Combined Academic Publishers

H-Africa Short Histories of Africa - Combined Academic Publishers

Discussion published by Charles Woodhead on Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Dear H-Africa subscribers,

We hope that these titles will be of interest to you.

Thomas Sankara

An African Revolutionary

Ernest Harsch

“”Thomas Sankara: An African Revolutionary will serve as an excellent introduction to Sankara and the revolution in Burkina Faso and explain why Sankara continues to be so widely admired throughout Africa and beyond.”—Christopher Wise, author of Derrida, Africa, and the Middle East

Thomas Sankara, often called the African Che Guevara, was president of Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries in Africa, until his assassination during the military coup that brought down his government. Although his tenure in office was relatively short, Sankara left an indelible mark on his country’s history and development. An avowed Marxist, he outspokenly asserted his country’s independence from France and other Western powers while at the same time seeking to build a genuine pan-African unity.

Ernest Harsch traces Sankara’s life from his student days to his recruitment into the military, early political awakening, and increasing dismay with his country’s extreme poverty and political corruption. As he rose to higher leadership positions, he used those offices to mobilize people for change and to counter the influence of the old, corrupt elites. Sankara and his colleagues initiated economic and social policies that shifted away from dependence on foreign aid and toward a greater use of the country’s own resources to build schools, health clinics, and public works. Although Sankara’s sweeping vision and practical reforms won him admirers both in Burkina Faso and across Africa, a combination of domestic opposition groups and factions within his own government and the army finally led to his assassination in 1987.

This is the first English-language book to tell the story of Sankara’s life and struggles, drawing on the author’s extensive firsthand research and reporting on Burkina Faso, including interviews with the late leader. Decades after his death, Sankara remains an inspiration to young people throughout Africa for his integrity, idealism, and dedication to independence and self-determination.

Ohio University Press

November 2014 160pp 9780821421260 Paperback http://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/thomas-sankara

Emperor Haile Selassie

Bereket Habte Selassie

“”Emperor Haile Selassie is a readable, well-organized book that accurately portrays the life of the Ethiopian King of Kings and, through him, the history of the nation. The author is at his best in relating his personal experience and ties to the Emperor original material that I found fascinating.”—Theodore M. Vestal, author of The Lion of Judah in the New World: Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and the Shaping of Americans’ Attitudes toward Africa

Emperor Haile Selassie was an iconic figure of the twentieth century, a progressive monarch who ruled Ethiopia from 1916 to 1974. This book, written by a former state official who served in a number of important positions in Selassie’s government, tells both the story of the emperor’s life and the story of modern Ethiopia.

After a struggle for the throne in 1916, the young Selassie emerged first as regent and then as supreme leader of Ethiopia. Over the course of his nearly six-decade rule, the emperor abolished slavery, introduced constitutional reform, and expanded educational opportunity. The Italian invasion of Ethiopia in the 1930s led to a five-year exile in England, from which he returned in time to lead his country through World War II. Selassie was also instrumental in the founding of the Organization of African Unity in 1963, but he fell short of the ultimate goal of a promised democracy in Ethiopia. The corruption that grew under his absolute rule, as well as his seeming indifference to the famine that gripped Ethiopia in the 1970s, led finally to his overthrow by the armed forces that he had created.

Haile Selassie was an enlightened monarch in many ways, but also a man with flaws like any other. This short biography is a sensitive portrayal of Selassie as both emperor and man, by one who knew him well.

Ohio University Press

October 2014 156pp 9780821421277 Paperback http://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/emperor-haile-selassie

Govan Mbeki

Colin Bundy

“”[This] thoughtful biography…examines the ways in which [Govan Mbeki] placed greater emphasis than many other cadres on the political importance of rural people. This is a very accomplished monograph. Neither sentimental nor vague and dispassionate, Bundy distils Mbeki's legacy as that of writer, teacher and revolutionary, albeit one who had participated in a modest revolution.’”—Journal of African History

Govan Mbeki (1910–2001) was a core leader of the African National Congress, the Communist Party, and the armed wing of the ANC during the struggle against apartheid. Known as a hard-liner, Mbeki was a prolific writer and combined in a rare way the attributes of intellectual and activist, political theorist and practitioner. Sentenced to life in prison in 1964 along with Nelson Mandela and others, he was sent to the notorious Robben Island prison, where he continued to write even as tension grew between himself, Mandela, and other leaders over the future of the national liberation movement. As one of the greatest leaders of the antiapartheid movement, and the father of Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa from 1999 to 2008, the elder Mbeki holds a unique position in South African politics and history.

This biography by noted historian Colin Bundy goes beyond the narrative details of his long life: it analyzes his thinking, expressed in his writings over fifty years. Bundy helps establish what is distinctive about Mbeki: as African nationalist and as committed Marxist — and more than any other leader of the liberation movement — he sought to link theory and practice, ideas and action.

Drawing on exclusive interviews Bundy did with Mbeki, careful analysis of his writings, and the range of scholarship about his life, this biography is personal, reflective, thoroughly researched, and eminently readable.

Ohio University Press

April 2013 168pp about 4 b&w photos 9780821420461 Paperback http://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/govan-mbeki

Ingrid Jonker

Poet under Apartheid

Louise Viljoen

Nelson Mandela brought the poetry of Ingrid Jonker to the attention of South Africa and the wider world when he read her poem “Die kind” (The Child) at the opening of South Africa’s first democratic parliament on May 24, 1994. Though Jonker was already a significant figure in South African literary circles, Mandela’s reference contributed to a revival of interest in Jonker and her work that continues to this day.

Viljoen’s biography illuminates the brief and dramatic life of Jonker, who created a literary oeuvre — as searing in its intensity as it is brief — before taking her own life at the age of thirty-one. Jonker wrote against a background of escalating apartheid laws, violent repression of black political activists, and the banning of the African National Congress and the Pan Africanist Congress. Viljoen tells the story of Ingrid Jonker in the political and cultural context of her time, provides sensitive insights into her poetry, and considers the reasons for the enduring fascination with her life and death.

Her writings, her association with bohemian literary circles, and her identification with the oppressed brought her into conflict with her father, a politician in the white ruling party, and with other authority figures from her Afrikaner background. Her life and work demonstrate the difficulty and importance of artistic endeavor in a place of terrible conflict.

Ohio University Press

April 2013 154pp 9780821420485 Paperback http://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/ingrid-jonker

Patrice Lumumba

Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja

“”Lumumba was a pivotal player in the history of African nationalism, in the same league as Mandela in terms of his influence. Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja provides an excellent short introduction to Lumumba’s life and historical significance.”—David N. Gibbs, professor of history, University of Arizona

Patrice Lumumba was a leader of the independence struggle in what is today the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as the country’s first democratically elected prime minister. After a meteoric rise in the colonial civil service and the African political elite, he became a major figure in the decolonization movement of the 1950s. Lumumba’s short tenure as prime minister (1960–1961) was marked by an uncompromising defense of Congolese national interests against pressure from international mining companies and the Western governments that orchestrated his eventual demise.

Cold war geopolitical maneuvering and well-coordinated efforts by Lumumba’s domestic adversaries culminated in his assassination at the age of thirty-five, with the support or at least the tacit complicity of the U.S. and Belgian governments, the CIA, and the UN Secretariat. Even decades after Lumumba’s death, his personal integrity and unyielding dedication to the ideals of self- determination, self-reliance, and pan-African solidarity assure him a prominent place among the heroes of the twentieth-century African independence movement and the worldwide African diaspora.

Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja’s short and concise book provides a contemporary analysis of Lumumba’s life and work, examining both his strengths and his weaknesses as a political leader. It also surveys the national, continental, and international contexts of Lumumba’s political ascent and his swift elimination by the interests threatened by his ideas and practical reforms.

Ohio University Press

November 2014 176pp 9780821421253 Paperback http://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/patrice-lumumba

South Africa's Struggle for Human Rights

Saul Dubow

The human rights movement in South Africa’s transition to a postapartheid democracy has been widely celebrated as a triumph for global human rights. It was a key aspect of the political transition, often referred to as a miracle, which brought majority rule and democracy to South Africa. The country’s new constitution, its Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the moral authority of Nelson Mandela stand as exemplary proof of this achievement. Yet, less than a generation after the achievement of freedom, the status of human rights and constitutionalism in South Africa is uncertain. In government the ANC has displayed an inconsistent attitude to the protection, and advancement, of hard-won freedoms and rights, and it is not at all clear that a broader civic and political consciousness of the importance of rights is rooting itself more widely in popular culture.

Ohio University Press

October 2012 160pp 9780821420270 Paperback http://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/south-africas-struggle-for-human-rights

Spear of the Nation

Umkhonto weSizwe

Janet Cherry

“Cherry … examines the ideological, moral, and strategic debates within the ANC and MK that led to its successes, failures, and remarkable restraint in comparison with those of other liberation armies. … Drawing on interviews with former MK members and testimony before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Cherry analyzes the MK within the broader context of proxies in the war between communism and capitalism as it played out in Vietnam, Africa, and South America.”—Booklist

Umkhonto we Sizwe, Spear of the Nation, was arguably the last of the great liberation armies of the twentieth century—but it never got to “march triumphant into Pretoria.” MK—as it was known—was the armed wing of the African National Congress, South Africa’s liberation movement, that challenged the South African apartheid government. A small group of revolutionaries committed to the seizure of power, MK discovered its principal members engaged in negotiated settlement with the enemy and was disbanded soon after.

The history of MK is one of paradox and contradiction, of successes and failures. In this short study, which draws widely on the personal experiences of—and commentary by—MK soldiers, Janet Cherry offers a new and nuanced account of the Spear of the Nation. She presents in broad outline the

Citation: Charles Woodhead. Short Histories of Africa - Combined Academic Publishers. H-Africa. 12-10-2014. https://networks.h-net.org/node/28765/discussions/54910/short-histories-africa-combined-academic-publishers Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 5 H-Africa various stages of MK’s thirty-year history, considers the difficult strategic and moral problems the revolutionary army faced, and argues that its operations are likely to be remembered as a just war conducted with considerable restraint.

Ohio University Press

August 2012 156pp 9780821420263 Paperback http://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/spear-of-the-nation

Steve Biko

Lindy Wilson

“”Ambitious and intelligent, Biko was pursuing a university education in South Africa when he energized a student movement in resistance to apartheid…. Wilson analyzes Biko’s legacy in the aftermath of apartheid and expresses continued concern about racial conflicts and growing concerns about class divisions.”—Booklist

“Clear accessible language; a strong narrative [and] chronological structure; a balanced assessment in the portrayal of Biko.”—Laura J. Mitchell, University of California, Irvine

“Throughout the text, Wilson brings to the fore Biko’s personality, drawing a portrait of a complex and charismatic man. VERDICT: The book, as a short history rather than an in-depth examination of a person or a movement, will be most useful for students, although it does assume a certain amount of knowledge.”—Library Journal

Steve Biko inspired a generation of black South Africans to claim their true identity and refuse to be a part of their own oppression. Through his example, he demonstrated fearlessness and self- esteem, and he led a black student movement countrywide that challenged and thwarted the culture of fear perpetuated by the apartheid regime. He paid the highest price with his life. The brutal circumstances of his death shocked the world and helped isolate his oppressors.

This short biography of Biko shows how fundamental he was to the reawakening and transformation of South Africa in the second half of the twentieth century—and just how relevant he remains. Biko’s understanding of black consciousness as a weapon of change could not be more relevant today to “restore people to their full humanity.” As an important historical study, this book’s main sources were unique interviews done in 1989—before the end of apartheid—by the author with Biko’s acquaintances, many of whom have since died.

Ohio University Press

August 2012 160pp yes b&w photos 9780821420256 Paperback http://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/steve-biko

The ANC Youth League

Clive Glaser

“”Glaser shows that while the impact of the Youth League has ebbed and flowed, black South Africa youth have shaped the nation's politics in fundamental ways. Authoritative, streamlined, and highly readable, this book deserves wide readership.”—African Studies Quarterly

“As Clive Glaser notes in his nuanced and lively account, the [ANC] Youth League have, at certain times, played a pivotal role in shaping policy in its parent organisation. For Glaser, the rise of the YL needs to be seen in the context of the broader political and economic landscape of industrialisation and urbanisation, when ‘the townships of Johannesburg became an extraordinary melting pot of young, educated Africans’…This book is sure to become required reading for students and scholars of youth politics in South Africa and the continent more widely.”—Journal of African History

This brilliant little book tells the story of the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League from its origins in the 1940s to the present and the controversies over Julius Malema and his influence in contemporary youth politics. Glaser analyzes the ideology and tactics of its founders, some of whom (notably Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo) later became iconic figures in South African history as well as inspirational figures such as A. P. Mda (father of author Zakes Mda) and Anton Lembede. It shows how the early Youth League gave birth not only to the modern ANC but also to its rival, the Pan Africanist Congress. Dormant for many years, the Youth League reemerged in the transition era under the leadership of Peter Mokaba — infused with the tradition of the militant youth politics of the 1980s. Throughout its history the Youth League has tried to “dynamize” and criticize the ANC from within, while remaining devoted to the mother body and struggling to find a balance between loyalty and rebellion.

Ohio University Press

May 2013 172pp yes, about 5 b&w photos 9780821420447 Paperback http://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/the-anc-youth-league

The Idea of the ANC

Anthony Butler

“The Idea of the ANC takes a look at how conception of power, promoting unity, and a commitment to human liberation have in the past shaped politics in [South Africa] and the possible role they could play in guiding the leadership of the ANC’s responses to future challenges.… Be sure to get this exciting and very easy to read pocket book.”—LOOCHA Magazine (South Africa)

“”[A] sobering but measured account. In an accessible manner, synthesizing historiographies and

Citation: Charles Woodhead. Short Histories of Africa - Combined Academic Publishers. H-Africa. 12-10-2014. https://networks.h-net.org/node/28765/discussions/54910/short-histories-africa-combined-academic-publishers Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 7 H-Africa thus ideas, the Ohio Short Histories provide comprehensible introductions to the nature of South Africa's past, particulalry the role that the ANC have had in shaping the trajectory of the country's recent history.”—Journal of African History

The African National Congress (ANC) is Africa’s most famous liberation movement. It has recently celebrated its centenary, a milestone that has prompted partisans to detail a century of unparalleled achievement in the struggle against colonialism and racial discrimination. Critics paint a less flattering portrait of the historical ANC as a communist puppet, a moribund dinosaur, or an elitist political parasite. For such skeptics, the ANC — now in government for two decades — has betrayed South Africans rather than liberating them.

South Africans endure deep inequality and unemployment, violent community protests, murders of foreign residents, major policy blunders, an AIDS crisis, and deepening corruption. Inside the ANC there are episodes of open rebellion against the leadership, conflicts over the character of a postliberation movement, and debilitating battles for succession to the movement’s presidency. The ANC is nevertheless likely to remain the party of government for the foreseeable future.

This book explores how ANC intellectuals and leaders interpret the historical project of their movement. It investigates three interlocked ideas: a conception of power, a responsibility for promoting unity, and a commitment to human liberation. It explores how these notions have shaped South African politics in the past, and how they will inform ANC leaders’ responses to the challenges of the future.

Ohio University Press

July 2013 148pp 9780821420539 Paperback http://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/the-idea-of-the-anc

Epidemics

The Story of South Africa's Five Most Lethal Human Diseases

Howard Phillips

This is the first history of epidemics in South Africa, lethal episodes that significantly shaped this society over three centuries. Focusing on five devastating diseases between 1713 and today—smallpox, bubonic plague, “Spanish influenza,” polio, and HIV/AIDS—the book probes their origins, their catastrophic courses, and their consequences in both the short and long terms. The impacts of these epidemics ranged from the demographic—the “Spanish flu,” for instance, claimed the lives of 6 percent of the country’s population in six weeks—to the political, the social, the economic, the spiritual, the psychological, and the cultural. Moreover, as each of these epidemics occurred at crucial moments in the country’s history—such as during the South African War and World War I—the book also examines how these processes affected and were affected by the five epidemics. To those who read this book, history will not look the same again.

Ohio University Press

September 2012 156pp 9780821420287 Paperback http://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/epidemics

San Rock Art

J. David Lewis-Williams

“This little book is exceptional in that the subject is so clearly explained. It was wonderful to learn that [South African former] President Thabo Mbeki incorporated a San rock painting into our new national coat of arms.… I recommend you dip into this pocket book. You won’t be disappointed.”—Dee Andrew, Citizen, “Citi Vibe,” South Africa

“Making sense of these fascinating artifacts as a novice requires the assistance of an informed guide and Lewis-Williams’ credentials speak for themselves.… This deceptively ordinary-looking book is a fascinating read and will spur you on your travels to view as many San paintings as you can at close-hand, fuelled by your newfound knowledge of the complexity of the beliefs, rituals, and practices of the first inhabitants of South Africa.”—Sunday Tribune, Sunday Magazine, South Africa

San rock paintings, scattered over the range of southern Africa, are considered by many to be the very earliest examples of representational art. There are as many as 15,000 known rock art sites, created over the course of thousands of years up until the nineteenth century. There are possibly just as many still awaiting discovery.

Taking as his starting point the magnificent Linton panel in the Iziko-South African Museum in Cape Town, J. D. Lewis-Williams examines the artistic and cultural significance of rock art and how this art sheds light on how San image-makers conceived their world. It also details the European encounter with rock art as well as the contentious European interaction with the artists’ descendants, the contemporary San people.

Ohio University Press

February 2013 158pp yes, B&W photos & drawings 9780821420454 Paperback http://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/san-rock-art