African History

‘One of the greatest writers of our time.’ Toni Morrison You Don’t Know Us Negroes adds immeasurably to our understanding of Hurston … her words make it impossible for readers to consider her anything but one of the intellectual giants of the 20th century.’ The New York Times Book Review Introduction by New York Times bestselling author Henry Louis Gates...

This book is a selective retrospective of David Goldblatt, a key figure in twentieth-century and contemporary photography. Starting from his earliest photographic searchings, it shows the foundations of Goldblatt's critical passion for photography, his social sensitivity, and political consciousness. Also to see are his most recent photographs, always in tight relation to the changing situation in South Africa, his native...

Composed of paper, commercial packaging, and the stuff of everyday life, Bodys Isek Kingelez's extreme maquettes transform these materials into fantastic visions that encompass civic buildings, public monuments, and private pavilions. Published to accompany the first retrospective of his work, this book traces the span of Kingelez's career, from early single structure works included in Centre Pompidou's landmark 1989 exhibition,...

Longlisted for the 2024 Berger Prize. An important illustrated history of the relationship between Cambridge and the Black Atlantic. Between 1400 and 1900, European powers, not least Britain, colonised the Americas and transported over 12.5 million people from sub-Saharan Africa as slaves. The contested space, formed by the interactions of multiple people and cultures, both Black and white, we now...

For decades, African nations have fought for the return of countless works of art stolen during the colonial era and placed in Western museums. In Africa's Struggle for Its Art, Bénédicte Savoy brings to light this largely unknown but deeply important history. One of the world's foremost experts on restitution and cultural heritage, Savoy investigates extensive, previously unpublished sources to...

"After existing orally for hundreds of years, Sunjata was written down in the 20th century. David Conrad, who recorded a new version of the epic, has now crafted a prose translation that preserves the oral flavour of live performance. The result is a captivating work of literature that will finally give the story of Sunjata its well-deserved place among the...

"Featuring a clever introduction and judicious collection of documents, Michael Rutz's book neatly captures the drama of one king's quest to build an empire in Central Africa—a quest that began in the name of anti-slavery and free trade and ended in the brutal exploitation of human lives. This volume is an excellent starting point for anyone interested in the history...

Why is the Horn such a distinctive part of Africa? This book, by one of the foremost scholars of the region, traces this question through its exceptional history and also probes the wildly divergent fates of the Horn's contemporary nation-states, despite the striking regional particularity inherited from the colonial past. Christopher Clapham explores how the Horn's peculiar topography gave rise...

Zanzibari Muslim Moderns is a historical study of Zanzibar during the interwar years. This was a period marked by rapid intellectual and social change in the Muslim world, when ideas of Islamic progress and development were hotly debated. How did this process play out in Zanzibar? Based on a wide range of sources—Islamic and colonial, private and public—Anne K. Bang...

The war in Ethiopia's northern region of Tigray began in November 2020. It inflicted more casualties than any other contemporary conflict in the world. It has also been among the least understood. The fighting and accompanying blockade led to an estimated 600,000 deaths—more than the number who died in the 1984-5 famine. International journalists were banned as the region was...

Since 2017, Mozambique has been confronted with a jihadi insurgency. This book looks at the origins of that insurgency, and the broader and longer history of the relationship between Islam and politics in the country. Did Mozambique's Muslim politics always point towards jihad? Eric Morier-Genoud examines the period immediately after independence, when the state engaged in anticlericalism; he then moves...

A lively history of an extraordinary island and the people who call it home. Many countries have an interesting tale to tell about their origins and evolution. But few are as exciting and adventurous as that of Mauritius, the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean. A tiny island of volcanoes, dodos, and lagoons, Mauritius remained untouched by humans until...

A Foreign Affairs Best Book of 2022 In 1935, Fascist Italy invaded the sovereign state of Ethiopia—a war of conquest that triggered a chain of events culminating in the Second World War. In this stunning and highly original tale of two Churches, historian Ian Campbell brings a whole new perspective to the story, revealing that bishops of the Italian Catholic...

This is an analytical history of the role Tigrinya-speakers have played and are still playing in the history of Ethiopia and Eritrea, from Tigray's very ancient incipience to the origins of today's tragically fratricidal war. Drawing from his huge corpus of publications on the Horn of Africa, Haggai Erlich sheds new light on major turning-points, as well as patterns of...

North Korea was an important player in the decolonisation of Africa. Freedom fighters across the continent received vital assistance from Pyongyang, and almost all southern African independence leaders travelled to the North Korean capital at some point, in search of support. This alliance has continued into the twenty-first century, with African postcolonial governments throwing a lifeline to Pyongyang's increasingly isolated...

Focusing on the arrival of the human figure as a subject of art, Mary Beard examines the history of beauty in civilisation. Beginning with the Jericho painted skulls from 10,000 years ago, and the extraordinary figures of Ain Ghazal, it examines in depth the creativity that gave identity to ancient Egypt, where colossi of powerful rulers were also matched by...

Like its African neighbours, Eritrea attained colonial statehood under a European power, in this case Italy. Yet, during decolonisation, its people were singularly excluded from the right to self-determination, for external reasons: superpower rivalry over the country's strategic position on the Red Sea; a mistaken notion of irreconcilable sectarian differences within Eritrea's population, invoked in order to brand it a...

Like its African neighbours, Eritrea attained colonial statehood under a European power, in this case Italy. Yet, during decolonisation, its people were singularly excluded from the right to self-determination, for external reasons: superpower rivalry over the country's strategic position on the Red Sea; a mistaken notion of irreconcilable sectarian differences within Eritrea's population, invoked in order to brand it a...

'A searing, nourishing journey through a history the world needs' - Bettany Hughes, bestselling author of The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World 'Please read it!' - Philippa Gregory, bestselling author of Normal Women 'Poetic and fierce' - Olivette Otele, author of African Europeans 'An exciting and rich work for anyone who is curious about African history' - Paterson Joseph,...

A compendium of fascinating and evocative new writing on railway travel and history. Telling of little-known journeys and uncovered histories on railway routes around the world—from the UK, Europe and Africa to North America, the Middle East and Asia. From Myanmar's highlands to the British Pennines, from slow travel between coffee plantations in Borneo to a cross-continent odyssey on African...

With an introduction by award-winning novelist Barbara Kingsolver. In the late nineteenth century, when the great powers in Europe were tearing Africa apart and seizing ownership of land for themselves, King Leopold of Belgium took hold of the vast and mostly unexplored territory surrounding the Congo River. In his devastatingly barbarous colonisation of this area, Leopold stole its rubber and...

A groundbreaking history of Africa's looted architectural heritage and a bold proposal for the repatriation of the continent's stolen cultural artefacts. Between the nineteenth century and today, colonial officials, collectors, and anthropologists dismembered African buildings and dispersed their parts to museums in Europe and the United States. Most of these artefacts were catalogued as ornamental art objects, which erased their...

For decades, African nations have fought for the return of countless works of art stolen during the colonial era and placed in Western museums. In Africa’s Struggle for Its Art, Bénédicte Savoy brings to light this largely unknown but deeply important history. One of the world's foremost experts on restitution and cultural heritage, Savoy investigates extensive, previously unpublished sources to...

Winner of the Mbokodo Award for Women in the Arts for Literature, the ATKV (Afrikaans Language and Culture Association) Award for non-fiction and the kykNet/Rapport Award for non-fiction. 'Here was Emily . . . in these diaries and scrapbooks. An unprecedented, intimate angle on the real Emily' Elsabé Brits has drawn on a treasure trove of previously private sources, including...

It was the British victory at the Battle of El Alamein in November 1942 that inspired one of Churchill's most famous aphorisms: 'This is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning'. And yet the true significance of this iconic episode remains unrecognised. In this thrilling historical...

Introduced by Lois Pryce, author of Lois on the Loose, Red Tape & White Knuckles, and Revolutionary Ride. In 1959, Barbara Toy, famous for her solo overland travels in North Africa and Arabia, set out in her trademark Land Rover to drive from Libya to Ethiopia. Alone, she crossed the Sahara Desert and the equatorial forests of the Congo before...

On 7 December 1941, an armada of 354 Japanese warplanes launched a surprise attack on the United States, killing 2,403 people and forcing America's entry into the Second World War. With vivid prose and astonishing detail, Craig Nelson combines thrilling historical drama with individual concerns and experiences, following an ensemble of sailors, soldiers, pilots, diplomats, admirals, generals, the emperor, and...

A Nobel laureate offers a keen, thought-provoking analysis of Africa's current crises and points the way to cultural and political renewal. A member of the unique generation of African writers and intellectuals who came of age in the last days of colonialism, Wole Soyinka has witnessed the promise of independence and lived through postcolonial failure. He deeply comprehends the pressing...

'We need this book' SIMON REEVE 'Illuminating' FINANCIAL TIMES Why is Africa often perceived as a single country? What role did African soldiers play in the Second World War? Who else led the charge against Apartheid in South Africa? How did an African man become one of the wealthiest people in history? It's a Continent unravels these untold stories and...

During years of travelling through North Africa, author Barnaby Rogerson has encountered a handful of stories so complicated that he could not place them into neat, tidy narratives. These are stories of characters who were neither distinctly good nor noticeably bad, neither malicious nor noble. In Search of Ancient North Africa is a journey into the ruins of a landscape...

The Image of the European in African Art—a companion to The Image of the Black in Western Art series—is profusely illustrated, including many little-known works, ranging from the sixteenth century to the present day. This is the richest and most comprehensive treatment of the subject to have yet appeared, following on the work of Julius Lips and Nii O. Quarcoopone....

'A historically insightful read' Financial Times 'A wry, rollicking, and provocative history' Michael Taylor, author of The Interest 'A thought-provoking analysis of Africa's relationship with economic imperialism' Astrid Madimba and Chinny Ukata, authors of It’s A Continent We need to think differently about African economics. For centuries, Westerners have tried to ‘fix’ African economies. From the abolition of slavery onwards,...

Foreword by Bernardine Evaristo Award-winning author and cultural critic Sarah Ladipo Manyika takes us on a remarkable journey across contemporary cultural and political landscapes as she talks to some of the most distinguished black thinkers of our times, including Nobel Laureates Toni Morrison and Wole Soyinka, and civic leaders First Lady Michelle Obama and Senator Cory Booker. We meet activists,...

In this World War II military history, Rommel's army is a day from Cairo, a week from Tel Aviv, and the SS is ready for action. Espionage brought the Nazis this far, but espionage can stop them if Washington wakes up to the danger. As World War II raged in North Africa, General Erwin Rommel was guided by an uncanny...

On 11 October 1899, the Second Boer War between the British and the Boers began. The war saw the most powerful professional army in the world pitted against the unconventional tactics of the undisciplined Boers. Although the Boers were finally forced to surrender in May 1902, the war had taken its toll on their opponents, who lost some 8,000 troops...

The Boer War of 1899-1902 was an epic of heroism and bungling, cunning and barbarism, with an extraordinary cast of characters including Churchill, Rhodes, Conan Doyle, Smuts, Kipling, Gandhi, Kruger, and Kitchener. The war revealed the ineptitude of the British military and unexpectedly exposed the corrupt underside of imperialism in the establishment of the first concentration camps, the shooting of...

A panoramic global history of Africa in the age of imperialism Africa's long nineteenth century was a time of revolutionary ferment and cultural innovation for the continent's states, societies, and economies. Yet the period preceding what became known as the Scramble for Africa by European powers in the decades leading up to World War I has long been neglected in...

Beneath the waters of Abukir Bay, at the edge of the northwestern Nile Delta, lie the submerged remains of once-lost ancient Egyptian cities that sank over 1,200 years ago, but were dramatically rediscovered in the last years of the 20th century. Pioneering underwater excavations, begun in 1999 and still underway, are uncovering an array of ancient buildings and artefacts. Temple...

Winner, James Beard Foundation Book Award for Reference, History, and Scholarship 2023, Food Winner, Harriet Tubman Prize 2023 Slaves for Peanuts is described as 'a complex story crossing time and oceans' (National Public Radio). This prizewinning book by Jori Lewis deftly weaves together the natural and human history of a crop that transformed the lives of millions. 'With elegant prose...

It was the war that changed everything, and yet it's been mostly forgotten: in 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia. It dominated newspaper headlines and newsreels. It inspired mass marches in Harlem, a play on Broadway, and independence movements in Africa. As the British Navy sailed into the Mediterranean for a white-knuckle showdown with Italian ships, riots broke out in major cities...

'The definitive work on the subject....This is the achievement of a masterly, first-rate historian' New York Times Book Review 'It's a brilliantly orchestrated book, wonderfully rich in detail, but at the same time roaring along at a heart-thumping pace...' Mail on Sunday 'A brilliant, breathless account that reads like the plot of an action movie.' Sunday Telegraph On 3 July...

A concise, illustrated account of Operation Crusader, which proved the ability of the British Army to defeat the Germans in Africa. On 18 November 1941, the British launched Operation Crusader against the Axis positions in Africa. The plan was to bring the armour of the German Afrika Korps to battle and to beat it in open warfare with the now...

This fascinating work challenges many of the accepted facts about the concentration camps run by the British during the South African War. The author demonstrates that much of what we have traditionally understood about these camps originates from the testimony which was solicited, selected and published by key women activists within Boer proto-nationalist circles. Using detailed archival evidence, she shows...

'A wonderful debut by a talented and exciting young historian' Peter Frankopan 'Simultaneously capacious and personal...a masterful achievement' Tom Holland 'Elegant and powerful, Pepera's magnificent book elevates our understanding of Africa's overlooked histories' Olivette Otele, author of African Europeans Motherland is a ground-breaking exploration of African culture and identity, told via Luke Pepera's journey through 500,000 years of history to...

Nicknamed the 'Libyan Desert Taxi Service' by the SAS, the Long Range Desert Group was tasked with strategic reconnaissance and raiding operations deep inside the enemy-held deserts of North Africa. Armed with light weapons only, and equipped with specially converted light cars and trucks capable of withstanding the harsh conditions, the LRDG quickly proved it could operate in parts of...

Specially commissioned artwork and thrilling combat accounts transport the reader to the far-flung and inhospitable East African theatre of World War I, where the Schutztruppe faced off against the King's African Rifles. In an attempt to divert Allied forces from the Western Front, a small German colonial force under the command of Oberst Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck raided British and Portuguese...

A dramatic intellectual biography of Victorian jurist Travers Twiss, who provided the legal justification for the creation of the brutal Congo Free State. Eminent jurist, Oxford professor, advocate to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Travers Twiss (1809-1897) was a model establishment figure in Victorian Britain and a close collaborator of Prince Metternich, the architect of the Concert of Europe. Yet Twiss's...

Since independence from Great Britain in 1963, Kenya has survived five decades as a functioning nation-state, holding regular elections; its borders and political system intact, and avoiding open war with its neighbours and military rule internally. It has been a favoured site for Western aid, trade, investment and tourism and has remained a close security partner for Western governments. However,...

‘. . . we need this book. Of course Africa needs it as well, because no other huge area of the planet is treated as such a singular region, and that has to change. But the rest of the planet needs It's a Continent because we miss out by not recognising the individual majesty, the complexity, the beauty, the culture...

This book tells the story of Task Force Ranger – a unit of US Rangers and Special Forces – and their attempt to capture the lieutenants of the Somali warlord Muhamed Farrah Aideed, during the 1993 United Nations' humanitarian relief mission. What started as a simple snatch-and-grab mission quickly degenerated into a desperate battle for survival when US Black Hawk...

A historical journey to unearth the Egypt of the imagination. Now available in paperback, Egyptomania takes us on a historical journey to unearth the Egypt of the imagination, a land of strange gods, mysterious magic, secret knowledge, monumental pyramids, enigmatic sphinxes and immense wealth. Egypt has always exerted a powerful attraction on the Western mind, and an array of figures...

Formed in September 1941 from the Western Desert Force, British 8th Army (comprising British, Commonwealth, Free French and Polish troops) went on to wage a lengthy, hard-fought campaign against Axis forces across the deserts of North Africa. The Desert War was unlike any other fought by the British Army, involving highly mobile operations covering vast distances. The hot, unforgiving climate...

Think that Ancient Egypt is just a load of old obelisks? Don't bet your afterlife on it. Ancient Egypt should be deader than most of our yesterdays. After all, it was at its height 5,000 years ago. Yet we still marvel at its mummies and ponder over its pyramids. It's easy to forget these people once lived and laughed, loved...

Dancing in the Glory of Monsters was selected as a Best Book of the Year by The Economist and the Wall Street Journal. At the heart of Africa lies the Congo, a country the size of Western Europe, bordering nine other nations. Since 1996, it has been engulfed in a brutal war that has claimed millions of lives. In Dancing...

In 1897, two Oxford archaeologists began digging a low sand-covered mound a hundred miles south of Cairo. When they had finally finished, ten years later, they had uncovered 500,000 fragments of papyri. Shipped back to Oxford, the meticulous and scholarly work of piecing together these fragments unveiled an extraordinary insight into the lives of those who lived in the ancient...

A spine-tingling exploration of a venture as ancient as the pyramids themselves. To secure a comfortable afterlife, ancient Egyptians built fortress-like tombs and filled them with precious goods, a practice that generated staggering quantities of artefacts over the course of many millennia. This practice has also drawn thieves and tomb-raiders to Egypt since antiquity. Drawing on modern scholarship, reportage, and...

The incredible story of an Israeli mission that rescued 103 hostages from a hijacked jetliner. On July 27, 1976, Air France Flight 139 was hijacked by terrorists and flown to Entebbe Airport in Uganda. In the following agonising days, Israeli passengers were singled out and held hostage. A week later, on July 4, one hundred Israeli commandos raced 2,500 miles...

This book presents a series of sketches of lives, thought and impact of thirty-seven individuals in relation to Pan-Africanism. Offering overviews of movements, groups, and detailed biographies, the chapters provide insights into the individuals who have animated the Pan-African Pantheon. With forty accessible essays on the key intellectual contributions to Pan-Africanism, this volume offers readers a fascinating insight into the...

'Exploring the past, bringing it to vivid life with wonderful prose . . . Pedder writes with perspicacity and sensitivity . . . We need more books like this' Observer 'Fascinating and engrossing' Literary Review How did South Africa turn out the way it did? In Moederland - 'Motherland', in Afrikaans - Cato Pedder takes us on an eye-opening journey...

Moederland is a courageous and modern appraisal of what it means to be descended from the people who created the ultraracist apartheid system in South Africa. Illuminating its turbulent history through the lives of her female ancestors, it presents a history of South Africa like no other, told from the perspective of women long silenced in the historical narrative. It...

Mandela: His Essential Life chronicles the life and legacy of one of the twentieth century's most influential and admired statesmen. Charting his development from remote rural roots to city lawyer, freedom fighter, and then political leader, Peter Hain takes an in-depth look at Mandela's rise through the ranks of the African National Congress (ANC) and subsequent 27 years imprisonment on...

‘A lyrical investigation … both powerful and transcendent’ CHIGOZIE OBIOMA ‘Acutely observed, hauntingly rendered and deeply affecting’ AMINATTA FORNA ‘Both epic and intimate’ MARGO JEFFERSON An astonishing search for a missing person, the hidden tragedies of war and the truth of Nigeria’s history. Emmanuel Iduma never met his uncle, his father’s favourite brother and the man for whom he is...

Dreaming the Karoo by Julia Blackburn is a spellbinding new book by the much-acclaimed writer, a journey to South Africa in search of the lost people called the /Xam. This haunting book explores the brutality of colonial frontiers and the fate of those they dispossess. In spring 2020, Julia Blackburn travelled to the Karoo region of South Africa to see...

The massive bestselling life story of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt - 350,000 hardbacks sold in 22 weeks on New York Times List. Cleopatra's palace shimmered with onyx and gold but was richer still in political and sexual intrigue. Though her life spanned fewer than forty years, it reshaped the contours of the ancient world. Famous long before she was notorious,...

A major new look at how Africa’s geological history, climate, geography and biology resulted in the wonderful diversity of life found there. It is also the story of how it was the crucible for the evolution of the most extraordinary species on Earth – Homo sapiens. Origin Africa examines the unique properties of the African continent, demonstrating how they ensured...

GUARDIAN: BOOKS TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2024 WATERSTONES: JANUARY’S BEST BOOKS BBC: BOOK HIGHLIGHTS FOR 2024 ‘GRIPPING’ THE TIMES This is an immersive and revelatory history of the survivors of the Clotilda, the last ship of the Atlantic slave trade, whose lives diverged and intersected in profound ways. The Clotilda docked in Mobile Bay, Alabama, in July 1860 –...

‘A lyrical investigation … both powerful and transcendent’ CHIGOZIE OBIOMA ‘Acutely observed, hauntingly rendered and deeply affecting’ AMINATTA FORNA ‘Both epic and intimate’ MARGO JEFFERSON An astonishing search for a missing person, the hidden tragedies of war and the truth of Nigeria’s history. Emmanuel Iduma never met his uncle, his father’s favourite brother and the man for whom he is...

An exhilarating and tragicomic debut novel about the indomitable child of a scorned, formerly land-owning family in the wake of Ethiopia's socialist revolution. Extraordinary - Maaza Mengiste Exhilarating - Elif Batuman Selam is the youngest child in a large turbulent family. Even before she is born, her omniscience animates life in a small town in 1980s southwestern Ethiopia. Selam and...

A new collection of literary criticism and brilliant insights from one of the giants of contemporary thinking. Who owns language? In Decolonizing Language and Other Revolutionary Ideas, Ngugi wa Thiong'o presents a series of essays that build on his vast wealth of work on language and its constructive role in national culture, history, and identity. Intricate, nuanced, and accessible, it...

A lost imperial city, full of wonder and marvels. An empire that was the largest the world had ever seen, established with astonishing speed. A people obsessed with travel, knowledge, and adventure. Winner of the Indie Book Awards 2023 Non Fiction Book of the Year Shortlisted for the BookPeople Non Fiction Book of the Year 2023 When Richard Fidler came...

The New York Times Bestseller ‘A fascinating exploration into the lives of three women ignored by history … Eye-opening, engrossing’Brit Bennett, bestselling author of The Vanishing Half In her groundbreaking debut, Anna Malaika Tubbs tells the incredible stories of three women who raised three world-changing men. Much has been written about Berdis Baldwin's son James, Alberta King's son Martin Luther,...

This is a very personal book, about being alone and lost. In 1975, Kapuscinski's employers sent him to Angola to cover the civil war that had broken out after independence. For months, he watched as Luanda and then the rest of the country collapsed into a civil war that was, in the author's words, 'sloppy, dogged and cruel'. In his...

‘POETIC AND FIERCE’ - Olivette Otele, author of African Europeans ‘A RICH, SUMPTUOUS AND BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN TAPESTRY’ - Candice Carty-Williams, author of Queenie ‘A SEARING, NOURISHING JOURNEY THROUGH A HISTORY THE WORLD NEEDS’ - Bettany Hughes, author of The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World ‘PLEASE READ IT!’ - Philippa Gregory, bestselling author of Normal Women Discover the reigns of...

‘One of the great love stories of the twentieth century’ Daily Mail Sir Seretse Khama, the first President of Botswana and heir apparent to the kingship of the Bangwato people, brought independence and great prosperity to his nation after colonial rule. But for six long years from 1950, Seretse had been forced into exile in England, banned from his own...

An updated and retitled edition of History of the World in 1,000 Objects Discover how humans created their world from the objects they left behind - from the US Constitution to the first iPhone - in DK's latest history book. From the beginning of human history, the one thing that has defined us is our talent for making things, from...

Zeinab Badawi, award-winning broadcaster and President of SOAS, tells an epic story of the oldest inhabited continent in the world from an African perspective, for fans of William Dalrymple, David Olusoga and Peter Frankopan. SHORTLISTED FOR THE NERO BOOK AWARDS 2024 An instant Sunday Times bestseller, Radio 4 Book of the Week and Guardian Best Summer Read Selected as a...

An African History of Africa by Zeinab Badawi, award-winning broadcaster and President of SOAS, tells an epic story of the oldest inhabited continent in the world from an African perspective, for fans of William Dalrymple, David Olusoga, and Peter Frankopan. SHORTLISTED FOR THE NERO BOOK AWARDS 2024 An instant Sunday Times bestseller, Radio 4 Book of the Week and Guardian...

The shocking, untold story of how African independence was strangled at birth by America's systematic interference. Accra, 1958. Africa's liberation leaders have gathered for a conference, full of strength, purpose, and vision. Newly independent Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah and Congo's Patrice Lumumba strike up a close partnership. Everything seems possible. But, within a few years, both men will have been targeted...

Precolonial Black Africa by Cheikh Anta Diop juxtaposes the rich, multi-faceted societies of mediaeval West Africa with their European counterparts, revealing a sophisticated and advanced civilisation often overlooked in broader historical narratives. Through meticulous research and analysis, Diop draws on primary sources such as the 'Tarikh-as-Sudan' and the 'Tarikh-al-Fettash' to explore the fundamental components of mediaeval West African civilisation and...

In 1994, the Rwandan government orchestrated a campaign of extermination, inciting the Hutu majority to murder nearly a million Tutsi minorities with chilling efficiency. Over the course of a hundred days, this genocide unfolded while the world stood by, paralysed or indifferent to the horror. One year later, journalist Philip Gourevitch arrived in Rwanda to investigate and document this tragedy,...