Even so, some readers may find the tales a bit too weird for their tastes.

If you find this review helpful you might want to read some of my other reviews, including those on subjects ranging from biography to architecture, as well as religion and fiction.

Why isn't I. Dinesen's work more widely known and accepted in the modernist pantheon? Her reputation seems to have settled into that of oddball literary personality and vehicle for Meryl Streep, however the work itself would have eluded me, despite a decent education in high school and university (for example, I was given Hesse and Camus to read in 10th grade, why not Isak?)had I not been attracted to this title in a dusty library. The work is about as anti-Hollywood as I could possibly imagine. Perhaps the answer is, she is not really a modernist but some sort of high baroque romanticist belonging more in the 19th century world of German prose; the "layering of stories" effect, especially in "Roads to Pisa", reads like she is channeling the world of Jan Potocki, enigmatic author of "The Saragossa Manuscript," who like Casanova moved in that incredible world of the international bohemian intellectual elite that Rexroth describes so well somewhere in one of his essays; that world of post-chaises and midnight rendezvous and military officers with seemingly endless resources of money, brains, education and cunning ... in fact "Saragossa" and Casanova's "Memoirs" were the books that came to my mind as I read her...reading this stuff is like eating a chocolate eclair with a brain more powerful than yours will ever be...why aren't there writers like this anymore? Was it all only a dream?

I attended an educational session at Milwaukee Area Technical College where Michael was one of the guest speakers. His presentation about his military service in Vietnam, and his healing process in Africa were very vivid. At the end of the session I obtained an autographed copy of his book. Once I started reading it I just could not stop. Each day I completed several chapters. I like his descriptiveness of the settings and the events. It's just amazing how much one person is able to take during military service.

Having served in the army, and completed infantry training at Ft. Polk as Michael, I could easily identify with the events he discussed and followed his presentation which was quite gripping. The book really highlights his presentation in many ways. It is appealing to the senses, and presents a compelling case on the issue of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and its devastating impact on the lives of veterans.

My heart goes out to all of our veterans. Military service is not as glamorous a profession as the recruiters and the news media have portrayed. Many are still suffering from the trauma of war. Hopefully, they will receive the right type of medical treatment. Michael has certainly pulled the covers from over what is not being told to soldiers entering the military. If only they knew, some would probably have taken a different career route. This book is truly educational. It highlights the agony of living with PTSD, and the clash of cultures veterans' battle with on a daily basis while crying out for help. This is a great job Michael. All The Way!!!

Other books to read for relaxation are: Trilogy Moments for the Mind, Body and Soul; Everyday Miracles; and The Language of Poetry Forms.

Michael Orban, like so many other veterans, came home from war a damaged soul. His story is gripping........he takes you down to the ugly bottom of despair, through drugs and alcohol and the misery of life on the street. Part of that despair comes from returning to a world that doesn't understand his mental anguish. Then he goes to Africa where he devotes his life to helping and observing and learning from others as he heals himself. He skillfully drew me into his hell with details I'll never forget...and as he shared his growing insight, my empathy for the current crop of returning troops deepened (Mike's war was in Vietnam, but today's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are no different in the tragic and traumatic effect they are having on our soldiers.) It's a must-read for anyone who wants to understand what so many of our returning troops are experiencing. And a therapeutic read for veterans who don't know what has happened to them

Michael Orban served as a 20-year-old infantry soldier in Vietnam and in his superbly written autobiography "Souled Out: A Memoir Of War And Inner Peace" takes the reader along on his journey through a disastrous war and into his experiences of loneliness, emptiness, spiritual scarring and psychological destruction. Michael writes candidly of his time in the remote jungles of Africa and a world where humanity is mired in superstitions, omens, black magic, witchcraft, sickness, disease, and every present death. Yet it is also a story of the simplistic beauty in people who are intimately connected to all of life and reverently dependent for purpose on their spirit world and their ancestor worship. Here presented are the oral historians reciting the history of their people, their suffering at the hands of the European colonists. "Souled Out" is also the story of Michael's recovering of spirit and peach through using native resources to build schools, reading the works of Albert Schweitzer while being hospitalized in Gabon, and laughing at Mark Twain's observations and stories. The underlying message of "Souled Out" is that the psychological wounds of war are as serious as the physical ones and can be remedied and recovered from, and that there is relief for and from them. Informed and informative, thoughtful and thought-provoking, "Souled Out" is highly recommended reading and an especially appropriate addition to community library American Biography collections.

I have know Mike for over 20 years. I married into the Orban fammily in 1985. He mentions in his book about living with us in Florida and how it never occured to him that it wasn't a normal situation. I remember it as being a wonderful time getting to know a very special person that just didn't have the same direction as some of us. He was always interesting to talk to and our boys were blessed to have Uncle Mike around them in their early youth.

Despite his inner struggles, Mike was always a positive person in all of our lives. After reading his book, I am able to better understand what he was trying to deal with in those years that he was with us.

I am so proud o him to have put it in writing to share with the thousands of vets that struggle with this syndrome. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

Michael Orban creates a compelling read with his book "Souled Out." Open and honest, he takes us back to Vietnam and helps us understand what happens to the soul when one is faced with such traumatic experiences. His journey through recovery and his experiences are an inspiration to anyone who reads it. Difficult to put down, the messages are invaluable to anyone who has suffered a dramatic loss or event. I was able to apply many of his ideas to my own life.

I know the book and it's very good like all the books of carol beckwith,it's the only one i didn't got ,but i am still waiting for the delivery....

If you're considering a trip to the Motherland, definitely buy this book! The pictoral essay translates a million cultural norms and customs for the Westerner/Asian. These images are "provocatively considerate" of the ancient peoples of Eastern Africa, which is unusual. These images also transport you back to a time when (in my opinion) Mankind lived simpler, easier lives.

I really enjoyed the images of the Christian influences including the rock churches of Ethiopia.

If you are interested in Ethiopia, this book provides a pictured guide to the country, its history and its sites. The photography is amazing.

A land now wracked by famine and war, the region of Ethiopia and the surrounding countries which make up the Horn of Africa, have a rich and diverse cultural history. The coastal areas have been in close contact with the outside world for centuries, linked by trade with Arabia, China and India. Ethiopia itself is situated in more remote highlands and has enjoyed protection from foreign influences, for an even longer time. The are archaic forms of Christianity and Judaism, pastoralist groups, hunter-gatherers and farmers and they have lived undisturbed for hundreds of years. Until the twentieth century, Ethiopia was the only African country to have successfully avoided Western imperialism.

And here is a book of superb photographs of the land and its different peoples by Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher. The text by Graham Hancock is unusually helpful giving the historical background so necessary to take in these startling photos. A wonderful book, beautifully designed, published by Abrams, it is well worth its published price of $75.00 to anyone interested in Africa.

As a repeat visitor to beautiful Ethiopia, and a pretty darn good photographer, the last thing I want my friends to do is to pick up this book before they see MY pictures. My best ones are drab next to this fabulous work of Fisher and Beckwith. So many books on Ethiopia cover either just the north, with it's religious architecture and history, or just the south with its beautiful tribal people only recently touched by the encroachment of modernity. But this book covers it all, and stunningly so. If you can afford only one book of glorious photography on tribal Africa, make it this one. There is a reason for the consistent 5-star ratings.

(Later note: two newer books by different authors/photographers focus just on the tribal areas of the Omo Valley in southern Ethiopia. If that's your interest, then also check out Gianni Giansanti's "Vanishing Africa" and Hans Silvester's "Ethiopia - Peoples of the Omo Valley.")

My son had to pick two books off of a large list to read over the summer for school. After reading the other reviews of this book, we picked it. It was a wonderful choice. The book was very interesting, fast paced, well written and easy to read. I read it in 3 hours, and my son was able to read in in a few nights without any complaints of boredom.

If any literary giant needs to have his work adapted to film, it is Myers. As one of the premier writers of fiction for juveniles, the author has added another significant piece to his long line of classics. This one tells the story of a little-known African princess who comes under the wing of England's legendary Queen Victoria.

Not only does the book reveal the horrors of the African slave trade, the atrocities that some tyrants inflict on their enemies, and the class system that pervades much of a "civilized" society, it is a marvelous tale of a girl who overcomes such obstacles and becomes the darling of English society.

Although Sarah's life is brief, it is a memorable one as the character grows from frightened child to a loving mother.
I am recommending that all my students read this book as well as others by Myers. Now, if only someone in "Tinsel Town" would discover this fine author.

I'd much rather see his stories on the big screen than any about a teenaged wizard.

"At Her Majesty's Request: An African Princess in Victorian England" tells the life story of Sarah Forbes Bonetta, who was born an African Egbado princess, captured by rival Dohamans and taken to Dahomey to be murdered in a ritual sacrifice, rescued and adopted by a British naval captain, taken to England and presented to Queen Victoria, and raised under the Queen's protection in England and Sierra Leone. This handsome book is a very fine biography for young readers; it includes many excerpts from Sarah's letters and the Queen's diaries, as well as historic illustrations. Relevant information about 19th century West Africa and Britain (e.g., the Dahomey empire, the slave trade and British actions to end it, Christian missions in Africa, Sierra Leone, the British class system, women's place in society, etc.) is well presented. Although Sarah's story is interesting because of its uniqueness, much about the lives of ordinary 19th century West Africans and Europeans can be learned here. Despite the fact that there is little material concerning Sarah's life, the author has done a fine job and readers interested in Africa should be glad he did. The book contains a useful bibliography which includes "Dahomey and the Dahomans" (1851) by Frederick E. Forbes (the captain who rescued and adopted Sarah).

19th century Dahomey is also the setting of "The Viceroy of Ouidah" by Bruce Chatwin.

I think this is a very well written book. I think that Walter Dean Myers is an amazing writer and that it is great he found this fantastic girl that many have never heard of.

The book, At Her Majesty's Request was the most wonderful book I've read because it tells the story of how Sarah Bonetta overcomed so many problems. First w/ the horror of watching her parents being killed, and then almost being sacrificed by the slave holders because of who she was and where she lived.Then when she was saved by a white man whom she couldn't even understand becase she spoke a different language.And then soon after that she learned how to speak english and then she became friends w/ the Queen of England, Queen Victoria.So the book to me was very heart-warming and I hope you love the book too! Go Wells Wolverines!

We wanted to label all the photos of birds we took in South Africa. This book made it easy to locate the drawings of the birds. . .drawings that were very lifelike. . .and attach the names to the photos. We highly recommend this guide.

This guide looks perfect for my needs. I have looked it over carefully, even though I haven't had a chance to use it in the field. I definitely like the quick reference guide to bird types inside the front and back covers and the color-coded reference to bird groups. Look forward to using this guide in the field.

This book is superbly illustrated, with clear descriptions of each type of bird and makes identification fairly straight forward.
While I have not used it in the bush yet, I expect it will be invaluable in identifying each bird I may encounter.

Well worth the money to enjoy your trip to South Africa even more. Even with a good guide (like we had with Transfrontiers) it is well worth taking a strong field guide like Birds of Southern Africa. That way when your guide is trying to tell you what you are looking at, you can see the picture up close and get a better idea. We have done many trips to various parts of Africa and this is one of the best guides we have used.

Warning: using this field guide will make you dissatisfied with many other field guides. You will enjoy studying and using this guide.
The illustrations are large and detailed, distinctly more accurate than most guides. In addition most are just beautiful works. They are grouped in species settings with juveniles, alternate plumage, flight and significant field marks highlighted.
On the opposite page: written description, habitat, abundancy status and call descriptions with a range map plus the Afrikaans name.
As an example of the illustrations: the Laughing Dove is illustrated by two flight poses and a profile. The profile has arrows noting 'no hind collar', 'cinnamon back' and 'black-flecked necklace'. The written text notes marks that distinguish this bird from a Cape Turtle-Dove.
The cover is plastic coated and the pages have a lesser water resistant coating.
A lot of attention to detail went into creating this book --colored coded page edges according to bird group, groups of waterbirds and hawks in flight for comparison, a checklist near the index and internet addresses of birding resources in the area.
All this in a work that I carried in a large pants pocket every day.
It just makes me wish such books were available for many more areas.

"Late Sunday afternoons, when our father eventually arrived to pick us up I usually felt as though I'd been through a war myself. I would grab my already packed bag and hurry to the safe red leather of his car interior to wait for him and my sisters there. Soon after Sharon would follow me, straggling behind with underpants and flip-flops falling out of her suitcase, complaining, "Wait man Wend." She flounced in next to me. "Why do you always have to be in such a hurry hey?"

I was very eager for this book when I saw it advertised on Amazon. This story centers around Wendy, Sharon and Lauren Khan who grew up in Rhodesia, now known as Zimbabwe. It was a very touching book with three very close sisters who survived their dysfunctional family and then after they had passed on, had each other. Wendy Khan relates a well-told story though sad in many instances; their loyalty to each other strengthens their family ties. The blow is felt however when the smallest sister Lauren faces tragedy and this brings Wendy back from American where she has migrated, to meet up with Sharon as they gather in Zambia, Lauren's home. There is a lot of love in this story as well as passion and some disappointment in the family. But when all is said and done, I would recommend this novel to all readers. It is well written and it should be a great present for someone's birthday or any such occasion.
Those of you who love Africa, please read this book.
Reviewed by Heather Marshall Negahdar ( SUGAR-CANE 07/03/08)

deeply moving and honest, ms. kann's memoir vividly evokes a complicated time and place in africa with a story of familial love, loyalty and loss.gorgeous. highly recommend.

Not qualified to review:
Author is my daughter-in-law
Walter Kann

Wendy Kann's personal and political history in "Casting with a fragile thread" is riveting, wise and timeless. It is a gripping memoir about a woman who has risen above her traumatic childhood and turned her pain into compassion and healing.
Born in colonial Rhodesia--now Zimbabwe--Kann grew up during the country's 13-year civil war. She experienced the first elections in Zimbabwe in 1980 and lived in Hong Kong when the British officials handed the city over to the Chinese in 1997. She said both experiences were nagging reminders that the laws, police, media, army and government can bring bewildering uncertainty to a safe, predictable orderly world.
She writes poetically about her environment--how the lawns in America's neighborhoods simply roll trustingly one into the next, without the rude division of fences and gates.
Having spent my early years in South Africa I too had my "mind revolt against the terrifying avalanche of choice" and tried to figure what "American" was and how I could be "just that."
Kann's observation years later about Rhodesia's civil war is a warning to all countries. She said, "No one in my generation recognized that we were fighting a war to preserve an unsustainable way of life."
Her quote reminded me of America. We have the technology for alternative fuel yet we remain in a war in the Middle East because of an addiction to oil, a non-renewable resource.

Casting With A Fragile Thread: A Story Of Sisters And Africa tells of the mother of three children who left her Rhodesia childhood behind fifteen years earlier to settle into a new life in America and escape her country's upheaval. When she receives a call that her youngest sister has been killed in Zambia, she returns to her native Africa to find a new sense of purpose. A vivid story of death, rebirth, and cultural discovery evolves.