Sat, 19 May 2012 08:26:14 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.afropolitan.co.za/reviews/books/380-book-review-q100-years-of-struggle-mandelas-ancq-by-heidi-holland.html What was your motivation to write the book?100 Years of Struggle - Mandela’s ANC was originally researched during the ’80s, when the ANC was banned in South Africa. As is the case with most of my books, my motive in writing it was to inform my own tribe – white southern Africans – about a subject that would affect their lives profoundly. In the book’s latest form, it offers readable, indeed entertaining, insights into our past. All of us with opinions about the ANC should be well-inform... Books Thu, 05 Apr 2012 08:28:30 +0100 http://www.afropolitan.co.za/reviews/books/331-book-review-morgan-tsvangirai-at-the-deep-end.html Tsvangirai’s book, At the Deep End (ghost written by William Bango and published by Penguin Books) begins with a rather detailed and extensive history of the man himself – starting from his birth in rural Gutu and ending in the power-sharing period of Zimbabwe’s transformation, post-independence. It also offers an equally detailed history of Zimbabwe, the transition from Southern Rhodesia to present-day co-governed Zimbabwe. While the history lesson is the unofficial and seemingly truthful ... Books Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:06:56 +0100 http://www.afropolitan.co.za/reviews/books/295-book-review-qmy-father-my-monsterq.html     Seemingly abandoned by their parents, five-year-old MacIntosh and his little sister, Zinhle, were left in the care of his mother’s extremely impoverished family in rural KwaZulu-Natal. From this point on their lives became a hellish nightmare of poverty, mistreatment and bullying by the older children and brutal physical punishment by the adults. MacIntosh’s only hope and encouragement for his sister was that their mother would return and take them home to the happy life he re... Books Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:28:29 +0100 http://www.afropolitan.co.za/reviews/books/271-book-review-patchwork--ellen-banda-aaku.html     In the first half of her offering Banda-Aaku uses the setting of Pumpkin’s early life to raise serious issues without allowing them to distract from the story. The events are often shocking, but, told in a young girl’s voice, they do not take on any additional significance – they merely become part of the complex journey of growing up. Despite all that Pumpkin observes and learns about her father and his imperfections, she continues the live in awe of this fatally flawed man... Books Wed, 05 Oct 2011 14:55:10 +0100 http://www.afropolitan.co.za/reviews/books/218-noria-mabasa.html   But crafting kitchen utensils was not her destiny. Rather, she used clay as a medium of artistic expression – to carve colourful doll-like figurines inspired by dreams – images of rural women in traditional wear and men in Western attire to reflect their city experiences. In between these gender stereotypes she added to her colourful iconography another type: the Western woman – nurses, prostitutes, white females – who stands independent from tradition.But Mabasa demonstrated her reso... Books Tue, 16 Aug 2011 10:48:33 +0100 http://www.afropolitan.co.za/reviews/books/217-mmakgabo-mmapula-mmankgato-helen-sebidi.html Sebidi’s early works are exuberant paintings that explore this traditional world; her rural scenes often show women completing their daily chores. Her art has since evolved into complex works characterised by fantastical and mythological images that tend to fuse opposites – the urban and the rural, men and women, and so on. Sebidi brings together these contrasting realities in what the author describes as “works of great visionary and prophetic power”. This is an informative portrait of o... Books Tue, 16 Aug 2011 10:44:06 +0100 http://www.afropolitan.co.za/reviews/books/216-this-child-will-be-great--memoirs-of-a-remarkable-life-by-africas-first-woman-president.html It marked a turning point in the troubled history of sub-Saharan Africa’s first independent country – once a vassal state of the USA and created as a home of the descendants of slaves who were shipped back to Africa in the 19th century. But since the year of independence – 1847 – Liberia has never known peace. Yet after 160 years of military coups, brutal assassinations and tyrannical regimes, it took Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s feminine but firm leadership to put Liberia on the road to pol... Books Tue, 16 Aug 2011 10:37:47 +0100 http://www.afropolitan.co.za/reviews/books/198-book-review-you-must-set-forth-at-dawn.html Partly autobiography, partly political history, this 600-word tome poignantly and candidly tells of his involvement in the politics of a nation largely defined by successive military dictatorships that often punished dissent through detentions, torture or worse. In this regard, he revisits the events relating to his incarceration during the 1967 Nigerian Civil War when he spent 27 months in prison after he was accused of helping Biafran secessionists to buy jet fighters. He writes in trenchant pr... Books Thu, 07 Jul 2011 15:29:20 +0100 http://www.afropolitan.co.za/reviews/books/197-book-review-african-film--new-forms-of-aesthetics-and-politics.html He then brings the reader to what is the core of this book – current trends, forms, language and aesthetics in contemporary cinema as well as new modes of production and the kind of politics that shapes the big-screen industry. There are profiles of 31 young directors including South Africans Zola Maseko (Drum) and Gavin Hood (Tsotsi). Their cinematic creations and thoughtful observations provide valuable insights into current trends and developments – an important reference work for students... Books Thu, 07 Jul 2011 15:25:12 +0100 http://www.afropolitan.co.za/reviews/books/196-book-review-the-obamas--the-untold-story-of-an-african-family.html In the process of his retelling the story of an illustrious Kenyan family, he has achieved a literary feat. The 300-word book is intriguing and compelling. He traces the family’s Sudanese origins back to as early as the 13th century through all their heroic odysseys across the treacherous plains and savannahs of East Africa as they follow the flow of streams and rivers for their and their livestock’s survival.He tells of their sojourn in Uganda and ultimately their settlement in Kenya as memb... Books Thu, 07 Jul 2011 15:18:38 +0100 http://www.afropolitan.co.za/reviews/books/174-book-review-mandelas-way.html Stengel’s moving book on Mandela’s leadership style is an exception. The Time-magazine editor collaborated with the former president on his autobiography, and for three years he was privileged to obtain an insider’s perspective on Mandela’s day-to-day life. He interacted with him in both his private and public space – sharing intimate moments such as mealtimes. The results are 15 profound lessons distilled in an articulate and entertaining work. These lessons include a chapter on why qu... Books Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:45:44 +0100 http://www.afropolitan.co.za/reviews/books/173-book-review-learn-like-a-leader.html The seeds of this book were sown back in the 1990s when a group of writers, motivators and speakers – including all three editors – came together in a series of seminars to talk about the defining moments in their lives and how those moments shaped their leadership styles and philosophies. This book derives its authenticity from the first-person narratives of the individual contributors who are obviously experts in their chosen fields and the very human testimonies about their personal challe... Books Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:41:37 +0100 http://www.afropolitan.co.za/reviews/books/172-book-review-1000-ceos.html In between the reader is introduced to super achievers whose names have become synonymous with their giant enterprises. These are global personal brands that include Richard Branson of Virgin, Microsoft founder and billionaire Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, the face of Apple, whose key leadership strengths include “an instinctive understanding not only of where technology is going but also what makes people want to buy it”. Alongside these highly successful but archetypal business mavericks from ... Books Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:34:06 +0100 http://www.afropolitan.co.za/reviews/books/135-book-reviews-8115--a-prisoners-home.html Books Tue, 31 May 2011 12:23:26 +0100 http://www.afropolitan.co.za/reviews/books/134-book-reviews-arrest-the-music-fela-and-his-rebel-art-and-politics.html Books Tue, 31 May 2011 12:14:13 +0100 http://www.afropolitan.co.za/reviews/books/133-book-reviews-the-black-train-rising--the-life-and-times-of-welcome-duru.html Books Tue, 31 May 2011 12:08:57 +0100