New Books on Africa – Notable Nonfiction in 2009
From South Africa to Sudan, a Range of Current African Issues
The year 2009 saw publication of new nonfiction by African authors and experienced non-African observers of the African scene. Here are 15 titles especially recommended by AfricaFocus Bulletin.
Books on Africa-wide Issues
Several writers offer new overviews of the political situation in Africa, including Patrick Chabal, professor of African studies at King’s College London; Richard Dowden, a journalist with the Royal African Society in London; and William Gumede, a South African journalist.
Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan environmentalist and the first African woman to win a Nobel Prize, focuses on environmental challenges facing Africa. Ngugi wa Thiong’o, also Kenyan and one of Africa’s leading novelists, addresses Africa’s colonial past and decolonization from a cultural perspective. U.S. historian Patrick Manning writes about the far-flung African diaspora and its role in world history.
- Patrick Chabal, Africa: The Politics of Suffering and Smiling
- Richard Dowden, Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles
- William Gumede, The Democracy Gap: Africa’s Wasted Years
- Wangari Maathai, The Challenge for Africa
- Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Something Torn and New: An African Renaissance
- Patrick Manning, The African Diaspora: A History Through Culture
Books on South Africa
There are several dozen new books on South Africa worth recommending. Following is a small sample.
Iris Berger, a U.S. historian, provides a new overview of South African’s past from prehistory to recent times. Mark Gevisser and Pippa Green, South African journalists, explore recent South African history with biographies of Thabo Mbeki, former president of South Africa, and Trevor Manuel, the country’s top economic policy maker.
British journalist Alec Russell looks to South Africa’s future in a book entitled After Mandela in the United Kingdom but provocatively retitled for the U.S. market as Bring Me My Machine Gun. And a new book by South African cartoonist Zapiro collects his wide array of cartoons featuring Nelson Mandela.
- Iris Berger, South Africa in World History
- Mark Gevisser, A Legacy of Liberation: Thabo Mbeki and the Future of the South African Dream
- Pippa Green, Choice, Not Fate: The Life and Times of Trevor Manuel
- Alec Russell, After Mandela: The Battle for the Soul of South Africa, from Mandela to Zuma (U.S. title: Bring Me My Machine Gun)
- Jeff Zapiro, The Mandela Files
Books on Other African Countries
Mahmood Mamdani, a Ugandan scholar at Columbia University, considers the crisis in Darfur, Sudan. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, president of Liberia and Africa’s first woman president, reflects on Liberia and the continent within the framework of a personal memoir. In a new look at Burundi by U.S. political scientist Peter Uvin, farmers, artisans, traders, mothers, soldiers, and students talk about their experiences of war and their hopes for peace.
And finally, young William Kamkwamba has written an inspiring book on how he built a homemade windmill out of bicycle parts and other scraps to power his parents’ home in a small village in Malawi. His invention, which attracted international attention, suggests the potential of wind power in Africa. It’s an example of the many creative initiatives taking place across the continent today.
- Mahmood Mamdani, Saviors and Survivors: Darfur, Politics, and the War on Terror
- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa’s First Woman President
- Peter Uvin, Life After Violence: A People’s Story of Burundi
- William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Where to Find Books on Africa
For a large selection of fiction and nonfiction books on Africa, visit the online AfricaFocus Bookshop.
Kenyan Environmentalist Wangari Maathai
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The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
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Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
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Kenyan Novelist Ngugi wa Thiong’o
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