The Eye of the Elephant: An Epic Adventure in the African Wilderness

Book Description

Expelled from Botswana for writing Cry of the Kalahari, the Owenses set off across Africa. They settled in Zambia, where they soon found their peace shattered by the gunfire of elephant poachers. This is the story of the couple's battle to save the elephants and their own lives.

Customer Reviews:

"By telling the truth...they incur a measure of personal and professional risk;.......2007-09-04

"...by not telling it, we all risk much, much more."-The Owenses

Poaching is a big problem in Africa. There are laws against it, but the villagers are very poor, the people are hungry and in many, many countries of Africa, the governments are either corrupt or are unstable. This story takes place in northeastern Zambia near Tanzania. The story begins with the Owenses returning to Botswana to continue their research into predator-prey relationships. They find some of their familiar, furry, thin friends in the desert wilderness only to almost immediately be apprehended by the authorities and get kicked out of the country because their research conflicts with the government's plans to develop cattle ranches in the Kalahari desert. They wander aimlessly through the African skies and wind up in Zambia where they soon have a new mission to stop elephant poaching which has nearly decimated the elephant population there.

I love how both Mark and Delia write. Their descriptions of Africa sometimes remind me of Isak Dinesen's Out of Africa. I've read all their books now and they really are very hard to put down. Their work in Zambia takes a toll on their health as it did in Botswana, but in slightly different ways. In the Kalahari, they were in no man's land and went for many months without seeing people. In Zambia, there are small villages nearer to them where they can restock their very meager supplies. The toll on their bodies this time around though is intense because in declaring their mission to stop poaching, they trigger a violent response from the poachers armed with their Kalashnikovs (AK-47's). Mark gets so upset when he sees animals senselessly slaughtered whether they be hundreds of thousands of wildebeest in Botswana or elephants in Zambia. There's a lot to be found in their books about animal behavior and social organization. With elephants, the females stay in their natal clans and males migrate out to mate and congregate. The poaching, however, takes a toll on their social structure since the elephants with the largest tusks are the sexually mature animals and many orphaned elephants roam the wilderness alone without a group to call their own.

The Owens' take to task educating the villagers and teaching them new industries, new methods of agriculture so that they are more subsistent. It takes a decade to finally begin to make an impact on transforming their society and removing the incentives to poach. There are several attempts on their lives, but you'll have quite the time in Mark's bush piloting, air force policing of Zambia's Luangwa National Park.

Wonders of the Wild.......2006-11-04

This book is laden with fascinating information on African Wildlife and how to survive as human and animal in harsh conditions. Excellent read.

A riveting, disturbing story of war with poachers.......2005-06-01

Wildlife researchers and conservationists Delia and Mark Owens have spent much of their lives since 1974 in the African bush, first in the Kalahari Desert from which came their best seller "Cry of the Kalahari" and then in the North Luangwa Valley in Zambia, the setting of this 1992 book.

The Owens' passion leads them to risk their lives routinely. In searching for a suitable camp in North Luangwa they set out in an ancient truck with no radio and inadequate gear. After a grueling trek that would have sent sane mortals packing for home they separate so Mark can fly his Cessna to a site that "would make Cessna's insurance company shudder" while Delia makes the two-day trip alone with the old truck and a trailer over trackless hilly, bushy, gully-filled flood-plain terrain. Tracking animals they are constantly walking smack into a startled lion or buffalo or cornered elephant.

But the real danger comes from people. "The Eye of the Elephant," while filled with wildlife anecdotes and tidbits of information about elephants and lions, is really about the poaching war the Owens conducted on behalf of the besieged North Luangwa elephants.

The poachers are villagers, many armed with AK47s, backed by the local government and assisted by the corrupt and underequipped local game guards. The Owens' weapons are education, cottage industry projects financed by the Owens Foundation for Wildlife Conservation and the Cessna.

The battle starts genially with children exclaiming over magazine pictures and their parents joining sewing circles and carpentry workshops. But it quickly escalates until Mark drives Delia from him with his obsession for highly dangerous and only modestly effective night flights, and the poachers organize an assassination squad to rid themselves of the Owens once and for all.

The book is organized in alternating first-person chapters between Delia and Mark. The tone is brutally honest, touching when one admits to mistakes which endanger the other, disturbing when their frank discussion of anti-poaching tactics veers from the politically correct. The Owens' care more for the animals and the landscape than the people. But since the people are there, their needs must be faced. Their singlemindedness will outrage some, but their strong personalities and sheer stamina will awe almost everyone.

York County Coast Star

EXCELLENT ADVENTURE!.......2004-06-26

I wish these authors would write more books about their adventures in Africa. Truly riveting page-turners!

Do not miss this wonderful book!.......2002-08-19

The Eye of the Elephant is a wonderful, adventurous journey into the heart and soul of Africa seen through Mark and Delia's eyes. From the very first page you are caught up in their heroic quests to protect the animals they are there to observe. In spite of the unbelievable odds against them, they persevered and put the safety and security of the highly endangered animals FIRST. The elephants in the Luanga Valley are very fortunate to have had Mark and Delia watch over them and be their heroes. I have loved Africa and the African elephant my entire life and I am so grateful for these two selfless, dedicated people who have become the protectors of our most precious wildlife. This is one of my most treasured African stories.

Average customer rating:

Best yet
GIFT
secrets of the savanna
Some Books are Keepers
Wonderful sequel

Secrets of the Savanna
Mark James Owens , and Cordelia Dykes Owens
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Eye of the Elephant: An Epic Adventure in the African Wilderness
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ASIN: 0395893100

Book Description

When Mark and Delia Owens settled in a Zambian wilderness, they found the elephants and other wildlife decimated by poachers; the local villagers, who depended on the wildlife, were driven to desperate actsincluding poaching themselves. To save both people and animals, the Owenses started an innovative microlending program that lifted the villagers out of poverty and allowed the wildlife populations to recover. But the older elephants had been slaughtered for their tusks, taking with them knowledge that had been passed along to the young for generations. Left behind was social chaossingle moms, solitary orphans, rowdy gangs of young malesand a scientific mystery: how could there be so many babies and so few females old enough to be mothers? A young orphan named Gift eventually provided the clue to the remarkable scientific discovery that revealed the elephants" secret. But the poachers and ivory smugglers shifted their sights from the elephants to the Owenses, threatening their lives, raiding their camp, and finally driving them out of the country. After two decades in Africa, Mark and Delia returned to America to find social changes frighteningly similar to what they had seen among the elephants of Zambia.

Customer Reviews:

Best yet.......2007-09-09

This is the grand finale of the Africa books for the Owens'. I have read all with great appreciataion for what they have done over many years, but I felt that this book was the best of all. It is the culmination of more maturity and experience of their programs and writing. I would recommend it to anyone with any interest in conservation. It is also glimpse into the human spirit when confronted with the difficult task of orchestrating the survival of both man and animal harmoniously. These are two awesome people doing great work.

GIFT.......2007-09-04

Gift is the name of a little orphaned girl elephant that the Owenses had in their neighborhood. She wandered on her own and had to learn how to eat and fend for herself without any cues or training from sisters, aunts, grandmas or her own mother who were obviously all slaughtered for their tusks and meat. Mark continues to cherry bomb the poachers, Delia continues to measure elephants' sizes and clan size, continues counting elephants before she sleeps. So this latest book by the Owenses is a continuation of Eye of the Elephant and gives you a glimpse of the people who have made a big difference in wildlife management in Africa. They wind up getting kicked out of Zambia and are now back in the States trying to increase grizzly bear numbers! I can't wait to hear what they have to say about America's wildlife and their recommendations for their management. I learned in this book that George Adamson, the real life Game Warden of Kenya of Born Free fame was killed by poachers who were smuggling ivories into Somalia. It's been a problem for half a century and still continues today. Recently 2 rare white rhinos were brought to Zambia from South Africa and one was killed, the other shot...

secrets of the savanna.......2007-08-08

I had read the owen's two previous books and really loved them. I found this one and thought well, I already know what they did so this will just be review. Well, was I wrong. It is a great book and kept me enthralled till the end. They have such a practical approach to getting the local population involved, and they have had such sucess. Anyone would love this book. It is so possitive that it just tickles your heart, and such a love story. To think they have done all this together. Wow. I gave it a 5 and would have given it 10 if I could. jeannie Clarke

Some Books are Keepers.......2006-11-04

Life in the harshest of places....Africa in the wildest wildness. If you love animals of planet earth, this is a book to read, weep and rejoice.

Wonderful sequel .......2006-09-02

Written so that you feel you are looking over their shoulders as they see and work in Africa. A bit of mystery, a cautionary tale and an inspirational love story. The book describes the obstacles they faced and the gile, resourcefulness, courage and passion they bring to their work and lives. A worthy follow-on to Cry of the Kalahari and Eye of the Elephant.

Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa (Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions)

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Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa (Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions)
Daniel N. Posner
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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The Logic of Violence in Civil War (Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics)

ASIN: 0521541794

Book Description

Presenting a theory to explain how politics revolves around one axis of social cleavage instead of another, Daniel Posner examines Zambia, where people identify themselves either as members of one of the country's seventy-three tribes or as members of one of its four principal language groups. Drawing on a simple model of identity choice, Posner demonstrates that the answer depends on whether the country is operating under single-party or multi-party rule, thus revealing how formal institutional rules determine the social cleavages that matter.

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Zambia Safari
Thorough, but very negative writer
Valuable resouce guide
The best option available

Zambia, 3rd: The Bradt Travel Guide
Chris McIntyre
Manufacturer: Bradt Travel Guides
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Africa | Travel | Subjects | Books

Zambia | Africa | Travel | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1841620823

Book Description

This indispensable guide to Zambia is both a planning tool and a traveling companion. The third edition includes updates to accommodations, especially game lodges.

Customer Reviews:

Zambia Safari.......2006-10-27

We just returned from a three week safari to Zambia, the book was invaluable; we used it frequently during the trip. We found the data in the book were accurate and provided us outstanding intelligence about each area of the country we visited.

If you are going to Zambia or thinking about going, this book is a must read.

Bill

Thorough, but very negative writer.......2005-09-12

I enjoyed this book but was extremely disappointed by the pessimism displayed by the writer. While he was extremely thorough in his examination of the many great places and activities in Zambia, his writing failed to get me excited about my trip. In fact, it made me dread going. Fortunately, once I got here, I realized that Zambia is a WONDERFUL country and the negatives are few and far

Unfortunately, there aren't that many alternatives out there for this book. I would recommend talking to people who have traveled there over purchasing this book. They can give you an accurate portrayal of what Zambia is really like. And trust me -- it is great.

Valuable resouce guide.......2005-07-21

I found this guide book extremely helpful and informative. I would highly recommend it to anyone planning a trip (especially for the first time) to Zambia. It was very thorough and comprehensive. It answered my many questions--almost before I had them, and made me feel much more confident about traveling to a new country. The author is knowledgable and well-versed. The information and tips included are pertinent and timely. Don't leave for Zambia without it!

The best option available.......2005-04-07

I spent six weeks in Zambia in fall 2003. In preparing for the trip, I checked out all the available guidebooks and found two that were worth carrying along: the Lonely Planet guide and the Bradt guide. In all, Bradt was the best. It covered more territory, was stronger on areas of the country outside the major cities (Lusaka, Livingstone, etc.), had better coverage of safaris, and just generally seemed to be written by someone who knew the country -- not someone who had zipped in and out for guidebook purposes. There was almost never anything in the LP that wasn't in the Bradt; there were often things that were in the Bradt that weren't in the LP. Highly recommended.

Average customer rating:

Zambia Map

Zambia Map (Travel Reference Map)
ITMB
Manufacturer: ITMB
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Map

Zambia | Africa | Travel | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1553414640

Product Description

Travel map of the country in color. Distinguishes roads from primary paved roads to unpaved roads and tracks, with distances in kilometers. Color changes show elevations. Shows airports, ports, and ferries; points of interest; archaeological sites; vistas; information centers; museums; hotels, bungalows, campsites, and other accommodations; post offices; gas stations; more. Inset maps of Livingstone and Lusaka show roads, railways, tourist information centers, points of interest, shopping, hospitals and other facilities, etc. Index of places; table of road distances; descriptions of highlights. Latitude/longitude grid. Main map scale 1:1,500,000. Distances in kilometers and miles. Printed on one side.

Customer Reviews:

Zambia Map.......2006-09-14

Very detailed road map. But the must see sights are missing If you do not need the road detail the Globetrotter Zambia and Victoria Falls (Globetrotter Travel Packs Series)map provides excellent coverage of the tourist must see sites

Expectations of Modernity: Myths and Meanings of Urban Life on the Zambian Copperbelt (Perspectives on Southern Africa, 57)

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"Expectations of Modernity" by James Ferguson
An eloquent, elegant, and important study

Expectations of Modernity: Myths and Meanings of Urban Life on the Zambian Copperbelt (Perspectives on Southern Africa, 57)
James Ferguson
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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The Anti-Politics Machine: "Development," Depoliticization, and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho

ASIN: 0520217020

Book Description

Once lauded as the wave of the African future, Zambia's economic boom in the 1960s and early 1970s was fueled by the export of copper and other primary materials. Since the mid-1970s, however, the urban economy has rapidly deteriorated, leaving workers scrambling to get by. Expectations of Modernity explores the social and cultural responses to this prolonged period of sharp economic decline. Focusing on the experiences of mineworkers in the Copperbelt region, James Ferguson traces the failure of standard narratives of urbanization and social change to make sense of the Copperbelt's recent history. He instead develops alternative analytic tools appropriate for an "ethnography of decline."
Ferguson shows how the Zambian copper workers understand their own experience of social, cultural, and economic "advance" and "decline." Ferguson's ethnographic study transports us into their lives--the dynamics of their relations with family and friends, as well as copper companies and government agencies.
Theoretically sophisticated and vividly written, Expectations of Modernity will appeal not only to those interested in Africa today, but to anyone contemplating the illusory successes of today's globalizing economy.

Customer Reviews:

"Expectations of Modernity" by James Ferguson.......2005-08-05

This is a truly rich and incisive ethnography of an African nation in the midst of long-term economic decline. Ferguson may be best known to readers as the author of 1990's "The Anti-Politics Machine", a widely acknowledged classic of contemporary social anthropology and one of the seminal works of what might be called the new development studies. Admirers of "Anti-Politics Machine" should not expect a simple retread of old material here, however. "Expectations of Modernity" focuses squarely on the lived experience of national economic decline, and the cultural and economic strategies by which retiring copper miners are adjusting to the new world order.
Perhaps the most refreshing aspect of "Expectations" is Ferguson's recourse to an eclectic mix of theoretical concepts and approaches. Dick Hebdige's analysis of subculture and style, Judith Butler's insights into gender performances, and Bourdieu's reflections on cultural capital are all invoked here to shed light on Zambians' attempts to grapple with economic decline. The breadth and subtlety of the author's theoretical approach to questions of culture, power, and style enables him to challenge the old, teleological narrative of Africa's progress from "tradition" to "modernity." "Expectations of Modernity" is therefore relevant not only to Africa and the Third World, but also to all those de-industrializing and declining regions of the capitalist West that have been nourished for decades on the false promises of modernist metanarratives.

An eloquent, elegant, and important study.......2002-01-17

I have read many ethnographies in my day, but I can't recall another that has had me at turns astounded by the author's insight, impressed with his prose, saddened by his findings, and laughing out loud at the wry wit of his descriptive voice. I do not normally consider good anthropology "fun" to read, but "EXPECTATIONS OF MODERNITY" bucks the trend. It's well-argued, impassioned, and thoroughly readable.

Author Ferguson is concerned with the experience of "modernity" and "development" as lived by residents of Zambia's Copperbelt, who since the 1970s have experienced an unrelenting slide into social and economic marginalization. He works in case studies drawn from individual interview subjects, census data, and textual asides--boxes featuring news clippings from Zambian papers, or brief "People Watching" accounts of the author's street observations with his research assistant. The discussion ranges from meta-narratives of "progress" and "modernization" to an eye-opening analysis of the opposing styles adopted by Zambian urbanites.

His conclusion is grim: "For many Zambians... recent history has been experienced not--as the modernization plot led one to expect--as a process of moving forward or joining up with the world, but as a process that has pushed them out of the place in the world that they once occupied." The process of globalization has not connected this corner of Africa (and its inhabitants) to the currents of prosperity traversing the world economy; rather it has disconnected them, throwing them out of the garden of "development." Ferguson stresses that they have not been "left out" of world capitalism; the processes of abjection he describes are integral parts of the system.

Even amid the gathering gloom of this analysis, I found myself heartened by the author's occasional humor and by his sympathetic (and self-effacing) accounts of casual encounters in the field. I had not previously had much time for anti-globalization arguments, but Ferguson's disarming approach lowered my skepticism, forcing me to confront the ugly truths of the new world order in a way I had never done before. My hat is off to this man for crafting such a great book.

Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier
Average customer rating:

A Twist on the Truth

Lets Not Go to the Dogs Tonight

Disingeneous writing

Not my thing

Brilliant, who cares if the details are not 100% accurate

Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier
Alexandra Fuller
Manufacturer: The Penguin Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Africa | History | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1594200165
Release Date: 2004-05-03

Amazon.com

Thomas Wolfe's trusted axiom about not being able to go home again gets a compelling spin through the African veldt in Alexandra Fuller's Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier. Fuller (Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight : An African Childhood) journeys through modern Zambia, to battlefields in Zimbabwe and Mozambique with the scarred veteran of the Rhodesian Wars she identifies only as "K." Intrigued by the mysterious neighbor of her parent's Zambian fish farm and further enticed by her father's warning that "curiosity scribbled the cat" ("scribbling" is Afrikaans slang for "killing"), Fuller embarks on a journey that covers as much cratered psychic landscape as it does African bush country. Though she and "K" are both African by family roots rather than blood, she quickly discovers that 30 years of civil war have scarred them--and the indigenous peoples they encounter--in markedly different ways. "K" is a figure of monumental tragedy, a decent man torn by war-fueled rage, a failed marriage, and painful memories of an only son lost to tropical disease. His adopted Christianity offers him only partial absolution, and Fuller details his gut-wrenching confessions of quarter-century old atrocities with compassion and rare insight. Her prose liberally salted with a rich, melange of Afrikaans and local Shona slang, Fuller nonetheless struggles with a narrative whose turns are often unexpected, yet driven by humanity. There's a clear sense that the author's fitful journey into the past with "K" has opened as many wounds as it has healed, and spawned more questions than it has answered. It's that discomfort and frustration that often reinforces the honesty of her prose--and reinforces Thomas Wolfe's adage yet again. --Jerry McCulley

Book Description

Best-selling memoirist Alexandra Fuller travels with a strangely charismatic Rhodesian war veteran into a modern-day heart of darkness.

When Alexandra ("Bo") Fuller was home in Zambia a few years ago, visiting her parents for Christmas, she asked her father about a nearby banana farmer who was known for being a "tough bugger." Her father's response was a warning to steer clear of him; he told Bo: "Curiosity scribbled the cat." Nonetheless, Fuller began her strange friendship with the man she calls K, a white African and veteran of the Rhodesian war. With the same fiercely beautiful prose that won her acclaim for Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, Fuller here recounts her friendship with K.

K is, seemingly, a man of contradictions: tattooed, battle scarred, and weathered by farm work, he is a lion of a man, feral and bulletproof. Yet he is also a born-again Christian, given to weeping when he recollects his failed romantic life, and more than anything else welling up inside with memories of battle. For his war, like all wars, was a brutal one, marked by racial strife, jungle battles, unimaginable tortures, and the murdering of innocent civilians-and K, like all the veterans of the war, has blood on his hands.

Driven by K's memories, Fuller and K decide to enter the heart of darkness in the most literal way-by traveling from Zambia through Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) and Mozambique to visit the scenes of the war and to meet other veterans. It is a strange journey into the past, one marked at once by somber reflections and odd humor and featuring characters such as Mapenga, a fellow veteran who lives with his pet lion on a little island in the middle of a lake and is known to cope with his personal demons by refusing to speak for days on end. What results from Fuller's journey is a remarkably unbiased and unsentimental glimpse of men who have killed, mutilated, tortured, and scrambled to survive during wartime and who now must attempt to live with their past and live past their sins. In these men, too, we get a glimpse of life in Africa, a land that besets its creatures with pests, plagues, and natural disasters, making the people there at once more hardened and more vulnerable than elsewhere.

Scribbling the Cat is an engrossing and haunting look at war, Africa, and the lines of sanity.

Customer Reviews:

A Twist on the Truth.......2007-10-02

A well written and fairly well researched book... and an immense disappointment. A married woman, happily undertaking an "adventure" in landmine-ridden Mozambique with a man who is clearly in love with her. Sadly this, together with the fact that yet another unmarried man also falls for her charms, completely detracts from the story. Furthermore, I am a displaced Zimbabwea, and my father and husband both fought on the wrong side of that war. Their memories of that time are somewhat different to Ms Fuller's, and it's very doubtful that a man as tragic and scarred by his internal demons as K would open his heart to this relatively unknown woman. Having read Peter Godwin's excellent "Mukiwa" and "When the Crocodile Eats the Sun" I can honestly say this book falls a distant way behind those two.

Lets Not Go to the Dogs Tonight.......2006-12-28

This is one of the must amuzing and informative books I have read about Africa and being African. I started to read it one night for an hour before sleep and didn't put it down untill well after dawn. Fuller brings to life a vibrant late twentieth centure Africa. Lets Not Go to the Dogs Tonight blossoms in both style and content. It is brilliant.

Disingeneous writing.......2006-12-11

"Scribbling the Cat" feels like an excuse that a bored married woman gave her husband to go have an adventure. Never before have I been so acutely aware of (or speculated on) a writer's ulterior motives in the telling of her story.

It felt as if she was censoring her writing. Was this to protect husband/children? Was this because she was being dishonest with herself? Whatever the reason, I felt as though she was being dishonest with me, the reader.

The story of 'K' is laid bare across the pages of her book in, at times, painful reading. Fuller claims that she undertook this journey with 'K' to confront her own Rhodesian past and tell 'K's story. Yet, at the end, I know as little about Fuller as I did in the beginning. She reveals nothing of herself -- other than the occasional "thin" explanation that to me felt more like rationalization than anything else.

I find the work fundamentally disingenuous, although Fuller is undoubtedly a skillful word smith and creates a compelling narrative.

Not my thing.......2006-11-29

There is a certain subgenre of literature about the Third World that insists on reminding the reader of the heat, bugs, filth, poverty, and misery on every page, turning the problems of the developing world into a sort of fetish. Scribbling the Cat epitomizes the style. In this book full of vivid images, very little actually happens; the protagonist, "K", is a crazed, violent pseudomystical freak on page ten and a crazed, violent pseudomystical freak on page 250. Two stars not one due to Fuller's strong, vivid prose.

Brilliant, who cares if the details are not 100% accurate.......2005-10-29

The way Alexandra Fuller describes the people, the attitudes and the land is brilliant. Anyone really involved in the South African conflicts would recognise parts of themselves, or their friends in the different characters that are described in the book. This book is an accurate description of Southern Africa and its people who have been affected by 40 years of tribal conflict and faithfully portrays the complicated relationship between black and white.

Average customer rating:

MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH CL
Julius Lester
Manufacturer: Clarion Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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Bitterness (An African Novel from Zambia)

ASIN: 0395605210

Bitterness (An African Novel from Zambia)

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Enthusiasm for the future of Africa
Life of young people in Zambia

Bitterness (An African Novel from Zambia)
Malama Katulwende
Manufacturer: Mondial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 159569031X

Book Description

This is one of the most realistic and passionate contemporary novels about the life of young people in today's Africa, written by Malama Katulwende, a young Zambian poet and intellectual. It describes the seeming incompatibility of old African traditions and modern life, depicts the political struggle of Zambia's students, and the hope and despair of the book's main character, his family, lover, and friends. Based on real events, this novel provides an insight into African history, daily life, and culture, at the example of an oppressive society. Imagine Europe's revoltes of 1968 in Austral Africa...

Customer Reviews:

Enthusiasm for the future of Africa.......2005-09-09

Malama Katulwende's literary works display his vivid connection with our ancestral past, inspire and evoke feelings of patriotism and the much needed enthusiasm for the future on a continent that is facing so many challenges. (Mbuyu Nalumango; Editor of "Under the African Skies - Poetry from Zambia") ---

Themes about Negritude or the Black experience... echo real experiences of people who have been tied by a common doom - slavery, racism, colonialism and underdevelopment... So when we define Africanness as a historical fact or phenomenon, we're talking about the African personality as a collective person pitted against his past, his present and his future. We're saying: What are we about in relation to what we have gone through? This is a question that exacts answers. (Malama Katulwende; in: "Bitterness")

Life of young people in Zambia.......2005-09-09

Tribe and social affiliations and the student riots at the University of Zambia, in a captivating and intelligent story about love, political involvement and individual responsibilities: This is one of the most realistic and passionate contemporary novels about the life of young people in today's Africa, written by Malama Katulwende, a Zambian poet and intellectual. It describes the seeming incompatibility of old African traditions and modern life, depicts the political struggle of Zambia's students, and the hope and despair of the book's main character, his family, lover, and friends. Based on real events, this novel provides an insight into African history, daily life, and culture, at the example of an oppressive society. Imagine Europe's revoltes of 1968 in Austral Africa...

Culture and Customs of Zambia (Culture and Customs of Africa)

Average customer rating:

A perfect choice for reports.

Culture and Customs of Zambia (Culture and Customs of Africa)
Scott D. Taylor
Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Customs & Traditions | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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Bitterness (An African Novel from Zambia)
Zambia (Cultures of the World)
Zambia Map (Travel Reference Map)

ASIN: 0313332460

Book Description

Zambia stands out in Africa as one of the continent's most peaceful countries. In its early years as an independent state, Zambia became a regional bulwark against imperialism and colonial domination and South African apartheid. Today, it stands out as an important example of Africa's recent democratization, experiencing both incredible success as well as some notable setbacks. The country is also one of the most urbanized in Sub-Saharan Africa. As a result of this urban influx, Zambia's diverse ethno-linguistic groups interact regularly. Moreover, many contemporary Zambian households, especially those in cities, are also exposed to the media, technology, and influences of western urbanized cultures, from Internet cafes to hip hop music. The interesting ways that "tradition" and "modernity" conflict and combine in contemporary Zambia are prime considerations in this book. This book explores Zambia's culture, with an eye toward its historical experiences and its particular endowments. It focuses on how "traditional" and "modern" interact, and sometimes collide, in the country through topics such as religion, gender roles and family, cuisine, the arts, literature, and more. The major groups are examined to give the reader an idea about how many Zambians live.

Customer Reviews:

A perfect choice for reports........2007-02-04

You never hear much about Africa's Zambia because it's one of the continent's most peaceful countries - that alone will attract any high school or college-level student to a research project assigning an African country - making CULTURE AND CUSTOMS OF ZAMBIA a top recommendation despite its quiet appearance. Zambia is home to many diverse cultures and thus holds far more variety than many African nations: CULTURE AND CUSTOMS OF ZAMBIA is the high school or college-level student's key to understanding the complex nation - and it's a perfect choice for reports.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

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