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A groundbreaking, sweeping overview of the great kingdoms in African history and their legacies, written by world-leading experts.This is the first book for nonspecialists to explore the great precolonial kingdoms of Africa that have been marginalized throughout history. Great Kingdoms of Africa aims to decenter European colonialism and slavery as the major themes of African history and instead explore the kingdoms, dynasties, and city-states that have shaped cultures across the African continent.This groundbreaking book offers an innovative and thought-provoking overview that takes us from ancient Egypt and Nubia to the Zulu Kingdom almost two thousand years later. Each chapter is written by a leading historian, interweaving political and social history and drawing on a rich array of sources, including oral histories and recent archaeological findings.Great Kingdoms of Africa is a timely and vital book for anyone who wants to expand their knowledge of Africa's rich history. Read more

It is difficult to find another soldier's story to equal Captain Darrell Watt's in terms of time spent on the field of battle and challenges faced. Even by the lofty standards of the SAS and Special Forces, one has to look far to find anyone who can match his record of resilience and valor in the face of such daunting odds and with resources so paltry. In the fight, he showed himself to be a military maestro. A bush-lore genius, blessed with uncanny instincts and an unbridled determination to close with the enemy, he had no peers as a combat-tracker (and there was plenty of competition). But the Rhodesian theater was a fluid and volatile one in which he performed in almost every imaginable fighting role. After 12 years in the cauldron of war, his cause slipped from beneath him, and Rhodesia gave way to Zimbabwe. When the guns went quiet, Watt had won all his battles but lost the war. In this fascinating biography, we learn that in his twilight years, he is now concerned with saving wildlife on a continent where they are in continued danger and devoting himself to both the fauna and African people he cares so deeply about. Read more

In the summer of 2022, Lee Berger lost 50 pounds in order to wriggle though impossibly small openings in the Rising Star cave complex in South Africa—spaces where his team has been unearthing the remains of Homo naledi, a proto-human likely to have coexisted with Homo sapiens some 250,000 years ago. The lead researcher on the site, still Berger had never made his way into the dark, cramped, dangerous underground spaces where many of the naledi fossils had been found. Now he was ready to do so. Once inside the cave, Berger made shocking new discoveries that expand our understanding of this early hominid—discoveries that stand to alter our fundamental understanding of what makes us human. So what does it all mean? Join Berger on the adventure of a lifetime as he explores the Rising Star cave system and begins the complicated process of explaining these extraordinary finds—finds that force a rethinking of human evolution, and discoveries that Berger calls "the Rosetta stone of the human mind." Read more

It is January of 1879. While three columns of British soldiers and their African allies cross the Uminyathi River to commence the invasion of the Zulu Kingdom, a handful of redcoats from B Company, 2/24th Regiment are left to guard the centre column's supply depot at Rorke's Drift. On the morning of 22 January, the main camp at Isandlwana, just 10 miles to the east, comes under attack from the entire Zulu army and is utterly destroyed. Four thousand warriors from King Cetshwayo's elite Undi Corps remained in reserve and were denied any chance to take part in the fighting. Led by Prince Dabulamanzi, they disobey the king's orders and cross into British Natal, seeking their share in triumph and spoils. They soon converge on Rorke's Drift; an easy prize, with its paltry force of 150 redcoats to be readily swept aside. Upon hearing of the disaster at Isandlwana, and with retreat impossible, the tiny British garrison readies to receive the coming onslaught. Leading them is Lieutenant John Chard, a newly-arrived engineer officer with no actual combat experience. Aiding him is B Company's previously undistinguished officer commanding, Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead, along with 24-year old Colour Sergeant Frank Bourne, and a retired soldier-turned civilian volunteer named James Dalton. Unbeknownst to either the British or the Zulus, half of the center column, under Lord Chelmsford's direct command, was not even at Isandlwana, but 15 miles further east, at Mangeni Falls. However, with a huge Zulu force of over 20,000 warriors between them and the drift, their ammunition and ration stores taken or destroyed, and an impossible distance to cover, Chelmsford's battered column cannot possibly come to the depot's aid, and must look to their own survival. The defenders of Rorke's Drift stand alone. Read more

Gold is forged in fire.Men in the furnace of adversity… Step into the extraordinary life of Jake Harper-Ronald, a man whose childhood dream of becoming a soldier led him on an unparalleled journey.In 1966, he fulfilled his ambition as a conscript in the Royal Rhodesia Regiment, only to embark on a series of adventures that most soldiers can only imagine.From early days in the elite Parachute Regiment in the UK to his pivotal role as the official photographer during the infamous 'Bloody Sunday' in Northern Ireland, Jake's path was one of courage and resilience.He left an indelible mark on history, capturing iconic moments through his lens that still resonate today. Returning to Rhodesia in 1974, Jake's journey continued with the ultra-tough SAS and Selous Scouts.His daring cross-border raids and contributions as a professional soldier showcased his unwavering commitment.Despite facing the trials of combat, he persevered, transitioning to a top-secret Special Branch callsign and later joining Zimbabwe's Central Intelligence Organisation.Jake's remarkable story unfolded further as he operated as an intelligence agent for global powers such as South Africa, Britain, and the US.His path was not without challenges; accusations of treason led to his time in solitary confinement at Goromonzi Detention Centre.Undeterred, he emerged from adversity, and in 1989, MI6 enlisted his expertise to train and lead militias combating Renamo in Mozambique.His efforts were so impactful that his Special Forces unit was integrated into Mozambique's National Army.Witnessing the harrowing realities of Mozambique, Jake's journey came full circle as he returned to Zimbabwe and ventured into the private security sector and onto private military contracting in Iraq.Despite his health declining, his resolve remained unshaken until his passing in 2007 at age 59.Immerse yourself in an incredible narrative of bravery, sacrifice, and tenacity as 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' chronicles his awe-inspiring life. Read more

As a young, ambitious soldier, Winston Churchill managed to get himself posted to the 21st Lancers in 1899 as a war correspondent for the Morning Post - and joined them in fighting the rebel Boer settlers in South Africa. In this conflict, rebel forces in the Transvaal and Orange Free State had proclaimed their own statehood, calling it the Boer Republic. Perhaps the most riveting personal account is found in London to Ladysmith via Pretoria, where Churchill is captured in Pretoria not long after he arrives to join the British forces - and is frustrated not by the conditions in the prison but by the fact that he was missing the action. Churchill tells the story of how he escaped and made a daring overland crossing, travelling only at night to avoid detection. Over a 64-year span, Churchill published over 40 books, many multivolume definitive accounts of historical events to which he was a witness and participant. All are beautifully written and as accessible and relevant today as when first published. During his 50-year political career, Churchill served twice as Prime Minister in addition to other prominent positions - including President of the Board of Trade, First Lord of the Admiralty, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Home Secretary. In the 1930s, Churchill was one of the first to recognise the danger of the rising Nazi power in Germany and to campaign for rearmament in Britain. His leadership and inspired broadcasts and speeches during World War II helped strengthen British resistance to Adolf Hitler - and played an important part in the Allies’ eventual triumph. One of the most inspiring wartime leaders of modern history, Churchill was also an orator, a historian, a journalist, and an artist. All of these aspects of Churchill are fully represented in this collection of his works. Read more

One of our most influential anthropologists reevaluates her long and illustrious career by returning to her roots and the roots of life as we know it. When Elizabeth Marshall Thomas first arrived in Africa to live among the Kalahari San, or bushmen, it was 1950, she was 19 years old, and these last surviving hunter-gatherers were living as humans had lived for 15,000 centuries. Thomas wound up writing about their world in a seminal work, The Harmless People. It has never gone out of print. Back then, this was uncharted territory, and little was known about our human origins. Today, our beginnings are better understood. And after a lifetime of interest in the bushmen, Thomas has come to see that their lifestyle reveals great, hidden truths about human evolution. As she displayed in her best seller, The Hidden Life of Dogs, Thomas has a rare gift for giving voice to the voices we don't usually listen to. She helps us see the path that we have taken in our human journey. In The Old Way, she shows how the skills and customs of the hunter-gatherer share much in common with the survival tactics of our animal predecessors. And since it is "knowledge, not objects, that endure" over time, Thomas vividly brings us to see how linked we are to our origins in the animal kingdom. The Old Way is a rare and remarkable achievement, sure to stir up controversy, and is worthy of celebration. Read more

The final posthumous work by the coauthor of the major New York Times bestseller The Dawn of Everything.Pirates have long lived in the realm of romance and fantasy, symbolizing risk, lawlessness, and radical visions of freedom. But at the root of this mythology is a rich history of pirate societies―vibrant, imaginative experiments in self-governance and alternative social formations at the edges of the European empire.In graduate school, David Graeber conducted ethnographic field research in Madagascar for his doctoral thesis on the island’s politics and history of slavery and magic. During this time, he encountered the Zana-Malata, an ethnic group of mixed descendants of the many pirates who settled on the island at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia, Graeber’s final posthumous book, is the outgrowth of this early research and the culmination of ideas that he developed in his classic, bestselling works Debt and The Dawn of Everything (written with the archaeologist David Wengrow). In this lively, incisive exploration, Graeber considers how the protodemocratic, even libertarian practices of the Zana-Malata came to shape the Enlightenment project, which for too long has been defined as distinctly European. He illuminates the non-European origins of what we consider to be “Western” thought and endeavors to recover forgotten forms of social and political order that gesture toward new, hopeful possibilities for the future. Read more

Born in what’s now called Zimbabwe, journalist Peter Godwin returns to his homeland in 2008 after three decades of Robert Mugabe’s brutal economic and human destruction. Hoping to “dance on Mugabe’s political grave” in the wake of the tyrant’s defeat at the polls, Godwin instead risks his life to secretly chronicle Mugabe’s ruthless backlash of torture and terror locals call “The Fear.” Read more

From the rear cover of this 738 page book: "A phenomenal achievement, clear, authoritative and compelling......Thomas Pakenham's fine book tells the story of this particular gold rush with admirable and judicious poise....Contains some of the best-known episodes of 19th-Century history as well as some of the most mythologized and colorful characters the world has ever seen.....Livingstone and Stanley, Brazza and Rhodes, Kitchener and Gordon, Lugard and Jameson.....Highly readable." and "Taking the entire continent as his canvas, Pakenham has painted a picture of heroism and horror. He writes both with compassion and with an effective combination of detachment and judgement. A splendid book." Read more

Under capitalism, economic growth is seen as the key to collective well-being. In Self-Devouring Growth Julie Livingston upends this notion, showing that while consumption-driven growth may seem to benefit a particular locale, it produces a number of unacknowledged, negative consequences that ripple throughout the wider world. Structuring the book as a parable in which the example of Botswana has lessons for the rest of the globe, Livingston shows how fundamental needs for water, food, and transportation become harnessed to what she calls self-devouring growth: an unchecked and unsustainable global pursuit of economic growth that threatens catastrophic environmental destruction. As Livingston notes, improved technology alone cannot stave off such destruction; what is required is a greater accounting of the web of relationships between humans, nonhuman beings, plants, and minerals that growth entails.  Livingston contends that by failing to understand these relationships and the consequences of self-devouring growth, we may be unknowingly consuming our future.  Read more

Frederick Courteney Selous was one of the pre-eminent big game hunters of the nineteenth century. A friend of Theodore Roosevelt, Cecil Rhodes and Frederick Russell, he also inspired the novelist H. Rider Haggard to write the Allan Quartermain adventure series. His life was full of adventure, and his book, A Hunter’s Wandering in Africa, is a brilliantly engaging account that takes the reader back in time to the heart of Africa. He records in minute detail the fascinating flora and fauna that he saw around him as he traipsed further and further into this unexplored continent. For nine years he wandering across the lands of central and southern Africa, exploring, hunting and recording what he saw. His account is one of the most fascinating accounts of this great continent in the mid-nineteenth century. Although it may seem contradictory to modern sensibilities, Selous the master-hunter was also a great conservationist who did a great deal to preserve wildlife in Africa and improve our knowledge of some of these spectacular animals. He donated many of the animals that he shot to the Natural History Museum, which has allowed for their scientific study for over a century. He also acknowledged the damage that hunting was having upon wildlife and so after his death the Selous Game Reserve was set up to preserve 19,000 square miles of undisturbed nature. “Selous was a meticulous observer and recorder of nature who often became involved in academic debates involving zoology.” History in Africa “Selous is the most famous hunter in all of Africa.” The American "Since the days of Baldwin there has not been published a book on South African sporting which equals in value and interest the volume brought out by Mr. Selous." Academy “He led a singularly adventurous and fascinating life, with just the right alternations between the wilderness and civilization. He helped spread the borders of his people's land. He added much to the sum of human knowledge and interest.” Theodore Roosevelt. Frederick Courteney Selous was an explorer, military officer, professional hunter and conservationist. He first visited Africa in 1872, at the age of nineteen, and for the next nine years he hunted and explored over the little-known regions north of the Transvaal and south of the Congo Basin. His travels added greatly to the knowledge of the country now known as Zimbabwe. He made valuable ethnological investigations, and throughout his wanderings—often among people who had never previously seen a white man—he maintained cordial relations with the chiefs and tribes, winning their confidence and esteem, notably so in the case of Lobengula. His account of this journey, A Hunter's Wanderings in Africa was first published in 1881. Selous passed away while fighting in World War One at the age of sixty-five in 1917. Read more

A military history of the former British colony of Southern Rhodesia—now Zimbabwe—spanning from 1890 to the 1970s. In this exciting book, authors Paul Moorcroft and Peter McLaughlin examine the military history of Southern Rhodesia, from the first resistance to colonial rule through the period of UDI by the Smith government to the Lancaster House agreement that transferred power. They recount the Rhodesian security forces’ operations against the Black nationalist guerillas, and the intensity of the fighting and courage of the participants will surprise and enthrall readers. Atrocities were committed by both sides, but equally the protagonists were playing for very high stakes. But this is more than just a book on military operations. The authors provide expert analysis of the historical situation and examine events up to the present day, including Mugabe’s operations against rival tribes and white farmers. For a thorough work on its subject, this book cannot be bettered. It is essential reading for those wishing to learn more about a counter-insurgency campaign. The ingenuity of the Rhodesian military fighting against overwhelming odds and restricted by sanctions is impressive, but the outcome culminating in the Lancaster House Agreement was inevitable.Praise for The Rhodesian War“An outstanding exception to most accounts of the Rhodesian civil war . . . achieved impressive objectivity in concentrating on operational issues.” —Anthony Verrier, author of The Road to Zimbabwe“The book is full of intrigue and plots. South African intelligence wanted to assassinate Mugabe, but there might also have been plans afoot to kill of Britain’s Prince Charles during his visit to Harare.” —Heidi Kingstone, The Star (South Africa) Read more

A myth-shattering study of the first clash between the Zulu kingdom and European interlopers and its dramatic effects on Boer and Zulu alike. By the 1830s, the Zulu kingdom was consolidating its power as the strongest African polity in the south-east, but was under growing pressure from British traders and hunters on the coast, and descendants of the early Dutch settlers at the Cape – the Boers. In 1837, the vanguard of the Boers' Great Trek migration reached the borders of Zulu territory, causing alarm. When the Boer leader Piet Retief and his followers were massacred in cold blood, war broke out. Although the initial Boer counter-attacks were defeated by the Zulus, in December 1838 a new Trekker offensive resulted in a nation-defining clash between Boer and Zulu at the battle of Blood River. In this ground-breaking and carefully balanced new work, containing stunning artwork and detailed maps, Ian Knight explores what has long been a controversial and partisan topic in South African history, placing the Zulus more squarely in this part of their history. Among the topics covered are the 1836 Boer/Ndebele conflict, the imbalance in technique and weaponry, the reasons why the British settlers allied themselves with the Boer Trekkers, and why the war was a key turning point in the use of traditional Zulu military techniques. This work also reveals that a Boer victory at Blood River was by no means a foregone conclusion. Read more

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After his father's heart attack in 1984, Peter Godwin began a series of pilgrimages back to Zimbabwe, the land of his birth, from Manhattan, where he now lives. On these frequent visits to check on his elderly parents, he bore witness to Zimbabwe's dramatic spiral downwards into the jaws of violent chaos, presided over by an increasingly enraged dictator. And yet long after their comfortable lifestyle had been shattered and millions were fleeing, his parents refuse to leave, steadfast in their allegiance to the failed state that has been their adopted home for 50 years. Then Godwin discovered a shocking family secret that helped explain their loyalty. Africa was his father's sanctuary from another identity, another world. When a Crocodile Eats the Sun is a stirring memoir of the disintegration of a family set against the collapse of a country. But it is also a vivid portrait of the profound strength of the human spirit and the enduring power of love. Read more

This new edition of South Africa examines the history of South Africa from 1948 to the present, covering the economic background to racial segregation, the introduction of the oppressive policy of apartheid, the eventual collapse of White supremacy, and the legacy of apartheid to the present day.Fully revised, the fourth edition incorporates new original research, particularly from the records of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and includes additional popular culture images, such as posters linked to the international anti-apartheid struggle. These help to further emphasise the mounting popular opposition to state repression in the 1970s and 1980s. By developing an analysis of recent economic and political issues that are rooted in the apartheid regime, particularly the continuing divide between rich and poor along racial lines and the impact of public corruption known as 'state capture', South Africa provides a current, clear, and succinct introduction to the ideology and practice of apartheid.Illustrated with photographs, maps, and figures, and including a Chronology, Glossary, Who’s Who, and updated Further Reading section, the fourth edition of South Africa is an essential text for students studying all aspects of apartheid in South Africa. Read more

Greaves' work offers detailed maps and firsthand insight into the Anglo-Zulu War, providing necessary insight and overviews of the conflict's pivotal battles like Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift.In 1878 southern Africa’s two most senior figures, army commander General Lord Chelmsford and the High Commissioner Sir Henry Bartle-Frere created a false threat of a Zulu invasion of British Natal. In an astonishing act of over-confidence and without any government permission, Frere and Chelmsford invaded Zululand with five independent columns of troops. Both leaders ignored the serious implications of their two recently failed expeditions against the Zulus’ neighbouring King Sekhukhune and his Pedi people. The Zulu war lasted only six months and witnessed two separate British invasions of Zululand – one catastrophic, one successful.This book gives the reader a general overview of the Anglo-Zulu war of 1879 with descriptive text, location photographs and illuminating map overviews of the twelve main battles including Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift. The author’s unique maps are based on his own lecture notes and ‘battlefield map handouts’ as a Zulu War battlefield guide for over 25 years. These maps were avidly collected by his many groups and other guides; they clearly explain each battlefield’s layout and sequence of events but also included many little known details of each fierce and bloody engagement. At the suggestion of the Anglo Zulu War Historical Society, these maps are now reproduced in book form. While volumes have been written on the subject, this work gives us an even better insight into these gruelling and complex battles. Read more

"Yes you have beaten us; you had the best guns, but we have the best men...But we’ll fight again in two or three years’ time." – Prince Dabulamanzi kaMpande (who led the Zulu at Rorke’s Drift)On 22 January 1879, during the final hour of the Battle of Isandlwana – one of the greatest disasters ever to befall British troops during the Victorian era – a very different story was about to unfold a few miles away at the mission station of Rorke’s Drift. A Zulu force of more than 3,000 warriors had turned their attention to the small outpost, defended by around 150 British and Imperial troops. The odds of the British surviving were staggeringly low. The British victory that ensued, therefore, would go down as one of the most heroic actions of all time, and has fascinated military history enthusiasts for decades.In this classic work, Anglo-Zulu War experts Lee Stevenson, Alan Baynham-Jones and Ian Knight examine a wide range of personal testimonies from those present at Rorke’s Drift, while also presenting a clear overview of the battle in its entirety. By reading this account, readers will gain an impressive, unique breadth of knowledge about one of the most epic battles in British history. This updated edition includes even more first-person accounts from the combatants on both the British and Zulu sides.Providing personal, microscopic accounts of events, while at the same time presenting a clear overview of the battle in its entirety, this second volume completes the collection of accounts of the defenders of Rorke’s Drift and also includes contemporary accounts of those who saw the immediate aftermath of the battle. Read more