Daunt Books

Your Basket

Shops

News Flash

The 2013 Winners are In!



Daunt Books Children's Short Story Competition 2013

Africa

• North Africa
• West Africa
• East Africa
• Central Africa
• Southern Africa

• 

  Rome in Africa by Susan Raven

  Price: £29.99    Add to Basket

  Don't let the book's academic wrapper put you off a fluently written, accessible history of the Roman Empire in North Africa; recommended.

• 

  The Arab Uprising by Marc Lynch

  Price: £10.99    Add to Basket

  A poweful, well-researched country-by-country summary of the months between December 2010 and early 2012, alongside their reverberations in the White House. Lynch places an emphasis on pop culture and the effects of television, the internet and the mobile phone in countries formerly accustomed to strict censorship.

• 

  Botswana Time by Will Randall

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  A cheerful, anecdotal account of the time Will Randall spent teaching in Botswana. Lively reading.

• 

  The Shackled Continent by Robert Guest

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  A short, punchy introduction to the poverty and problems of modern Africa and their causes. Perfect for starting off your reading.

• 

  South Africa's Brave New World by R W Johnson

  Price: £16.99    Add to Basket

  The author gives an emotional account of his country's struggle since the euphoria surrounding the end of apartheid.

• 

  The Education of a British-Protected Child by Chinua Achebe

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  As he turns 80 this year, Chinua Achebe publishes a collection of 16 essays on growing up in colonial Nigeria. He speaks fondly of a British education, while meditating on the damage inflicted by colonialism and the state of his post-colonial homeland.

• 

  Marrakesh: through writers' eyes

  Price: £12.99    Add to Basket

  Barnaby Rogerson had edited this delectable book from the reliable Eland publishing house. Contains extracts by Esther Freud, Edith Wharton and George Orwell. Wonderful choice for holiday reading and a literary way to get to know the city.

• 

  The Emperor by Ryszard Kaapuscinski

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  Engrossing, hauntingly atmospheric account of the fall of Haile Selassie in 1974 told through the testimonies of courtiers and servants. Short and immensely powerful, it is highly recommended.

• 

  Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  This is the memoir of Alexandra Fuller, a young girl growing up in an extraordinary family in violent, 1970s Rhodesia. Steeped in a passion for Africa and told with courage, honesty and humour, it is highly recommended.

• 

  It's Our Turn to Eat by Michela Wrong

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  A gripping yet disheartening biography of Kenyan whistle-blower John Githongo, the man appointed by Kibaki's government to tackle corruption and was then flummoxed at every turn by a civil servants concerned with lining their own pockets.

• 

  The Africa House by Christina Lamb

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  Pieced together from diaries and letters written in the early 20th century, Christina Lamb narrates the story of Stewart Gore-Browne, a man who tried to build the perfect English estate on the edge of a Zambian lake. From whimsical ambitions to his unconventional love life, Lamb has brought her subject and his curious story to life.

• 

  Mukiwa by Peter Godwin

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  A compelling memoir from journalist Peter Godwin about an idyllic African childhood during the 1960s, surviving the brutal civil war and returning as an adult to an independent Zimbabwe. Described by Doris Lessing as "an informative book, full of history, [which] should be in the library of anyone interested in southern Africa."

• 

  Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness by Alexandra Fuller

  £7.99 Price: £7.19    Add to Basket

  This is both the sequel and the prequel to fuller's highly-acclaimed memoir, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight. It tells the story of her mother's arrival in Rhodesia, her experiences during the Civil War, and her life now in the Zambezi Valley.

• 

  Mandela by Anthony Sampson

  Price: £12.99    Add to Basket

  This well-researched, authorised biography of Nelson Mandela is more revealing than Mandela's own and gives a personal impression of a very private man as well as a comprehensive history of the ANC.

• 

  My Traitor's Heart by Rian Malan

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  Rian Malan is the descendent of the Prime Minister Daniel Francois Malan, one of the founding builders of apartheid. He fled South Africa in 1977 but returned in 1985 to face his past, his conscience and to write this book.

• 

  Out of Egypt by Andre Aciman

  Price: £11.99    Add to Basket

  Andre Aciman's poignant memoir about his flamboyant Jewish family and their life in Alexandria until they were forced to leave in 1964. He weaves in anecdotes about his Uncle Villi the spy, his deaf mother and Aunt Flora the German refugee, with poetic descriptions of the city that he loves. Heartfelt, moving and steeped in nostalgia.

• 

  Africa: A Biography of the Continent by John Reader

  Price: £16.99    Add to Basket

  Now quite rightly regarded as a masterpiece, Reader's massive and magnificent continental history begins with geological roots and concludes with political strife. In between he provides a thorough and illuminating account, challenging many misconceptions, that will appeal to experts and newcomers alike.

• 

  In the Shadow of Man by Jane Goodall

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  This classic account of Jane Goodall's work with chimpanzees in Tanzania in the 1960s, is accompanied by incredible black and whte photographs of Jane at work. Informative and charming.

• 

  This House Has Fallen: Nigeria in Crisis by Karl Maier

  Price: £14.99    Add to Basket

  An authoritative, well-researched portrait of Nigeria, its post-colonial history and its potential future. Karl Maier mixes history with travel accounts and interviews.

• 

  A History of Modern Libya by Dirk Vandewalle

  Price: £19.99    Add to Basket

  Accessible introductory history to the country which has been, after all, more than usually interesting.

• 

  Green Hills of Africa by Ernest Hemingway

  Price: £7.99    Add to Basket

  In typically sinewy prose Hemingway describes a month spent on safari in East Africa in 1933.

• 

  African Silences by Peter Matthiessen

  Price: £10.99    Add to Basket

  This powerful and clear-sighted book addresses with fiery vigour the depredation of African wildlife and the landscapes it inhabits. From pygmy elephants in the Congo Basin to peacocks in Zaire, Matthiessen covers considerable ground in sparse yet lyrical prose. Terrific.

• 

  We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families by Philip Gourevitch

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  Philip Gourevitch, journalist and editor of the Paris Review, took the title of this book from a note that was sent from a persecuted Tutsi pastor to his Church president. This collection of real-life stories from survivors of the Rwandan genocide is as human, heartbreaking and intricately researched. Highly recommended.

• 

  Layers of Time by Paul Henze

  Price: £20.00    Add to Basket

  Well written, accessible general history with less academic credentials than that of Harold Marcus but the better choice for those who appreciate narrative verve. In passing, we recommend also his "Ethiopian Journeys".

• 

  The Boer War by Thomas Pakenham

  Price: £14.99    Add to Basket

  A hefty volume but admirably comprehensive, readable and brilliantly written.