Africa Books

The authors did a great job. They could have made this too high-level and impossible to understand for those who don't have enough background in African history, but they haven't. They could have made it too simplistic and abbreviated so that the reader would be missing important information, but they haven't either. They found just the right balance and the right approach to cover the entire history of Africa without dwelling on any details for too long and without skipping anything that would prevent the reader from getting a good understanding.

In some chapters, the book is a little heavy, but you can't put that much information without it feeling dense sometimes. Whenever I found one chapter a little too much to handle all at once, I simply re-read a few of its pages and I was ready to move on.

I must say, I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a primer on African history, I learned so much from it.

The only parts I wish they had given a little more information on are the former colonies of Italy and Spain. In particular they didn't say very much about Somalia, Libya, and the Spanish colony west of Morocco.

I read the 1966 (second)edition of this volume and was not aware of updates until opening this site. Despite much political and demographic change in Africa over the last 30-odd years, and despite the availability of much more research and the advent of DNA-based studies, not even heard of in 1966, I found Oliver and Fage's work a pleasure to read. Their chapters are intelligently organized, the flow of ideas and trends unblemished by superfluous detail or tedious asides. The entire continent is covered, North Africa as well as Sub-Saharan, though personally, I felt a little more could have been said about Madagascar. As a reader without a professional stake in African history, I found this book just the thing. It raised many issues that I had not thought of, told me about many patterns and issues of which I had known nothing, and did so in clear, concise language which kept my interest throughout. I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in African history. I myself will look for an updated edition to see what the authors say about the last third of a century.

The first domestication of animals and cultivation of cereals occurred in south-west Africa. The oldest cereal crops of sub-Saharan Africa were the millets and west of the great bend of the Niger there was also rice. Maize and cassava were introduced from South and Central America in the 16th and 17th centuries. The ancient languages were Hamito-Semitic languages of the north and north-east, click languages of the Bush and Hottentot peoples, and the Eastern Sudanic languages and Western Sudanic languages. The Bantu languages spoken today are closely related to each other. The introduction into Aftica of South-East-Asian food plants, for example the banana and the yam, made possible the growth of dense populations. There was a great expansion and dispersal of Bantu farmers.

The idea of kingship probably originated in Egypt. The organizational efficiency caused the politco-religious ideas to be widely distributed. Trading expeditions had an effect on the material culture of a wide region. Then Egypt declined. It had neither iron or ore. Northern Kush had ore but no fuel. The southern region had both commodities. Meroe could provide for its own subsistence and trade and conquer in the Sudanic belt of Africa. As to the Sudanic civilization, the typical state was not feudal, it was bureaucratic. Around the royal person there formed a galaxy.

The book goes on to detail Africa's encounter with the Mediterranean world and then with Islam. Trading in East Africa and West Africa is delineated carefully. Ihe slave trade did not create disequilibrium until late. European colonization was not substantial until the the last quarter of the nineteenth century when matters became frenzied as each country sought to assure itself of a piece of the action. Prior to that, European missionary efforts had been fairly widespread. Following World War I the German territories were governed under mandate through the auspices of the League of Nations evidencing a principled undertaking on the part of the colonial powers. Decolonization took place rapidly following the establishment of Ghana in 1957.

The book is chock full of information and descriptions of the African peoples and kingdoms and modes of government and influences and the movements of various groups over time. The maps are useful.

This is a fabulous novel, and I highly recommend it. It's very sensitively written and deals not only with current South African affairs but with the nature of families and blood ties. Such an interesting look at how the same members of one family can view things in such wildly different ways. Don't miss this one...

Well, the literary work was duly delivered by Amazon; and so I immediately (of course) set aside the "Steinbeck", "Hemingway" or some such other "classic" which was currently at hand.....in favor of this newly discovered contemporary writer......and, I have to say, this is one GOOD book......excellent!

The theme of the story was indeed disturbing and very troubling........but, I'm sure, not unrealistic in the context of what happens in today's South Africa. There was drama and tension, humor, excellent character portrayals, and just the right measure of sexual tension.....actually, let me take that back.....more, much more, on the voluptuous "Maria" would have been better.....!

Yes, a terrific book.

It was exciting to read this new book from the author. The characters and plot are well developed and the the writing has great empathy. She deals with very real issues, both in South Africa and California, and the interplay of family relationships is well described. I loved this book.

To do business in Africa, you must learn how Africans do business! Nowhere is this more important than in South Africa. Western investors, project managers, and business pioneers who wish to tap this dynamic frontier market must master African marketing methods. Distinguished African mercantile clans have honed and polished their methods and have formed notable, sophisticated, and successful trading companies across the continent for the past 2,000 years. Surely they have much to teach us. We must learn more about Africans in order to work more closely with them. We do not want Africans to perceive us as patronizing, arrogant, unwilling to learn African languages, contemptuous of local tradition, and hesitant to socialize with Africans.
Author Jeffrey A. Fadiman considers Africa as the West's commercial blind spot, believing we have ignored Africa since the 1960s and thus we have never learned how Africans do business. His book describes how we can use African methods to market African-style. He gives case studies of twenty-one African entrepreneurs. Fadiman knows Africa. He is a full professor of global marketing and an African area specialist with 32 years of experience in western, eastern, and southern Africa. He writes for the commercial pioneer who wants to venture beyond South Africa's small white market into the huge black market of more than 40 million with another 400 million beyond its borders. South Africa is the launch pad for the continent.
The book begins where you would-on the day you decide to launch a South African venture. Fadiman explains which tribes live where, what languages they speak, and where the markets are. Next he leads you through the history of South African racism, tribalism, and apartheid to illustrate precisely how each of these problems can still throw up major obstacles to Westerners who come for business.
After this rather sober beginning, the author takes you on a fascinating journey into the very heart of African methods, teaching you how to market yourself ("creating relationships") before even thinking of marketing your product. To do this well, you must learn how Africans greet, give gifts, do favors, show respect, and socialize as well as how their "big men" conduct negotiations, implement agreements, deal with labor, and so on. Then you must consider how to reach new market segments that have no U.S. parallels: dynamic African townships, extensive rural communities, and the large number of foreign Africans now pouring into South Africa.
Fadiman's tour then takes you into the "shadow" side of African marketing. You learn how to market your product through street hawkers and smugglers and even how to use the "tsotsi" (gangster) bands to implement your project. Fadiman is shockingly honest in analyzing South African crime. He tells it like it is and then suggests pragmatic and specific and effective methods to cope with it. In conclusion, Fadiman describes the sheer joy of working with a people whose optimism, exuberance, and love of life makes every day an adventure.

This book is more than just another lay-of-the-land, how-to for international business. Offering usable insights into the Sub-Saharan African culture, this text proved invaluable in establishing lasting African relationships... both personal and professional!

This book is scary! It tells you just what to do in order to penetrate South Africa's largest market of 40 million people, huge but chaotic. That's daunting to the commercially timid, but the text is geared to business pioneers who by nature defy discouragement. Fadiman tells us what's actually happening in the "Black" market, even the politically incorrect things that are often left out of books about controversial places. Then, having described how the local business games are actually played, he graphically delineates the rules so that an outsider can understand and participate. Essentially, he has created the ultimate business map.

His first chapter describes the national social geography, including both the visible and invisible sections of every major South African city. We all know of the visible, city names such as Johannesburg and Durban. The invisible sections are the African townships that surround each city -- which until recently were on no official maps. The townships contain millions of potential clients who were long dismissed as oppressed.

I skipped part of the long history lesson in Chapter 2, but as I read further I was glad it was there, up front. Here are some unforgettable concepts to consider. For instance, Fadiman argues that South Africa's whites did NOT create apartheid just to separate the races, but to reduce the millions of blacks to PULP (Permanent Underpaid Labor Pool), so as to maximize their private profit. Nowadays, these same millions can afford to buy the goods and services once reserved for whites. Fadiman's goal is to teach us how to sell to them.

One huge market that Fadiman explores is the African black market. It is untaxed, vast and completely unregulated. That suggests it should be chaotic as well. But he shows it to be highly structured, essentially efficient, and quite penetrable by Western marketers with open minds and imaginative methods. His examples of methods draw on either his own local experiences or on techniques that have worked in other emerging markets. Thus he describes a tactic used by James Thompson, the legendary silk king of Thailand, arguing that what works for Thai silk could do wonders for African wool.

The book pulls no punches in describing the risks of entry into the market. It's the old Wild West, but with carjackers instead of cowboys. Yet for every risk Fadiman offers practical personal action suggestions. I now know, for instance, that I have to see the bottom of the tires on the vehicle in front of me to have enough space to spin away from potential carjackers. Unusual stuff from a biz-school academic.

One structural criticism: The very last section should stand by itself. Although written in business prose, it's a short elegant poem, a tribute to the beauty and wonder of this unusual country by an author who does not ignore its problems. Readers of this book however will be mostly concerned with how to make money in a country with 60 million inhabitants who show another 400 million throughout Africa how to do things. Fadiman gives them the answers they need, but he also makes sure that they know, in colorful and often striking detail, why his answers will actually work.

This is one of the best books ever written on South Africa's military involvement in Southern Africa. It reveals more about the battles fought by South Africa's army, than most people are aware of. It has an indepth coverage from 1966 to 1989. Along with special sections on relevant military units like The South African "Recces" special forces, and 32 batalion both renown for their abilities in battle. There are also sections on the political decision making taking place, amongst various relevant parties. The numerous photos that can be seen throughout the book are very impressive in what they convey. In essence what it was like to be there. The South African Defence Force constantly fought against overwhelming odds, yet always rising to the task, and consistently coming out as winners.
I highly recommend this book for anymore who wants really know about, and understand the conflicts the SADF fought in, with courage and tenacity.

As the previous reviewer stated, this has got to be absolutely one of the best books written on South Africa's military involvement in South West Afrika (Namibia) and Angola. Most non-South Africans (and even many South African's these days) are unaware of just how intense and prolonged the fighting was, particularly in Angola against the Cubans (the South African's trashed them). This book tells the complete story, covering the period from 1966 to 1989. It covers the battles, the units (including special forces units like the Recces) as well as the politics.

The book is a large coffee-table format and going with the size, it includes an absolutely outstanding range of photos. I've got friends who were there, they've browsed through this book and said "ag nie manne, that was what it was like!" One of my friends was based in a military outpost photo'd in the book and he pointed out all the camp's features from the photo. It's that kind of book - if you get a chance to pick up a copy, grab it with both hands and your feet as well - it's worth it. And the author knows what he's talking about, he was there.

This is one of the best books ever written on South Africa's military involvement in Southern Africa. It reveals more about the battles fought by South Africa's army, than most people are aware of. It has an indepth coverage from 1966 to 1989. Along with special sections on relevant military units like The South African "Recces" special forces, and 32 batalion both renown for their abilities in battle. There are also sections on the political decision making taking place, amongst various relevant parties. The numerous photos that can be seen throughout the book are very impressive in what they convey. In essence what it was like to be there. The South African Defence Force constantly fought against overwhelming odds, yet always rising to the task, and consistently coming out as winners.
I highly recommend this book for anymore who wants really know about, and understand the conflicts the SADF fought in, with courage and tenacity....

Great advice especially for first time visitors to any of the covered areas. Heavy on "LBJ's" but that's no real flaw -
twitchers are people, too. Directions generally correct and useful where I used them in South Africa. You could actually plan a birding trip using the info in the book.

This book is so full of information that it transcends the format of a typical site guide (you'll find advice on the type of car jack and how to behave in case of attacks by wild animals. The target audience are independent birders who will find the guide indispensable for Namibia, Botswana and especially South Africa. Commendably, the less commonly traveled adjoining countries of Zambia and Angola find coverage as well, even though they are not strictly in Southern Africa. One hopes that success will breed a future edition in which I would like to find GPS coordinates, particularly for the more remote sites. Even if you don't have any immediate plans for a birding trip to Southern Africa this book would enjoyable for the armchair adventurer fascinated by the charismatic (and often enigmatic) avifauna. Congratulations also to the publisher for keeping the price so low.

I just got back from a two month self-guided birding trip to South Africa. I used this book for all my planning and selection of the places to visit. The book proved invaluable. It is well laid out, includes very good maps - including one of the whole of Southern Africa with all the birding spots clearly marked on it, it has many excellent bird and scenery photographs and a complete list of all the birds that can be seen with a cross-reference to their location in the book. A few minor points that caused me some irritations during the trip: only odd pages are numbered in the middle of the right hand side (very confusing); some of the maps are a little misleading e.g. the Sir Lowry's pass map is incorrect - the trail starts directly opposite the car park and not downhill as shown; some of the instructions are also incorrect e.g. the instructions to the Damara Tern Colony (I could not find the location.) These are minor points that an able birder can easily overcome. The book also covers other Southern African countries however having lived in Zambia and Zimbabwe I found their coverage of these two countries to be very sparse only covering the top birding spots. I strongly recommend this book if you are planning a trip to this beautiful area of our planet so rich in birds.

This wonderful and insightful work by Pierre Englebert is one of the best works out there on the political economy of Africa. His thesis is that Africa's wide range of economic experiences (despite the general malaise) has its roots in the varying levels of historical legitimacy exhibited by African states. He backs this argument up with impressive quantitative data and a qualitative look into how illegitimacy retards growth and development. His most controversial claims come as he questions that sanctity of the state boundaries bestoyed on Africa by colonialism. Brilliant, insightful and accessible!

I learned a lot from reading this book. It provides both a very thorough and detailed account of Africa's mixed development fortunes and an original theory of development and underdevelopment. It is very well written.

This book provides a sophisticated and nuanced theory of African underdevelopment, which also explains African success stories! It represents one of the most important theoretical advances in African studies in a long time, and it is not dogmatic at all. This book incorporates historical, sociological, political and economic insights to derive a general theory of the determinants of poverty and weak state capacity in Africa. It is very well written and will be accessible to undergraduates as well as advanced readers. Rich in statistical evidence, the text always remains clear, even to the quantitative novice, and is full of real life examples. A compelling argument and a real "tour de force."

In his book, "Abafana", Stef de Klerk has created the perfect blend of artistry and erotica by coupling his physically attractive models with the lush land and seascapes of the Eastern Cape of South Africa.

The photographs are well-composed and the colors are faithfully reproduced by the printer who beautifully captures the interaction of the setting sun and the warm skin of the chosen model(s).

The attractive young men of the Xhosa tribe are featured with and without various props, at all times in good taste and proud of their heritage.

I enthusiastically recommend this book to anyone who appreciates the physical beauty of the nude black male and encourage you to add it to your own personal library.

Nubian gods in situtaions and poses that will appeal to the most salacious aspects of human sexuality. VERY HOT STUFF.

This is art. These are incredible pictures of black african males in their context. The complement of the African scenery with their luscious bodies made me discover an entire new perspective on african male nude.
If you love art and photography this is your book. If you love black males, this is for you.

It was a pleasure to read this creative work. I found I did not want to put it down, anxiously waiting to see how the author would tie all the loose ends together. - It was superbly done, and has me eagerly anticipating her next book.

It was a pleasure to read this creative piece of work. I found I did not want to put it down, anxiously waiting to see how the author would tie all the loose ends together. - It was superbly done, and has me anticipating her next book.

One of two new beautifully written, fascinating books by Marie Warder - author of "The Bronze Killer". One cannot but feel sympathy for the young Marguerite caught in the web of her marriage, and we are drawn from page to page in the hope that all will be well in the end. It is always so interesting to read about places you have visited and to learn the early history of the area. I was in Cape town, South Africa in the early 90's so I have been to the top of Table Mountain and have sipped the wine in the Stellenbosch vineyards. Both books have a soft cover, which I especially enjoy as I like to read books in bed or laying on a chaise lounge on the patio. They are also very reasonably priced. I highly recommend both books as a definite must read

Fue necesario unir los campesinos y trabajadores -los victimas del capitalismo- para llevar a cabo la revolucion democratica en el pais de Sudafrica, en contra de los mismos capitalistas. Y no solo fue una clase capitalista en su pais, sino un imperialismo que extraia ganancias de muchos paises del sur y centro de su continente.

Parece ironico, pero asi es el dilema del capitalismo en su fase imperialista actual. Sudafrica era uno de los ultimos ejemplos de lo que Lenin explicaba a principios del siglo XX en relacion de los paises sometidos al capitalismo (Imperialismo: la fase superior del capitalismo). Habiendo consumido su periodo revolucionario con la Guerra Civil de los Estados Unidos, de 1865 en adelante la burguesia ya no es capaz de ofrecer el liderazgo para ninguna revolucion democratica en ningun rincon del mundo. Unicamente los campesinos y trabajadores pueden instalar las leyes de igualdad, con la burguesia esperando impaciente de regresar del margen para tomar el poder una vez consumidas las necesidades democraticas.

Con Nelson Mandela de frente, el Congreso Nacional Africano impuso los minimos de igualdad, y asi acabo con un imperio pequeno pero tan brutal como el de Israel hoy en dia. Sudafrica sigue capitalista, pero ya no tiene segregacion para extraer super-ganancias.
from la Ciudad de Mexico

Este libro relata como Nelson Mandela y de su organización, el Congreso Africano Nacional, conquistaron el liderazgo de la revolución sudafricana democrática. Escrito en 1985 como un informe para la orientación de los militantes del Partido Socialista de los Trabajadores y de la Alianza de la Juventud Socialista en sus actividades contra el apartado, describe el papel internacionalista monumental de Cuba socialista. Su apoya militar y solidario a Angola enfrentó la agresión del régimen racista sudafricana entre 1975 y 1988, constituyéndose parte fundamental de la victoria del movimiento democrático antiracista en los años finales del siglo XX. Las lecciones de liderazgo revolucionario de Mandela y sus compañeros y compañeras sustenta el labor de los revolucionarios obreros anticapitalistas de hoy y mañana, en todos los países imperialistas -recordamos que Sudáfrica era un país imperialista-. Estas lecciones, especialmente para los que quieren erradicar el racismo y buscan un cambio social fundamental en los Estados Unidos examinan esta obra detalladamente.

Though published in 1985, nine years before the victory of the African National Congress against Apartheid, the main article in this book-length magazine Jack Barnes's "The Coming Revolution in South Africa," forecasts the way forward for the democratic revolution in South Africa and shows how the roots of a future socialist revolution in South Africa flow out of that struggle. Barnes, thenational secretary of the Socialist Workers Party, explains why the democratic tasks of national liberation and unification advanced by the ANC and its allies were the correct way forward for the peoples of South Africa. With examples from the policies of Lenin and the Russian Bolsheviks and theCuba and Nicaraguan revolutions, Barnes takes on sectarians who attacked the ANC because it did not have an explicitly anticapitalist program. Along with Barnes' speech, this issue contains "The Freedom Charter"--the political program the ANC advanced in the antiapartheid struggle -- "The Future Belongs to US" a Speech by ANC leader Oliver Tambo, a speech by Fidel Castro explainingwhy and how Cuba supported the freedom struggle in Angola, and a summary of the then latest stages in the South African struggle by Ernest Harsch.

Bloody good book - told as it was. Everyone should read it.

An excellent read. The book really took me back. I grew up pre-Zimbabwe and was 14 years old at the independence of Zimbabwe. I left in '87. The book is a great account of the "bush war"..you're really there!

His association of music with periods in his life "took me back" too. I remember dancing to ABBA "dancing queen" on a farm in Karoi..I grew up in Karoi and went to the Primary school there..I remember seeing the helicopters landing on the rugby field near the police station, directly opposite the school. I remember talking to the "army guys" and eating "rat packs",...convoys to Makuti, stopping halfway at a motel called "Elephants Walk". I went to school and was a border at Ellis Robins. I remember the seniors bringing rifles to school and handing them in to the house master at the beginning of a new school term....Alot of memories and this book brought them flooding back!...Although there was war, I would not have traded my upbringing, barefoot and running around the farm, for anything!

Once again, it's a great book to read.

This book reminds one of the horrors of war much like All Quiet on the Western Front did. The author starts out a middle class idealist, and concludes a hardened killer who in his early 20's needs to make sense of all the senseless deaths that surrounded his formative years. The Rhodesian "bush" war was bloody, and appears to have accomplished nothing, in that the present state of Zimbabwe almost makes those who fought against the "terrorists" heroes for trying to keep Rhodesian and southern Africa out of the hands of despots like Mugabe. I hope the Movement for Democratic Change really is a movement for democratic change, and that some day all Zimbabwean's will be free to participate in their country.

Great book, and don't forget to read the sequel "Survival Course".