Michael Gomez is the leading authority on the former African nation of Bundu. Now part of Senegal, Bundu was the birthplace of one of Canada's first settlers, Richard Pierpoint. Professor Gomez's thorough research into the history of this area of Africa helped my brother David and I tremendously in the completion of our book "A Stolen Life: Searching for Richard Pierpoint." Gomez's book will enlighten those who are interested in Africa's past and present.

The author gives a vivid picture of all the major figures involved in the Mahdist revolt, from Mohammed Ahmed and the Khalifa Abdullahi to the three main European prisoners. With detailed accounts of military engagements, the stories of those trapped in the Sudan, and escape attempts, this is very engrossing reading.

The thesis of Remotely Global is complex yet condensed: current Kabre culture, a classic remote African people of Northern Togo, illustrates a specific melding of influences both modern and traditional, global and local that is clearly driven by the desire to imitate or usurp the powers of the colonizers.

"As should be amply clear by now, the Kabre world is one of promiscuous mixing, in which sacrifice and MTV, rainmakers and civil servants, fetishists and catechists exist side by side and coauthor an uncontainable hybrid cultural landscape...They (the Kabre) are as at home in the world of so-called tradition as in that of the modern, and see the mixture of the two not only as unproblematic but also as desirable...An empty signifier whose content is forever shifting, modernity itself is not only intrinsically impure and hopelessly hybridized, but also incorrigibly plural and forever incomplete." (page 178)

Remotely Global has a refreshing, astringent tone. It is clearly written with rich detail. As an ethnographer's outlook, it provides a new 'take' on the process of colonization and offers much to challenge or complete the common Western viewpoint of colonial civilization.

I often peruse the sport fishing and hydrographic table offerings of large, so-called "brick and mortar" stores, in search of rare environmental biology books centered on our merry friends, the crustaceans, but more often than not (I won't lie, I've never found ONE) I come away empty-handed. Thanks to the broadcast net (no pun intended) of Amazon, I have found this ode to the metabiological analysis of the dreaded and oft-maligned rock lobster of 1978-81. For it was in these years that the general populace was being bombarded with messages that aquatic fauna are to be feared: witness such pabulum as "Jaws," "Jaws 2," and "Pirrhana."[sic] Now, the specie'Jasus Lalandii, as I discovered by thumbing the briney pages of this tome, is more a danger to sea urchins and plankton than it is to the average beach-goer and pleasure boater. This is one tough lobster, and the book makes me want to almost be a rock lobster. My interest in rock lobsters is sometimes jested at by the simple-minded, who can't believe it to be more than a twisted fascination with some pop ditty by the B42's, but I assure you, one read of this book and you'll have a new appreciation for our salty friend, as well. Highly recommended.

This is one of the very few books about German (Prussian) slave trade in 1681-1721. The Grosse Kurfuerst build a cstle at the Ghanaian coast, which can be visited until now. The (in German) gives lot of historical sources from old archives in Germany to review the history of the "meeting" of German soldiers and entrepreneurs and the Ghanaian people (most Ashanti). Lots of pictures. Now again available at ... ISBN 3-933889-04-9 (2. ed.)

I wasn't sure what to expect when I bought this, but this book turned out to be really fun to read! Part storytelling, part anthropology, part language lessons, the book introduces not just songs from six different tribal groups but a sense of how they see the world. The songs are translated, plus the pronounciations written out, and you can play the CD and read along with it - a great help if you want to try singing or drumming the music.

The vividly colored illustrations add to the enchantment of this tale adapted from Southern Nigeria about Ma Sheep Thunder and her Son Ram Lightning. The words loll along in a rhythm that will remind the reader of a storytelling festival held beneath the stars around a tribal fire. Not only does the folk tale explain why thunder and lightning occurs, the moral of the story will remind children of the importance of listening to and obeying their parents.

Trails Of Tears: American Indians Driven From Their Lands by award-winning western writer Jeanne Williams brings together the true stories of displaced Native Americans. Trails Of Tears reveals the ransacking of Native American lands, as well as their forced relocation or extermination down through the centuries of American history. Presenting horrifying facts plainly and in a candid, non-sensationalized, historically accurate manner, Trails Of Tears is a powerful testimony of some of America's worst crimes against its own citizens and a welcome contribution to the growing library of Native American Studies.

Far too much history today is mired in ideological or methodological disputation. Here is a book that proves it is still possible to do first class work in spite of it all. Well-written, insightful, and analytical. One hopes for more work like it from this author.

This is the first text in this discipline that calls for the liberation of Black theology. Coleman reaches back to ancient ancestoral memory and calls Black people to be free. This is a must read for anyone who is interested in developing a truly liberative Black theology and liberating Black people.