Africa Biography

When Tantoh Nforba was a child, his fellow students mocked him for his interest in gardening. Today he's an environmental hero, bringing clean water and bountiful gardens to the central African nation of Cameroon. Authors Miranda Paul and Baptiste Paul share Farmer Tantoh's inspiring story.

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.

In the space of a few days, Carrie loses her marriage, her career, and her home - all while working in Lagos, Nigeria. She is blindsided by the losses and realizes the story she painstakingly knit together over the past two decades - the story explaining her life and who she is - has unraveled. With no plan and only her deaf cat, Lucy, for company, Carrie decides to remain in Africa. What happens next is an awkward, amusing, and ultimately inspiring journey as Carrie slowly lets go of who she thought she was and starts from scratch at middle-age.

On August 7, 1998, three years before President George W. Bush declared the War on Terror, the radical Islamist group al-Qaeda bombed the American embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, where Prudence Bushnell was serving as U.S. ambassador. Terrorism, Betrayal, and Resilience is her account of what happened, how it happened, and its impact 20 years later. When the bombs went off in Kenya and neighboring Tanzania that day, Congress was in recess and the White House, along with the entire country, was focused on the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Many terms were bestowed upon the mysterious Fritz Duquesne throughout his colorful life, but perhaps the most fitting ever attributed to him was: "the most dangerous prisoner to have ever lived." But before this Boer warrior-turned-spy reached the heights of infamy that awarded him such acclaim, Fritz Joubert Duquesne lived a life of adventure that many people wouldn’t experience in a hundred lifetimes. From a young age, Fritz harboured a burning resentment toward the British army, stemming from the brutal treatment suffered by his family during the Anglo-Boer wars.

Few images in history have managed to capture and hold the popular imagination quite like that of Hannibal, the fearless North African, perched on a monstrous elephant, leading his mercenaries over the Alps and then, against all odds, descending the ice-covered peaks to challenge Rome in her own backyard for mastery of the ancient world. It was a bold move, and it established Hannibal as one of history's greatest commanders. But this same brilliant tactician is also one of history's most tragic figures; fate condemned him to win his battles but not his war.

Teresa O'Kane had always longed to see the world. She owned scads of travel books and maps and was about to buy yet another bookcase to hold the many Lonely Planet guides and travel essays that she had accumulated over the years when she turned to her husband and said, "I'm tired of storing our dreams. Let's live them!" Within a month, they bought one-way tickets to Morocco, leased out their home, and set out on a journey of the African continent top to bottom from Casablanca to Cape Town.

In the tradition of Uzodinma Iweala's Beasts of No Nation by way of Christopher McDougall's Born to Run, this is the inspirational true story of the Ugandan boy soldier who became a world-renowned runner, then found his calling as director of a world-renowned African children's charity.

In 2001, at 47, Thomas DeWolf was astounded to discover that he was related to the most successful slave-trading family in American history, responsible for transporting at least 10,000 Africans to the Americas. His infamous ancestor, U.S. senator James DeWolf of Bristol, of Rhode Island, curried favor with President Jefferson to continue in the trade after it was outlawed.

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.

This is the story of a young boy who grew up to become president of South Africa. His lifelong quest was to establish equality for people of all colors.

Many of the patients at Mother of Mercy walk for days in order to arrive at the hospital's gates. Others are carried by friends, or survive the jarring ride over dirt paths in the back of the rare pickup that exists in the Nuba Mountain region of southern Sudan. Most are victims of the war that has been waged from the air against the people of Nuba by the Sudanese government for years. All Nubans know to seek refuge in a foxhole when they hear the drone of the bombers overhead; and they all know, in the aftermath, is to bring the maimed to Dr. Tom Catena, the only surgeon for thousands of square miles.

Thomas Jefferson grew up on his father's ranch in Western Virginia. He came from a family that owned slaves, was wealthy, and had a rich history in agriculture. His paternal links were equally wealthier, with his mother coming from a line of one of the most aristocratic families in the history of the land.

Helge Timmerberg, Abenteurer und Globetrotter, hat den letzten ihm noch unbekannten Kontinent bereist: Afrika...

In the second volume of his three-part history, a monumental trilogy that began with Parting the Waters, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, Taylor Branch portrays the Civil Rights Movement at its zenith, recounting the climactic struggles as they commanded the national stage. Beginning with the Nation of Islam and conflict over racial separatism, Pillar of Fire takes the listener to Mississippi and Alabama: Birmingham, the murder of Medgar Evers, the "March on Washington," the Civil Rights Act, and more.

At dusk, on a warm evening in 2016, a group of 40 men gathered in the corner of a dusty field on a farm outside Parys in the Free State. Some were in fury. Others treated the whole thing as a joke - a game. The events of the next two hours would come to haunt them all. They would rip families apart, prompt suicide attempts, breakdowns, divorce, bankruptcy, threats of violent revenge and acts of unforgivable treachery. These Are Not Gentle People is the story of that night and of what happened next.

Rolihlahla "Nelson" Mandela fu un grande leader sudafricano del XX secolo. Come membro della rivoluzione armata, Lancia della Nazione, negli anni Cinquanta e Sessanta, lottò duramente per abolire l'apartheid, quella serie di "leggi" che giustificavano il dominio della minoranza bianca europea sul popolo nativo sudafricano.

Bronnie Ellis Stroud left Indianapolis for Bawku. There, in the sahel, in the northeastern corner of the Gold Coast, now Ghana, and later along the forested coast, he altered the course of a people and a country. A linguist, missionary, and educator, a husband, father, and grandfather, he was an adventurer and a man of unfailing affection. He built churches and schools. More importantly, he formed enduring loyalties that strengthened those with whom he worked. A tireless man, his eyes twinkled blue and he walked fast.

L'histoire vraie du Parcours des Baroumbayes de l'Afrique aux États-Unis" de l'auteur Noubaissem Baroumbaye est une histoire évocatrice d'immigration commençant dans son pays natal Tchad, à travers ses études théologiques au Cameroun, et enfin aux circonstances fortuites entourant son émigration d'Afrique vers les États-Unis.

From his unarmed air ambulance, Munk and his team treated patients suffering from severe trauma, possible Ebola hemorrhagic fever, elephantiasis, malaria, and gunshot wounds. In Urgent Calls from Distant Places, the missions described are real and compelling.