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Swift dispatch
Who Will Catch Us As We Fall by Iman ...
Haunted by a past that has kept her from Nairobi for over three years, Leena returns home to discover her family unchanged: her father is still a staunch patriot dreaming of a better country; her mother is still unwilling or unable to let go of the past; and her brother spends his days provoking the establishment as a political activist.
When Leena meets a local Kikuyu artist whose past is linked to her own, the two begin a secret affair—one that forces Leena to again question her place in a country she once called home.
Interlinked with Leena’s story is that of Jeffery: a corrupt policeman burdened with his own angers and regrets, and whose questionable actions have unexpected and catastrophic consequences for those closest to him. Who Will Catch Us as We Fall is an epic look at the politics and people of Kenya.
The Flame Trees of Thika
In an open cart Elspeth Huxley set off with her parents to travel to Thika in Kenya. As pioneering settlers, they built a house of grass, ate off a damask cloth spread over packing cases, and discovered—the hard way—the world of the African.
With an extraordinary gift for detail and a keen sense of humor, Huxley recalls her childhood on the small farm at a time when Europeans waged their fortunes on a land that was as harsh as it was beautiful.
For a young girl, it was a time of adventure and freedom, and Huxley paints an unforgettable portrait of growing up among the Masai and Kikuyu people, discovering both the beauty and the terrors of the jungle, and enduring the rugged realities of the pioneer life.
ISBN:2147483647
Author:Elspeth Huxley
Dinner With Mugabe by Heidi Holland
This penetrating, timely portrait of Robert Mugabe is the psycho-biography of a man whose once-brilliant career has ruined Zimbabwe and cast shame on the African continent.
Heidi Holland's tireless investigation begins with her having dinner with Mugabe, the freedom fighter, and ends in a searching interview with Zimbabwe's president more than 30 years later.
The author charts Mugabe's gradual self-destruction, and uncovers the complicity of some of the most respectable international players in the Zimbabwe tragedy. Probing the mystery of Africa's loyalty to one of its worst dictators, Holland explores the contradictions that cloud the life of a man who had embodied the continent's promise.
Nairobi Heat by Mukoma Wa Ngugi
A young and beautiful white woman is murdered in the US, and the prime suspect is former Rwandan school headmaster Joshua - a hero who had risked his life to save the innocent during Rwanda's genocide. Ishmael, an African American detective, must investigate the case by plunging himself into Joshua's past.
He travels to Kenya, where Joshua once lived as a refugee, and fi nds himself unearthing his own African identity as he uncovers this violent crime. Kenyan author Mukoma wa Ngugi's debut novel is a gripping and hard-hitting detective thriller that questions race, identity and class.
ISBN:2147483647
Author:M?koma wa Ng?g?
The Challenge for Africa by Wangari M...
Brief Summary
Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and founder of the Green Belt Movement, offers a refreshingly unique perspective on the challenges facing Africa, even as she calls for a moral revolution among Africans themselves, who, she argues, are culturally deracinated, adrift between worlds.The troubles of Africa today are severe and wide-ranging. Yet what we see of them in the media, more often than not, are tableaux vivantes connoting poverty, dependence, and desperation.
Wangari Maathai presents a different vision, informed by her three decades as an environmental activist and campaigner for democracy.
She illuminates the complex and dynamic nature of the continent, and offers "hardheaded hope” and "realistic options” for change and improvement. With clarity of expression, Maathai analyzes the most egregious "bottlenecks to development in Africa,” occurring at the international, national, and individual levels–cultural upheaval and enduring poverty among them–and deftly describes what Africans can and need to do for themselves, stressing all the while responsibility and accountability.Impassioned and empathetic, The Challenge for Africa is a book of immense importance.
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ISBN:9780307390288
Author:Wangari Maathai
BORN TO BE UNSTOPPABLE: My Kenyan Sto...
Known internationally as a motivational speaker and founder of Maji Mazuri, Wanjiku Kironyo has dedicated her life to empowering marginalized Kenyans. Born to Be Unstoppable traces her journey from a remote village during the Mau Mau era to university in California, and back to Kenya, where she transformed opportunities into impact. From her fieldwork in Mathare Valley to inspiring thousands through education and social programs, Wanjiku’s story is one of resilience, vision, and self-determination. This intimate memoir celebrates a remarkable life committed to social change, demonstrating the transformative power of courage, hard work, and compassion.
Househelp Manual by Betty Kilonzo
The Leader : English Version of the K...
Brief Summary
The Leader focuses on the perennial issues that bedevil leadership in Africa. While the citizens of Sagamoyo are preparing for month long festivities in recognition of "monumental development", Chapakazi Market, which is the mainstay of the regional economy is closed suddenly. Why have the Leaders closed the Market? What will happen to the people of Sagamoyo who rely on the Market?
This play gives a realistic image of a country that takes pride in having been independent for decades. However, who has benefited from these independence?
She Would Be King by Wayétu Moore
Brief Summary
A novel of exhilarating range, magical realism, and history—a dazzling retelling of Liberia’s formation.
Wayétu Moore’s powerful debut novel, She Would Be King, reimagines the dramatic story of Liberia’s early years through three unforgettable characters who share an uncommon bond. Gbessa, exiled from the West African village of Lai, is starved, bitten by a viper, and left for dead, but still she survives. June Dey, raised on a plantation in Virginia, hides his unusual strength until a confrontation with the overseer forces him to flee. Norman Aragon, the child of a white British colonizer and a Maroon slave from Jamaica, can fade from sight when the earth calls him. When the three meet in the settlement of Monrovia, their gifts help them salvage the tense relationship between the African American settlers and the indigenous tribes, as a new nation forms around them.
Moore’s intermingling of history and magical realism finds voice not just in these three characters but also in the fleeting spirit of the wind, who embodies an ancient wisdom. “If she was not a woman,” the wind says of Gbessa, “she would be king.” In this vibrant story of the African diaspora, Moore, a talented storyteller and a daring writer, illuminates with radiant and exacting prose the tumultuous roots of a country inextricably bound to the United States. She Would Be King is a novel of profound depth set against a vast canvas and a transcendent debut from a major new author.
From Dictatorship to Democracy by Gen...
Brief Summary
From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation.
The revolutionary word-of-mouth phenomenon, available for the first time as a trade book
Twenty-one years ago, at a friend’s request, a Massachusetts professor sketched out a blueprint for nonviolent resistance to repressive regimes. It would go on to be translated, photocopied, and handed from one activist to another, traveling from country to country across the globe: from Iran to Venezuela—where both countries consider Gene Sharp to be an enemy of the state—to Serbia; Afghanistan; Vietnam; the former Soviet Union; China; Nepal; and, more recently and notably, Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya, and Syria, where it has served as a guiding light of the Arab Spring.
This short, pithy, inspiring, and extraordinarily clear guide to overthrowing a dictatorship by nonviolent means lists 198 specific methods to consider, depending on the circumstances: sit-ins, popular nonobedience, selective strikes, withdrawal of bank deposits, revenue refusal, walkouts, silence, and hunger strikes.
From Dictatorship to Democracy is the remarkable work that has made the little-known Sharp into the world’s most effective and sought-after analyst of resistance to authoritarian regimes.
ISBN:9781595588500
Author:Gene Sharp
The Marakwet of Kenya: A Preliminary ...
Brief Summary
The Marakwet of Kenya is a study of a sub-group of the greater Kalenjin community, the majority of whom live in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya.
It is an excellent introduction to the study of an African community in transition, both from its belief systems and in its broad structure and organisation.
This work is invaluable to any student of comparative studies; whether in sociology, anthropology, economics or history.
ISBN:9789966255327
Author:-
Sir Ali Bin Salim and the Making of M...
Brief Summary
Sir Ali bin Salim (c1870-1940) was the product of illustrious forbears. He was a member of the Al Busaidi clan - the powerful family from Oman, who ruled over much of East Africa during the 19th century. His father, Salim bin Khalfan, served as Liwali or Governor of Mombasa during the introduction of British colonial rule. Sir Ali carried on the role into the 20th century. The influence of father and son on the coast of Kenya continued for a period of over fifty years.
As chief representatives for the Sultan of Zanzibar, both father and son trod a difficult path working with the British, and their administration, while providing continuity and leadership for the people of the coast. This is the story of how the two men navigated their way through turbulent times to emerge on the winning side and achieve great wealth and power.
Together their foresight and generosity helped make Mombasa the dominant port city of the region it is today. After the death of his father, Sir Ali rose to greater prominence becoming the most famous coastal leader of the age.
Judy Aldrick lived in Mombasa for 22 years. In 2004 she returned to UK and now lives in Kent. She has written widely on coastal history, art and architecture and was involved in the Conservation Programme for Old Town Mombasa. In 1988 she received an M Litt for her thesis on the carved doors of the East African coast.
This book is her fourth historical biography set in East Africa. In it she explores the role of the Arabs and their contribution to the coast of Kenya. Her previous books published by Old Africa Books were: The Fannin Papers; Northrup, the life of William Northrup McMillan; and The Sultan's Spymaster, Peera Dewjee of Zanzibar.
ISBN:9789966757463
Author:Judy Aldrick
Intepen e Maasai Book by S S Ole Sankan
A Leap Into the Future by Anyang Nyongo
Brief Summary
A Leap into the Future is a collection of speeches, essays and articles compiled during Prof. Anyang' Nyong'o's tenure in the Kenya government and soon afterwards (2002-2006). In this provocative collection, Prof. Nyong'o examines the challenges of development, analyses how pan-African and global partnerships could facilitate development, and invokes the visionary direction pointed out by prominent personalities in Kenya's political leadership to whom he pays tribute.
Through the collection, the author projects his vision for socio-political and economic transformation of the Kenyan society in a bid to formulate an economic strategy capable of leap-frogging the country from the current quagmire of underdevelopment to development. Professor Anyang' Nyong'o is a renowned reformist and political scientist in Africa and is best known for his role in Kenya's "second liberation". He holds a doctorate degree in Political Science from the University of Chicago and has taught in universities in Kenya, Mexico and Ethiopia. Upon the re-introduction of multiparty politics in Kenya in 1991, he was involved in the founding of Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD), which provided the premier opposition machinery in the run-up to the 1992 general elections.
He was also involved in the formation of the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC), which defeated KANU, the party that had ruled Kenya for 24 years. In the subsequent NARC government, he became the Minister of Planning and National Development. Besides teaching, he is widely published in Africa and abroad. Prof. Nyong'o has also been at the frontline in championing the reform agenda in Africa, especially through the establishment of NEPAD. At the time of publication of this book, he was Secretary General of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).
ISBN:9789966706263
Author:Anyang Nyongo
We The Scarred by Mukoma Wa Ngugi
Brief Summary
Mukoma Wa Ngugi’s novel We, The Scarred, formerly known as Mrs Shaw, has today been revealed by its publisher Paivapo Publishers.
Author, poet and academic Mukoma Wa Ngugi came into the African literary scene with the two novels Nairobi Heat and its sequel Killing Sahara (Black Star Nairobi). The two are crime fiction offerings featuring an African American police Detective Ishmael Fofona and Kenyan law enforcement badass David Odhiambo. You can read our reviews of Nairobi Heat and Killing Sahara (Black Star Nairobi). The writer has written many other things including the poetry collection Logotherapy (2016) and the nonfiction The Rise of African Novel (2018).
In 2015, the author unleashed the Ohio University Press published novel Mrs Shaw about the fictional East African Kwatee Republic of the 1990s, its dictatorship about to fall, and its exiles preparing to return. We here at JamesMurua.com loved it and reviewed it for the Daily Nation here.
The African rights for this book have been acquired by Paivapo Publishers who have opted to give the book the name We, The Scarred which really makes sense. Anyone who reads the novel will know that Mrs Shaw was not the central character in the title so it was really strange that this was its name. The new cover of the title, designed by Shubnum Khan with graphics by Megan Ross, has been unveiled today and you can see it in its glory below.
ISBN:9780639946146
Author:Mukoma Wa Ngugi
The Double Cross by Mwangi Gicheru
The Jail bugs by Wahome Mutahi
Chameleon Aura by Billy Chapata
Brief summary
Zimbabwean poet Billy Chapata provides a thought-provoking take on the universal experiences of love, pain, and what comes next through messages of empowerment. This collection of poetry and prose will justify heartache and inspire the fortitude to survive and prosper.
Chameleon Aura presents a harmonious blend of experience and advice through a chaptered series of prose and poetry that focuses on shared experiences in love and loss. Emboldened words and phrases capture the essence of the author's message and distinguish his unique style.
Chapata's touching narrative celebrates humanity for their biological resilience and undeniable worth. This collection leaves readers warm with hope for growth, rebirth, and, most prominently, self-acceptance.
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ISBN:9781449499372
Author:Billy Chapata
The Kenyatta Succession by Joseph Kar...
The Kenyatta Succession by Joseph Karimi & Philip Ochieng
On the day Mzee Jomo Kenyatta died at Mombasa State House, Coast provincial intelligence officer Bart Kibati received a phone call from the PC Eliud Mahihu.
The administrator relayed the sad news to the sleuth and then went ahead to ask him to look for a coffin in which they would transport the head of state’s body to Nairobi. A Kenya Air Force plane was on standby.
Kibati, well aware that if he was seen buying a coffin tongues would start wagging, decided to pull a trick out of his cloak and dagger trade’s rule book. He bought not only one but three coffin - including one for a child for a good measure.
The retired spy chief reveals in his tell-all biography ‘Memoirs of a Spymaster’ that this was not the first time he was involving himself in subterfuge following a high profile death.
Just under a decade earlier he was the provincial director of intelligence when the celebrated Cabinet minister Tom Mboya was assassinated. On the day Mboya’s body was passing through Nakuru, Kibati came up with a hearse decoy.