What books are you reading? - Page 5

Let’s talk about reading. What are you reading or what was the last book you read? And share a few lessons from it.

At the moment I read e-books. The last book I read is “Conversations with Millionaires”
by Mike Litman and the present one is “The...

Click here to read the entire review

Anike · Sep 18, 2009 , 09:32 PM

Originally Posted by Alexa

I love that book and "Jagua Nana".Back when I first read it,I had to hide it in a normal textbook because it was considered to risque for my young female mind.

I just saw this. lol, Alexa. That is funny. I can picture a young girl hiding Jagua Nana's Daughter in a textbook and reading it during lectures. Reminds me of my secondary school days... I recall the day the social studies instructor caught me. My punishment was to hand over the book to her and see her after class. That, the uncertainty of what was to follow/the actual punishment -the torture, was the short-term punishment. The long-term was that I had to let her borrow these novels, all M and Bs. Yekpa! Looking back now, I guess it would have been inappropriate for her, a well respected her, to get caught buying such books in a store.

denker · Sep 19, 2009 , 10:28 AM

Source===>>>here

Thus Mr. Siollun’s book about the first four coups (1966-1976) must be considered something of a miracle. Unlike prior writers on the topic from that country, the Nigerian-born historian successfully checked at the door the ethnic biases he surely must have, in order to combine the dispassionate objectivity of the outsider with the nuanced knowledge of the insider. The result is a truly insightful book that is highly accessible to the general reader. The book also has enough new information to serve as a starting point for future investigators who wish to tackle some of the issues in greater detail.

What Mr. Siollun has given us rather is a deft, measured, and just examination of those tragic events, all done in very accessible prose. All Nigerians owe him a debt of gratitude. I wish I could find a way to get a copy into the hands of every educated Nigerian.

..quite a good book..how i wished i could make time to finish reading it..i read 4-5 pages per day..anywaz, am gonna be there somehow, someday...cheers

Pooky · Sep 28, 2009 , 06:56 PM

Reversing the Sail: A History of the African Diaspora by Michael Gomez.

This book simply gives you an overview of the various African diasporans in the Americas. The value of the book is that he includes extensive bibliography if anyone is interest in doing some serious reading.

The following excerpt interested me. It is regarding Africans and their descendent returning to Africa:

Rather than blending in upon their return, persons, originally taken from the Bight of Benin (many of whom were Yoruba, Fon, and Ewe) often formed their own settlements along the coast and became known as Amaros. Similarly, some of the Yoruba and Fon-Ewe rescued at sea by the British and brought to Sierra Leone later returned to southwestern Nigeria and Benin, where thy were referred to as Saros. Perhaps the New World experience had changed them, like it had the “Americo-Liberians.”

One of the arresting developments to come out of the antislavery campaign was the movement to repatriate the African-descended population to Africa. These efforts reveal how participants in the same enterprise came with entirely different assumptions and motivations. For Africans and their descendants, the opportunity to return to Africa represented the possibility to reverse the sail and reconnect, to escape the oppressive, racist atmosphere of the Americas and start over as pioneers, or to fulfill a missionary zeal to bring Christian gospel to “benighted heathens.” Those in Britain were interested in relocating the “black poor” to Africa, where they could both improve their lives and facilitate British interests in “legitimate (nonslave) trade. Whites in the United States, on the other hand, were entirely cynical in their approach, advocating the project to rid the land of free blacks, thereby actually strengthening slavery. Men like Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson were convinced that Africans could never become the equals of whites, and that repatriation to Africa, or deportation to the Caribbean, was the best solution for resolving “the freedom question.” This is consistent with the fact that whites could be opposed to the slave trade but not slavery, or, if they were opposed to slavery, were not necessarily advocating full citizenship rights for blacks; these attitudes were evident in the U.S. North, where blacks, though technically free, suffered from a range of discriminatory laws, practices, and even violence.

The scheme was opposed by abolitionists, white and black, but in both Sierra Leone and Liberia, the return of Africans and their descendants from Americas would have a profound effect upon the future course of those nations. Fundamentally, the cultures of the returnees had been altered by the experience in the Americas; they did not necessarily identify with Africans who had never left the continent. Stratification developed largely along lines of cultural differences between the returnees and the indigenous population, with the former arrogating privilege and power for themselves. It was a recipe for disaster, the consequences of which continue to reverberate.

While many Africans and their descendants returned to the continent by way of American and British government and private assistance, other financed their own way. In North America, Paul Cuffe, possibly of Akan (but also of Native American) descent, personally transported thirty-eight persons back to Africa in 1815, financing the entire enterprise himself. Perhaps even more spectacular was the return of people From Brazil and Cuba to West Africa, particularly to what is now southwestern Nigeria and Benin. Those not sent back as conspirators were usually members of cabildos (in Cuba) and irmandades (Brazil), fraternal organizations based upon purported membership in ethno linguistic groups. The brotherhoods pooled their resources to pay for such return voyages, among other things. Rather than blending in upon their return, persons, originally taken from the Bight of Benin (many of whom were Yoruba, Fon, and Ewe) often formed their own settlements along the coast and became known as Amaros. Similarly, some of the Yoruba and Fon-Ewe rescued at sea by the British and brought to Sierra Leone later returned to southwestern Nigeria and Benin, where thy were referred to as Saros. Perhaps the New World experience had changed them, like it had the “Americo-Liberians.” There is great irony here: People who voluntarily returned to Africa would up distancing themselves from Africans, or perhaps it was the indigenous peoples who rejected the returnees. Rejection and self-containment may have been mutual. In any case, the recovery of life prior to the slave trade proved challenging.

Pooky · Oct 8, 2009 , 09:02 PM

The Conjure Man Dies by Rudolph Fisher

This is a “who done it” detective book set in 1930s Harlem New during the depression era. The conjure (juju man) man mysteriously dies. He is an odd figure. He is an native African. He is a Harvard man, recluse, and doesn’t seem to be that interested in women, but there is nothing to suggest that he is on the other side of the fence either. He earns his bread as a hoodoo man., serving the needs of the folks, for a price, of course. Y’all must remember that there was a large influx of Black southerners to the North as part of the Great Black Migration. They bought with them there folks ways, and most believe and sought the aid of the conjurer. I guess there is not much use for a Harvard African man n the 30s in the U.S.

This book is a fun read. It is not predictable at all. It was first published in 1932.

odequapho · Oct 13, 2009 , 09:10 AM

Originally Posted by Pooky

The Conjure Man Dies by Rudolph Fisher

This is a “who done it” detective book set in 1930s Harlem New during the depression era. The conjure (juju man) man mysteriously dies. He is an odd figure. He is an native African. He is a Harvard man, recluse, and doesn’t seem to be that interested in women, but there is nothing to suggest that he is on the other side of the fence either. He earns his bread as a hoodoo man., serving the needs of the folks, for a price, of course. Y’all must remember that there was a large influx of Black southerners to the North as part of the Great Black Migration. They bought with them there folks ways, and most believe and sought the aid of the conjurer. I guess there is not much use for a Harvard African man n the 30s in the U.S.

This book is a fun read. It is not predictable at all. It was first published in 1932.

I this this book is very great and interesting. I love it. It give me more knowledge.

Pooky · Oct 13, 2009 , 03:42 PM

Hello Odequapho,

So you have read The Conjure Dies? I wasn't quite sure by your comment. If you have not read it, I'd like to recommend it. I discovered it totally by accident by reading another author, George Schulyer. I also highly recommend you read George Schuyler's Black Empire and Black No More. It is a very interesting read. It's also fiction.

Pooky · Oct 16, 2009 , 04:47 PM

Y’all,

As many of you know I am an obsessive reader. I read fiction and history. Pretty much over the last 4 weeks I have indulge in fiction. I have even read one historical romance novel and 2 other contemporary romance novels. The criteria for these works is they have to be well written, with great story telling. I read Beverly Jenkins “Captured..” I love Ms. Jenkins historicals. This is her first book set in the 18th century.

Amazon.com: Captured (9780061547799): Beverly Jenkins: Books

Now it is time for business. I have to read a couple of serious books. I have just started reading J.A. Rogers “World’s Great Men of Color(volume 1): Asia and African, and Historical Figures Before Christ, Including Aesop, Hannibal, Cleopatra, Zenobia, Askia the Great.

Amazon.com: World's Great Men of Color, Volume I: Asia and Africa, and Historical Figures Before Christ, Including Aesop, Hannibal, Cleopatra, Zenobia, Askia the Great, and Many Others (9780684815817): J. A. Rogers, John Henrik Clarke: Books

And Many Others. I think I am going to enjoy reading this history book. J.A. Rogers spent 50 years of his life researching what people of African descent have contributed to the world. He explains in his introduction of how he became interested.

The book was first published in 1946. The preface is written by one of my favorite African American historians John Henry Clarke.

The next book I intend to read is another history book entitled “Black Spark, White Fire: Did African Explorers Civilize Ancient Europe? By Richard Poe

Amazon.com: Black Spark, White Fire: Did African Explorers Civilize Ancient Europe? (0086874521636): Richard Poe: Books

. This sounds like an interesting book.

After I finish reading these, it will be time for lite fiction. I’ll need a breather.

Pooky · Nov 4, 2009 , 07:27 PM

I recently finished reading World's Great Men of Color. This book includes women too. I loved it. I give it a five star. One of my favorite warriors was Menelik of Ethiopia. Man he whupped those Italians butts when they attempted to colonized and become their Masters.

The character I hated the most and made my blood boil was Samuel Adjai Crowther of Lagos, Nigeria. I can't fathom why Mr. Rogers included this colonial Uncle Tom among such great men and women. He doesn't belong. He was just their tool to control the folk. He did not do anything great. He was simply a fancy house boy.

Otherwise, if history turns you own, I recommend.

Samuel Adjai Crowther