West African History

Beginning in prehistoric times, West Africa has always been an incredible region. Early nomadic tribes settled into some of the earliest communities on Earth and learned how to work with metal. Various West African tribes then became adept at working with metal and were some of the most skilled artisans in the world. As civilizations developed in West Africa, nomadic tribes turned into urban societies that built kingdoms. Eventually, some of the greatest leaders in the world created mighty West African empires.

Pick up almost any book on early and medieval world history and empire, and where do you find West Africa? On the periphery. This pioneering book tells a different story. Interweaving political and social history and drawing on a rich array of sources, Michael Gomez unveils a new vision of how categories of ethnicity, race, gender, and caste emerged in Africa and in global history. 

Ífè Myths presents one of the earliest English-language collections of Yoruba sacred stories—gathered directly from the people of Southwestern Nigeria during the author’s years of service as an Assistant District Officer. Living among Yoruba communities, the collector gained rare access to fragments of oral tradition, ritual incantations, and passing references that, when carefully assembled, reveal glimpses of the spiritual worldview that shaped one of Africa’s greatest civilizations.

As a young woman growing up in Africa, 17-year-old Leymah Gbowee was crushed by a savage war when violence reached her native Monrovia, depriving her of the education she yearned for and claiming the lives of relatives and friends. As war continued to ravage Liberia, Gbowee’s bitterness turned to rage-fueled action as she realized that women bear the greatest burden in prolonged conflicts.

Africa is the continent where the first humans were born. They explored the vast land and produced the first tools. And although we migrated from that continent, we never completely abandoned it. From the beginning of time, humans lived and worked in Africa, leaving evidence of their existence in the sands of the Sahara Desert and the valleys of the great rivers such as the Nile and the Niger.

A New Yorker Best Book of the Year * A Southwest Book of the Year “Top Pick” “American history did not begin in the Northeast. It began in the Southwest,’ Parker asserts, in this sweeping history.” —The New Yorker A revelatory work of Southwest history that recenters the American...

Business. Violence. Concerns about profits. Questions of conscience. This is the untold story of the dealings between a US tire giant and Liberia’s Charles Taylor, the man who would become the first head of state convicted of crimes against humanity since the Nazi era.

Containing delightful stories from the Yoruba and other West African peoples, this book presents tales of courage and cunning, virtue and vice, and fortunes found and lost. Some of these stories draw upon actual historical persons and events, while others are purely fictional, but each story has something to delight any listener.

Imagine a fervently militaristic state with a feared professional army that included some of the only all-female military units ever seen. Imagine that same state with its own unique and sophisticated culture, religion, language, art, and society. Such a state did exist—not in the ancient past but as recently as the beginning of the 20th century.

Justin Pope’s ground-breaking work tells the story of an era of slave unrest that swept through the Atlantic World in the first half of the 18th century. Provinces along the eastern coast of North America and around the Caribbean Sea experienced more insurrections and conspiracy trials in the 1730s and 1740s than in any period before the Age of Revolution.

Parts 1-4: Complete Unholy Sugar Collection: A Steamy BWWM Possessive Alpha Vampire Romance Series In the sultry, secret-soaked town of Selwood, Mississippi, two best friends working at an old brothel find their lives forever changed by the arrival of seductive, dangerously powerful vampires. When Della is taken captive by the alluring Julien and Tayla, while looking for her friend finds herself bound to a marriage of convenience, desire turns into something far more unholy. Unholy Sugar is a southern gothic BWWM vampire mini saga in four parts, where blood runs thick, hearts are tested, ...

Discover the Extraordinary True Story of America's First Free Black Community In 1738, decades before the American Revolution, a former slave named Francisco Menéndez achieved something historians once thought impossible: he founded and commanded North America's first legally sanctioned free Black settlement. Through groundbreaking archaeological discoveries and meticulous historical detective work, this remarkable biography brings to light one of America's most inspiring yet forgotten freedom fighters. From Chains to Command: An Epic Journey Across Empires Born in West Africa around 1700,...

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Western Civilisation on Africa By Yemi Adesina “A powerful retelling of Africa’s history—not as a footnote to Western progress, but as a battlefield where empires clashed, cultures collided, and scars still shape the soul of a continent.” In this bold and unflinching work, African historian Yemi Adesina delivers a sweeping, deeply personal, and rigorously researched exploration of one of the most complex and contested relationships in human history: Africa and Western civilisation. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Western Civilisation on Africa ...

Art T. Burton sifts through fact and legend to discover the truth about one of the most outstanding peace officers in late 19th-century America - and perhaps the greatest lawman of the Wild West era. Fluent in Creek and other Southern native languages, physically powerful, skilled with firearms, and a master of disguise, Bass Reeves was exceptionally adept at apprehending fugitives and outlaws, and his exploits were legendary in Oklahoma and Arkansas.

Africa has played a decisive role in the formation of Christian culture from its infancy. Some of the most decisive intellectual achievements of Christianity were explored and understood in Africa before they were in Europe. If this is so, why is Christianity so often perceived in Africa as a Western colonial import? How can Christians in Northern and sub-Saharan Africa, indeed, how can Christians throughout the world, rediscover and learn from this ancient heritage?

Explore Captivating African Mythology and Egyptian Gods Two captivating manuscripts in one book: African Mythology: Captivating Myths of Gods, Goddesses, and Legendary Creatures of Africa Egyptian Gods: A Captivating Guide to Atum, Horus, Seth, Isis, Anubis, Ra, Thoth, Sekhmet, Geb, Hathor and Other Gods and Goddesses of Ancient EgyptThe continent of Africa is home to fifty-four countries that together harbor over three thousand cultures, each with their own ways of life and each with their own stories. Some of these stories have their origins in the folk beliefs of people native to their ...

We know that 400 years ago, African-Americans were loaded onto boats as slaves. They were then dropped off in the Caribbean, North America, and South America. For those who have not researched their heritage on ancestry websites, they have no idea what part of Africa they are from. They have no clue as to the tribe their ancestors belonged to, nor the language they spoke. While every other race can say that their relatives are from Germany, or Ireland, or wherever, African-Americans do not have that privilege. It’s no surprise that over time they would eventually lose their identity. Some...

German South West Africa: The History and Legacy of Germany’s Biggest African Colony chronicles the politics and conflicts that marked Germany’s efforts to colonize German South West Africa. You will learn about German South West Africa like never before.

They were there at the heart of the American West—riding, fighting, homesteading. But history wrote them out. The Silent Riders uncovers the powerful, long-erased stories of Black cowboys, Buffalo Soldiers, settlers, scouts, and pioneers who helped shape the American frontier. With vivid, historically grounded narrative nonfiction, Richard Fleischman brings to life a cast of remarkable individuals whose courage, labor, and endurance defied the myths that tried to silence them. From the dusty cattle drives of Texas to the forts of the Great Plains, these true stories reveal a side of the ...

A narrative history of how Attila, Genghis Khan and the so-called barbarians of the steppes shaped world civilization. The barbarian nomads of the Eurasian steppes have played a decisive role in world history, but their achievements have gone largely unnoticed. These nomadic tribes have produced...