Ghana Books

The story takes place in the West African county of Ghana and is about seven sons of an old man. The sons argue all the time, until their father dies and leaves each one of them a spool of thread. Moreover, they have used the spools of thread to make pot of gold in order to receive their father's inheritance. Thus, the brothers have to stop arguing, use the principle of umoja to decide how they can use the cloth to solve their problem. Furthermore, the brothers use kuumba to weave Kente Cloth, "The Kings Cloth" that so many African Americans wear during ceremonies in the United States.

The Kwanzaa Coloring Book

A friend shared this book with me when we were in a discussion of Africa's Kente cloth, woven with bright colors in narrow strips and then sewed into wider fabric. Seven Spools... is a delightful tale well told and beautifully illustrated. The moral lesson of cooperation is clearly shown. I have ordered it to be a great addition to my group of African books for children and adults.

A great book to share and explain Kwanzaa values. I am participating in a library program and this tales of selfishness and unity from an African folklore is a wonderful way to explain the principle of Umoja. The illustrations are beautiful with rich and bold color. This is a story I will never forget.

I picked this book up in the library probably because of its alluring cover image and title, I'll admit it. And I was prepared to even enjoy what I thought was coming: an intellectual travel book of the Paul Theroux ilk, with perhaps the added sarcasm and chip on the shoulder due any returing British colonial.

It was, however, immediately more interesting and engrossing than any of those books Mr. Theroux has written, and it had even more honesty than Maya Angelou's book about coming to Africa, "All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes." For a long time I was not sure if it was meant to be novel or not. It was acertainly a novel idea, to make such trips, one after the other, in the time that one would need to see the places one was visiting (although I get the feeling that he might have strayed further afield in Africa than he did. There is an element of depression at times that was perhaps strongest in Africa, that kept some of his questions from being asked, so that he decided to move on and end any meandering reflection.) He was always interested in takling to people of the places he visited, but not to justify or romanticize about some book-learned image of the place. He aims more to appreciate what the possibilities of the places he visits are now, and then more importantly, what people there feel their history to be.

It is almost as if he goes to visit a relative in each place, (although he never does this) and in the process was not recognised as a visitor or tourist (was not recognised as anything, perhaps, something that helped lend the novel air to the book, and an interesting element of his reflection. I guess it is based upon the narrator's (and author's, I suppose) African heritage, colonial experience, and English mother tongue, despite his never having lived in America, Britain, or Africa.)

I recomend this book as history and even as a novel. I Guess it is a new sort of book for this age, frank and real and yet also curiously fictitious. It is hard to put down. I look forward to reading it again.

This is a remarkably complex and thought-provoking book.
It would be of interest to anyone who thinks about:
slavery/the middle passage, the limits (or failures) of Pan-Africanism, the power of the 'Exodus' myth in the Bible, and finally the invisible histories of urban space (i.e., of cities like Liverpool, UK and Charleston, SC).

The different destinations in the book -- Ghana, Liverpool, Charleston, even Israel -- all have some bearing to the middle passage. The argument of this book, if there is an argument, seems to be that the journeys "homeward" that many people of African descent invent for themselves are all in some way symptomatic of the original event of separation, the forcible departure constituted by captivity and the journey to the new world.

Amardeep Singh

I am from Thailand and a native Thai.
I read his book; he is my professor.
I am impressed with his idea- the so " socratic idea".
I love his book and everyone should buy it.

I was unfamiliar with the trends in African and Southeast Asian development before reading this book ... the title and subject seemed interesting. However, during the course of my reading it, I have grown significantly more knowledgable about how "3rd world" nations are on their own tracts to develop and enter the ranks of "modern societies".

He begins with a short history of both African and Asain developments, the key players, and background that sets each region up before they take charge of their own destinies. From there, he investigates the cultural, economic, environmental, and international pressures that disseminate one economy from another, as well as invesitgating the ultimate consequences of this growth.

This book is well-written, interesting evenfor a non political science or economics major, and thought-provoking to the core. I highly recommend this book to any who would be interested in learning more about modern development in differing regions of the world.

We really enjoyed learning of the many customs, cultures, and historical events that have shaped Ghana. We are hosting an exchange student from Ghana this fall, and found this to be a wonderful resource.

This book is an excellent resource for the general reader, the potential traveler, and the student who is seeking an uncomplicated and concise introduction to an important West African country. It holds the reader's interest throughout although it can also serve as a beneficial reference for the reader researching a particular topic. The organization is clear, logical, and balanced. Painful issues are presented fairly, honestly, and objectively, and points of pride abound. This book belongs in both general and academic collections.

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

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

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

Stage-Shakers! Ghana's Concert Party Theatre
by Kwame Braun

A lively video documentary that brings Ghana's concert party theatre to life.

Indiana University Press

For the first time, Western audiences have access to the power and intensity of Ghana's remarkable concert party theatre through Kwame Braun's 100-minute documentary video. Stage-Shakers! brings its festive atmosphere to life by showing backstage preparation - touring, making-up, and practicing - as well as live performance footage. Interviews with key performers, both pioneers and current practitioners, reveal the concert party as a dynamic form of entertainment that is in step with popular fashion, music, song, dance, and social issues. Researched and filmed in collaboration with Catherine M. Cole, this video companion is an important extension of her book, Ghana's Concert Party Theatre.

Cole's study of concert party, a traveling musical theater in Ghana, is nothing short of superb. Not only does she manage to show the history of these itinerant performers and the world they made and remade with every performance, but she uses her analysis of concert party as a way to talk about and problematize the theories and obsessions of our time that sometimes have overdetermined analyses of things African. That concert party performers imitated women, or wore blackface, all complicate our own academic ideas about the performance of gender, or of race, and how those might be different in Africa than in the US or Latin America. Cole's manuscript gives us a history of an African musical form in more detail than anything we have had before, and in so doing she gives us a history of class and culture in Ghana that I think will make a strong impact on African history. But it also challenges scholars to think anew about how to understand and interpret African cultural forms, and shows how limiting it is­for Africans and for academics­ to pidgeon-hole those cultural expressions into examples of buzz words and jargon. This is a book that doesn't just interrogate culture and pronounce it complicated. This is a book that looks the complications firmly in the eye and encourages them to stare right back­. Cole animates the complexities and contradictions of popular African culture to make us think more seriously, more carefully, about how race and gender take on meanings and shed connotations in societies increasingly aware of their place in the world.

was the hallmark of P.A.V. Ansah according to his editors. Not having lived through coup dictator times I deferr to their authority.

The world needs more journalists of Mr. Ansah's caliber particularly here in the USA. For example you can get more better news in satellite tv in Africa than you can from talking heads here. Totally shamefull.

Somebody should reprent Going To Town in the US or UK.

A very provocative and interesting assessment of the Ghanaian/African condition in the scope of global politics. The book is a collection of articles by P. A. V. Ansah (PAVA as he was known), and are grouped under the headings of Media, Politics, Society, and International. Critiques and tasty satires of policies and processes shaping life in Ghana, political struggles and life in general. Topics range from IMF policies and the African continent, Education in Ghana, and the 1992 presidential elections in Ghana. His wit and humor shine through his anecdotes and jokes, keeping the reader highly amused and yet well informed on subjects in question.

PAVA was a well-known Ghanaian newspaper columnist (The Ghanaian Chronicle) nicknamed the "Monday Morning Terror" until his death in 1993. Highly respected, he was known as a defender of democracy, human rights and freedom of the press, who demonstrated the power of the pen, with fiery, thought-provoking and pungent discussions of issues. Resilient and bold, he dared to proclaim the 'unspeakable' in an era of suppressed and oppressed press freedom. He was a Professor of French, taught journalism and communication, and was editor of The Legon Observer, and Wonsuom, a rural newspaper in Fanti.

The kind of book that puts you right there in the picture. Insightful and moving portrait of a corner of Africa.

This book recounts the author's return to the West African country where she grew up. Called a lyrical memoir by the New York Times (9/11/88), Honey From the Lion provides fascinating insights into a young woman's transnational and cross-cultural coming of age. Ideal for all readers.

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

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

I found this book to be very interesting and well organized. The author's personal experiences keep your attention. They make it much easier to follow and understand the points the author is making as he examines Ghana as a country of potential opportunity in the economically emerging continent of Africa.

I balked at paying $55 but this book has proved to be a bargain at the price. Bowditch has successfully distilled--in highly readable and enjoyable fashion--seven years of experience as a publicly financed developer of Ghana's newest national park. His insights are informed, not only by his impressive academic training (Harvard A.B. 1966; Princeton M.P.A. 1974), but by the obstacles he faced as a white American newcomer and the comparisons he can draw to his earlier endeavors in a number of countries in Asia and, before that, as Maine's Secretary for Economic Development. Bowditch's enthusiasm for Ghana is heartfelt and contagious. He gives many good reasons why Ghana is likely to be every bit as competitive in the new Millenium as were the so-called Asian Tigers at the end of the last. Whether or not Ghana will prove to be an African Lion, Bowditch can be said to be bullish on its prospects. His famous ancestor and namesake was known as "The Practical Navigator" of the open seas. This generation's Bowditch may well become the practical navigator for the American investor/entrepreneur, or those just interested in Ghana. I therefore highly recommend this book!