Books About Africa
for information and enjoyment
Historical
Ayittey, George B.N. – Africa Unchained—Blueprint for Africa’s Future
2005, Current Analysis
Diamond, Jared – Guns, Germs & Steel
1999 The World as it developed
Hochschild, Adam – King Leopold’s Ghost
1999, “A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa”
Mandela, Nelson – Long Walk to Freedom
Autobiographical, 1994, South Africa
Parkenham, Thomas – Scramble for Africa
1991 Africa and Europe, 1876 to 1912
Personal Experience and Report
Burgess, Alan – Daylight Must Come
Biographical 1975, D R Congo
Cotlow, Lewis – Zanzabuku (Dangerous Safari)
1956, East Africa
Easterly, William: The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest have Done so Much Ill and so Little Good
2006, A very readable insiders view of the workings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund with a helpful critique of their misguided and unsuccessful efforts.
Kyemba, Henry – A State of Blood
1974, Uganda, Idi Amin
Maathai, Wangari: Unbowed
2006, The Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2004 writes of her efforts to involve thousands of women in planting millions of trees in the Green Belt Movement. Her chief opposition came from her own Kenyan government and she realized the importance of building democratic processes. Every activist who dreams of establishing democracies in the developing countries should read this book. The message is that it must be done on the inside. It can’t be done by outsiders. It would be well for this book to be read by every American woman. It is on a par with Nelson Mandela’s autobiography.
Nazer, Mende & Lewis, Damien – Slave, My True Story
2003, Contemporary, Sudan
Owens, Mark & Delia – Cry of the Kalahari
1984, Botswana
Theroux, Paul – Dark Star Safari
2003, Overland from Cairo to Capetown
Van der Post, Lauren – Lost World of the Kalahari
Botswana, the San or Bushmen, A Classic, 1958
Novels
Kingsolver, Barbara – The Poisonwood Bible
1999 D.R. Congo
Paton, Alan Paton – Cry the Beloved Country
1948, South Africa and Apartheid
Smith, Alex. McCall: The #1 Ladies Detective Agency, 1998
also: . . . . . . . . . . . Tears of the Giraffe, 2000
The first 2 books of a delightful and popular series taking place in Botswana. The 8th in the series “The Good Husband of Zebra Drive” has been released in April of 2007.
** To receive a thumbnail sketch of any of the above books, refer to the author of these games. See the contact page of this website.