Africa Biography

At the age of sixty, and having lived with Parkinson’s disease for over ten years, Guy Deacon CBE set out on one last adventure: to drive solo from his home in the UK 18,000 miles and through twenty-five countries to Cape Town on the southern tip of Africa. This incredible journey, across Europe and down the full length of Africa, took the former British Army officer over twelve months. Along the way, he broke down five times, underwent one emergency evacuation, and took 3,650 prescription pills.

Growing up in West Africa, Amen learned about the simplicities of life from his grandmother. She inspired him to accomplish more with less, face his fears with confidence, and look for the unexpected gifts each day would bring. In The Tire Boy, Amen shares his early primal experiences in Esanland in West Africa, which will inspire children as well as adults on a path of confidence and self-respect. It is an incredibly inspiring story with profoundly impactful life lessons that will change the way you approach each day of your life moving forward.

The stories of 20 combat veterans in this book tell experiences of average Americans that fought enemies of the US in World War II. They relate much previously unavailable information about the military in which they served and the battles they fought, from North Africa to Europe, where the possibility of death and permanent physical and mental injury was their common experience. This book is a "must listen" for those that think they have learned all there is to know about World War II.

Timbuktu: the African city known to legend as a land of scholars, splendor and mystery, a golden age in the Sahara Desert. But to many it is a vaguely recognizable name - a flippant tag for "the most remote place on earth." With this fabled city as his goal, author Rick Antonson began a month-long trek. His initial plan? To get a haircut. Aided by an adventuresome spirit, Rick endures a 45-hour train ride, a swindling travel agent, "Third World, three-lane" roads, rivers, and a flat deck ferry boat before finally reaching Timbuktu.

From the snowy Soviet shooting range to the heat and dust of Africa, nothing is what it seems. And neither is Sue Dobson. The image of South Africa in the 1980's as the golden paradise on the tip of the African continent conceals a brutal, racist Apartheid regime. Those who oppose it risk their lives. Beauty and brutality go hand in hand.

Few athletes hold a record comparable to that of Oscar Chalupsky. He made history at the age of fifteen as the first person to win both the Junior and Senior Ironman titles on the same day at the South African National Lifesaving Championships, he was the country’s spokesman at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and he is a multiple-times global surfski champion. No Retreat, No Surrender is an uplifting account of grit, perseverance, talent and attitude, vividly capturing the determined mindset of an inspirational sporting legend.

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.

A Nigerian native who emigrated to the United States at age 11, Alex Owumi's exploits on the basketball court earned him a college scholarship to Georgetown University. Undrafted by the NBA, Owumi pursued his basketball dream overseas, eventually signing with Al-Nasr of Libya, a state-run athletic club privately funded by the family of Libyan president Muammar Qaddafi.

In this riveting new book, John Laband, pre-eminent historian of the Zulu Kingdom, tackles some of the questions that swirl around the assassination in 1828 of King Shaka, the celebrated founder of the Zulu Kingdom and war leader of legendary brilliance. In his search for answers, Laband turns to the Zulu voice heard through recorded oral testimony and praise-poems, and to the written accounts and reminiscences of the Port Natal trader-hunters and the despatches of Cape officials.

The biography of Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua was compiled by the abolitionist, Samuel Moore. Born in West Africa (now Benin) around 1830, Baquaqua was sold as a slave and lived in Brazil, Haiti, Canada, and the US where he escaped from slavery in New York City. He also visited England, but it is not known whether he realized his dream of returning to Africa.

Alison Blackmore had an unconventional childhood on a remote farm in Matabeleland during a turbulent transition from colonial rule to independence. In Africa Noon she recounts early adventures with her most loyal friend, her dog Shadow. This memoir covers Alison’s early years in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) around 1965, during the period of UDI (Unilateral Declaration of Independence) from Britain.

The road to success is rarely linear and never easy. But with courage, hard work, perseverance, and dedication to duty, Jim Ovia, founder and chairman of Zenith Bank, proves we can achieve the unthinkable. Jim has been called the Godfather of Banking by Forbes Africa. And this should be no surprise. In a time of tension between military and civilian regimes, periods of incredible economic instability, and a decaying infrastructure, Jim founded Zenith Bank in Nigeria.

The first part of Johnson's work deals with his life as a slave in Virginia. At the end of the Civil War in 1865, he gained his freedom and left Virginia for New York, and eventually Africa. The main theme of the book revolves around his missionary effort on the African continent.

Africa’s Child is the story of a mixed-race girl growing up in the Usambara Mountains of Tanzania, East Africa. Raised in an orphanage with no knowledge of her origins or family, she endured abandonment, hardships, severe illnesses, and bullying. Her experiences as a child and teenager included physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, social stigma, and racial discrimination. Yet Nhambu tells her inspiring story with warmth and humor.

A pathbreaking analysis of the relationship between Mandela the myth, and Mandela the historical figure, this book looks at the way images, stories, and politics have been combined to create the iconic image of Mandela that we know today. Boehmer explores the long trajectory of Mandela's life, explaining first the historical and political context of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, and then the post-apartheid period of difficult reconciliation, including the shifts and changes in Mandela's reputation since the millennium.

In 2017, Kurt Davis traveled to Africa and volunteered at many business accelerators and humanitarian nonprofits. Finding Soul, from Silicon Valley to Africa gives listeners a detailed description of not only what Africa is like, but also how the experiences changed and inspired him. Each chapter comes across like a vignette while developing the key themes in the book: experiencing deep empathy for others, releasing ego and identity, and discovering a deeper meaning for life.

Unveil the untold story of Ethiopia in J.A. Rogers' "The Real Facts About Ethiopia." This powerful 1936 exposé dismantles colonial stereotypes, unveiling a nation steeped in ancient history, vibrant culture, and fierce resistance. From its pre-Christian Axumite civilization to its unwavering defense against European domination, Rogers paints a compelling portrait of Ethiopia's unique identity.

Kandel's memoir is a powerful picture of a young American woman's struggle to reconcile her new marriage with the realities of living in East Africa.

The memoir "From a small village, a journey through Africa into the world" reads like a gripping adventure novel. Alicja's experiences are amazing and adventurous - a girl from a small village who first becomes involved with a Nigerian man then copes well on her own in a distant, somewhat wild country. Her memories are also a large piece of Polish history and life in the Polish People's Republic, as well as the history of Nigeria. The cultural differences between our countries described are fascinating, as well as how the world has changed.

At just ten years old, Julie leaves her close-knit loving family in the city for a country boarding school in Swaziland to join her brother, Seth. Julie's adventures offer an insight into life at a harsh, food-rationed religious boarding school of the fifties. This school, set in glorious African countryside, includes all the sports, horse-riding, piano lessons, performing arts, and high level of education that are possible to prepare a child for entrance to a British university