African History

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...

‘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,...

The Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham delves into one of the most shocking and rapid colonisation events in world history. Set between 1876 and 1912, the book recounts the dramatic story of how European powers raced to carve up the African continent, transforming it from a land largely ruled by indigenous people into a patchwork of European colonies and...

When Lieutenant General Romeo Dallaire received the call to serve as the force commander for the UN mission in Rwanda, he expected to mediate peace between two warring factions. Instead, he found himself in the midst of one of the most horrifying genocides of the 20th century. Shake Hands with the Devil is not just a memoir; it is an...