Western Africa

In Black Skinhead, Brandi Collins-Dexter explores the fragile alliance between Black voters and the Democratic party. Through sharp, timely essays that span the political, cultural, and personal, Collins-Dexter reveals decades of simmering disaffection in Black America, told as much through voter statistics as through music, film, sports, and the baffling mind of Kanye West. It is also a funny, deeply personal, and introspective look at Black culture and identity, revealing a Black America that has become disillusioned with the failed promises of its country.

Twenty-six African tribal cultures, their respective ceremonies, celebrations, and day-to-day customs are pictorially described here, with some attributes shared by all peoples and some unique to a few.

Ranna Abramson wants to disappear. But she knows she can’t keep running when a former enemy tracks her down in Mumbai with dire news: her onetime lover, journalist Alex Derksen, has disappeared back home in South Africa. Torn between her desire for him and fear of a homecoming, Ranna knows she’s the only one who can find him. But only two things in South Africa would welcome her - the inside of a cell or the bottom of a grave. There, to the police she’s the prime suspect of three murders. To the press she’s the serial killer Black Widow.

Desde aproximadamente el siglo IX hasta el siglo V antes de Cristo, la población de Grecia creció sin precedentes, expandiéndose de aproximadamente 800.000 a 13 millones. Cerca de un cuarto de millón de estos vivían en Atenas. El tamaño promedio de los hogares urbanos durante este período creció considerablemente, un hecho que sugiere que los alimentos estuvieron repentinamente disponibles en excesos suficientes para mantener a las familias más grandes sanas y vivas mucho más eficazmente que solo un milenio antes.

If forgiveness is possible after genocide, then perhaps there is hope for the comparably smaller rifts that plague our relationships, our communities, and our nation. As We Forgive explores the pain, the mystery, and the hope through seven compelling stories of those who have made this journey toward reconciliation.

Xuela’s vivid, visceral recollections of the lonely, unsettled life that follows the trauma of her arrival include that of her distant father, who sends her away to another household at the earliest opportunity; of her passion for the stevedore Roland, who fulfils her sexually but not intellectually; and of her husband, who provides her with status and a wealthy lifestyle but whom she is incapable of loving.

In this humorous Masai tale, Rabbit can't get into her house because "The Long One", hiding inside, threatens to trample her just as he tramples elephants. A solution comes from an unexpected source.

To Westerners, the name Timbuktu long conjured a tantalizing paradise, an African El Dorado where even the slaves wore gold. Beginning in the late 18th century, a series of explorers gripped by the fever for "discovery" tried repeatedly to reach the fabled city. But one expedition after another went disastrously awry, succumbing to attack, the climate, and disease. Timbuktu was rich in another way, too. A medieval center of learning, it was home to tens of thousands of ancient manuscripts.

The “Presidency” has developed into the most powerful institution in the world. These individuals can start and end wars, grow or destroy economies, leave their countries in a better or worse place. The impact of political leadership is felt more acutely in countries that are still developing. This is particularly true across Africa where political leaders are a strong determinant of a country’s sustainable growth trajectory, or lack thereof.

In early November 1834, an aristocratic young couple from Savannah and South Carolina sailed from New York and began a seventeen-year odyssey in West Africa. Leighton and Jane Wilson sailed along what was for them an exotic coastline, visited cities and villages, and sometimes ventured up great rivers and followed ancient paths.

Born in Ghana, West Africa, with one deformed leg, he was dismissed by most people - but not by his mother, who taught him to reach for his dreams. As a boy, Emmanuel hopped to school more than two miles each way, learned to play soccer, left home at age 13 to provide for his family, and, eventually, became a cyclist. He rode an astonishing 400 miles across Ghana in 2001, spreading his powerful message: Disability is not inability. Today, Emmanuel continues to work on behalf of the disabled.

Question: What do you do when the kitchen wall collapses into the vat of beans being cooked for a horde of hungry schoolboys? Answer: You serve it up anyway! Why let a few lumps of clay and the odd metal screw spoil a decent meal? When Bunmi Asaolu arrived at the grand gates of St. John/Mary's Unity Secondary School (SAJOMACO) as a first-year student, you'd be forgiven for assuming he was swapping life on the serene university campus he grew up on for another of equal civility. Wrong! Behind the gates of SAJOMACO lay a world of contradictions.

Based in Washington D.C., Joni Pinter is in serious trouble. After being told by everyone that her boyfriend’s sister, Rumor Mason, is getting released from prison, she is nervous about the future of her long-term relationship with Egan Russ. No matter where she goes, everyone warns her about the trouble Rumor brings if she’s allowed to intrude on the lives of anyone she comes near. In the beginning Joni does her best to maintain a positive attitude, but after being bullied into letting Rumor live in her home by her man, Joni discovers that the stories are all true. Maintaining control ...

A gripping work of reportage that, for the first time, tells the story of "Chucky" Taylor, a young American who lost his soul in Liberia, the country where his African father was a ruthless warlord and dictator.

Are you excited about planning your next trip? Do you want to try something new? Would you like some guidance from a local? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this Greater Than a Tourist book is for you. Greater than a Tourist - Western Cape South Africa by Melanie du Toit offers a local’s insight to the stunning landscapes, diverse culture, and unique experiences offered by the Western Cape.

President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty did more than offer aid to needy Americans; in some cities, it also sparked both racial conflict and cooperation. Race and the War on Poverty examines the African American and Mexican American community organizations in Los Angeles that emerged to implement War on Poverty programs. It explores how organizers applied democratic vision and political savvy to community action, and how the ongoing African American, Chicano, and feminist movements in turn shaped the contours of the War on Poverty’s goals, programs, and cultural identity.

This is third edition in which Godfrey Mwakikagile examines the problems of post-colonial Africa. He contends that the problems have existed since independence in the sixties and have been made worse through the years by a combination of factors. It is a blunt assessment and prescribes some solutions to Africa's problems focusing on internal factors but without exonerating external forces from what has happened on the continent through the decades.

Francis is found. Beyond Francis, a family is found—in archival material that barely deigned to notice their existence. This is the story of Francis Sistrunk and her children, from enslavement into forced migration across South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. It spans decades before the Civil War and continues into post-emancipation America. A family story full of twists and turns, Finding Francis reclaims and honors those women who played an essential role in the historical survival and triumph of Black people during and after American slavery.

Do you like epic tales that sing the deeds of the world’s greatest heroes? If so, you will love this volume of epics from the West African country of Mali. Each is full of battles, derring-do, magic, and prophecies based on historical events.

Rookie FBI Special Agent Elias Tucker is the son of Liberian immigrants and he's living his American Dream. He graduated from Brown and turned his attention to the law. His first assignment with the Bureau is the Phoenix satellite office in Cochise County, Arizona, just a short drive from the Mexican border. His work involves the cross-border drug trade, missing persons, and tracking foreign nationals who have entered the country illegally. He's a cultural fish out of water. Adjusting to his new life will take time, but time isn't something he has. A string of mysterious disappearances ...