Africa Audiobooks | Travel

The Year 1000: When Explorers Connected the World – and Globalization Began

Brought to you by Penguin. When did globalization begin? Most observers have settled on 1492, the year Columbus discovered America. But as celebrated Yale professor Valerie Hansen shows, it was the year 1000, when for the first time new trade routes linked the entire globe, so an object could in theory circumnavigate the world. This was the 'big bang' of globalization, which ushered in a new era of exploration and trade, and which paved the way for Europeans to dominate after Columbus reached America. Drawing on a wide range of new historical sources and cutting-edge archaeology, Hansen shows, for example, that the Maya began to trade with the native peoples of modern New Mexico from traces of theobromine - the chemical signature of chocolate - and that frozen textiles found in Greenland contain hairs from animals that could only have come from North America. Introducing players from Europe, the Islamic world, Asia, the Indian Ocean maritime world, the Pacific and the Mayan world who were connecting the major landmasses for the first time, this compelling revisionist argument shows how these encounters set the stage for the globalization that would dominate the world for centuries to come. ©Valerie Hansen 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

Valerie Hansen (Author), Cynthia Farrell (Narrator)

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The Wretched of the Earth

First published in 1961, Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth is a masterful and timeless interrogation of race, colonialism, psychological trauma, and revolutionary struggle. In 2020, it found a new readership in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests and the centering of narratives interrogating race by Black writers. Bearing singular insight into the rage and frustration of colonized peoples, and the role of violence in spurring historical change, the book incisively attacks the twin perils of post-independence colonial politics: the disenfranchisement of the masses by the elites on the one hand, and intertribal and interfaith animosities on the other. A landmark text for revolutionaries and activists, The Wretched of the Earth is an eternal touchstone for civil rights, anti-colonialism, psychiatric studies, and Black consciousness movements around the world. Translated by Richard Philcox, and featuring now-classic critical essays by Jean-Paul Sartre and Homi K. Bhabha, as well as a new essay, this sixtieth anniversary edition of Fanon’s most famous text stands proudly alongside such pillars of anti-colonialism and anti-racism as Edward Said’s Orientalism and The Autobiography of Malcolm

Frantz Fanon (Author), Sebastain Brown (Narrator)

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The Wretched of the Earth

'The Wretched of the Earth' by Frantz Fanon, published in 1961, is a groundbreaking exploration of the psychological, social, and political dimensions of colonialism and decolonization. Drawing from his experiences as a psychiatrist during the Algerian War of Independence, Fanon delves into the dehumanizing effects of colonial oppression on both the colonized and the colonizers. Fanon introduces the concept of 'colonial alienation,' describing the internal conflict experienced by the colonized torn between their indigenous culture and the imposed values of the colonizer. This fracture contributes to a profound psychological degradation of the colonized, necessitating not only political and economic decolonization but also psychological and cultural liberation. The book discusses the role of violence in the struggle for freedom, acknowledging its moral complexities and seeing it as a cathartic force for breaking free from colonial chains. Fanon critiques nationalist movements that replicate colonial structures, emphasizing the need for a genuine grassroots revolution beyond mere political independence. Anticipating challenges post-independence, Fanon warns against reproducing colonial mentalities and calls for a radical societal transformation. He explores postcolonial identity complexities, advocating for authentic cultural expressions rejecting both colonizer influence and mimicry. 'The Wretched of the Earth' has left an indelible mark on postcolonial studies, political theory, and cultural critique. Its insights into the enduring legacies of colonial oppression and the ongoing struggle for genuine decolonization make it a seminal text, influencing scholarly discussions on the complexities of liberation, violence, and identity in the postcolonial world.

Frantz Fanon (Author), Maxwell Anderson (Narrator)

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The Wonga Coup: A Tale of Guns, Germs and the Steely Determination to Create Mayhem in an Oil-Rich C

Equatorial Guinea is a tiny country roughly the size of the state of Maryland. Humid, jungle covered, and rife with unpleasant diseases, natives call it Devil Island. Its president in 2004, Obiang Nguema, had been accused of cannibalism, belief in witchcraft, mass murder, billion-dollar corruption, and general rule by terror. With so little to recommend it, why in March 2004 was Equatorial Guinea the target of a group of salty British, South African and Zimbabwean mercenaries, traveling on an American-registered ex-National Guard plane specially adapted for military purposes, that was originally flown to Africa by American pilots? The real motive lay deep below the ocean floor: oil. In The Dogs of War, Frederick Forsyth effectively described an attempt by mercenaries to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea - in 1972. And the chain of events surrounding the night of March 7, 2004, is a rare case of life imitating art-or, at least, life imitating a 1970s thriller-in almost uncanny detail. With a cast of characters worthy of a remake of Wild Geese and a plot as mazy as it was unlikely, The Wonga Coup is a tale of venality, overarching vanity and greed whose example speaks to the problems of the entire African continent.

Adam Roberts (Author), Simon Vance (Narrator)

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The Wife's Tale: A Personal History

The extraordinary story of an indomitable 95-year-old woman - and of the most extraordinary century in Ethiopia's history. A new Wild Swans Featuring exclusive archive recordings from the author and her grandmother. A hundred years ago, a girl was born in the northern Ethiopian city of Gondar. Before she was ten years old, Yetemegnu was married to a man two decades her senior, an ambitious poet-priest. Over the next century her world changed beyond recognition. She witnessed Fascist invasion and occupation, Allied bombardment and exile from her city, the ascent and fall of Emperor Haile Selassie, revolution and civil war. She endured all these things alongside parenthood, widowhood and the death of children. The Wife's Tale is an intimate memoir, both of a life and of a country. In prose steeped in Yetemegnu's distinctive voice and point of view, Aida Edemariam retells her grandmother's stories of a childhood surrounded by proud priests and soldiers, of her husband's imprisonment, of her fight for justice - all of it played out against an ancient cycle of festivals and the rhythms of the seasons. She introduces us to a rich cast of characters - emperors and empresses, scholars and nuns, Marxist revolutionaries and wartime double agents. And through these encounters she takes us deep into the landscape and culture of this many-layered, often mis-characterised country - and the heart of one indomitable woman.

Aida Edemariam (Author), Adjoa Andoh (Narrator)

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The Tunisian Campaign: The History of the Decisive Battles that Ended the Fighting in North Africa d

The fighting in North Africa during World War II is commonly overlooked, aside from the famous battle at El Alamein that pitted the British under General Bernard Montgomery against the legendary “Desert Fox,” Erwin Rommel. But while the Second Battle of El Alamein would be the pivotal action in North Africa, the conflict in North Africa began all the way back in the summer of 1940 when Italian dictator Benito Mussolini declared Italy’s entrance into the war. Dealing with the Italians was one thing, but the British faced an entirely different monster in North Africa when Erwin Rommel, a German general who had gained much fame for his role in the invasions of Poland and France, was sent to North Africa in February 1941. Rommel’s directives from the German headquarters were to maneuver in a way that would allow him to hide the fact that his ultimate goal was the capture of Cairo and the Suez Canal. The ultimate plan was that Rommel would not reveal the Germans’ true intentions in North Africa until after the Germans had made headway in their invasion of the Soviet Union. ith the Axis forces trying to push through Egypt towards the Suez Canal and the British Mandate of Palestine, American forces landed to their west in North Africa, which ultimately compelled Rommel to try to break through before the Allies could build up and overwhelm them with superior numbers. Given that the combined Allied forces under Montgomery already had an advantage in manpower, Montgomery also wanted to be aggressive, and the fighting would start in late October 1942 with an Allied attack. The ensuing Tunisian Campaign was a complicated, last-ditch, cut-and-thrust effort on the part of the doomed Axis forces. The various Allied forces arriving from the west were heavily bloodied before U.S. and British airborne and commando units began to mop up key ports and landing facilities. Rommel and his army were clearly staring at defeat.

Charles River Editors (Author), Daniel Houle (Narrator)

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The Tears of a Man Flow Inward: Growing Up in the Civil War in Burundi

A prizewinning young author tells the moving story of growing up during Burundi's ethnic civil war in this powerful memoir hailed as "a jewel of a book" (Margaret MacMillan). "There's nothing like a great love song, and Pacifique Irankunda sings a beautiful one here to his homeland and to all those who choose love even in the bleakest of times."-Imbolo Mbue, author of Behold the Dreamers and How Beautiful We Were Pacifique Irankunda's childhood in Burundi was marked by a thirteen-year civil war-a grueling struggle that destroyed his home, upended his family, and devastated his country's beautiful culture. As young boys, Paci and his brother slept in the woods on nights when the shooting and violence grew too intense; they hid in tall grass and watched as military units rolled in and leveled their village. Paci's extraordinary mother, one of the many inspiring beacons of light in this book, led her children-and others in the village-in ingenious acts of resilience through her indomitable kindness and compassion, even toward the soldiers who threatened their lives. Drawing on his own memories and those of his family, Paci tells a story of survival in a country whose rich traditions were lost to the ravages of colonialism and ethnic strife. Written in moving, lyrical prose, The Tears of a Man Flow Inward gives us an illuminating window into what it means to come of age in dark times, and an example of how, even in the midst of uncertainty, violence, and despair, light can almost always be found.

Pacifique Irankunda (Author), Pacifique Irankunda (Narrator)

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The Storied City: The Quest for Timbuktu and the Fantastic Mission to Save Its Past

Two tales of a city: The historical race to 'discover' one of the world's most mythologized places, and the story of how a contemporary band of archivists and librarians, fighting to save its ancient manuscripts from destruction at the hands of al Qaeda, added another layer to the legend. 'A fascinating interweaving of past and present: meticulously researched, powerfully written and riveting.' -Ben Macintyre, author ofRogue HeroesandA Spy Among Friends To Westerners, the name 'Timbuktu' long conjured a tantalizing paradise, an African El Dorado where even the slaves wore gold.Beginning in the late eighteenth century, a series of explorers gripped by the fever for'discovery' tried repeatedly to reach the fabled city.But one expedition after another went disastrously awry, succumbing to attack, the climate, and disease. Timbuktu was rich in another way too. A medieval center of learning, it was home to tens of thousands according to some, hundreds of thousands of ancient manuscripts, on subjects ranging from religion to poetry, law to history, pharmacology, and astronomy. When al-Qaeda-linked jihadists surged across Mali in 2012, threatening the existence of these precious documents, a remarkable thing happened: a team of librarians and archivists joined forces to spirit the manuscripts into hiding. Relying on extensive research and firsthand reporting, Charlie English expertly twines these two suspenseful strands into a fraught and fascinating account of one of the planet's extraordinary places, and the myths from which it has become inseparable.

Charlie English (Author), Enn Reitel (Narrator)

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The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates

In June 1631 pirates from Algiers and armed troops of the Turkish Ottoman Empire, led by the notorious pirate captain Morat Rais, stormed ashore at the little harbor village of Baltimore in West Cork. They captured almost all the villagers and bore them away to a life of slavery in North Africa. The prisoners were destined for a variety of fates-some would live out their days chained to the oars as galley slaves, while others would spend long years in the scented seclusion of the harem or within the walls of the Sultan's palace. The old city of Algiers, with its narrow streets, intense heat and lively trade, was a melting pot where the villagers would join slaves and freemen of many nationalities. Only two of them ever saw Ireland again. The Sack of Baltimore was the most devastating invasion ever mounted by Islamist forces on Ireland or England. Des Ekin's exhaustive research illuminates the political intrigues that ensured the captives were left to their fate, and provides a vivid insight into the kind of life that would have awaited the slaves amid the souks and seraglios of old Algiers. The Stolen Village is a fascinating tale of international piracy and culture clash nearly 400 years ago and is the first book to cover this relatively unknown and under-researched incident in Irish history.

Des Ekin (Author), Roger Clark (Narrator)

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The Slave Ship: A Human History

For more than three centuries, slave ships carried millions of people from the coasts of Africa to the New World. In The Slave Ship, award-winning historian Marcus Rediker creates an unprecedented history of these vessels and the human drama acted out on their rolling decks. Rediker restores the slave ship to its rightful place alongside the plantation as a formative institution of slavery, as a place where a profound and still haunting history of race, class, and modern capitalism was made. For more than three centuries, slave ships carried millions of people from the coasts of Africa across the Atlantic to the New World. Much is known of the slave trade and the American plantation complex, but little of the ships that made it all possible. In The Slave Ship, award-winning historian Marcus Rediker draws on thirty years of research in maritime archives to create an unprecedented history of these vessels and the human drama acted out on their rolling decks. He reconstructs in chilling detail the lives, deaths, and terrors of captains, sailors, and the enslaved aboard a "floating dungeon" trailed by sharks. From the young African kidnapped from his village and sold to the slavers by a neighboring tribe, to the would-be priest who takes a job as a sailor on a slave ship only to be horrified by the evil he sees, to the captain who relishes having "a hell of my own," Rediker illuminates the lives of people who were thought to have left no trace. This is a tale of tragedy and terror, but also an epic of resilience, survival, and the creation of something entirely new, something that could only be called African American. Rediker restores the slave ship to its rightful place alongside the plantation as a formative institution of slavery, as a place where a profound and still haunting history of race, class, and modern capitalism was made.

Marcus Rediker (Author), David Drummond (Narrator)

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The Slave in Canada

A Dusty Tomes Audio BookIn Cooperation with Spoken Realms The Slave in Canada by The Honorable William Renwick Riddell LL.D, F. R. Hist. Soc; F. R. Soc. Can.; &c, &c. JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF ONTARIO from The Journal of Negro History, Vol. V, No. 3, July, 1920, Carter G. Woodson, Editor. Narrated by Joseph TablerNote—This book is ‘read as written'. It was published in 1920. It is in the public domain. Read on the Internet Archive at Archive.org. Lengthy footnotes not read. Carter Godwin Woodson (December 19, 1875–April 3, 1950) was an American historian, author, journalist, and the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). He was one of the first scholars to study the history of the African diaspora, including African American history. A founder of The Journal of Negro History in 1916, Woodson has been called the “father of black history.' Dusty Tomes Audio Books are public domain books retrieved from the ravages of time; Available as never before, as audio books, for your edification, pleasure, and consideration. This Dusty Tomes audio book was Read Online at Internet Archive. ( https://archive.org/ ) It is replete with footnotes (not read into the audio).

William Renwick Riddell (Author), Joseph Tabler (Narrator)

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The Regeneration of Africa: From the Colored American Magazine of New York (June, 1906)

P. Ka Isaka Seme (Author), Leighton Harris (Narrator)

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Africa Audiobooks in Travel