Africa First

Surprisingly neglected in accounts of Allied wartime triumphs, in 1941 British and Commonwealth forces completed a stunning and important victory in East Africa against an overwhelmingly superior Italian opponent. A hastily formed British-led force, never larger than 70,000 strong, advanced along two fronts to defeat nearly 300,000 Italian and colonial troops.

The first elected woman president of an African country, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was also listed as one of the world’s 100 Most Powerful Women by Forbes. This evocative memoir recounts Sirleaf ’s childhood upbringing and rise to political power in Liberia. More than a simple biography, Sirleaf ’s account details how she stood firm in the face of physical abuse early in life and carried that strength over into her career as a young economist in Samuel Doe’s regime.

David Livingstone was a Scottish missionary and one of the greatest European explorers who ever lived. He fought all his life against slavery, and is remembered as a national hero for opening up the interior of the so-called "Dark Continent"; his expeditions had a tremendous influence on the colonization of Africa and the relation between Europeans and Africans. The son of a Christian missionary himself, Livingstone felt a spiritual calling to reach people in the interior of Africa in order to find new commercial routes and thus free the Africans from the plague of slavery.

The Great War's East Africa campaign was, and remains, of huge importance. A 'small war', consisting of a few 'local affairs', was all that was expected in August 1914 as Britain moved to eliminate the threat to the high seas of German naval bases in Africa. But two weeks after the Armistice was signed in Europe, British and German troops were still fighting in Africa after four years of what one campaign historian described as 'a war of extermination and attrition without parallel in modern times'.

Most scientists believe the evolution of humans has a history as long as life itself. Anatomically modern humans and all other life that has existed on the planet first came about from the single-celled microorganisms that emerged approximately 4 billion years ago. Through the processes of mutation and natural selection, all forms of life developed, and this continuous lineage of life makes it difficult to say precisely when one species completely separates from another.

With gripping anecdotes, Levinson describes her adventures working in some of the most dangerous places on earth, from Somalia to Iraq. But it is her efforts on behalf of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf that form the heart of Choosing the Hero. Levinson chronicles her behind-the-scenes lobbying for the exiled Sirleaf in Washington, DC, as well as her on-the-ground work in Liberia. It took three tries for Sirleaf to finally win the presidency in 2005. President Sirleaf won the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.

Wins, losses, lessons and laughs. From 'naughty lists' to sprinting swans, wandering ducks to Amarula-based incentives, The First Kudu takes you on the roller coaster ride of a start-up and dives into real learnings along the way. The narrative invites you to journey through the chaos with the young team, and unpacks in gritty detail what goes into building a tech start-up—with stories of fun and failure honestly told in equal measure.