Great African Reads discussion

The subject area for our nonfiction read for April-June 2020 is African History. What book should we read as a group? Do you have any articles, syllabi, or other links to share about the subject to help us choose a group read?

Timeline:
- Now until 29 Feb: Suggest books here! Please respond with a "second" for a book recommendation you like. If the list of suggested books gets over 5, I'll only add to the poll those with a second supporter.
- 1-15 March: Vote on a group read!
- 1 April - 30 June: Read and discuss!

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The first posts in this thread were to vote on the topic. We decided to read about African History in April-June, and Climate Change from July-September 2020.

What subject area should we read about in the second quarter of 2020? We had a tie in the initial poll, so let's start with a tie-breaker!

Would you prefer to read about Climate Change in Africa or African history? If you have a book you're burning to explore as a group on one of these topics, please post about it here. We accept lobbying for votes. :)

Vote here!

A few more days left to vote between Climate Change and African History for the second quarter's group read.

Vote here!

I’d love to read either Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, focused on 1960’s Nigeria, or Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa by Jason Stearns.

Carol wrote: "I’d love to read either Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, focused on 1960’s Nigeria, or [book:Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo..."

I'd like to read that one too! (No idea if it fits the topics?)

Anetq wrote: "Carol wrote: "I’d love to read either Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, focused on 1960’s Nigeria, or [book:Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collaps..."

I hadn't realized this thread was intended only for nonfiction. It certainly fits the theme of African History, but if the offering must be nonfiction, then no.

you're right actually, I guess "Dancing in the Glory" would fit - unless some earlier 'history' was intende? I'm not sure?

I agree that Half of a Yellow Sun is not eligible for this read (though it is a wonderful book!). Dancing in the Glory really is about recent history (the Congo wars of the past 25 to 30 years) and is a very insightful read.

The poll has yielded an equal number of votes both for African history as for climate change... Shall we nominate book for both of these themes? Or keep one of them for Jul-Sep?

Wim wrote: "The poll has yielded an equal number of votes both for African history as for climate change... Shall we nominate book for both of these themes? Or keep one of them for Jul-Sep? "

I love a good compromise, so let's do African History for Mar-Jun and Climate Change in Jul-Sep.

What other African History books would you like to propose?

This is a huge topic (recent or ancient? contintental or local? sweeping or focused?). Suggest what you'd like to read or a topic you'd like help finding a book about and we'll have a poll in Feb.

Here are some lists to help...
https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-ti...
https://afrographics.com/top-10-best-...
https://www.okayafrica.com/new-africa...
https://www.culturesofwestafrica.com/...
https://newbooksnetwork.com/category/...

I took a class on the French Empire in college, and I still reference learning from A Mission to Civilize: The Republican Idea of Empire in France and West Africa, 1895-1930.

I would be interested in reading Richard Reid's Warfare in African History, but maybe that is too niche?

Here is also a resource that might give us some inspiration for picking a book: http://democracyinafrica.org/decoloni...

We should continue nominating books and vote soon for the African history read.

I would like to second A Mission to Civilize: The Republican Idea of Empire in France and West Africa, 1895-1930 and nominate David Van Reybrouck's Congo: The Epic History of a People, a book that is waiting on my shelves since a long time.

Hi everyone,

As I assume for many of you, the coronavirus pandemic threw me for a loop!

Please get in your last nominations and seconds, and I'll put the poll up April 1st.

Poll is up! Go vote!

Hi! I hope this is the right group. I just wanted to get some recommendations for books about preferrably a rather short history of ALL African countries.
Any particular books that i should read? (English or German)
Thank you in advance!

Hi Lea! For this group read we selected two fairly narrow books, A Mission to Civilize: The Republican Idea of Empire in France and West Africa, 1895-1930 (which gives an overview of French imperialism in Africa, so covers West and Central Africa during the colonial period) and Congo: The Epic History of a People (which focuses on just one country, albeit an enormous and influential one!). You can check out that discussion here.

To actually answer your question, I haven't personally read one good summary of all African countries' history, but some other folks in this group read and seemed to enjoy Africa: A Biography of the Continent. You can find that big discussion folder here.

A couple others that I have not read or have only read parts of, but may answer your questions include:
The Fate of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence
The Scramble for Africa: The White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912
... there must be others! Ideas, anyone?

The Fortunes of Africa - a 5000 Year History of Wealth, Greed and Endeavour by Martin Meredith.
At about 700 pages it's not a short read, but it's a very readable and informative read and the author covers more pre-colonial history than some other authors on African history.

To get a first overview I generally tend to consult books like The Penguin Atlas of African History, but of course this is just to get you started.