The Guinea of Sékou Touré entered modern history as an independent African nation on September 28, 1958 with a resounding "No" to the French community proposed by General Charles de Gaulle. This was one of the signature moments in the history of French decolonization in Africa and of the African independence movement writ large. The myth of Sékou Touré-meaning the transformation of his image into that of the bard and symbol of African dignity, and even of a great leader of the Third World-was born at that precise moment. Buy why did Guinea reject General de Gaulle's 1958 project of a French-African community and chose independence instead? Sékou Touré thought only free peoples were capable of assuming their destiny and had articulated a bold plan for an independent Guinea: liberate political detainees; abolish traditional chieftaincy; recruit through competitive examination of new administrative agents; increase salaries and family allowances; reduce personal tax; defend women's rights and reduce the price of dowries; encourage female education; eliminate the monopoly on rice held by the large companies; create stabilization fund for crops such as bananas, coffee, and cocoa; and deregulate the diamond-mining industry. Though the Guinean leader was experienced in politics, perhaps he misjudged the internal situation of France, its obligations in the face of international appetites in the delicate period of decolonization, and the capacities of independent Guinea. Professor Lansiné Kaba, a Guinean historian, recounts in this work not only the events which led to the negative vote and that which followed it, but also, with hindsight, a real retrospective in light of burning questions about leadership, the use of power, the duty of remembrance and unity, the democratic choice and the future of Guinea facing the challenges of the 21st century.

The Afrikan Ancestral Manuscript revitalises the honour and amplifies the influence of our great global Afrikan ancestors in our lives. It ensures their legacies are not forgotten, urging us to ‘Know Ourselves’ and to honour our ancestors as we do our elders in Afrikan culture. It’s vital to remember that our ancestors are the elders of our elders, and that the Creator/Creatress is the ancestor of all ancestors. Spanning from January to December, this book allows us to explore, in chronological order, ancestors born on specific days or months, helping us to recall and uplift their missions throughout the year. We are our ancestors, and this tool aids in remembering the path forward. Additionally, it can be used as a divining method to seek guidance from an enlightened ancestor on a specific day. This manuscript makes it clear that we must narrate our ancestors’ experiences in the first person, tapping into their wisdom to enlighten our daily practices.

In The Ideological Scramble for Africa, Frank Gerits examines how African leaders in the 1950s and 1960s crafted an anticolonial modernization project. Rather than choose Cold War sides between East and West, anticolonial nationalists worked to reverse the psychological and cultural destruction of colonialism. Kwame Nkrumah's African Union was envisioned as a federation of liberation to challenge the extant imperial forces: the US empire of liberty, the Soviet empire of equality, and the European empires of exploitation. In the 1950s, the goal of proving the potency of a pan-African ideology shaped the agenda of the Bandung Conference and Ghana's support for African liberation, while also determining what was at stake in the Congo crisis and in the fight against white minority rule in southern and eastern Africa. In the 1960s, the attempt to remake African psychology was abandoned, and socioeconomic development came into focus. Anticolonial nationalists did not simply resist or utilize imperial and Cold War pressures but drew strength from the example of the Haitian Revolution of 1791, in which Toussaint Louverture demanded the universal application of Europe's Enlightenment values. The liberationists of the postwar period wanted to redesign society in the image of the revolution that had created them. The Ideological Scramble for Africa demonstrates that the Cold War struggle between capitalism and Communism was only one of two ideological struggles that picked up speed after 1945; the battle between liberation and imperialism proved to be more enduring.

From one of America’s longest-serving foreign correspondents, a biography of France’s controversial politician and statesman. The first major biography of Charles de Gaulle written from an American perspective, this book offers a compelling assessment of the French army officer, politician, and statesman. Author Don Cook, former bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times, delineates de Gaulle’s obsession with power and how the military man rose to leadership in the years following the fall of France during the Second World War. Recounting de Gaulle’s triumphant quest to find dignity and independence for France, Cook masterfully brings to life one of Europe’s most influential leaders of the twentieth century.

France’s presence on the African continent has often been presented as ‘cooperation’ and part of French cultural policy by policy-makers in Paris – and quite as often been denounced as ‘the longest scandal of the republic’ by French academics and African intellectuals. Between the last years of French colonialism and France’s sustained interventions in former African colonies such as Chad or Côte d’Ivoire during the 2000s, the legacy of French colonialism has shaped the historical trajectory of more than a dozen countries and societies in Africa. The complexities of this story are now, for the first time, addressed in a comprehensive series of essays, based on new research by a group of specialists in French colonial history. The book addresses the needs of both academic specialists and those of students of history and neighbouring disciplines looking for structural analysis of key themes in France’s and Africa’s shared history.