Biography/Autobiography
The Ikemba : Remembering Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu
The Ikemba : Remembering Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (1933 - 2011) is a journey through the bravery, unique charisma, profound courage, rare intellect, selfless service, nationalism and unequivocal response to national issues of the late iconic Ikemba of Nnewi, General of the People' Army and Eze Igbo Gburugburu- Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.
THE FASHOLA YEARS By Lukman Olaonipekun
The book THE FASHOLA YEARS is a comprehensive photographic documentation of Governor Fashola’s activities programmes and projects in the sectors of education, health, transportation, Infrastructure, Security, Environment, tourism, Housing, Law and Order and Goveranance in Lagos State, from 2007 to 2015 by his official and personal photographer Lukman Olaonipekun. There is accompanying text of facts and figures
A Matter of Sharing: My Memoir By A.B. Assensoh
A Matter of Sharing is a memoir of Ghana-born A.B. Assensoh, who has lived, studied, and worked in the United Kingdom, Nigeria, and Liberia, where he served in editorial capacities. From Sweden, where he studied at the University of Stockholm and also served as Editor of African Features Service in Scandinavia, he moved to the United States in the mid-1970s, first to serve as a Scholar-in-Residence at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania as well as University of Pennsylvania, and he has lived there ever since. His memoir serves as his recollections of events that bring happiness, mixed feelings and, sometimes, sorrow. Apart from sharing anecdotes of some of the events in West Africa of London, this is the first time that he has committed many of the details.
Cradle of Ideas: A Compendium of Speeches and Writing of Omo N’ Oba Erediauwa of Great Benin Edited By Osarhieme Benson Osadolor
These are, indeed, trying times for Nigeria and its constituent ethnic nationalities. Political instability threatens to rear its ugly head once again, ethnic militias and insurgencies endanger the continued existence of the country, crime and criminality have assumed crisis proportions, and the economy remains in a long- term state of underperformance. In these circumstances, there isneedfor a well-researched book detailing the reasons for these manifestations of systematic failure and proposing a realistic way forward.
The book has been conveniently arranged in six parts as follows:
A. Cultural Development, Traditional Institutions and Governance.
B. Exploring the Past.
C. Vision from the Ivory Tower.
D. Education, Social Mobilization and Sport.
E. Politics, Economics and the State.
F. Media, Religion and Standard of Service.
While it is tempting to review this path-breaking publication by going from one category to the other, the danger is that the output will be excessively long and unnecessarily narrative. The preferred approach adopted is that which is essentially analytic. This requires regrouping into fewer categories in which the world-view or ideological perspective of the revered author arc captured. These are Politics/Constitution Making, Education and Religion.
The book has been conveniently arranged in six parts as follows:
A. Cultural Development, Traditional Institutions and Governance.
B. Exploring the Past.
C. Vision from the Ivory Tower.
D. Education, Social Mobilization and Sport.
E. Politics, Economics and the State.
F. Media, Religion and Standard of Service.
While it is tempting to review this path-breaking publication by going from one category to the other, the danger is that the output will be excessively long and unnecessarily narrative. The preferred approach adopted is that which is essentially analytic. This requires regrouping into fewer categories in which the world-view or ideological perspective of the revered author arc captured. These are Politics/Constitution Making, Education and Religion.
Niyi Osundare: A Literary Biography By Sule E. Egya
In this literary biography, Sule E. Egya, one of Nigeria’s most promising scholar-critics, brings the skills of the storyteller and the scholar to bear on his recreation of the Osundare story. The result is a readable coming-of-age story that traces the writer’s development from his rural and agrarian roots in Nigeria, through his education in Africa, Europe and North America, to his rise to prominence as one of the most versatile poets writing in English today.
There can be no better platform to register the debt that Osundare owes his parentage, the rigorous discipline of his mentors and the diverse environments in which his outlook on the world has been shaped than this carefully crafted biography. Egya highlights Osundare’s prodigious talent, his unwavering ethical compass, his infectious humanism, his enduring faith in the capacity of literature to reshape the world, and the harmony between his creative imagination and polemical writing. Readers and critics will find the biography an indispensable companion to reading Osundare not just because of the illuminating personal and cultural information that it offers, but also because it equally periodizes Osundare’s work in a way no other book has done.
Prof. Oyeniyi Okunoye, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife
In Niyi Osundare: A Literary Biography, Sule E. Egya takes us on a journey of the life experiences of the artist-scholar Niyi Osundare. Indeed, there are some books a reader just can’t put down. This is one of them. It takes you to the other worlds beyond the popular world of artistry and scholarship of one of Africa’s most accomplished men of letters.
Dr. Ogaga Okuyade, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sule E. Egya is professor of African Literature and Cultural Studies at Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, Nigeria. He was formerly Head of the Department of English and Dean of Faculty of Languages and Communication Studies. Widely published and travelled, his interests include literature and politics, literature and the environment, literary theory, and creative writing. He is also an award-winning writer, having authored works of poetry and fiction under the style name E. E. Sule. Among his works are Sterile Sky, winner of the 2013 Commonwealth Prize Africa Region, and the AHP-sponsored Nation, Power and Dissidence in Third Generation Nigerian Poetry in English.
There can be no better platform to register the debt that Osundare owes his parentage, the rigorous discipline of his mentors and the diverse environments in which his outlook on the world has been shaped than this carefully crafted biography. Egya highlights Osundare’s prodigious talent, his unwavering ethical compass, his infectious humanism, his enduring faith in the capacity of literature to reshape the world, and the harmony between his creative imagination and polemical writing. Readers and critics will find the biography an indispensable companion to reading Osundare not just because of the illuminating personal and cultural information that it offers, but also because it equally periodizes Osundare’s work in a way no other book has done.
Prof. Oyeniyi Okunoye, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife
In Niyi Osundare: A Literary Biography, Sule E. Egya takes us on a journey of the life experiences of the artist-scholar Niyi Osundare. Indeed, there are some books a reader just can’t put down. This is one of them. It takes you to the other worlds beyond the popular world of artistry and scholarship of one of Africa’s most accomplished men of letters.
Dr. Ogaga Okuyade, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sule E. Egya is professor of African Literature and Cultural Studies at Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, Nigeria. He was formerly Head of the Department of English and Dean of Faculty of Languages and Communication Studies. Widely published and travelled, his interests include literature and politics, literature and the environment, literary theory, and creative writing. He is also an award-winning writer, having authored works of poetry and fiction under the style name E. E. Sule. Among his works are Sterile Sky, winner of the 2013 Commonwealth Prize Africa Region, and the AHP-sponsored Nation, Power and Dissidence in Third Generation Nigerian Poetry in English.
Academics, Epidemics and Politics: An Eventful Career in Public Health by IDRIS MOHAMMED (Paperback)
Prof. Mohammed, an academic, researcher, and public health physician gives us his lucid views on how physicians can practice medicine in an unjust world.
Essays in Honour of Ama Ata Aidoo at 70: A Reader in African Culture Studies By Anne V. Adams (Editor)
The volume ‘Essays in Honour of Ama Ata Aidoo at 70: A Reader in African Cultural Studies’ (2012) pays tribute to a woman writer from the African continent who has touched worldwide audiences and acknowledges her status as a ‘literary mover and shaker’. The literary-criticism core of the book is complemented by papers on such issues as African oratory, new media, popular culture texts, African identity, race construction and gendered image.
Ama Ata Aidoo was born in Abeadzi Kyiakor in what was then the Gold Coast (later Ghana) in 1940 and grew up in a Fante royal household. She attended Wesley Girls’ High School in Cape Coast and then the University of Ghana at Legon from 1961-1964 where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English. During this time, she also wrote her first play, ‘The Dilemma of a Ghost’, which came out in 1965 and made her the first African woman dramatist to be published.
Since then, Aidoo has written other plays, novels, short stories and poetry as well as numerous essays on African literature and the status of women in African society. One of her best known novels is ‘Our Sister Killjoy, or, Reflections from a Black-eyed Squint’ (1977). She has won many literary awards, including the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book (Africa) for her second novel, ‘Changes: a Love Story’ (1991). Aidoo’s works of fiction deal with the tension between Western and African world views and the politics of gender and sexual inequality in African society.
In addition to her literary career, Aidoo was appointed Minister of Education under the Provisional National Defence Council in 1982, but resigned after 18 months. She then moved to Zimbabwe to become a full-time writer. She has also lived and worked in the US, the UK and Germany. Aidoo was a long-term Visiting Professor in Africana Studies and the Literary Arts at Brown University.
iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business By Jeffrey S. Young.
Lightning never strikes twice, but Steve Jobs has, transforming modern culture first with the Macintosh and more recently with the iPod. He has dazzled and delighted audiences with his Pixar movies. And he has bedeviled, destroyed, and demoralized hundreds of people along the More... way. Steve Jobs is the most interesting character of the digital age.What a long, strange journey it has been. With the mainstream success of the iPod, Pixar's string of hits and subsequent divorce from Disney, and Steve's triumphant return to Apple, his story is better than any fiction. Ten years after the leading maverick of the computer age and the king of digital cool crashed from the height of Apple's meteoric rise, Steve Jobs rose from the ashes in a Machiavellian coup that only he could have orchestrated--and has now become more famous than ever.In this encore to his classic 1987 unauthorized biography of Steve Jobs--a major bestseller--Jeffrey Young examines Jobs' remarkable resurgence, one of the most amazing business comeback stories in recent years. Drawing on a wide range of sources in Silicon Valley and Hollywood, he details how Jobs put Apple back on track, first with the iMac and then with the iPod, and traces Jobs' role in the remarkable rise of the Pixar animation studio, including his rancorous feud with Disney's Michael Eisner.
Orji Kalu: Leadership Lessons From a Master Strategist : Everything Revealed!; Plus the Harvard Secrets
He was a director of many organizations including: Hallmark Bank and Unipetrol. He belongs to many professional and trade bodies and they include, Nigerian Institute of Directors, Nigerian Association of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Manufacturers' Association of Nigeria, Nigeria-Philippines Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nigeria Importers and Exporters Association, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Nigeria-British Chamber of Commerce, Nigeria-Israel Association, and Spartansburg Chamber of Commerce S.C. USA. He was a member of the National Sports Commission under the chairmanship of Chief S.B. Williams between 1989 and 1990, and Federal Government Commission on the Re-grading of Traditional Rulers.
His intimidating political profile, stupendous wealth, international connections, acceptability among his fellow politicians, transparent leadership, crusade against social injustice, corruption and inequity and above all, divine anointing are some of the qualities that stand him out.
Governor Kalu has over 200 traditional titles to his honour and several books to his credit.
Some of the titles are:
OLUIGBO
TUKURAN GWANDU
ZANNA MU'AMALAM OF DIKWA
BANNA ZAKI OF LAPAI
KACHALLA MISAU
KACHALLA BIU
BARDEN MATASAN KEBBI
MMILI NYILI ENYI OF NRI KINGDOM
ARO OF OGBOMOSOLAND
KOLO OF BORNO
AARE BAALORO OF ISOLO
AGUNECHE ABIA
AHAEJIAGAMBE OF IGBERE
AKU ZURU IGBO OF EZIAMA, IMO STATE
ODEZULUIGBO OF NNOKWA, ANAMBRA STATE
ISIBUIGBO OF ATTA IMO STATE
OMENANWATA OF IGBOLAND
ASHIPA SERIKIN MAYEGUN OF IBADAN
BABA METU OF IKARE, EKITI
GARKUWAN KANO
He is yet to formally receive a special title conferred on him by the Alaafin of Oyo, and the Emir of Damaturu respectively.
He has some published and unpublished books to his credit and they include:
My Reflections on Nigeria's National Assembly (Unpublished)
The Problems of Nigeria Unity (Unpublished)
Military in Nigeria Economy (Unpublished)
Police and Crime Operation
Nigeria Foreign Policy and June 12 Crisis
Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sir Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo: The Height of Truth in Nigeria
Orji Uzor Kalu: Lessons from a Master Strategist
He has presented several speeches and lectures locally and internationally. Among them are:
Wake-up call for the Igbo at Igbo Summit in Enugu, January 2001 June 12 Presidential Election and Transition Crisis in Nigeria delivered in Lagos on June 12, 2002 to mark the 11th Anniversary of the annulled June 12 Presidential Election;
Democracy, Accountability and Good Governance at Papa Club, Lagos, September 14, 2002;
The Media In a Democratic Nigeria at the Communications Department of Howard University, Washington D.C. USA, October 25, 2002;
Issues In Nigeria's Contemporary Politics at Liberty University, Virginia, USA, February 2002;
Electoral Violence and the Future of Democracy in Nigeria at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Lagos, February 19, 2003, and Roadmap to Igbo Renaissance at the World Igbo Congress, Tennessee, USA, September 29, 2003.
He is married with a wife. Dr. (Mrs.) Ifeoma Orji Uzor Kalu, and they have two beautiful daughters
His intimidating political profile, stupendous wealth, international connections, acceptability among his fellow politicians, transparent leadership, crusade against social injustice, corruption and inequity and above all, divine anointing are some of the qualities that stand him out.
Governor Kalu has over 200 traditional titles to his honour and several books to his credit.
Some of the titles are:
OLUIGBO
TUKURAN GWANDU
ZANNA MU'AMALAM OF DIKWA
BANNA ZAKI OF LAPAI
KACHALLA MISAU
KACHALLA BIU
BARDEN MATASAN KEBBI
MMILI NYILI ENYI OF NRI KINGDOM
ARO OF OGBOMOSOLAND
KOLO OF BORNO
AARE BAALORO OF ISOLO
AGUNECHE ABIA
AHAEJIAGAMBE OF IGBERE
AKU ZURU IGBO OF EZIAMA, IMO STATE
ODEZULUIGBO OF NNOKWA, ANAMBRA STATE
ISIBUIGBO OF ATTA IMO STATE
OMENANWATA OF IGBOLAND
ASHIPA SERIKIN MAYEGUN OF IBADAN
BABA METU OF IKARE, EKITI
GARKUWAN KANO
He is yet to formally receive a special title conferred on him by the Alaafin of Oyo, and the Emir of Damaturu respectively.
He has some published and unpublished books to his credit and they include:
My Reflections on Nigeria's National Assembly (Unpublished)
The Problems of Nigeria Unity (Unpublished)
Military in Nigeria Economy (Unpublished)
Police and Crime Operation
Nigeria Foreign Policy and June 12 Crisis
Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sir Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo: The Height of Truth in Nigeria
Orji Uzor Kalu: Lessons from a Master Strategist
He has presented several speeches and lectures locally and internationally. Among them are:
Wake-up call for the Igbo at Igbo Summit in Enugu, January 2001 June 12 Presidential Election and Transition Crisis in Nigeria delivered in Lagos on June 12, 2002 to mark the 11th Anniversary of the annulled June 12 Presidential Election;
Democracy, Accountability and Good Governance at Papa Club, Lagos, September 14, 2002;
The Media In a Democratic Nigeria at the Communications Department of Howard University, Washington D.C. USA, October 25, 2002;
Issues In Nigeria's Contemporary Politics at Liberty University, Virginia, USA, February 2002;
Electoral Violence and the Future of Democracy in Nigeria at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Lagos, February 19, 2003, and Roadmap to Igbo Renaissance at the World Igbo Congress, Tennessee, USA, September 29, 2003.
He is married with a wife. Dr. (Mrs.) Ifeoma Orji Uzor Kalu, and they have two beautiful daughters
Professor Dora Akunyili at 59
The National Biographer Magazine July edition of 2013. Probably the last exclusive interview by Professor Dora Akunyili held last year June. It was conducted despite all her attempt to stop it in the name that she don't celebrate birthdays. It was the occasion of her 59th birthday. She never had an opportunity to see this interview after we published it. She would have been 60 years on July 14, 2014, if not for death. It is a 17 page pull out on a woman of substance
World's Greatest Biographies: By Reader's Digest
Biographies of Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill and Thomas Edison
Chinua Achebe: Tributes and Reflections By Nana Ayebia Clarke
Chinua Achebe (1930-2013) is widely recognized as the founding father of modern African literature in English. His first novel, Things Fall Apart, published in 1958, not only contested European narratives about Africa, but also challenged assumptions about the form and function of the novel.
Throughout his long career, Achebe was a voice for the peoples of Africa and also a formative influence on a new generation of African writers. This volume of tributes and reflections is a fitting testament to his legacy.
Throughout his long career, Achebe was a voice for the peoples of Africa and also a formative influence on a new generation of African writers. This volume of tributes and reflections is a fitting testament to his legacy.
Early Soyinka By Bernth Lindfors
Early Soyinka endeavors to reveal Wole Soyinka’s precocious talent as a writer of stories, dramas, essays, letters, humorous sketches and jokes, by presenting a collection of essays on writings by Soyinka composed prior to publication of his first books in 1963. The underlying argument in the book appears to be that Soyinka’s early works cannot be considered as “juvenilia or immature scribblings” for they already display a high command of language and acceptable formal structures.
The introduction lays out the background of the book when Bernth Lindfors attempts to settle a score with Biodun Jeyifo and Soyinka. Lindfors first retells Jeyifo’s position in Wole Soyinka: Politics, Poetics and Postcolonialism (2004), in which the latter identified Lindfors as one “who, almost alone among students of Soyinka’s writings, has been obsessed with his literary juvenilia, hoping therein to find materials to prove Soyinka was once a rookie writer, a neophyte artist, even if his rise to fame seemed instantaneous and meteoric.” Then, Lindfors reveals Soyinka’s misunderstanding of his efforts to demonstrate that Soyinka’s earliest writings were not the “awkward fumblings of a neophyte artist but the handiwork of a skilled craftsman who could articulate original ideas with fluency, precision and persuasiveness.” Soyinka had apparently taken issue with Lindfors in his essay “The Critic and Society: Barthes, Leftocracy and Other Mythologies,” by branding the latter as a “hagiographer extraordinary, who re-creates my juvenilia, in the old University College of Ibadan; every page of his essay contains at least one inaccuracy of time and place and a series of absurd attributions.” Lindfors’ probable purpose in bringing out these two misinterpretations of his interest in that early expressive body of work is to show the reason why many critics have refrained from studying Soyinka’s writings prior to publication of A Dance of the Forests, The Lion and the Jewel, and Three Plays in 1963. By considering these first published works as the starting point for an exploration of Soyinka’s talent and personality, those critics have been “studying the growth of a tree without examining its roots.” Early Soyinka aims then at putting things right by studying the growth of Soyinka from a close examination of his roots.
The introduction lays out the background of the book when Bernth Lindfors attempts to settle a score with Biodun Jeyifo and Soyinka. Lindfors first retells Jeyifo’s position in Wole Soyinka: Politics, Poetics and Postcolonialism (2004), in which the latter identified Lindfors as one “who, almost alone among students of Soyinka’s writings, has been obsessed with his literary juvenilia, hoping therein to find materials to prove Soyinka was once a rookie writer, a neophyte artist, even if his rise to fame seemed instantaneous and meteoric.” Then, Lindfors reveals Soyinka’s misunderstanding of his efforts to demonstrate that Soyinka’s earliest writings were not the “awkward fumblings of a neophyte artist but the handiwork of a skilled craftsman who could articulate original ideas with fluency, precision and persuasiveness.” Soyinka had apparently taken issue with Lindfors in his essay “The Critic and Society: Barthes, Leftocracy and Other Mythologies,” by branding the latter as a “hagiographer extraordinary, who re-creates my juvenilia, in the old University College of Ibadan; every page of his essay contains at least one inaccuracy of time and place and a series of absurd attributions.” Lindfors’ probable purpose in bringing out these two misinterpretations of his interest in that early expressive body of work is to show the reason why many critics have refrained from studying Soyinka’s writings prior to publication of A Dance of the Forests, The Lion and the Jewel, and Three Plays in 1963. By considering these first published works as the starting point for an exploration of Soyinka’s talent and personality, those critics have been “studying the growth of a tree without examining its roots.” Early Soyinka aims then at putting things right by studying the growth of Soyinka from a close examination of his roots.
The Vanity Fair Diaries: 1983 - 1992 Hardcover by Tina Brown
The Vanity Fair Diaries is the story of an Englishwoman barely out of her twenties who arrives in New York City with a dream. Summoned from London in hopes that she can save Condé Nast's troubled new flagship Vanity Fair, Tina Brown is immediately plunged into the maelstrom of the competitive New York media world and the backstabbing rivalries at the court of the planet's slickest, most glamour-focused magazine company. She survives the politics, the intrigue, and the attempts to derail her by a simple stratagem: succeeding. In the face of rampant skepticism, she triumphantly reinvents a failing magazine.
Here are the inside stories of Vanity Fair scoops and covers that sold millions―the Reagan kiss, the meltdown of Princess Diana's marriage to Prince Charles, the sensational Annie Leibovitz cover of a gloriously pregnant, naked Demi Moore. In the diary's cinematic pages, the drama, the comedy, and the struggle of running an "it" magazine come to life. Brown's Vanity Fair Diaries is also a woman's journey, of making a home in a new country and of the deep bonds with her husband, their prematurely born son, and their daughter.
Astute, open-hearted, often riotously funny, Tina Brown's The Vanity Fair Diaries is a compulsively fascinating and intimate chronicle of a woman's life in a glittering era.
Ayo Ogunsheye THE WORKERS' ECONOMICS 1923-1990 by Ademola Ajayi
Ayo Ogunsheye (1923-1990): The Workers' Economist is an authoritative study of the life and times of Professor Fidelis Ayodele Ogunsheye, a trade unionist, teacher, academic, consultant for industry and a pace-setting president of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Ayo Ogunsheye was a patriot to the core, a dedicated nationalist who left an indelible imprint in the annals of history. This book sheds light on the environment and influences that shaped the thinking and actions of this foremost Nigerian economist and academic trail-blazer in commerce and industry.
THE EDITORS
S. Ademola Ajayi, reader/ associate professor of history, teaches at the University of Ibadan, his alma mater. He is the author of Emmanuel Akingbala: The Adventures of a Nigerian Baptist Pastor (1999); Yahyah Jammeh & The Gambian Revolution, 1994-2001 (2002); Idi-Aba Baptist Girls' School, Abeokuta, 1909-2009: A Centenary History (2009); Baptists of Nigeria: Their Genesis, Identity, Doctrinal Beliefs and Practices (2009); and Baptist Work in Nigeria, 1850-2005: A Comprehensive History (2010). Dr Ajayi is also the editor of African Culture and Civilization (2005). He was vice president, Historical Society of Nigeria (HSN) (2005-2010), and is currently the national vice-president of the American Studies Association of Nigeria.
Babatunde Sofela (Ph.D.) teaches Latin American history in the Department of History, University of Ibadan. He has published a number of monographs, chapters in books and articles in learned journals. He is a member of the Society for Latin American Studies; fellow and treasurer of the Historical Society of Nigeria, and current head of the Department of History at the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
America, Their America By JP Clark
This is an account of one programme to make friends for America during the Cold War, which failed with a Parvin Fellow at Princeton, the young JP Clark. The Nigerian poet later went on to enjoy warm hospitality in the United States, returning as a guest of the State Department, Distinguished Fellow at the famous Centre for the Humanities at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, and Visiting Professor at Lincoln and Yale. With grants from the Ford Foundation, he also took a tour of theatres from coast to coast, and to help run his own repertory company at home in Lagos.
Year of Publication: 2016
254 pages
Year of Publication: 2016
254 pages
Fate of Our Mothers: The Collected Memories of an African Village Boy By Michael Oladejo Afoláyan
Fate of Our Mothers is the first in the series of the author's narrative of the assorted experiences that exemplify the first twenty years of his life. From rustic village life as a five year old boy, to the young adult person slated for the job of an untrained teacher in the city, the eclectic events in the author's life bring to life the untold stories of rural living, featuring the cultural conflicts endemic in a patriarchal system where while men may rule, the women are the active prime movers in the order of things. The story or compendium of stories take the reader through a life that epitomizes the paradoxical interface among joy, peace, as well as tragedies and pains; successes and gains, as well as failures and losses; protection and comfort, as well as dangerous exposure and vulnerability. The story does not follow the orthodoxy of systematic chronicling that often characterizes traditional memoirs. Rather, the author verbally addresses his own four children, who were born and raised in America, a sporadic reflection of his childhood upbringing in a far away village of Oke-Awo, Aba Iresi in southwestern Nigeria. He describes the rustic simplicity of Yoruba village life, the beauty of living under the roof and compound of a caring father, two relentlessly hardworking mothers, ten siblings, many relatives, and a countless number of extended family members and non-relatives. In all, Fate of Our Mothers whispers into our collective conscience that the survival of the Yoruba universe is anchored in the fate of its women.
Omoluwabi and Esubiyi Of The Yoruba Memoir of Engineer Festus Alfred Oladimeji Oseni
Festus Alfred Oladimeji Oseni was born on January 25, 1934, in Owo, Nigeria. He attended Government College Ibadan and had his tertiary education at University College Ibadan (1954-1956), Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland (1956-1960) and University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, obtaining BSc (Civil Engineering), MS (Civil Engineering) and MPW (Public Works) degrees.
After brief periods with some consulting firms in the UK, he undertook the mandatory practical training in the Civil Engineering Department of Crown Agents London from 1961 to 1963. Thereafter, he returned to Nigeria for his civil service career in the Federal Ministry of Works where he worked on many construction and maintenance projects. He was also at the Planning Department of the Highways Division of the Federal Ministry of Works and took part in the planning, design, and specifications for many road projects in the country.
In 1978 he was transferred to the Federal Capital Development Authority as the first Director of Development and Engineering Services, where he contributed to the definition of the urban transportation system and the regional road network in the Master Plan of the new Federal Capital City, Abuja and the associated activities leading to the eventual construction and first phase of movement to the city.
While his main professional interests are transportation planning, the development of the indigenous construction industry, project management and computer applications, he has made huge contributions to the country's political development through his writings and commentaries. His writings have been delivered at conferences, lectures, and tribunals while some have been published in journals and newspapers. He enjoys sports, current affairs, motoring, flying and traveling.
Engr Oseni voluntarily retired from the Federal Public Service in 1981 to set up an engineering consulting firm, F.A. Oseni Consultancy Services and Oznick Computers Ltd in 1983.
He is a Member, Council of Registered Engineers of Nigeria, Member, Institution of Civil Engineers (London) and Fellow, Nigerian Society of Engineers. In June 2011, he "Achieved the distinction of having been a member of the British Institution of Civil Engineers for fifty years."
He was conferred with the traditional title of Olisa Bobaniyi by Sir Olateru Olagbegi II, KBE, the Olowo of Owo in December 1994.
Engr Festus Alfred Oladimeji Oseni is married with three children: two daughters and a son.
After brief periods with some consulting firms in the UK, he undertook the mandatory practical training in the Civil Engineering Department of Crown Agents London from 1961 to 1963. Thereafter, he returned to Nigeria for his civil service career in the Federal Ministry of Works where he worked on many construction and maintenance projects. He was also at the Planning Department of the Highways Division of the Federal Ministry of Works and took part in the planning, design, and specifications for many road projects in the country.
In 1978 he was transferred to the Federal Capital Development Authority as the first Director of Development and Engineering Services, where he contributed to the definition of the urban transportation system and the regional road network in the Master Plan of the new Federal Capital City, Abuja and the associated activities leading to the eventual construction and first phase of movement to the city.
While his main professional interests are transportation planning, the development of the indigenous construction industry, project management and computer applications, he has made huge contributions to the country's political development through his writings and commentaries. His writings have been delivered at conferences, lectures, and tribunals while some have been published in journals and newspapers. He enjoys sports, current affairs, motoring, flying and traveling.
Engr Oseni voluntarily retired from the Federal Public Service in 1981 to set up an engineering consulting firm, F.A. Oseni Consultancy Services and Oznick Computers Ltd in 1983.
He is a Member, Council of Registered Engineers of Nigeria, Member, Institution of Civil Engineers (London) and Fellow, Nigerian Society of Engineers. In June 2011, he "Achieved the distinction of having been a member of the British Institution of Civil Engineers for fifty years."
He was conferred with the traditional title of Olisa Bobaniyi by Sir Olateru Olagbegi II, KBE, the Olowo of Owo in December 1994.
Engr Festus Alfred Oladimeji Oseni is married with three children: two daughters and a son.
A Paradise for Maggots By Wale Adebanwi
A Paradise For Maggots: A Book Reveals How Lamorde Predicted His Return To The EFCC
Ibrahim Lamorde, EFCC
“There will still be another day. Someday, some of these people would still be taken to court in handcuffs. They will go to jail.” These were the words of Ibrahim Lamorde who was appointed as Acting Chairman of the EFCC yesterday.
A book on the Nuhu Ribadu-era at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, A Paradise for Maggots: The Story of a Nigerian Anti-Graft Czar, authored by University of California, Davis professor, Wale Adebanwi, reveals how newly appointed Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, predicted his return to the anti-graft commission in 2009, about a year after President Umaru Yar’Adua removed him and appointed Mrs. Farida Waziri.
Lamorde, who was then been posted to Kaduna after suffering harassments in the aftermath of his removal from the EFCC, assured Adebanwi that he would return to the EFCC and continue the anti-graft war that he and Ribadu waged before their removal by Yar’Adua.
Adebanwi writes: ‘There will still be another day,’ replied Lamorde when I asked if their removal from the EFCC could be taken as the end of a dream. ‘Some day, some of these people would still be taken to court in handcuffs. They will go to jail.’
Below are the relevant parts of the book and a brief description of the new EFCC Chairman.
“‘I would like you to know that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is really recognised as a first-class institution and I would like to underscore to you today that the US government will be continuing our commitment and our support to the EFCC.’ Robin Renne Sanders, the US Ambassador to Nigeria, gave that assurance when she visited the EFCC headquarters in March 2008, while Ibrahim Lamorde was still in charge as acting chairman.
Ibrahim Lamorde, EFCC
“There will still be another day. Someday, some of these people would still be taken to court in handcuffs. They will go to jail.” These were the words of Ibrahim Lamorde who was appointed as Acting Chairman of the EFCC yesterday.
A book on the Nuhu Ribadu-era at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, A Paradise for Maggots: The Story of a Nigerian Anti-Graft Czar, authored by University of California, Davis professor, Wale Adebanwi, reveals how newly appointed Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, predicted his return to the anti-graft commission in 2009, about a year after President Umaru Yar’Adua removed him and appointed Mrs. Farida Waziri.
Lamorde, who was then been posted to Kaduna after suffering harassments in the aftermath of his removal from the EFCC, assured Adebanwi that he would return to the EFCC and continue the anti-graft war that he and Ribadu waged before their removal by Yar’Adua.
Adebanwi writes: ‘There will still be another day,’ replied Lamorde when I asked if their removal from the EFCC could be taken as the end of a dream. ‘Some day, some of these people would still be taken to court in handcuffs. They will go to jail.’
Below are the relevant parts of the book and a brief description of the new EFCC Chairman.
“‘I would like you to know that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is really recognised as a first-class institution and I would like to underscore to you today that the US government will be continuing our commitment and our support to the EFCC.’ Robin Renne Sanders, the US Ambassador to Nigeria, gave that assurance when she visited the EFCC headquarters in March 2008, while Ibrahim Lamorde was still in charge as acting chairman.
Out of Stock
₦5,000
I Remain, Sir, Your Obedient Servant By Omo N'Oba Erediauwa
Omo N’Oba Erediauwa, formerly Prince Akenzua, is the present Oba of Benin, a position he has occupied since 1979. Previously, he variously served as a cadet administrative officer under the colonial government and a member of the cabinet office of the first independence government. Omo N’Oba Erediauwa has been writing this autobiography since 1965. It conveys his student days, his years of experience in the civil service, his Biafran war experiences, his accession to the throne of Benin, rise to kingship and subsequent tours and experiences.
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₦3,000
Zik: A Selection From the Speeches of Nnamdi Azikiwe By Nnamdi Azikiwe
Zik of Africa as Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe is widely known was Governor-General of the independent federation of Nigeria. From his return to Africa from America in 1934, Zik worked ceaselessly as journalist and politician for the freedom of his native Nigeria and for the advancement of all African peoples. 'Zikism' and African nationalism have often appeared to be synonymous. In what do the leaders of the new Africa believe, and what do they intend? Dr Azikiwe speaks forcefully, often controversially, but never without significance. Students of African affairs throughout the world and his many devoted followers in the African continent will welcome this volume of speeches made by this statesman orator. The speeches and extracts have been arranges in chapters each dealing with on important topic.
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₦3,500
Reforming the Unreformable: Lessons from Nigeria By Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Overview
Corrupt, mismanaged, and seemingly hopeless: that’s how the international community viewed Nigeria in the early 2000s. Then Nigeria implemented a sweeping set of economic and political changes and began to reform the unreformable. This book tells the story of how a dedicated and politically committed team of reformers set out to fix a series of broken institutions, and in the process repositioned Nigeria’s economy in ways that helped create a more diversified springboard for steadier long-term growth.
The author, Harvard- and MIT-trained economist Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, currently Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance and formerly Managing Director of the World Bank, played a crucial part in her country’s economic reforms. In Nigeria’s Debt Management Office, and later as Minister of Finance, she spearheaded negotiations with the Paris Club that led to the wiping out of $30 billion of Nigeria’s external debt, 60 percent of which was outright cancellation. Reforming the Unreformable offers an insider’s view of those debt negotiations; it also details the fight against corruption and the struggle to implement a series of macroeconomic and structural reforms.
This story of development economics in action, written from the front lines of economic reform in Africa, offers a unique perspective on the complex and uncertain global economic environment.
About the Authors
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance. From 2007 to 2011 she was Managing Director of the World Bank, overseeing activities in South Asia, Europe, Central Asia, and Africa.
Oskar Juhlin is Professor in the Department of Computer and Systems Sciences at Stockholm University and founder of the Mobile Life VINN Excellence Center.
Table of Contents
- Contents
- Preface ix
- Acknowledgments xi
- 1 Setting the Stage for Reform 1
- 2 Advancing Macroeconomic Reforms 19
- 3 Promoting Privatization, Deregulation, and Liberalization 35
- 4 Launching Other Structural Reforms 51
- 5 Fighting Corruption 81
- 6 Obtaining Debt Relief 95
- 7 Reflections on the Reforms and Lessons for Reformers 119
- 8 Conclusions and a Look Forward 133
- Appendix: Figures and Tables 145
- Notes 181
- References 185
- About the Author 189
- Index 191
Endorsements
"This insider's account of the valiant attempt to reform Nigeria's economy will inspire anyone committed to changing the course of their country."—Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel laureate in Economic Sciences, 2001
"This extremely informative and thought-provoking book provides a masterful account of the interplay of technical economic management and political will constrained by vested interest in undertaking transformative reforms in developing countries. Every page speaks to the Liberian experience in microcosm. This will be required reading by the Cabinet and students in our institutions of higher learning. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala remains a courageous champion for sound economic management and performance."—Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia
"An important book which incisively reveals what the real barriers to development are, and the political constraints to removing them. Inspiring and compulsory reading for development scholars and practitioners."—James Robinson, David Florence Professor of Government, Harvard University
"Just as Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala forces open budget processes, these pages force open our eyes to the complexities of political life in Nigeria. Throughout her incarnations as the corruption cop, finance minister, tough decision maker, and managing director she has been and remains a great friend and an inspiring mentor. This is an essential guidebook for reformers everywhere."—Bono
The Book of Joe: The Life, Wit, and (Sometimes Accidental) Wisdom of Joe Biden Hardcover by Jeff Wilser
The aviators. The Amtrak. The ice cream cones. The memes. Few politicians are as iconic, or as beloved, as Joe Biden. Now, in The Book of Joe, Biden fans will finally have the definitive look at America's favorite vice president—and what he can teach us.
Structured around key moments in Biden's life and career—and filled with Biden-isms like "That's a bunch of malarkey" and "I may be Irish, but I'm not stupid"—this blend of biography, advice, and humor will reveal the experiences that forged Joe Biden, and the lessons we can use in our own lives. Along the way, readers will also encounter fun sidebars on his love of muscle cars, his most endearing gaffes, his bromance with President Obama, and much more.
Yet beneath the memorable Biden-isms, the book will reveal an inspirational story of a man who keeps "getting back up." We need this right now. Much as Biden has come back from both professional missteps and personal heartbreaks, sometimes we all have to get back up and fight. Given Biden's reputation as a decent, plainspoken, patriotic statesman of integrity, this entertaining and practical book will be both a celebration of great political figure and an essential guide to creating the America he believes in so dearly
Structured around key moments in Biden's life and career—and filled with Biden-isms like "That's a bunch of malarkey" and "I may be Irish, but I'm not stupid"—this blend of biography, advice, and humor will reveal the experiences that forged Joe Biden, and the lessons we can use in our own lives. Along the way, readers will also encounter fun sidebars on his love of muscle cars, his most endearing gaffes, his bromance with President Obama, and much more.
Yet beneath the memorable Biden-isms, the book will reveal an inspirational story of a man who keeps "getting back up." We need this right now. Much as Biden has come back from both professional missteps and personal heartbreaks, sometimes we all have to get back up and fight. Given Biden's reputation as a decent, plainspoken, patriotic statesman of integrity, this entertaining and practical book will be both a celebration of great political figure and an essential guide to creating the America he believes in so dearly
My odyssey: An Autobiography By Nnamdi Azikiwe
Nnamdi Azikiwe, a well-known African elder statesman, for many years played a prominent role in the fight for the emancipation of Black Africa from colonial rule. A key figure among West African nationalists who envisaged a united Ibo people, he was the first and only President of independent Nigeria before the coup in 1966. His autobiography covers his formative years up to 1947, when, at the age of forty-five, he entered politics as the President of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons, the majority party of the Eastern region.
His odyssey begins with his boyhood in Onitsha, where he dreamed of owning a printing press, and he describes in fascinating detail his genealogy, his family background, and the traditions in which he was raised as an Ibo. He describes his early religious indoctrination in the Christian schools of Lagos and Calabar, where he first became aware of the anomalies of the colonial African societies in which an alien ruling elite imposed racial discrimination on Africans. During his secondary education, he was introduced to the writings of Marcus Garvey, the sermons of Dr. Kweygir Aggrey, and a biography of President Garfield. The messages of these men-Garvey's call for the liberation of Africa from the colonial governments, Dr. Aggrey's hope for a social rebirth and a new spiritual outlook among and toward Africans, and President Garfield's frontier spirit and willpower in the face of poverty-inspired Zik to pursue his university education in the United States in the hope that it would prepare him for leadership of the Nigerian independence movement.
His odyssey begins with his boyhood in Onitsha, where he dreamed of owning a printing press, and he describes in fascinating detail his genealogy, his family background, and the traditions in which he was raised as an Ibo. He describes his early religious indoctrination in the Christian schools of Lagos and Calabar, where he first became aware of the anomalies of the colonial African societies in which an alien ruling elite imposed racial discrimination on Africans. During his secondary education, he was introduced to the writings of Marcus Garvey, the sermons of Dr. Kweygir Aggrey, and a biography of President Garfield. The messages of these men-Garvey's call for the liberation of Africa from the colonial governments, Dr. Aggrey's hope for a social rebirth and a new spiritual outlook among and toward Africans, and President Garfield's frontier spirit and willpower in the face of poverty-inspired Zik to pursue his university education in the United States in the hope that it would prepare him for leadership of the Nigerian independence movement.
Out of Stock
₦3,500
Alibaba The House That Jack Ma Built by Duncan Clark
An engrossing, insider’s account of how a teacher built one of the world’s most valuable companies—rivaling Walmart & Amazon—and forever reshaped the global economy.
In just a decade and half Jack Ma, a man from modest beginnings who started out as an English teacher, founded and built Alibaba into one of the world’s largest companies, an e-commerce empire on which hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers depend. Alibaba’s $25 billion IPO in 2014 was the largest global IPO ever. A Rockefeller of his age who is courted by CEOs and Presidents around the world, Jack is an icon for China’s booming private sector and the gatekeeper to hundreds of millions of middle class consumers.
Duncan Clark first met Jack in 1999 in the small apartment where Jack founded Alibaba. Granted unprecedented access to a wealth of new material including exclusive interviews, Clark draws on his own experience as an early advisor to Alibaba and two decades in China chronicling the Internet’s impact on the country to create an authoritative, compelling narrative account of Alibaba’s rise.
How did Jack overcome his humble origins and early failures to achieve massive success with Alibaba? How did he outsmart rival entrepreneurs from China and Silicon Valley? Can Alibaba maintain its 80% market share? As it forges ahead into finance and entertainment, are there limits to Alibaba’s ambitions? How does the Chinese government view its rise? Will Alibaba expand further overseas, including in the U.S.?
Clark tells Alibaba’s tale in the context of China’s momentous economic and social changes, illuminating an unlikely corporate titan as never before.
In just a decade and half Jack Ma, a man from modest beginnings who started out as an English teacher, founded and built Alibaba into one of the world’s largest companies, an e-commerce empire on which hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers depend. Alibaba’s $25 billion IPO in 2014 was the largest global IPO ever. A Rockefeller of his age who is courted by CEOs and Presidents around the world, Jack is an icon for China’s booming private sector and the gatekeeper to hundreds of millions of middle class consumers.
Duncan Clark first met Jack in 1999 in the small apartment where Jack founded Alibaba. Granted unprecedented access to a wealth of new material including exclusive interviews, Clark draws on his own experience as an early advisor to Alibaba and two decades in China chronicling the Internet’s impact on the country to create an authoritative, compelling narrative account of Alibaba’s rise.
How did Jack overcome his humble origins and early failures to achieve massive success with Alibaba? How did he outsmart rival entrepreneurs from China and Silicon Valley? Can Alibaba maintain its 80% market share? As it forges ahead into finance and entertainment, are there limits to Alibaba’s ambitions? How does the Chinese government view its rise? Will Alibaba expand further overseas, including in the U.S.?
Clark tells Alibaba’s tale in the context of China’s momentous economic and social changes, illuminating an unlikely corporate titan as never before.
JP CLARK - A VOYAGE By Femi Osofisan (Hardback)
The definitive biography of “the main animating force of African poetry”
JP Clark: A Voyage is the definitive biography of Clark by Femi Osofisan, himself one of Nigeria’s most accomplished playwrights. It chronicles the life and career of the man John Pepper Clark – Bekederemo, from his remarkable childhood to his emergence in the 60s among the best and brightest of Nigerian literature. For the first time, JP breaks his silence about the controversial position he took during Nigeria’s Civil War and discusses his relationship with Soyinka and Achebe.
Generally regarded as the most lyrical of the poets of his generation for his simple, down to earth, visual and descriptive imagery, which makes his poems among the most memorable, JP Clark is perhaps the most underrated of Nigeria’s literary giants: Achebe, Soyinka and Okigbo, being the others.
Young Mandela By David James Smith
Nelson Mandela has been mythologised as a flawless hero of the liberation struggle. But how exactly did his early life shape the triumphs to come?
This book goes behind the myth to find the man who people have forgotten or never knew - Young Mandela, the committed freedom fighter, who left his wife and children behind to go on the run from the police in the early 1960s.
But his historic achievements came at a heavy price and David James Smith graphically describes the emotional turmoil Mandela left in his wake.
After meticulous research, and taking a lead from Mandela's trusted circle, the author discovers much that is new, surprising, and sometimes shocking that will enhance our understanding of the world's elder statesman. For the first time, we have evidence of a specific personal motivation for Mandela's fight against apartheid, and this book sheds light on the significant extent to which Mandela relied on white activists - a part of South African history the ANC has ignored or tried to bury.
Sanctified, lionised, it turns out that Mandela is a human being after all, only too aware of his flaws and shortcomings.
With unique access to people and papers, culminating in a meeting with Mandela himself, Smith has written the single most important contribution to our knowledge of this global icon.
About the Author
David James Smith was born in 1956 and has been a journalist all his working life. He writes for the Sunday Times Magazine.
Mandela's Way: Fifteen Lessons on Life, Love, and Courage By Richard Stengel
We long for heroes and have too few. Nelson Mandela, who recently celebrated his ninety-first birthday, is the closest thing the world has to a secular saint. He liber-ated a country from a system of violent prejudice and helped unite oppressor and oppressed in a way that had never been done before.
Now Richard Stengel, the editor of "Time "maga-zine, has distilled countless hours of intimate conver-sation with Mandela into fifteen essential life lessons. For nearly three years, including the critical period when Mandela moved South Africa toward the first democratic elections in its history, Stengel collaborated with Mandela on his autobiography and traveled with him everywhere. Eating with him, watching him campaign, hearing him think out loud, Stengel came to know all the different sides of this complex man and became a cherished friend and colleague.
In "Mandela's Way, "Stengel recounts the moments in which "the grandfather of South Africa" was tested and shares the wisdom he learned: why courage is more than the absence of fear, why we should keep our rivals close, why the answer is not always either/or but often "both," how important it is for each of us to find something away from the world that gives us pleasure and satisfaction--our own garden. Woven into these life lessons are remarkable stories--of Mandela's child-hood as the protege of a tribal king, of his early days as a freedom fighter, of the twenty-seven-year imprison-ment that could not break him, and of his new and fulfilling marriage at the age of eighty.
This compact book is profoundly inspiring. It captures the spirit of this extraordinary man--warrior, martyr, husband, statesman, and moral leader--and spurs us to look within ourselves, reconsider the things we take for granted, and contemplate the legacy we'll leave behind.
Nelson Mandela: Portrait of an Extraordinary Man By Richard Stengel
Inspirational wisdom from the world's greatest moral leader.
Written by the co-author of international bestseller Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela: Portrait of an Extraordinary Man presents fifteen powerful lessons on life and leadership based on the life and work of Nelson Mandela, whose fight against apartheid in South Africa has become an enduring example of resistance against injustice and oppression. A recipient of the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, Mandela is a man who truly changed the course of world history and is arguably the most inspirational figure of the past century.
Stengel spent almost three years with Mandela working on his bestselling autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, and through that process became a close friend. Written with the blessing of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, to which the author will donate a percentage of his royalties, Nelson Mandela: Portrait of an Extraordinary Man is an inspirational book of wisdom that will encourage people of all ages to look within themselves to improve their lives, to reconsider the things they take for granted, and to think about the legacy they leave behind.
About the Author
Richard Stengel is the managing editor of Time Magazine. He spent two years collaborating with Nelson Mandela on Mandela's bestselling and critically acclaimed autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. He has written for many publications, including The New Yorker and New York Times and is also the author of January Sun: One Day, Three Lives, A South African Town and You're too Kind: A Brief History of Flattery. Mandela is godfather to his two sons and introduced him to his wife.
No Easy Walk to Freedom Speeches, Letters and Other Writings By Nelson Mandela
'There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountain tops of our desires.'
After twenty-seven years in prison, Nelson Mandela finally walked free in February 1990. This collection of his articles, speeches, letters from underground, and the transcripts from his trials, vividly demonstrates the charisma and determination of a towering figure in the struggle for racial equality in South Africa. Now in a new edition, Now Easy Walk to Freedom is both a vital historical document and a chronicle of the life and thoughts of one of the greatest campaigners for freedom the world has known.
Mandela: The Authorised Biography By Anthony Sampson
In 1975, imprisoned for life on Robben Island, Nelson Mandela covertly wrote his autobiography. After painstaking months the text was smuggled out--and was promptly quashed by the African National Congress. In his later Long Walk to Freedom Mandela politely expresses "surprise" at this. Sampson reveals that Joe Slovo suppressed the book for not giving enough prominence to Communists. This revelation is remarkable--the ANC could have made much mileage from the book at a time of low fortune--yet Sampson does not follow up. There is too often a sense of eggshells lightly walked upon.
Mandela improves as the prisoner's release approaches. Sampson sharply exposes the machinations of those undermining the ANC's struggle. The CIA knew of the Third Force years before the ANC, yet said nothing. Right-wing governments attacked "Mandela the Communist", preferring to promote Inkhata's Buthelezi, at that time secretly and violently colluding with de Klerk's apartheid regime. Against the small-minded figures of Reagan, Thatcher and Kohl it is Mandela who emerges here a giant. South Africa won her freedom through Mandela: his strength of character and willingness to forgive helped push a country into an alternative future, avoiding the racial civil war almost all predicted. Yet he and his kin paid an awful price. Sampson draws a painful, clear picture of a disintegrating family: dislocation from children; the terrible effects of the war on Winnie, and her increasingly erratic, later murderous behaviour; Mandela's own aching loneliness. It is in capturing Madiba, the ultimate public figure, at his most intense and private, that Sampson's Mandela succeeds best. --Chris Woods
Mandela : A Biography By Martin Meredith
Nelson Mandela stands out as one of the most admired political figures of the twentieth century. It was his leadership and moral courage above all that helped to deliver a peaceful end to apartheid in South Africa after years of racial division and violence and to establish a fledgling democracy there. Martin Meredith's vivid portrayal of this towering leader was originally acclaimed as 'an exemplary work of biography: instructive, illuminating, as well as felicitously written' (Kirkus Reviews), providing 'new insights on the man and his time' (Washington Post). Now Meredith has revisited and significantly updated his biography to incorporate a decade of additional perspective and hindsight on the man and his legacy and to examine how far his hopes for the new South Africa have been realised. Published as South Africa celebrates 100 years since its founding and hosts the 2010 World Cup, Mandela is the most thorough and up-to-date account available of the life of its most revered hero.
About the Author
Martin Meredith is a journalist, biographer and historian who has written extensively on Africa and its recent history. He is the author of many books including The State of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence; Mugabe: Power, Plunder, and the Struggle for Zimbabwe, and Mandela: A Biography. He lives near Oxford.
The Obamas: The Untold Story of an African Family By Peter Firstbrook
Peter Firstbrook spent many months in Kenya researching the history of Barack Obama's family. Peter is the only person to have traced Obama's roots from the present back through more than twenty generations, thanks to the Luo tribe's remarkable oral tradition.
Seen though the eyes of the Obama family this will be the story of an African dynasty going back over 400 years. It is a truly astonishing drama culminating in the inauguration of Barack Obama on 20 January 2009, watched by Obama's African family on a flickering television clustered under a group of trees in the twilight of Kobama village in Kenya. A very special hundred or so men, women and children amongst billions all around the world who viewed the momentous event of the swearing in of the first black President of the United States.
This book establishes the early ancestry of the Obama family in the Alego region, telling the story of farmers and fishermen, of love and tribal warfare, of families lost and found. It traces the Obama roots from famous tribal warriors in the seventeenth century to the first encounters with the white man in the early 1900s; generation by generation we follow the family through colonial rule and the fight for Kenyan independence, including the Mau Mau and the relationship of Barack Obama's father with President Kenyatta.
This is a book about a family whose destiny is unknown to them. It is a true testament to the belief that any person can make their mark in the world no matter how humble their origins.
Seen though the eyes of the Obama family this will be the story of an African dynasty going back over 400 years. It is a truly astonishing drama culminating in the inauguration of Barack Obama on 20 January 2009, watched by Obama's African family on a flickering television clustered under a group of trees in the twilight of Kobama village in Kenya. A very special hundred or so men, women and children amongst billions all around the world who viewed the momentous event of the swearing in of the first black President of the United States.
This book establishes the early ancestry of the Obama family in the Alego region, telling the story of farmers and fishermen, of love and tribal warfare, of families lost and found. It traces the Obama roots from famous tribal warriors in the seventeenth century to the first encounters with the white man in the early 1900s; generation by generation we follow the family through colonial rule and the fight for Kenyan independence, including the Mau Mau and the relationship of Barack Obama's father with President Kenyatta.
This is a book about a family whose destiny is unknown to them. It is a true testament to the belief that any person can make their mark in the world no matter how humble their origins.
Aké: The Years of Childhood: Wole Soyinka’s Memoir
Aké, the first volume of Nigerian Nobel prize winner Wole Soyinka's (possibly slightly fictionalized) autobiography, is the first book of his I've read. For most authors, an autobiography is probably not the best place to start; most of the time, I want a reason to care about what the author has done before getting into his life story.
In this case, though, it doesn't disappoint at all. Aké chronicles young Wole's childhood up to about 11 years of age, and given that he was born in 1934, that's a fairly tumultuous time. While the world war rages somewhere just beyond the horizon, Nigeria is somewhere in between the old ways and the new ones, stuck between old tribal kingdoms and the new world, the old religion and Christianity, the old language and English, still ruled by the British but beginning to find a new identity of its own - which isn't an easy process, as shown by the occasional sobering flash-forward to Nigeria in the early 80s.
Ake tells the story of Wole Soyinka's first eleven years as a child (1934–1945), a period that coincides with major historical events in Nigeria, and around the world – World War II and the famous Women's Uprising in Egbaland, an event in which the author played the role of a courier.
Told, of course, with the benefit of hindsight, the story of Ake is rich, and the wit is bold and blithe. His touching and vivid evocation of the colourful sights, sounds, and aromas of the world that shaped him is lyrical, laced with humour and adorned with the sheer delight of a child's-eye view.
This account contains invaluable and delightful vignettes of some of the individuals and events which were to shape the future political and human rights activist, and Nobel Laureate.
In this case, though, it doesn't disappoint at all. Aké chronicles young Wole's childhood up to about 11 years of age, and given that he was born in 1934, that's a fairly tumultuous time. While the world war rages somewhere just beyond the horizon, Nigeria is somewhere in between the old ways and the new ones, stuck between old tribal kingdoms and the new world, the old religion and Christianity, the old language and English, still ruled by the British but beginning to find a new identity of its own - which isn't an easy process, as shown by the occasional sobering flash-forward to Nigeria in the early 80s.
Ake tells the story of Wole Soyinka's first eleven years as a child (1934–1945), a period that coincides with major historical events in Nigeria, and around the world – World War II and the famous Women's Uprising in Egbaland, an event in which the author played the role of a courier.
Told, of course, with the benefit of hindsight, the story of Ake is rich, and the wit is bold and blithe. His touching and vivid evocation of the colourful sights, sounds, and aromas of the world that shaped him is lyrical, laced with humour and adorned with the sheer delight of a child's-eye view.
This account contains invaluable and delightful vignettes of some of the individuals and events which were to shape the future political and human rights activist, and Nobel Laureate.
Early Achebe By Bernth Lindfors
Early Achebe deals with the essays, stories, and groundbreaking novels Chinua Achebe published between 1951 and 1966 during the first phase of the writer s long and distinguished literary career. Lindfors, a longstanding and renowned scholar and critic of African literature, demonstrates vividly the pervasive influence the subject s early writing had not only on fellow Nigerian authors but also on teachers and critics of African literature both on the continent and abroad. The book concludes with a previously unpublished lecture by Achebe titled The Writer and the African Revolution delivered at The University of Texas at Austin in November 1969, followed by Achebe s responses to questions he was asked by students, faculty, and townspeople at the time. Bernth Lindfors the major sleuth of African literature has struck gold again. The goldmine reveals a decidedly comic Achebe in his early work, segueing to his more serious writing, the result of the tragedy of Biafra. Few writers want to see their earliest scribbling brought back into full light or photos from long ago reproduced. Credit must go to both Chinua Achebe and Bernth Lindfors for resuscitating these important materials. Charles R. Larson, Author of The Emergence of African Fiction and The Ordeal of the African Writer If anybody else outside Africa has been helpful in making to use Chinua Achebe's words about Ulli Beier Africans to see themselves through the freshness of their own vision, it is Bernth Lindfors. With its fondness for the excavating detail, the vernacular elegance of its style, and the unremitting respect and admiration for his subject's integrity as a writer, Early Achebe both enfolds and simulates Achebe's reciprocal pedagogy in all its stylistic and global width. Raoul J. Granqvist, Professor Emeritus of English Literature, Umeå University, Sweden A coherent critical groundwork and an important contribution to African literary history, Lindfors s Early Achebe is a unique starting-point for a deeper understanding of the cultural contexts, esthetic roots, thematic commitments, and stylistic features of not only Achebe s fiction but also his poetry and essays. Chukwuma Azuonye, Professor of African Literature, University of Massachusetts, Boston As one of the pioneers of African literature criticism and editor of the monumental bibliographical series Black African Literature in English, Bernth Lindfors has made contributions to African literature that are always exciting and full of relevance. His latest book, Early Achebe, which contains Chinua Achebe's earliest writings going back to his undergraduate days at University College, Ibadan, and Lindfors's own earliest essays on Achebe, is a gift of love to students and teachers of Achebe's works, and a necessary addition to the ever-growing body of commentaries in the field of Achebe studies. ... Early Achebe is, thus, an important and opportune work; it could not have been issued a moment too soon. Emmanuel Obiechina Associate Fellow, W.E.B. Du Bois Institute, Harvard University, and Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters
Footprints Of An Iconic Diplomat By Chief Emeka Anyaoku
Not surprisingly, the volume of written material on chief Emeka Anyaoku is considerable. Yet, a common thread runs through all of them - each publication gives insight into the unimpeachable character of the man; This publication, Footprints of an Iconic Diplomat, is no different. it's only distinction being that it presents a largely pictorial version of the Emeka Anyaoku narrative; that it portrays a fullness of life, depth of purpose and breadth of impact that few can lay claim to; that it personalises the well-used phrase, a picture is worth more than a thousand words. Indeed, this pictorial biography like its name, speaks to the extensive footprints in both the literal and figurative sense, of Nigeria's and certainly one of Africa's most respected diplomatic icons.
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One Step Ahead: Life As A Spy, Detective and Anti-Graft Czar by Farida Waziri
“It is the story of a young girl’s journey through life, from being a Catholic girl to a Muslim; from being born of a Tiv family in Benue to becoming a matriarch in Tangale family from Gombe; from a police officer who was the best recruit in 1967 to becoming Assistant Inspector General of Police, who also became a lawyer. Along the way, there were assassination attempts, face-off with cranks and officials in foreign lands, thrust and parry with criminals and personal tragedies of losing loved ones, particularly husband and daughter within one year. “I have written this book, not as a rejoinder to past polemics or false accusations and fabrications against my personality by individuals, groups or institutions. I have simply put the story of my life together to fill some gaps in the history of the country.”
Arrest the Music: Fela and His Rebel Acts and Politics
A lively study of the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and a persuasive interpretation of the social context, instrumentation, lyrics, visual art, and people through which he produced his music.
Arrest the Music! is a lively musical study of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, one of Africa’s most recognizable, popular, and controversial musicians. The flamboyant originator of the "Afrobeat" sound and self-proclaimed voice of the voiceless, Fela used music, sharp-tongued lyrics, and derisive humor to challenge the shortcomings of Nigerian and postcolonial African states. Looking at the social context, instrumentation, lyrics, visual art, people, and organizations through which Fela produced his music, Tejumola Olaniyan offers a wider, more suggestive perspective on Fela and his impact on listeners in all parts of the world.
Arrest the Music! is a lively musical study of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, one of Africa’s most recognizable, popular, and controversial musicians. The flamboyant originator of the "Afrobeat" sound and self-proclaimed voice of the voiceless, Fela used music, sharp-tongued lyrics, and derisive humor to challenge the shortcomings of Nigerian and postcolonial African states. Looking at the social context, instrumentation, lyrics, visual art, people, and organizations through which Fela produced his music, Tejumola Olaniyan offers a wider, more suggestive perspective on Fela and his impact on listeners in all parts of the world.
Moment of Truth: The Compelling Story of Pastor Tunde Bakare
Tunde Bakare is a Nigerian Prophetic-Apostolic pastor. He has received national and international attention for his televangelism, which has sometimes been critical of the Nigerian government. He presides over Global Apostolic Impact Network (GAIN) - a network of churches, ministries and kingdom businesses committed to advancing the Kingdom of God on earth. Dr. Bakare is also the President of Latter Rain Ministries, Inc. (Church Development Center) in Atlanta, GA, USA.