Listmania!
AFRICA - a foreigner's addiction (in no particular order)
Africa: A Biography of the ContinentAfrica: A Biography of the Continent by John Reader
Buy new: £9.56 / Used from: £6.25
Brilliant and unique 'biography' of a whole continent - wonderful
Africa: Dispatches from a Fragile Continent: Despatches from a Fragile ContinentAfrica: Dispatches from a Fragile Continent: Despatches from a Fragile Continent by Blaine Harden
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £0.01
slightly dated now, but still as relevant as ever
The Scramble for AfricaThe Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham
Buy new: £9.97 / Used from: £1.46
who on earth did we all think we were
King Leopold's Ghost: A story of greed, terror and heroismKing Leopold's Ghost: A story of greed, terror and heroism by Adam Hochschild
Buy new: £6.96 / Used from: £3.85
very scary history of european involvement in Congo
In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in the CongoIn the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in the Congo by Michela Wrong
Buy new: £5.35 / Used from: £1.87
a supplementary to the previous book - excellent packed with insight and memorable images
Heart Of Darkness :Heart Of Darkness : by Joseph Conrad
Buy used from: £0.01
and while we're on Congo, you can't avoid this book
Abyssinian Chronicles (PB)Abyssinian Chronicles (PB) by Moses Isegawa
Buy new: £5.98 / Used from: £1.89
historical novel covering the years after Uganda's independence
The Last King of ScotlandThe Last King of Scotland by Giles Foden
Buy used from: £0.01
historical novel covering the Amin years (now a film, and i'm an extra in it - ha ha!)
Country of My SkullCountry of My Skull by Antjie Krog
Buy new: £5.98 / Used from: £4.47
chilling account of South Africa's Truth & Reconciliation hearings - made very personal and challenging by the profound affect they made on this Afrikaaner radio journalist
My Traitor's HeartMy Traitor's Heart by Rian Malan
Buy new: £6.83 / Used from: £0.01
a life-changing book about the racism and fear that lay behind apartheid as well as the human souls
I Write What I Like: A Selection of Writings (African Writers Series)I Write What I Like: A Selection of Writings (African Writers Series) by Steve Biko
Buy new: £7.65 / Used from: £2.99
a brilliant mind and life in terrible circumstances
Rough CrossingsRough Crossings by Simon Schama
Buy used from: £1.95
fair, extensive and challenging overview of all the horrors, indignities and sheer inhumanity in the Atlantic Slave Trade
Devil's ValleyDevil's Valley by Andre Brink
Buy new: £7.09 / Used from: £1.25
Brink is a South African master - this is a weird almost dreamlike book that grips and keeps you guessing all the way - the clash between white and black Africa
DisgraceDisgrace by J.M. Coetzee
Buy new: £4.25 / Used from: £0.01
Shocking, unsettling, disturbing, but all too real - a modern south African morality tale with no easy answers
Mandela: The Authorised BiographyMandela: The Authorised Biography by Anthony Sampson
Buy new: £6.91 / Used from: £0.01
i preferred this to Long Walk to Freedom (which i thought was still great) - a bit more objective, warts and all, and therefore made him all the more remarkable and credible
The Viceroy of Ouidah (Vintage Classics)The Viceroy of Ouidah (Vintage Classics) by Bruce Chatwin
Buy new: £5.49 / Used from: £0.01
an extraordinary book about Dahomey, the African kingdom at the heart of the slave trade selling fellow Africans off to Europeans.
The Ukimwi Road: From Kenya to ZimbabweThe Ukimwi Road: From Kenya to Zimbabwe by Dervla Murphy
Buy used from: £0.01
a travelogue, but much more than that - Ukimwi is Swahili for AIDS - an account of the personal tragedies and (sometimes well-intentioned) foreign ineptitude
Interesting Times: Uganda Diaries, 1955-86Interesting Times: Uganda Diaries, 1955-86 by Sir Peter Allen
Buy used from: £80.00
price is now total ripoff - get elsewhere if you can - diaries of one of the few British civil servants who stayed in Uganda throughout the Amin era & was actually the 1 to swear in Museveni in 1986
Cry, the Beloved Country: A Story of Comfort in DesolationCry, the Beloved Country: A Story of Comfort in Desolation by Alan Paton
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £2.95
weep at the pain and agony, the dignity and grief
Big Men, Little People: Encounters in AfricaBig Men, Little People: Encounters in Africa by Alec Russell
Buy used from: £4.68
Daily Telegraph African correspondent who travelled all over - very interesting and insightful
Mukiwa: A White Boy in AfricaMukiwa: A White Boy in Africa by Peter Godwin
Buy new: £6.25 / Used from: £2.78
a white boy growing up in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe - very evocative
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African ChildhoodDon't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller
Buy new: £4.98 / Used from: £0.01
a white girl growing up in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe - a weird and difficult life beautifully described in childlike terms
The CatastrophistThe Catastrophist by Ronan Bennett
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £0.01
pretty depressing, really - but opens eyes to some of what was going on when Congo's great hope, Lumumba, was assassinated, leading to Mobutu's installation as President by the CIA
Things Fall Apart (Pocket Penguin Classics)Things Fall Apart (Pocket Penguin Classics) by Chinua Achebe
Buy new: £4.76 / Used from: £2.35
not read this yet - but is on my list! Included here because everyone who knows about these things has told me to read it. Will update this!
Emma's War: Love, Betrayal and Death in the SudanEmma's War: Love, Betrayal and Death in the Sudan by Deborah Scroggins
Buy new: £5.92 / Used from: £0.01
moving and shocking - soon to be a film i hear (? with Nicole Kidman) - a biography of a beautiful English girl who so wanted to make a difference in the dangerous world of Civil War Sudan