Ghana Books

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.

A warm multicultural book, that gives an enlightining look at the traditional hand weaving of the Kente Cloth. The book is an exciting celebration of culture by the Ashante people of Ghana and the Ewe of Ghana and Togo. The steady rhythum of rhyming text along with its bright and colorful illustrations are sure to attract the attention of young readers. As an educator I would use this book to introduce colors and weaving activities to young children. The use of rhyme is a great springboard for strenghthening students phonemic awarness. I would give this book 5 stars.

It is easy to read with very beautiful colors. I have three Ewe students from Togo and am hard pressed to find books to reflect their culture. I'm sure that the Ewe in Ghana and Togo are related and my students will be able see some of their culture reflected in the book. Thanks Deborah!

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!

As someone who lived in Ghana for two years, I felt I was back in a place that over time completely pervades one's being to a point beyond rational comprehension. Ghana is a sensual country full of wonder, beauty, human connection, frustration, and moments, big and small. Love and Butterflies gracefully captures the essence of all this with sincerity, warmth, and introspection that will move you to find love and butterflies in your own life.

A must-read for anyone, but a young person in particular, whose self-doubt saps them of the strength to cope and "make it" in an environment that is strange, if not culturally hostile. You can tell as the book progresses from her leaving home, to arriving in Ghana, through making connections, and ultimately finding love that Taylor McLean was growing stronger without realizing it. She has an uncanny talent for capturing the essence of others in her words: her story about a small boy confused about why his American friend is leaving, "Kwame," is a masterpiece.

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.

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.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in achieving Pan-Africanism and problems of obtaining genuine independence after decades of colonial rule.