Africa Books

I like african princess because it tells adventurous true stories.And woman who had great courage and great symblos for woman.In Ethiopia when you are 10 years old you get married and are trained to do elderly things. The Portugues and Ugandans were in a slave trade. The Portuguess wer in the slave trade to recieve slave trade, and Ugandas would get weapons. All of these stories I mentioned were great and they tell you African history.

I discovered African Princess: the Amazing Lives of Africa's Royal Women while searching for history about African Royalty, and it is most excellent. The artwork is gorgeous and the text is simple enough for my 8 year old niece to read it and understand it. Rich history, intriguing stories, and pride in our history make this book great for all generations.

This is a book that all African American women should own. It gives a sense of pride to know where we come from. I applaud the author. Thank You.

From a female pharaoh in ancient Egypt to an African princess of her people who avoided men, and an empress, African Princess uses words and pictures to recreate the lives of six selected powerful royal women of Africa. Good reading skills in grades 2-4 will lend to an appreciation of early female African leaders.

Six examples of African feminine royalty are showcased in chronological order, from pre-Christian times to the modern era. Each of the women focused was representative of her time, yet she showed a foresight and independence that made her stand out from her contemporaries.

The text by former schoolteacher Joyce Hansen, along with Laurie McGraw's superb illustrations, makes for a captivating and inspiring read for youngsters, female and male. It also should be noted that the book should be shared with all children for there still remains some misconceptions in the general public about Africa, even to this day.

The book does a good job of addressing and correcting those misconceptions in a highly professional and insightful manner.

Although this book is described as being for the 4-8 year-old group, it seemed to me more like a 7-9 year-old book.

I was attracted to the book by realizing that the various animal-related stories that Alexander McCall Smith includes in his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books were among my favorite parts of those books. It occurred to me that the Akimbo books might have such stories in them.

Well, not quite . . . but the series is full of Akimbo learning about wild animals, the threats to animals from people, and deals with the problems through Akimbo's brave deeds. Children like to see themselves playing important roles in the world, and Akimbo and the Lions is very good for appealing to that desire.

Akimbo's father works as a ranger at a game preserve in Africa where some near-by farmers have been losing cattle to lions. Akimbo's father is asked to do something and goes to trap the lion. The results end up differently than expected and Akimbo learns a lot about the challenges of balancing domestic and wild animals in the same areas. The story is a heart-warming one that both boys and girls will enjoy.

The book is nicely illustrated which adds to the realism of the story.

Purchased these books for my grandsons and was told that they really enjoyed them.

This book was a fun book to read. I liked it a lot. I think it was my favorite book that I've read so far in my life. I am going to buy my own copy.

This book is McCall Smith's second book in the "Akimbo" series and like virtually all his books, it is masterfully done. In this book, Akimbo goes on a trip with his father, the new Head Gamekeeper of the wildlife preserve. They have gone to check out reports that a lion is eating cattle. The loss of cattle is akin to the loss of pure gold in Akimbo's part of Africa. Thus, such a lion must be handled.

Akimbo begs his father to take him on the trip. With some trepidation, his father agrees. The team of Gamekeepers and Akimbo travel to the farm which has reported the problem. No one actually has seen the lion, but they believe by the sounds and the results that it is surely a lion. The Gamekeepers set a trap, using a goat as bait. The trap is supposed to work by capturing the lion when he goes to get the goat.

The trap is set up, and Akimbo and his father get set to wait out the night and see what happens. As luck would have it, the lion does show up on that night. The trap is sprung, and Akimbo's father goes to check the trap. As soon as his father leaves the hiding place, Akimbo notices, he has forgotten his rifle. His father approaches the trap, and is dismayed to find, the lion is not in the trap. The lion is standing outside the trap, and starts to close in on Akimbo's father.

Akimbo has never shot a rifle before, but he has observed his father use it. He picks up the gun. He aims, and his father tells him, "Shoot into the air." Akimbo does so twice. The lion leaves quickly. Then they go to find out why the trap di not work, and find that it is sprung. Inside is a very small baby lion cub. The rest of the book discusses Akimbo's relationship with the lion cub, and the eventual release of the lion into the wild.

Once again, McCall Smith has created a wonder of a book. It is highly recommended as a children's story. It provides a look at a very different society and world than the American world. In addition, it shows the respect of the people for the animals. All parents with young children should find this book a great addition to their children's reading library.

It was one of the most passionate books I ever read. It made me cry. The pictures were wonderful. The book had very good descriptions. People who like animals, stories that take place in Africa, and love will like this book.

There are some books that are just so informative that no library should be without them. There are some books that are written so well that it is a positive joy to read the text. There are some people who have such a way of looking at the world that you feel comfort hearing them speak. There are people who have seen so much that their opinion is something you seek.

All of these traits are combined in this volume that only Foote's Civil War trilogy can compare with. The small stories that are routinely missed (such as the origin of "the real McCoy) and the relevence of these ordinary people making extrodinary things happen are coupled with the tales of the extraordinary people who had their ordinary vices. (Franklin's advice to take an older mistress because they are both more discreet and more grateful) Both named and unnamed he tells their tale as it fits in the piece of this puzzle of America

Unlike much of history which seems to have an agenda, Cooke's masterpiece is classical, telling a story of grandur without fawning and of warts without lambasting. It is a grand overview rather than a list of presidents, wars and laws. He captures the essense of what is importnat. It is as if he wished to give a consice guide to his compatriots in England of what facinates him about this land that he eventually settled as did many in his story.

It captures what America and Americans are very well and would be an excellent guide to any person who wants to understand us. With so many Americans ignorant of their own history it would be an even better guide to todays college or high school students to make them understand this land of their birth and how it came to be what it is.

This book is 30 years old as I write this (July 4th 2003) at the time he wrote this Cooke was in his 27th year of his Letter from America Broadcast for the BBC. When you finish this book you will find yourself wanting more. Have no fear Mr Cooke is now in his 57th year of his broadcasts telling the story of America 15 minutes at a time continues. Lets hope he dictates a sequel filling in these 30 years.

Besides being a beautifully written, poetic portrait of America's history, the author's British background provides for a totally different perspective. This viewpoint provides a different insight on people and events that an American writer might not have grasped and that I found very interesting and refreshing.

No stiff upper lip Brit here, not at all. As a transplanted British journalist Alistair Cooke who studied in America's Ivy League universities and then returned to America as a BBC correspondent seems to have been deeply affected and impressed by what he saw here. He stayed here and became a citizen. If the little man and his small cracker-barrel anecdotes represented the collective spirit of the country Alistair Cooke's fascination of the common man's philosophy captured that spirit simply and eloquently in his writings. This simple eloquent approach addressed and exposed the heart and feeling of the people that drove the great country for higher aspirations of the human experience. This is what he wrote about. His observations and examination of the Civil War capture the fervent feelings that Americans held be they morally right or wrong. Yet at the end of this struggle the common purpose of the people did not deter them to find their destiny in this land. The spirit never died and that is what Cooke seems to capture, explore and explain in such eloquent words.

Alistair Cooke, who died very recently, was a Briton who first came to America during the dark days of the Great Depression as a very young BBC correspondent. The venerated justice Oliver Wendell Holmes was one of the very first people whom he met - and he writes eloquently of that encounter in the Civil War chapter of this book. Finding our spirit and our optimism contagious, Cooke spent much, if not most of his life here for the next seven decades, getting the know the best and the brightest, the celebrity and the common man on the street, learned about our history with an appreciation that very few - even many Americans - have for this country.

The result is "Alistair Cooke's America" first published as a loving tribute to this country at its Bicentennial in 1976, with a revised forward in 2002, though with no mention of the tumultous events of September 11, 2001. Cooke writes movingly of our history and of the spirit of the American people, the fight for Liberty during the American Revolution, the move westward, that "firebell in the night" (to quote Thomas Jefferson) as the country tore itself apart over the question of Slavery. He writes of the Civil War, interestingly considering Antietam to be a much more significant battle than Gettysburg. His views on Abraham Lincoln are also surprising, in his view that President Lincoln was venerated in great part due to his death, and being the leader of the winning side.

Cooke also spends much more writing space on Woodrow Wilson, whom he clearly admires for his domestic and foreign policies, but either ignores or just wasn't aware of Wilson's Racist policies. By contrast, Theodore Roosevelt, whose Presidency bridged the gap between the Civil War years and America becoming a major power, gets barely two pages.

Cooke's chapter on the "Arsenal of Democracy" is a revelatory look at how America's policy of "Lend Lease" and our subsequent entry into World War II did save the world from Hitlerism, especially when France had fallen and Britain was on the ropes.

Despite some of his views, or perhaps because of them - This well-written and profusely illustrated book deserves the five-star review because Alistair Cooke wrote a history that belongs on every thoughtful American's bookshelf alongside Stephen Ambrose's "To America". The things we take for granted about how great this country is were never missed by this great British writer.

His prose depicting the American people throughout our nation's historical record are eloquent and shear poetry to read. His endearing objectivity and love of this land through his insightful words are stirring and heartwarming. You do not come across this type of writing with genuine devotion, respect and love for what comprised the greatness of the American spirit.

Anyone who was in the Peace Corps in or near Asmara or stationed at Kagnew Station would appreciate this lovely book.

Edward Denison, Guang Yu Ren and Naigzy Gebremedhin's ASMARA: AFRICA'S SECRET MODERNIST CITY examines the nature and architectural innovations of a city which holds one of the highest concentrations of Modernist architecture in the world. Experts with detailed knowledge of the city survey many of the structures, add notes from previously unpublished archival material, and include original photography not to be seen elsewhere. A 'must' for any college-level collection strong in architecture and modern urban landscapes.

A very important work that includes both the Eritrean history and the architectural mystique and prominence of this otherwise unknown city.

I applaud the authors for helping to preserve Eritrea's architectural treasures, which stand as a true gem compared with the rest of the African continent. Outlined in the book are those that were spared from the marauding British and greedy Ethiopian invaders and withstood decades of war.

I spent several years living with my family in Asmara as a young boy. Now as an adult I've been searching for a book that would allow my to do some arm chair traveling back to my former home. Mr. Denison's book allowed me to do that in both word and picture. The book is broken up into a general history section followed by detailed photos on the major architecture of Asmara in each of the significant eras, and offers both vintage and current photographs and design plans of the buildings in the city.

Terrific "lost history" book! Thank you, Mr. Denison, et al,
for rediscovering and sharing this fascinating story with the rest of us!

I absolutely loved this book. I read it with amazement as I compared the events of my time in Zimbabwe to the behind the scenes information presented in the book. I was amazed at just how much was never put on air for the general public to be aware of and also to know the depth of the people's convictions (even when they are wrong) and their willingness to act it out was very intriguing to me. Well written book I even learnt some things about my history I was unaware of. I can't wait for the next book.

The title says it, his book is excellent, written very well, blending the facts and interviews in a flow that makes it easy to read, but i would say it could prove very hard reading if you are not familiar with the area or African politics. I would not give this book to someone to read unless they were from Zimbabwe or studying the history of the country.

What i enjoyed most, having lived in Zimbabwe until 2004 is the book explains the reasons behind what happened, even living in Zimbabwe all my life i have learnt facts i never knew before, it does not change the way i feel but it does give me greater understanding.

As i said, unless you are Zimbabwean, have lived in Zimbabwe or studying the history of the area, this book may prove tough going.

I am originally from Zimbabwe, but left in 1981. I was looking for
a book on the history and current situation on Zimbabwe that would
be informative and not dry. I feel very much more educated about
the various issues that have led this beautiful country to the
very sad situation it now finds itself in. I definately would
suggest others read it.

With a deep understanding and love for this magnificent country, Hill lays out an excellent expos? over Zimbabwe's rise and unfortunate fall under the rule of President Mugabe. By elegantly blending historical events with a large number of interviews from both ZANU-PF officials and the MDC opposition to ordinary Zimbabweans, Hill has created a solid piece that is thorough and analytical but yet easy-to-read. Highly recommended for any reader in search of the root and underlying causes to Zimbabwe's worsening plight.

Africa correspondent for the Washington Times who grew up in different countries of southern Africa, including Zimbabwe, Hill gives a detailed account of the overthrow of the white-controlled government when the country was known as Rhodesia by indigenous black rebels and the subsequent cementing of the autocratic, often brutal rule of Robert Mugabe. Mugabe was one of the leaders of the insurrection and political leader of Zimbabwe (as the country was named after the end of white rule). To a large extent, this is the story of the murky circumstances whereby Mugabe became leader of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), including the assassination of its leader, and its role in helping to keep him in power. Instead of a bona fide political party in a democratic system, ZANU became the enforcement arm of Mugabe's one-man rule. Hill's chronicle of unfortunate Zimbabwe and biographical portrayal of its autocratic leader is a set piece in how things have gone wrong in many countries in Africa.

I love all the Jonathan Scott Big Cat Series Books. This is an excellent book for anyone who loves big cats. Plenty of info on habitat, biology, and great pictures!

I was watching big cat diary from the TV last week, and found out this program is just exactly the book I hv ordered from Amazon in Oct. I am exciting when receive this book. It has many beautiful cheetahs pictures. It worths to be one of your collection.

Being my favourite big cat doco, I had to buy the books to compliment Big Cat Diary.
I was not disappointed. The photos in this Leopard book are entirely unique and often include extremely rare images.
The writers/film makers have experienced some amazing things over their years of filming but most of it isn't covered in the TV series. This book goes into a lot more detail of the lives of certain Leopards and you really become attached to them by name (can be sad when you discover one has died).

Spectacular photos and highly engaging stories make this a winner.

Love the book and the fast service. I love all of the books that Jonathan Scott has written. I just wish in the US that we could still see the Big Cat Diary Series.

I love this book! Leopards are my # 4 favorite animals of all time topped only by jaguars, tigers, and of course lions. I think they are both cool and beautiful. I loved all the ones in here, most definitely the female ones. They were the most cool and beautiful. The only bad part was any of them getting hurt or killed, but other than that this book rocked! The cubs were cute, also. And boy, did I ever learn a lot about lions and hyenas as well as leopards. Like I said, this is a terrific book. I own it at home and will own it until my dying day. I highly reccomend it to anyone over the age of 12. Man, oh man, Amazon.com, you keep up making books like this.

This books is very intense and up front. I spent a couple of months living in a travel trailer in the US and I thought that was quite a difficult adventure, until I read this book.
There's a good interview at www.firstvoicebooks.com/blonde.html with the author.
Ants, roads, shopping for meat, charming festivals, leg sores, it's one heck of an adventure.
Thank goodness I can stay home and just read about it.

Having just returned from Africa, I have to thank Laura Resnick for taking me back there again. Her book paints a perfect picture of an American's experiences in a country that couldn't be more different from ours. From albinos, bugs, strange illnesses, whizzing downhill, the joys of Listerine, showering in the rain, dehydration, communication challenges, etc. Laura shares her trip with us in a heartfelt, often hilarious novel.

Africa is one of the places I've always wanted to go. Resnick, who has gone, shares with the reader an eye-opening look at her experiences over eight months of overland trekking across the African continent. She pulls no punches with regard to her own reactions to the lands, the leaders, her fellow overlanders--and thus gives a brutally honest look at what rustic and challenging overlanding is all about. Wonderfully insightful comments on cultural expectations, and should be required reading for anyone contemplating an African journey. You won't think the same about yourself or Africa once you've finished this book.

If you've ever wanted to camp your way across Africa from north to south--or even if your adventuring is strictly of the armchair variety--you'll love this account by a 30 year old romance/science fiction author of her half a year spent traveling by camper/bus across Africa. Funny, thoughtful, and honest, I found it compelling (the night I started it I was exhausted, and couldn't put it down until Chapter 10, and only because I was about to keel over!) and thought-provoking.I recommend it highly

What a worthwhile book! Laura Resnick shares her adventures on an overland adventure in Africa. What is great about this book is that it is refreshingly honest. Laura is very upfront about everything. She tells it like it is from how and where to the bathroom to what she realy thinks about hiking. If you like reading travel journals you're going to like this book!

Charles Herrick did an excellent job of bringing the story of his experience to me. I passed the book along to my friend, Diane, and she expressed her appreciation of the story and the contribution of Mr. Herrick in Africa.

Jacque Stallman and Diane Carmel

Poetry, Rich text and Dialogue encouraged me to read more. I did not want Herrick's adventure to end.Photogrphs bring the story alive.It left me with a feeling that we must all go the distance to make earth a much better place.

This is a beautifully written, personal account of the daily life, and unimaginably difficult existance of the average, rural people of Kenya. It'll make you laugh and cry, and feel hope and outrage, all on the same page. It's full of grippping imagery and beautiful prose. Written from the perspective of a Christian missionaly, I, as a non-Christian, found it to be both humanly and spiritually enlightening. I highly recommend it to anyone who considers himself to be a citizen of the world.

Before reading Breath of Kenya Africa was a continent far away, one with issues that prompted me to give money to relief organizations now and again. Reading Herrick's book put Kenya in my living room and in my heart.

I was particularly touched by the story of a widow, emaciated from aids and just a day from death who makes a final trip to her abandoned marital home in search of her red dress. The story later to reveal she was only 16.

The author does not soft pedal the cause and effect relationship of the health crisis he encounters. One Christian reviewer equates this candidness to discrimination and judgment, purporting the Kenyan's need for facilitation. Herrick unapologetically demonstrates a need for involvement far beyond facilitation into an axiom of change. Which he exemplifies by making this challenging journey, helping the people and taking the time to tell this story.

The book is a potent read and a call to action, I recommend it to anyone whoo wants to believe one person can make the world a better place.

There are books that open your eyes and books that move you. This book did both. I was truly moved by what I read. It was written in a way that made you feel like you were right next door to the strange goings on.

From a purely literary standpoint it is a very strong piece of work - especially considering it is a book that was derived from a journal. It does not read like a journal at all. It feels more like a drama with a bunch of comic relief to keep you sane.

I originally bought it because I wanted to know more about Kenya. This book told the odd little occurrences in a way that makes you laugh out loud but it also moves you to tears.

This book really needs to be read by everyone but I think women especially relate to it because it covers the issue of African women so openly.

If I had to some it up in four words I would say: "I had no idea." I give this book 5 stars and I'm star-stingy.

This is a great book-exciting, exotic and fascinating as Bass profiles different scientific and social scientific researchers' projects in Africa. One gets a feel for the different cultures and ecosystems viewed through the lens of his portraits.

I was talking with a friend today who is bound for Uganda and as I rummaged around the attic of my mind, remembered what a pleasure this book was when I read it over ten years ago. I highly recommend it. Perhaps I shall read it again.

This is a book for people that think scientists walk around in white coats spouting equations at each other and relating dysfunctionaly to the rest of the world. Learn about science as a way of life, a way of seeing the world and accepting its challenges. Yes, Africa is somewhat of a mess, but as Africa goes, so may go the planet. Tom Bass brings you beautifully into this chaos and gives you the flavor of life with scientists who have let it all hang out, put it all on the line, in their fascination with and commitment to an important way of looking at the world. It's a new genre: Guerilla Science.

Camping With the Prince, a 1990 book by the science journalist Thomas Bass, is a rare find and highly recommended. Most books on contemporary Africa are gloomy and angry. Some are hostile towards Africans, some towards Westerners, some towards both. Camping With the Prince is neither. Instead it is a fascinating look at things which are going right. Bass deserves praise for that alone. But his topics are fascinating in their own right. In seven chapters, Bass investigates seven areas of scientific research in various parts of sub-Saharan Africa. They range from sustainable forestry in Mali, to the response of nomad communities in Kenya to food shortages, Nigerian research on insect pests and virology, and on to paleoanthropology and the mating habits of the multicolored cichlid fish of Lake Malawi. To the extent there are villains in this book, they are international specialists in foreign aid, who have spent forty years delivering bad advice on agricultural policy and building dams that spread the guinea worm. But in fact the villains are very few. Much more common are people like Thomas Risley Odhiambo, a Kenyan entomologist who founded the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology in Nairobi, which carries out world-class research on low-impact pest controls. Bass asks Dr. Odhiambo how Kenya -- and by extension Africa generally -- can afford such a program when many Kenyans have no potable drinking water. Odhiambo makes an equally obvious reply: '"My own feeling is that we have to run on twin tracks," he says. "We have the longer-range problems that depend on science and technology. We must solve them. At the same time we must tackle these problems arising from urbanization and dislocation from the land. If we take only one track and not the other, we will be in worse trouble, because we will have no future in terms of strategies for the long run." Odhiambo's realistic but hopeful attitude -- a recognition of contemporary problems, coupled with the faith that Africa can overcome and transcend them -- is typical of the people Bass meets. They are Africans like Odhiambo and the Nigerian virologist Oyewale Tomori, Westerners like Jeremy Swift, an Englishman who has spent fifteen years living among nomads in the dry savannas, and even East Asians like Odhiambo's Chinese colleague Lu Qing Guang, who conducts research on insects like the trichogramma wasp which prey on common pests. The book has one minor flaw, in that it presents readers with seven more or less independent chapters rather than a coherent narrative. Bass also demands some effort from the reader, as his book addresses complex scientific issues without condescension. Those who will be put off by discussions of nematodes, Lorenzian biological aggression theory or the life cycle of the tsetse fly will find parts of the book pretty dense. But most readers who take up a book like this will view technical detail a strength rather than a weakness. And altogether, Camping With the Prince is a well-written, welcome respite from the bleak tone of most writing on modern Africa. Bass has done a fine job and deserves readers.

This is a book for people that think scientists walk around in white coats spouting equations at each other and relating dysfunctionaly to the rest of the world. Learn about science as a way of life, a way of seeing the world and accepting its challenges. Yes, Africa is somewhat of a mess, but as Africa goes, so may go the planet. Tom Bass brings you beautifully into this chaos and gives you the flavor of life with scientists who have let it all hang out, put it all on the line, in their fascination with and commitment to an important way of looking at the world. It's a new genre: Guerilla Science.

This was the first, but it won't be the last, travel guide I'll buy from the Bradt series.

It contains an outstanding overview of the Islands' geology, political history and economy along with great suggestions for active sports tourism and passive sightseeing.

I was so impressed I bought the Bradt guide to the Canary Islands too.

Both will come in handy on a trans-Atlantic cruise we've booked for this Fall.

I first visited the Cape Verdes in 1987 while researching the ATLANTIC ISLANDS, a sailing guide covering the Azores, Madeira group, Canaries and Cape Verdes, now in its third edition. Getting information on the Cape Verdes in the English language was difficult in the extreme -- if only Aisling and Colum's excellent book had been available then! These days no sane person should visit the islands without reading it first. The Cape Verdes come as something of a culture shock after the Canaries -- this book will explain why, and help you get the most from the experience. Buy it!

This was just the sort of thing a hardened backpacker needed. It had all the useful nooks and crannies of info you need - plus the fact that it filled in a lot of the extra info you like to get about a place you're seeing. They gave a great account of the islands' history - it was really moving.

Irwin and Wilson's guide gives you all the factual information you need, and in addition succeeds in capturing the spirit of Cape Verde, with boxes on cultural and historical issues linked to each island. There is no doubt about it: This is the best guide available. If you read German, Rolf Osang's "Kapverdische Inseln" from Dumont is nearly as good and a useful supplement (especially when it comes to photos). The chapters on Cape Verde in Rough Guides' and Lonely Planet's books on West Africa are neither up-to-date nor in-depth enough if you plan to spend more than a few days in Cape Verde (which you should!).

The appendix on Crioulo language in Irwin and Wilson's book is brief but good. Don't be put off by the nasty details on horrible diseases in the section on health!

If you plan on visiting the Islands of Cape Verde, this travel guide is essential. I have not found a better or more thorough guide. I currently live here but I am American and I knew nothing of the islands when I arrived. But after living here a while, I discovered that this book is as accurate as I initially thought. There are few things misspelled but that is to be overlooked by the amount of truely uselful and thorough the information is. I also liked the little touches of background and history on each island. It is very well done.