Africa  •  Phyllis Martin  •  Patrick O'Meara CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1995 •  PAPER  • 400 PAGES African history and prehistory, popular culture, art and economics with dozens of maps, photographs and drawings. We especially liked the chapter on the contemporary map of Africa. It's all here. Pick and choose those areas that interest you. It's the most popular introductory text for undergraduate African studies courses in North America -- refreshingly free of cant and completely revised in 1995 to reflect changes in African politics. (AFR07, $20.95)
Africa  •  Michael Lewis  •  John Reader CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  2001 •  HARD COVER  • 320 PAGES An informative survey of the geography, culture and wildlife of Africa featuring 175 color photographs and accompanying text by John Reader (Africa: A Biography of the Continent). Organized geographically, it's the companion volume to an eight-hour television series by PBS and National Geographic. (AFR111, $50.00)
Africa North and West Map 741  •  Michelin 2007 •  MAP A fine map of the north and parts of western Africa, covering Senegal, The Gambia, Ghana, Mali, Mauritania and their neighbors as well as all the Mediterranean-bordering countries (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya) at a scale of 1:4,000,000. (AFR34, $11.95)
African Vodun: Art, Psychology and Power  •  Susanne Preston Blier ART & ARCHITECTURE •  1996 •  PAPER  • 476 PAGES A detailed study of West African vodun traditions, particularly in Togo and Benin. Blier compares the psychological and visual elements of Vodun with related voodoo traditions of Haiti and New Orleans. (WAF74, $45.00)
African Wildlife  •  Raymond Leung  •  James Kavanaugh FIELD GUIDE •  1999 •  PLASTIC CARD A laminated foldout guide illustrating almost 150 species of African animals. This pocket guide is designed for quick reference in the field. (AFR109, $5.95)
The Africans  •  David Lamb CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1987 •  PAPER  • 371 PAGES In these 17 well written essays, news correspondent Lamb ranges throughout Africa, creating an insightful portrait of the land and especially its people. This now-classic book is a wide-ranging political and social survey of the continent, banned in a number of countries -- and as interesting today as when it was first published in 1984. (AFR22, $14.95)
Angry Wind: Through Muslim Black Africa by Truck, Bus, Boat and Camel  •  Jeffrey Tayler TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2005 •  HARD COVER  • 256 PAGES The eye-opening account of an American journalist's trek across the Sahel, the southern region of the Sahara Desert. On his travels through mostly Islamic Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Mali, Cameroon and Senegal, Tayler witnessed poverty, the influence of harsh regimes, and both hostility and a willingness to discuss the relationship of the United States to the Islamic world. An Arabic speaker, Tayler (Glory in a Camel's Eye) writes candidly about what he discovers in this complex part of the world. (WAF83, $25.00)
The Camel and the Wheel  •  Richard Bulliet HISTORY •  1990 •  PAPER  • 352 PAGES Bulliet draws on archaeology, art, anthropology and camel husbandry to explore the implications -- from the Middle Ages to the present -- of the dependence on the camel for transport from Morocco to Afghanistan. Originally published in 1975, The Camel and The Wheel won the Dexter Prize of the Society of the History of Technology. Bulliet is a professor of history at Columbia University. (MDE96, $29.00)
The Cruelest Journey, Six Hundred Miles to Timbuktu  •  Kira Salak TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2004 •  HARD COVER  • 320 PAGES Adventurer Kira Salak's account of her journeys on the Niger River and her record-breaking 600-mile solo kayaking trip to Timbuktu. (WAF75, $26.00)
Cultural Atlas of Africa  •  Jocelyn Murray CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1998 •  HARD COVER  • 240 PAGES This book is a handsomely illustrated atlas of African history and culture with 96 outstanding maps, 250 color photographs and excellent essays. (AFR47, $50.00)
A Field Guide to the Birds of The Gambia and Senegal  •  Clive Barlow  •  Tim Wacher  •  Tony Disley FIELD GUIDE •  2006 •  PAPER  • 400 PAGES A guide to 660 species of birds of Senegal and the Gambia, featuring 48 color plates and short descriptions on the facing pages. With several paragraphs about each species with its description, song, habitat, status and distribution. (WAF03, $42.00)
For the Beauty of the Earth: Birding, Opera, and Other Journeys  •  Thomas Urquhart BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2006 •  PAPER  • 320 PAGES Urquhart chronicles a lifelong affair with nature, combined with a passion for music, as he travels-- and bird watches-- through pastoral England, Italy, the Camargue in Provence, and the villages of Mali. (BRD35, $15.00)
From Slavery to Freedom, A History of African Americans  •  John Hope Franklin HISTORY •  2000 •  HARD COVER  • 742 PAGES A classic history of the African American experience from ancient West African civilizations to the civil rights struggles of the 20th century. First published in 1947, and now in its eighth edition, this book has set the standard for comprehensive studies of the changing roles of Africans in the United States. (USA39, $75.00)
The Girl Who Married a Lion and Other Tales from Africa  •  Alexander McCall Smith LITERATURE •  2004 •  HARD COVER  • 192 PAGES McCall Smith brings together a collection of often hilarious, often bizarre folktales which he heard as a child growing up in Zimbabwe. In addition to the tales from his previous collection, Children of Wax, the best-selling author includes seven new tales from Botswana. In an interesting twist on a writer's creation, the title character of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency provides an introduction. (AFR141, $22.00)
Historical Dictionary of Mali  •  Pascal James Imperato REFERENCE •  1996 •  HARD COVER  • 576 PAGES A scholarly dictionary of important people, places and events in Malian history. With a chronology, six regional maps and detailed entries, it's an expensive but comprehensive academic reference for Mali. (WAF49, $100.00)
The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals  •  Jonathan Kingdon FIELD GUIDE •  1997 •  PAPER  • 476 PAGES An authoritative, beautifully illustrated guide. It features identification, classification and species information for all known African mammals, including many newly discovered species. Written by one of the foremost authorities on African mammals, this concise guide provides full information on identification, distribution, ecology and conservation status on more than 1,100 species. It includes 480 outstanding color illustrations by the author and 280 maps. (AFR32, $47.50)
Lonely Planet West Africa  •  Lonely Planet GUIDEBOOK •  2006 •  PAPER  • 896 PAGES A comprehensive guide to all West Africa, this is the book to carry for travels from Mauritania to Niger, with both a good overview of culture and history and the usual Lonely Planet attention to practical travel information. The bulk of the book is devoted to individual countries. (WAF10, $31.99)
Myth and Reality in the Rain Forest, How Conservation Strategies are Failing in West Africa  •  John F. Oakes NATURAL HISTORY •  1999 •  PAPER  • 338 PAGES A survey of national parks and conservation throughout West Africa. Oakes, who has worked on conservation projects in Africa and India, uses West Africa as a case study to argue against the prevailing notion that wildlife is best protected through small-scale community development. Of primary interest to conservationists, it also offers an interesting theoretical perspective for travelers to the region. (WAF11, $25.95)
Nigeria Map  •  Freytag & Berndt MAP A shaded relief map of Nigeria, on a 1:1.5 M scale. (AFR39, $11.95)
The Peopling of Africa, A Geographic Interpretation  •  James L. Newman CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1997 •  PAPER  • 252 PAGES An anthropological study of Africa, which considers, among other factors, genetics, religion, language and technology. With 50 maps. (AFR140, $18.00)
Roots  •  Alex Haley LITERATURE •  1980 •  PAPER  • 729 PAGES The 30th anniversary edition of Alex Haley's epic story of Kunta Kinte and his descendents. The tale begins in the West African village of Jufureh in 1750 and traces seven generations of one family, to tell the story of Africans in America. An engaging, powerful story of perseverance in times of slavery, it was made into one of the most popular television mini-series of all time. (WAF21, $15.95)
Rough Guide West Africa  •  Jim Hudgens  •  Richard Trillo GUIDEBOOK •  2008 •  PAPER  • 1312 PAGES A comprehensive guide to all West Africa, including its history and culture. With its region-by-region descriptions, 172 maps and 12 pages of color photos, this guide covers everything from the volcanoes on the Cape Verde Islands to Mali's Dogon country to the national parks of Ghana and Nigeria. (WAF38, $34.99)
The Scramble for Africa  •  Thomas Pakenham HISTORY •  1992 •  PAPER  • 738 PAGES A well-written, meticulously researched history of the Victorian land grab in Africa. The book includes excellent portraits of the egomaniacal personalities that overran the continent, including Kitchener, Rhodes, Gordon and King Leopold. Subtitled "white man's conquest of the dark continent from 1876 to 1912, " it's an absorbing tale of adventure, tragedy and farce. (AFR26, $23.95)
Somebody's Heart Is Burning, A Woman Wanderer in Africa  •  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 with a variety of people she met on the road.. A performance artist and travel writer in the midst of romantic turmoil back in California, Shaffer clearly uses Africa, in part, as an escape (and some thorny questions of race and privilege could use some more attention). The material was adapted for her solo show: Let My Enemy Live Long. (WAF80, $13.95)
Wanderings in West Africa  •  Richard Francis Burton TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1991 •  PAPER  • 624 PAGES Intrepid explorer, Islamacist and translator of the Kama Sutra, Burton's interests took him throughout Africa and the Arab world. This account, originally published in 1861, results from his 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 and inland, rich in ethnographic and cultural detail. Two volumes, bound as one, this book also includes a detailed, black-and-white line map of West Africa. (WAF12, $19.95)