This book shines a new light on J. E. Casely Hayford’s Ethiopia Unbound, widely considered the first English-language novel published by an African writer. Casely Hayford drew material from his eminent career as a barrister, statesman, and newspaper editor to augment the book’s fictional elements, showcasing the tremendous intellectual versatility of West Africa. Moving between London and the Gold Coast, as well as across the past, present, and imagined future of Casely Hayford’s Fante civilization, Ethiopia Unbound is an essential record of how Africans at the turn of the twentieth century made sense of their place in a rapidly changing world.

Considered the first pan-Africanist work of fiction and among the earliest English novels written by an African author, Ethiopia Unbound: Studies in Race Emancipation is a classic of Ghanaian literature that continues to resonate with modern readers today. “[T]he Nations were casting about for an answer to the wail which went up from the heart of the oppressed race for opportunity. And yet it was at best an impotent cry. For there has never lived a people worth writing about who have not shaped out a destiny for themselves or carved out their own opportunity.” With this political statement, J.E. Casely Hayford begins his novel of African emancipation. Semi-autobiographical, it is the story of Kwamankra, a man who, like the author, traveled from Africa to London to become a lawyer. Through dialogue with his English friend Whitely, knowledge of historical and contemporary events in Africa, and his relationship with the lovely Mansa, Kwamankra comes to believe in full independence for his homeland and his people. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of J. E. Casely Hayford’s Ethiopia Unbound: Studies in Race Emancipation is part of the Mint Editions catalog.

First published in 1969. This is the second edition of this colection of studies on Ethiopia, with a new introduction by F. Nnabuenyi Ugonna of the University of Ibadan in 1966.

LARGE PRINT EDITION. Considered the first pan-Africanist work of fiction and among the earliest English novels written by an African author, Ethiopia Unbound: Studies in Race Emancipation is a classic of Ghanaian literature that continues to resonate with modern readers today. "[T]he Nations were casting about for an answer to the wail which went up from the heart of the oppressed race for opportunity. And yet it was at best an impotent cry. For there has never lived a people worth writing about who have not shaped out a destiny for themselves or carved out their own opportunity." With this political statement, J.E. Casely Hayford begins his novel of African emancipation. Semi-autobiographical, it is the story of Kwamankra, a man who, like the author, traveled from Africa to London to become a lawyer. Through dialogue with his English friend Whitely, knowledge of historical and contemporary events in Africa, and his relationship with the lovely Mansa, Kwamankra comes to believe in full independence for his homeland and his people. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of J. E. Casely Hayford's Ethiopia Unbound: Studies in Race Emancipation is part of the Mint Editions catalog.