Best historical african biographies according to redditors
We found 123 Reddit comments discussing the best historical african biographies. We ranked the 65 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 123 Reddit comments discussing the best historical african biographies. We ranked the 65 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Thomas Sankara - African Revolutionary is probably your best bet. It delves just as much into his government as it does his own personal story, which is kind of inevitable considering how intertwined both stories are.
Finally a question about West Africa. My answer will mostly be centered around the Mali Empire.
Now, in 1444 the Portuguese arrived on the Senegambia coast and began slave raids on the coastline, the people of Mali where surprised by the European's Caravel vessels and the white skin of the sailors within them. Now between 1444 and 1456 small naval scrimmages took place between the Mali Empire and Portuguese until, in 1456, the Portuguese sent coutier Diogo Gomes to establish peace with the Mali Empire, and by 1462 peace was established and Portugal switched its intent in Senegambia to trade rather than conquest. This was when the first real knowledge West African rulers had of Europe began.
Keep in mind the Mali empire had no written text, so there is no direct source to say "the west africans knew of the Europeans.". But we can do some estimation on the matter. Mansa Musa, famous ruler of Mali took his pilgrimage to Mecca (The Mali Empire is primarily islamic) so they know the teachings of the Quran and in turn know quite a bit about the middle eastern regions. Simply because it is unknown if the Mali people knew of Europe, it is safe to say the Europeans knew of the Mali Empire.
In 1375 the Catalan atlas was released, stemming from Catalonia it was made by a Jewish book illuminator, Cresques Abraham, who was self described as "The master of the world as well as compasses". All of this seems fairly useless until you realize that in the Catalan Atlas, their is depictions of Mansa Musa on his holy pilgrimage to Mecca and much of the West African coast charted and identified.
Another source is Ibn Battuta, a Moroccan explorer, who arrived in Mali in 1351 after his extensive travels to as far as China. Before his trip to Mali he traveled on the North African coast and took detours to Sardinia and Moor controlled regions of the southern Iberian Peninsula. Though I have not read the Rhila (Ibn Battuta's book telling the story of his travels), and do not know whether it says this but it is safe to assume he shared some of his knowledge with the people of the Mali Empire and of his time in Europe.
Another thing that could point to knowledge of Europe by West African rulers is the fact that the Mali empire is a key part on the Saharan trade route spanning from West Africa, to North Africa, The Levant and, you guessed it, Europe. It is likely European goods, news and knowledge spread from trade along this route and allowed West African rulers some insight into the happenings, and knowledge of Europe. Likely the same way knowledge of Mansa Musa made it's way onto the Catalan Atlas.
So overall, it is quite likely there was knowledge of Europe by West African rulers, what that knowledge is is unknown (because they had no written texts) but the fact that there was knowledge of Europe is a fairly clear "Yes, West African rulers had, though limited, some amount of knowledge on Europe"
Outside of the Mali Empire is a bit iffy. the Berbers of Morocco definitely had extensive knowledge of Europe, but if you go south of the Niger river it is possible the knowledge only came from the few sailors who dared go down there, and those where few and far between.
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Sources:
[The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa | by Patricia McKissack and Fredrick McKissack] (http://www.amazon.com/Royal-Kingdoms-Ghana-Mali-Songhay/dp/0805042598/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1414292037&sr=1-1&keywords=Mali+%28Empire%29)
Mansa Musa and the Empire of Mali | by P. James Oliver
A great source for these questions is The Adventures of Ibn Battuta by Ross E. Dunn. Most (if not all) your questions can be answered there. For your convenience, I'll offer up some answers for you! :D
Currency. With no exchange rate or global economy, how did the travellers handle currency?
Did people usually travel alone or in groups? If groups, how large generally were they?
This kinda ties into (1), but how did they maintain an income? Ibn Batuta travelled constantly for many years; how did he have the money to carry on?
The following passage refers to pilgrims traveling to Mecca, but also applies to most travelers as well. This also applies to travelers who do not have much money:
>Whether by land or sea, getting to Mecca was a risky affair. If seafarers had to brave storms, pirates, and hostile navies, overland travelers confronted bandits, nomad marauders, or the possibility of stumbling into a war between one North African state and another. Consequently, most piligrims going overland kept, for the sake of security, to the company of others, often the small caravans that shuttled routinely between the towns and rural markets. Travelers who had little money to start with frequently traded a stock of wares of their own along the way - leather goods or precious stones for example - or offered their labor here and there, sometimes taking several months or even years to finally work or chaffer their way as far as Egypt.
>Quite apart from these little bands of plgrims in the company of merchants and wayfarers was the great hajj caravan, which ideally went every year from Morocco to Cairo, and from their to the Hijaz with the pilgrims from Egypt.
Provisions (Food, Supplies, Accommodation etc) - How well planned were these travels?
Depends. A Hajj caravan, specifically one planned by the Ilkhanate or Ayyubid Egypt would be a state-sponsored affair. For a single traveller, it was very ad hoc, taking months years to travel here to there.
As in, they couldn't have taken food for more than 6 months (shooting in the dark). What if the place they were going to had a war, and supplies were low? Did they actually plan for this or were they running blind here?
There was really no need to take that much food, as the travelers mostly went through well-established trade routes, connecting towns to towns, cities to cities. In the case of war, you were essentially stuck and hope hostilities cease. If it took months or years, then tough luck. But as the Islamic world was more or less interconnected, people had a rough sketch of what was going on a couple of states away. This was still inadequate to predict any circumstances, so delays were often and frequent.
This kind of carries on from the last one, but Accommodation - Where exactly did they sleep? Some were well known scholars and relied on the patronage of monarchs, I understand that,but surely that was not true of all of them? What about when traversing the countryside? Did they carry tents with them?
You are right, it was not simply monarchal patronage. However, it's important to know that in medieval Islamic culture (yes, it's a broad term...) there was a prestige for local notables, wealthy individuals, and governors to give accommodations to travelers, specifically those taking part of the Hajj as well as scholars. Ibn Battuta, being both, was able to get the patronage of individuals from across the Islamic world and was able to find a place to sleep when in a town.
In addition, as a scholar, Ibn Battuta tended to head to the nearest mosque or college, where accodomations were given to visiting scholars. As Ibn Battuta also stayed in Mecca after the Hajj to study, he had a prestige that any provincial school wanted. Why not have a visiting scholar who studied in Mecca and practiced a legalistic school (Maliki) that could provide insight when compared to the Shafi'i or Hanafi school prevalent outside North Africa?
What were there provisions for dealing against hostiles? Not robbers or bandits, which I'm sure were frequent and dealt with accordingly, but if the ruler of the place they're visiting turns out to be hostile towards them?
A Muslim ruler would be foolish to turn hostile to pilgrims, Hajjis, scholars, or travelers. It's taboo to attack them, and it's a sign of prestige to host them. Not that this didn't happen - it did - but it was rare for a Muslim ruler to do this.
Or say, they find that urban civilisation hasn't really made progress in some parts and they come across warrior tribes?
They had a rough idea where they were going and tended to travel on the beaten path. As Ibn Battuta was focused on visiting other schools, he really didn't have a need to wander that far. But urban civilization was a hallmark of the Islamic world, so it's not something he needed to worry about that often.
Some books:
Mansa Musa and the Empire of Mali: http://www.amazon.com/Mansa-Musa-Empire-James-Oliver/dp/146805354X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422187789&sr=1-1&keywords=Mali+Empire
Ancient West African Kingdoms: Ghana, Mali, & Songhai: http://www.amazon.com/Ancient-West-African-Kingdoms-Understanding/dp/1403400989/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422187789&sr=1-4&keywords=Mali+Empire
Thanks man, appreciate that.
Ja I have read several books on the war, I'll list them all so you can maybe pick one up one day.
The South African Border War 1966-1989 by Leopold Scholtz - I highly recommend this book. This is the book that really got me to understand the overall picture of the war although reading the other books and online material as well as speaking to relatives that fought in the war helped fill in the gaps for me.
32 Battalion by Piet Nortje - This book is also excellent. Goes into a lot of detail about personal accounts and experiences of members of 32 Battalion. They were tough buggers, 32Bn was made up of many Angolan nationals that were once part of the FNLA but were cut off and abandoned by their leader Holden Roberto so Jan Breytenbach trained them and thus 32 Battalion was born. Sad what happened to these poor guys after the war... The ANC just prior to coming to power demanded they be disbanded 1993. There is footage of their last parade and disbandment on Youtube. They were real battle hardened soldiers... They deserved better.
Zulu Zulu Foxtrot by Arn Durand - This is a book about his experience in the police COIN unit called Koevoet. These okes were hard as nails driving Casspirs over the enemy insurgents and tied them to their vehicles after killing them. Brutal... There is no such thing as a gentleman's war. No side played fair. SWAPO conducted many atrocities and Koevoet did the same. So it is futile for either side to claim evil yet SWAPO often complained to the UN about Koevoet and when South Africa complained to the UN about SWAPO atrocities which fell on deaf ears. The political bias was clearly evident and is revealed and mentioned many times in every book I've listed here.
Teenage Safari by Evan Davies the memoirs of a 61 Mech mortar man. 61 Mech was South Africa's iron fist our primary mechanized unit. They were the ones that smashed the Angolan and Cubans on the ground time and time again. They were primarily used for conventional battles although they did see some action against SWAPO as well which was almost exclusively COIN/guerrilla warfare.
LZ HOT! by Nick Lithgow - Memoirs of a South African Air Force helicopter pilot. He flew SAAF Alouette III gunships as well as Puma and Atlas Oryx transport helicopters. He also did a stint on the border as part of the infantry prior to receiving pilot training IIRC.
Eye of the Firestorm by Roland de Vries - This is a long one... The memoirs of a Commander of 61 Mech. There is a lot more to say about this book but my comment is getting quite long! It's very detailed and goes into the whole history of 61 Mech and the overall war itself. Though is quite complicated to read at times due to the complex nature of the war and all the operations, units involved and so on.
Recce by Koos Stadler - A book about the Recces (South African Special Forces) and Koos Stadler a very renowned Recce. The accomplishments and actions of the Recces are something else entirely... Ranging from sitting right inside enemy camps to gather intel for weeks if not months on end. To directing artillery and airstrikes strikes over enemy positions deep inside Angola, cutting off supply lines to destroying the SWAPO headquarters, shooting down Russian transport aircraft such as Antonov AN-12's with Soviet officers on board. There are many insane stories about the Recces a truly hard bunch as well as a small unit being only a few hundred members strong IIRC.
Mobility Conquers: The Story of 61 Mechanised Battalion Group 1978-2005 by Willem Steenkamp (Author), Helmoed-Römer Heitman (Author) - Haven't read this one either also very expensive! But apparently a very in depth book about South African mobile warfare doctrine during the Border War.
Mobile Warfare for Africa by Roland de Vries - Haven't read this either but should be a good one since Roland de Vries is one of the founding fathers of South African mobile warfare doctrine and tactics during the Border War.
Quite positive, he had good environmental policies, increased women's rights, built a system of community self-organization via the CDRs, hospitals, schools etc. were built all over the country and they had lots of public works projects, he fought against reactionary practises and powers exercised by tribal leaders, fought imperialism, established land reform, nationalized industries, literacy and vaccination cmapaigns and encouraged co-operatives. he was by no means the perfect Socialist revolutionary but he didn't seek any sort of cult of personality improved people's lives in various ways and did this under incredibly harsh conditions. A book abut him i would sugest is Thomas Sankara: An African Revolutionary by Ernest Harsch.
Ernest Harsch's An African Revolutionary. Very good book.
Fireforce by Chris Cocks is a good read.
Glad I could be of some help!
You may also want to check out Peter Godwin's Mukiwa; it's his memoir from growing up in Rhodesia, and much of the book deals with his time as a soldier in Matabeleland during the Bush War. It was obviously a different conflict, but it has a lot of similarities, and a lot of differences that make it a good comparative study with the conflicts in Namibia and Angola.
I don't have any primary sources for you, but you may also want to look into the Angolan War of Independence, the Portuguese Colonial War, and the Carnation Revolution, as all three played a major part in the Namibian conflict and the eventual collapse of apartheid.
The usual academic answer is from various archives and military academies. Pay your dues and do the necessary legwork for research.
But I personally find that answer very behind the times. The Internet may not have a central repository for military articles, but it doesn’t need to have one thanks to Google especially if you understand how to properly tune your search results.
For instance, when searching about the Rhodesian Bush war, I simply added the search term “PDF” into the query and got this as my first result:
https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/combat-studies-institute/csi-books/ArtOfWar_RhodesianAfricanRifles.pdf
Which is a 130 page overview of the RAR that you can get for free, and it provides a basic overview of the conflict even if the RaR is not your focus.
More importantly, these long article will usually include a very long bibliography which you can then search for something more specific to your interests, like this citation:
Cox, Chris. Fireforce: One Man’s War in the Rhodesian Light Infantry. Johannesburg: 30 Degrees South, 2006.
Which you can then try to find copies of, perhaps by purchasing an ebook from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Fireforce-Mans-Rhodesian-Light-Infantry/dp/0958489092
(Though in this case it seems only the paper version is available).
I would caution though that most military history accounts are terribly one-sided (anyone claiming they are unbiased is almost certainly either deliberately or unconsciously hiding their biases) so it pays to also enter search queries about the other side, and to look at sources covering the opposition. One man’s villain is often another’s hero.
Besides “PDF”, another surprisingly fruitful additional search query term is “reddit”, especially when combined with this particular subreddit’s name “war college”. A lot of wars often have a few English language experts who show up in reddit, and they very often can give more details that a normal paper would not cover. For instance the Rhodesian light infantry was discussed in this thread here:
https://www.google.com.ph/amp/s/amp.reddit.com/r/WarCollege/comments/4lor1x/what_are_some_examples_of_successful/
In short, it can actually be surprisingly easy to get a lot of good articles using only Google. You just need to know what other search query terms to add so you aren’t directed to the Wikipedia page.
I recommended Gandhi's autobiography, along with Guha's Gandhi Before India and Desai's The South African Gandhi: Stretcher-Bearer of Empire. Many call him saintly, but he is complicated than that, and really human...
I can't believe how cheaply one can learn and gain knowledge today alhamdulillah.
Even though the mention of Mohammad Shamil is small, it intrigued me enough to go buy a book on his life. There wasn't much material there so lets see how that book turns out.
His autobiography
https://www.amazon.com/Happy-Odyssey-Adrian-Carton-Wiart/dp/1844155390
Soldiers should fight an honorable war. They serve our country. Mercenaries fight terrible wars for profit.
Amazing read.
https://www.amazon.com/My-Friend-Mercenary-James-Brabazon/dp/0802119751
For a close-in story, try Killing Rommel by Pressfield or Eastern Approaches by Maclean. I suggest Pressfield, he's a better writer.
I can strongly recommend 'The Masked Rider' ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Masked_Rider:_Cycling_in_West_Africa ), which is a fanstastic travellog of touring Cameroon on a bicycle.
Another great read is 'The Timbuktu School for Nomads' ( https://www.amazon.com/Timbuktu-School-Nomads-Across-Sahara-ebook/dp/B01HZFB8TE ) which chronicles the time spent living amongst the nomadic tribes of Saharan Africa, post 2001.
Also 'Facing the Congo' ( https://www.amazon.com/Facing-Congo-Jeffrey-Tayler/dp/1886913447 ) is pretty good.
Here's a link for his Autobiography, apparently a VERY good read.
This book about him has just hit the top 50 on Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Happy-Odyssey-Adrian-Carton-Wiart-ebook/dp/B00ONZQ5O8/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid= fascinating guy!
Thomas Sankara: An African Revolutionary is pretty good and I haven't read it myself but Thomas Sankara Speaks: The Burkina Faso Revolution 1983–87 sounds pretty good.
Happy Odyssey Autobiography of Adrian Carton de Wiart. As an Amazon review puts it: "He had only one hand, only one eye, and surprisingly only one Victoria Cross." A great read.
Alan Turing: The Enigma Biography, not autobiography, but a great life.
A Sort of Life Graham Greene's early life. A great writer and a great read.
This was assigned to me in a 200-level Islamic Studies course a few years back. Found it to be a pretty good read.
The book always depressed me. because I'd put it down and at point and say, "What the hell, have I done with my life?"
But yes, I agree the best. You could make a Movie just about the sneaking into Spain part. My copy is falling apart as to the times I've loaned it out.
Though the beginning is a hard hard to read, Id recommend another bio of a remarkable man Fitzroy Maclean
I just finished the book by John Kiser called Commander Of The Faithful - The Life And Times Of Emir Abd el-Kader
I would highly recommend it for anyone looking to understand Islam, and anyone interested in seeing what a refined soul looks like in the real world of battle. It's very easy to talk about spirituality and these seemingly higher and impressive sounding ideas and notions, but the reality of them is made known in the theater of battle where one often has to choose between the salvation of one's soul or the salvation of one's body, although not mutually exclusive, to the limited eye it can appear that way. And this is where tawakkul really manifests.
He was a man, that through his Prophetic character, seduced all of Europe, particularly the French, who he once fought against for over 15 years. Later on when he was imprisoned, it was his former opponents on the battlefield that became his most ardent defenders. Another excellent feature of the book is the intimate sources used because they highlight on a very personal level the colonization of Algeria. We're used to reading about colonization and imperialism on a very high, almost machine like, level. But this book really goes into the personal human dimension of it where you get to see what many among the French thought and believed, and what many among the Algerians thought and believed. It was very eye opening and reveals that, as all human matters are, not black and white.
Thanks for bringing this up. The suppression of ZIPRA and the genocide of the Ndebele is almost never talked about, especially not by the 'anti-imperialists' cheerleading the Mugabe regime. Hell, both ZIPRA and ZANU were not above killing civilians for the lulz. Mugabe basically rode the coattails of ZIPRA before purging them and claiming ZANU did all the work. Lolz.
Also I've seen local SJWs announce that referring to Rhodesia is a sure sign of racism...which is hilarious because although Rhodesia was far from perfect, it was NOT an apartheid society like South Africa was. If it wasn't for Ian Smith's UDF, things probably would not have turned out as bad as they did.
tdlr: Mugabe is a real piece of shit, and actually did less to 'liberate' Zimbabwe then Nkomo.
I ran into a Rhodesian vet by pure accident and he recomended this book: http://www.amazon.ca/Mukiwa-A-White-Boy-Africa/dp/0802141927
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His autobiography is a really interesting read.
http://www.amazon.com/HAPPY-ODYSSEY-Adrian-Carton-Wiart/dp/1844155390
> Black Hawk Down
I've got the book sitting on my shelf.
Inside Delta Force
If You Survive
Helmet for My Pillow
In the Company of Heroes
If you like Clancy, I highly recommend the entire John Ryan series, starting with Without Remorse and moving in chronoligical (which differs from publication) order.
he has an autobiography.
http://www.amazon.com/HAPPY-ODYSSEY-Adrian-Carton-Wiart/dp/1844155390/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1380890759&sr=8-1&keywords=Adrian+Carton+de+Wiart
Look into the integration and cooperation of black and white Africans in the South African Defense Force/Special Forces. I just finished the book Recce: Small Team Missions Behind Enemy Lines which actually (albeit limited to one point of view) discusses how the different groups worked together, some of the challenges of the cooperation, some of the successes, etc).
It very gingerly touches on some of the racism (this is Apartheid South Africa...), so you have to take some of what's said with a grain of salt and understand that it was written well outside of Apartheid times so it's not going to very directly confront race, but you can still pick up a bit by reading between the lines.
Living arrangements and expectations of training and professionalism were different between groups. Many of the bushmen (check the link: despite that term sounding bad to highly race-conscious Americans, it's the most widely used and accepted term to represent the varied tribal/local groups of Africans) were married living with wife/children on or near base, while white soldiers/officers usually move to support/command roles when they get married. Bushmen were trained to a much lower standard, but were more heavily relied on for local/cultural/physical knowledge. In some senses you can think of the relationship as soldier/contractor.
I'm glossing quite a bit, but you should check out the book... the "I grew up..." part is a bit dry, but once it gets going it's a really fascinating read that (at least for me) provided a lot of interesting background for a time/part of the world that doesn't get a lot of attention.
Well, if you actually do have an open mind, you should look into these resources:
You write:
> Asians are better scholars, and blacks are better athletes than whites, and yet you blithely say that "nothing in the physical makeup" of these people makes them more or less anything. I guess only the good things count.
No and no. It is you who are asserting false things without evidence on your side. You need to read more, and you need to experience more.
For me, the coin really dropped when I was tutoring a Chinese girl in Calculus when I was finally in a big college in a major city. Every Asian I had known until then in my provincial upbringing had been smart and engaging. I fully believed the stereotype of scholarly asians. Even there in college, my girlfriend at the time was Chinese and wicked smart. So I had "evidence" for my belief, but it was being contradicted by her stubborn inability to understand the math in front of her. It finally just hit me right then that this lady I was tutoring was kind of stupid as far as math went. Nothing wrong with that, but that was the moment that it hit me that the positive stereotype I had had was blinding me to the reality of the situation, and what she could literally understand.
I hope you'll consider what I've written, and read one or more of the books I've suggested. They've all been important to me.
Or the dead. Watching Black Hawk Down makes me cry every time I see Gordon and Shughart, especially having read Durant's account.
> Wanting to achieve something without opposition knowing that the thing you want to achieve will naturally be opposed by many people makes no sense.
So to help explain, the engineers of apartheid did foresee opposition, and there were already long standing laws (Pass Laws) that they could use to enforce the system.
This link is about the Pass Laws. These enabled the control and movement of people:
http://autocww.colorado.edu/~toldy3/E64ContentFiles/AfricanHistory/PassLaws.html
This link talks about the policing of groups of people:
http://www.csvr.org.za/index.php/publications/1483-the-policing-of-public-gatherings-and-demonstrations-in-south-africa-1960-1994.html
This was a minority government that knew it would have to be strict in enforcing it's unpopular and opposed system of government to prevent any kind of organised dissent or opposition. It put in place legislation in hopes of maintaining rule. That it failed, doesn't mean they didn't try.
Apartheid, and the reasons for it, are complicated. It wasn't an idea that just popped out of nowhere. To have a good understanding of it I'd look at the history of South Africa from when the first Europeans arrived. Some of them developed quite bizarre notions.
This is a good book to help understand the complexity of apartheid, how it operated, and it's aftermath: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Country-My-Skull-Sorrow-Forgiveness/dp/0812931297
edits = c&v'ing linkages
This is old and no one has commented but I just wanted to say this was a great article! If you're in to stuff like this with dirty dealings and West Africa, check out the book "My Friend the Mercenary." Amazing non-fiction. http://www.amazon.com/My-Friend-Mercenary-James-Brabazon/dp/0802119751
I'm a really big fan of "It Worked for Me" by Colin Powell. If you ever want to believe again in the American Dream then his autobiography "My American Journey" is great as well.
Aside from that 'Leading with Honor" is good as well. It has a lot of good messages and a lot of historical information from that time.
"Generating Buy In" is a very good and very short read.
It isn't quite leadership but "Profiles In Courage" by JFK fits the bill in my opinion. It's about lawmakers doing the right thing instead of voting along party lines.
"In the Company of Heroes" by Michael Durant is a good read as well. Learning about his time in captivity was enlightening but I really enjoyed the whole book. I didn't quite understand why he chose that title until I got closer to the end. He used his platform to not only talk about his time there but also about the guys in his unit that died that day. Through that book you can draw out some lessons on how to lead people and some positive traits.
Amazon links:
http://www.amazon.com/Worked-Me-Life-Leadership/dp/0062135139/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1462164926&sr=1-1&keywords=it+worked+for+me
http://www.amazon.com/Leading-Honor-Leadership-Lessons-Hilton/dp/098387932X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1462164899&sr=1-1&keywords=leading+with+honor
http://www.amazon.com/Generating-Buy--Mastering-Language-Leadership/dp/0814409059/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1462164874&sr=1-1&keywords=generating+buy+in
http://www.amazon.com/Profiles-Courage-John-F-Kennedy/dp/0060854936/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1462164840&sr=1-1&keywords=profiles+in+courage
http://www.amazon.com/Company-Heroes-Michael-J-Durant/dp/0451219937
This article takes direct excerpts from his letters about his views on sexuality, his "experimentation" with younger girls, the disgust of his subordinate and how he reacted to him.
There has been a recent book expounding on Gandhi's racist views, belief in Aryan theory to validate denigrating South African black people while trying to make Indians seem "more equal" (that phrase sounds absurd to me, so the quotes; not from the book) to whites.
These are the books we read in my Africa in Popular Media and African History classes in college. I highly recommend all of them:
They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky
God Grew Tired of Us
A Long Way Gone
A Continent for the Taking
Black Hawk Down
Country of My Skull
Kaffir Boy
Machete Season: the Killers in Rwanda Speak
The Graves Are Not Yet Full
An Ordinary Man
Adrian Carton de Wiart
> Lieutenant General Sir Adrian Paul Ghislain Carton de Wiart... was a British Army officer... He served in the Boer War, First World War, and Second World War. He was shot in the face, head, stomach, ankle, leg, hip, and ear; survived two plane crashes; tunnelled out of a prisoner-of-war camp; and tore off his own fingers when a doctor refused to amputate them. Describing his experiences in the First World War, he wrote, "Frankly I had enjoyed the war."
His memoirs
Did you read “The Emperor” by Ryszard Kapuscinski?
That will provide you with a lot of questions.
If anyone ever has doubts about why an absolute monarchy is a shit idea, please read this book...
The Emperor: Downfall of an Autocrat https://www.amazon.com/dp/0679722033/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_sgLPBb0N603E1
I read it because my gf is Ethiopian and because I'm kinda fascinated by the fact that Rastafarians consider him the Messiah and the living spirit of God. The whole time I was reading it though, I just kept thinking, "Holy shit. Thank God I don't live in a monarchy." The potential (come true in this example) for corruption and dysfunction is truly next level.
Another America: The Story of Liberia and the Former Slaves Who Ruled It
The Liberia Travel Guide 2016 - Kindle only
Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War
You should also post this message at The Liberia Subreddit
>Cetnik nazis?, now you really continue to make a history in your head
yes nazi collaboration is part of your glorious history, i dont see why your claiming to fight with nazi's when your grandparents where quite friendly with one another I present another wikipeadia link simply because its the easiest to find. I also do it because unlike you I prefer to provide evidence to my claims rather then some mythical 'knowledge' you pretend to have simply through being a serb.
On a historical note the british clandestinely supplied arms to the cetniks until 1942 when they discovered the extent of their collaboration and switched to supporting the partizans. Imagine that, the british switching support from monarchists to communists. This is a good time to plug the greatest book ever written. Its by a british general who was sent as a liason to Tito during the partizan war.
>Do you know something about Ustase and muslim mujehedins ? I guess you don't..
You guessed wrong. All three of you collaborated with the germans. If its any consolation the cetniks where not as bad as the ustase.