Africa

Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia by David Graeber

Adult Nonfiction, Africa, Maritime History & Piracy, Political Ideologies, Political Science, South

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A fun and entertaining non-fiction book. Graeber is focused on the information that can be gained from listening to and believing what the Malagasy people had to say, and he is extremely frustrated that no academics seem willing to do this. If you like good footnotes, academic beef, and an interesting take on the age of piracy from multiple points of view, this is for you.

Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia by David Graeber, (List Price: $27, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 9780374610197, January 2023)

Reviewed by Lauren Kohnle, M. Judson Booksellers in Greenville, South Carolina

Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah

Adult Fiction, Africa, East Africa, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, World Literature

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Here’s how you take a great sin–maybe The great sin–and particularize it so that our minds can grasp it. The Germans and the British and the Portuguese and the Dutch (and now, of course, the US and China and ad nauseam)–all of these governments have, at one time or another, wanted to get their hands on Africa–really get in there–all the way in–and do what they want to it. Gurnah and his magical Nobel Prize-winning pen tells us the story of a family battered by the complexities of colonialism and their risings and fallings and re-risings. Deep, satisfying, horrifying, wonderful.

Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah, (List Price: $28, Riverhead Books, 9780593541883, August 2022)

Reviewed by Erica Eisdorfer, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Dele Weds Destiny by Tomi Obaro

Adult Fiction, Africa, Fiction, Literary, Literary Fiction, Nigeria, Women, World Literature

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Three women have shared a bond for decades. When they are reunited for one of their daughter’s weddings, the past comes back in a rush. The story is told in flashbacks and present day in a way that helps them reconcile where they have ended up and where they once dreamed they’d go. A timeless examination of all the dreams you hold for yourself, the dreams your parents and others have for you, and how much you are able to follow your heart.

Dele Weds Destiny by Tomi Obaro, (List Price: $27, Knopf, 9780593320297, June 2022)

Reviewed by Jamie Southern, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

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