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Ghana

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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We feature a handpicked selection of travel guides, maps, literature, books on art, nature and culture, all designed to help you get more out of your travels to Ghana. Order an essential package, and we'll ship any additional items for free.

Essential Reading

Item EXWAF18. Buy these 4 items as a set for $66 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
With free shipping on anything else you order.

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Bradt Guide Ghana

Bradt Guide Ghana

by Philip Briggs | Hilary Bradt | Annabel Milne

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 448 PAGES

Complete with maps and town plans, this guide to Ghana features practical information on the country's history, culture and attractions. (WAF27, $26.99)

Kwame Nkrumah, The Father of African Nationalism

Kwame Nkrumah, The Father of African Nationalism

by David Birmingham

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 142 PAGES

The tale of the remarkable life of Kwame Nkrumah, the African statesman who championed for independence, won Africans the right to vote, and became the president of Ghana in 1960. (WAF34, $14.95)

No Sweetness Here and Other Stories

No Sweetness Here and Other Stories

by Ama Ata Aidoo

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 160 PAGES

A collection of eleven short stories about the lives of women and men in postcolonial Ghana and the tensions between traditional village and urban life; Aidoo's stories emphasize Ghana's prominent oral culture. (WAF23, $14.95)

Ghana Map

Ghana Map

by ITMB

  • 2011
  • MAP

A colorful, folded map of Ghana at a detailed scale of 1:500,000. (WAF37, $12.95)

 
Ho 2009, Volta Region, Ghana West Africa

Ho 2009, Volta Region, Ghana West Africa


by Carrie Brown | Asogli State Council

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 102 PAGES

This guide to the Ho Municipality of Ghana by Cross-Cultural Solutions volunteer Brown includes fact sheets, maps, photographs and cultural and economic background. (WAF147, $10.00)

Africa, A Biography of the Continent

Africa, A Biography of the Continent


by John Reader

  • HISTORY
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 816 PAGES

With the ease of a practiced journalist, Reader weaves a masterful and lively tale of the continent, from ancient cultures to modern times. Both authoritative and informal, this is a splendid introduction to all of Africa. (AFR49, $18.95)

Born on a Monday, A Photo Documentary of Ghana

Born on a Monday, A Photo Documentary of Ghana


by Carrie Brown

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 64 PAGES

Carrie Brown documents the people, culture and daily activities of the village of Woe in Ghana in this striking collection of color photographs. With accompanying essays by Brown and Cross-Cultural Solutions' Ghanaian staff. (WAF79, $24.95)

Captive Passage, The Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Making of the Americas

Captive Passage, The Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Making of the Americas


by The Mariners' Museum | Smithsonian Inst.

  • HISTORY
  • 2002
  • HARD COVER
  • 208 PAGES

A companion volume to the exhibition drawn largely from the collections of The Mariners' Museum. (ATL14, $21.95)

Forests of Gold, Essays on the Akan and the Kingdom of Asante


by Ivor Wilks

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 1996
  • PAPER
  • 405 PAGES

A collection of essays that explores the Akan peoples of Ghana and examines the Asante kingdom. (WAF33, $25.00)

Onions are My Husband, Survival and Accumulation by West African Market Women

Onions are My Husband, Survival and Accumulation by West African Market Women


by Gracia Clark

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 1994
  • PAPER
  • 488 PAGES

A vivid ethnographic portrait of the women of the enormous open-air Kumasi Central Market in Ghana based on interviews and fieldwork by University of Indiana anthropologist Gracia Clark. (WAF28, $42.50)

Saltwater Slavery, A Middle Passage from Africa to American Diaspora

Saltwater Slavery, A Middle Passage from Africa to American Diaspora


by Stephanie E. Smallwood

  • HISTORY
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 288 PAGES

Smallwood offers a clear, engaging study of Slavery and the Middle Passage, drawing upon journals, narratives and letters from slaves transported in harsh conditions across the Atlantic. (WAF115, $19.95)

Spellbound, Inside West Africa's Witch Camps


by Karen Palmer

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2010
  • HARD COVER
  • 247 PAGES

Also including a history of Ghana under British rule, Palmer investigates the pervasive influence of the spirit world and the phenomenon of exiling women to remote colonies in the north in this gritty report. (WAF152, $25.00)

The Door of No Return, The History of Cape Coast Castle and the Atlantic Slave Trade

The Door of No Return, The History of Cape Coast Castle and the Atlantic Slave Trade


by William St. Clair

  • HISTORY
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 288 PAGES

St. Clair draws on correspondence, government records, artifacts and ship logs for this intimate, absorbing history of the British slave trade as seen through life at Ghana's Cape Coast Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Although focused on Ghana, this is an essential record of the transatlantic slave trade. (WAF116, $15.95)

West Africa Before the Colonial Era, A History to 1850

West Africa Before the Colonial Era, A History to 1850


by Basil Davidson

  • HISTORY
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 257 PAGES

Davidson puts the stories of peoples and empires into context in this lively, scholarly history. With maps, illustrations and a timeline. (WAF07, $60.00)

Indigo, In Search of the Color That Seduced the World


by Catherine E. McKinley

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2011
  • HARD COVER
  • 288 PAGES

The descendant of a clan of Scots who wore indigo tartan, whose ancestors on her father's side were traded along the same Saharan routes as indigo, McKinley brings her own history to this quest to unravel the signficance of this noble dye to West Africa and the world. (WAF155, $27.00)

All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes


by Maya Angelou

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1991
  • PAPER
  • 208 PAGES

A candid memoir of Angelou's experiences in Ghana in the 1960s, just five years after the country's independence from Britain. (WAF24, $14.00)

Lose Your Mother, A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route


by Saidiya Hartman

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 270 PAGES

An African American herself, Berkeley professor Hartman retraces the trail of captives from the Atlantic coast to the hinterlands of Ghana, probing both her own history and the imact of slavery on 300-years of African and African American history. (WAF145, $14.00)

Somebody's Heart Is Burning, A Woman Wanderer in Africa

Somebody's Heart Is Burning, A Woman Wanderer in Africa


by Tanya Shaffer

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 336 PAGES

Shaffer's vivid account of a year on the road in Africa, much of it in Ghana, where she worked on building schools and other volunteer projects. (WAF80, $13.95)

Wanderings in West Africa

Wanderings in West Africa


by Richard Francis Burton

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 1991
  • PAPER
  • 624 PAGES

This account, originally published in 1861, results from a three-year stint in the British Foreign office in Fernando Po, an island off the coast of West Africa. It's a valuable first-hand account of short trips around the West African coast. (WAF12, $19.95)

Changes, A Love Story

Changes, A Love Story


by Ama Ata Aidoo

  • LITERATURE
  • 1993
  • PAPER
  • 196 PAGES

A novel from the multitalented author and playwright, in which the independent Esi Sekyi confronts traditional values in marriage, love, career and family in contemporary Ghana. (WAF35, $15.95)

Middle Passage

Middle Passage


by Charles Johnson

  • LITERATURE
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 224 PAGES

Winner of the National Book Award, this historical novel, set in 1830, is the richly imagined tale of a recently freed slave in New Orleans who signs aboard a square-rigger bound for Africa. (ATL02, $15.00)

The Seasons of Beento Blackbird

The Seasons of Beento Blackbird


by Akosua Busia

  • LITERATURE
  • 1998
  • PAPER
  • 367 PAGES

A provocative novel dissecting the issues of marriage and African identity by the daughter of a former Ghanaian prime minister. (WAF42, $24.95)

West African Folktales

West African Folktales


by Jack Berry | Richard Spears

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 1991
  • PAPER
  • 229 PAGES

These 123 unembellished tales reflect the rich oral tradition of cultures throughout West Africa, particularly Ghana and Nigeria, where the pioneering Berry did much of his field work. (WAF13, $21.00)

Birds of Western Africa

Birds of Western Africa


by Nik Borrow | Ron Demey

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 496 PAGES

A compact field edition of Barrow and Demey's comprehensive handbook, covering nearly 1,300 species from Senegal to Congo and featuring 150 color plates. (WAF76, $45.00)

Birds of Western and Central Africa, Princeton Illustrated Checklist

Birds of Western and Central Africa, Princeton Illustrated Checklist


by Ber Van Perlo

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 384 PAGES

An admirably compact, comprehensive guide to 1,500 species throughout Western and Central Africa featuring 109 color plates. (WAF02, $29.95)

National Audubon Society Field Guide to African Wildlife

National Audubon Society Field Guide to African Wildlife


by Peter Alden

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 1995
  • PAPER
  • 988 PAGES

This comprehensive photo guide covers 850 birds, mammals and reptiles of Africa. With range maps and a good country-by-country overview of habitats and parks. (AFR25, $24.95)

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