Libri vacanzieri

Ecco, adesso non avete scuse: siete in vacanza e potete leggere.

I miei consigli:

Questo me l’ha dato da leggere il mio capo quando gli ho detto che avrei mandato l’application per il DPKO (UN Department for PeaceKeeping Operation) secondo me con l’intento di dissuadermi...

Io integerrima continuo per la mia strada... il libro è però una lettura abbastanza piacevole e che soprattutto dà l’idea degli indescrivibili disastri che alcune delle missioni di pace ONU sono stati (somalia, rwanda, liberia etc).

Anche detto: quello che vorrei DAVVERO fare da grande.

Lei scrive meravigliosamente di cose complicate e affascinanti di cui nessuno parla. Lette le prime venti pagine, l’unico desiderio è di prendere il primo aereo per Asmara, la città sopra le nuvole...

L’ultimo è un consiglio speciale per la mia amica Adele, che sono sicura impazzirà per questo e non ne potrà più fare a meno:

Barnes, W
WHERE THE LION ROARS: An 1890 African Colonial Cookery Book
One of Africa's first English-language cookery books, newly released over a century after its first publication. As well as offering over 500 recipes for southern African delicacies (including sticky, ginger-flavoured melon preserve; Malay-inspired aromatic pickled fish, and spicy soetkoek biscuits) Mrs Barnes also provided her readers with instructions on making a traditional African polished-cow-dung floor; how to treat snake-bite and, the best method for discouraging mosquitoes. A fascinating book, illustrating the process that early British settlers underwent as they adapted to life in an unfamiliar environment on the other side of the world.

reviews

From the bookshop of the Africa Centre (London, UK)

Whish list for the following weeks.
It is a pity that libraries in Nairobi are so abysmal.

Wild, Leni & Mepham, David (Eds.)

THE NEW SINOSPHERE: China in Africa
This Institute for Public Policy Research collection of essays addresses different aspects of Chinas relations with Africa, including the history and politics of the relationship, as well as China's impact on trade and investment, the management of natural resources, human rights and good governance, and peace and security.
Paperback GBP9.95

Wallis, Andrew
SILENT ACCOMPLICE: Untold Story of France's Role in the Rwandan Genocide
The massacre of 1 million Rwandan Tutsis by ethnic Hutus in 1994 has become a symbol of the international community's helplessness in the face of human rights atrocities. It is assumed that the West was well-intentioned, but ultimately ineffectual. But, as Andrew Wallis reveals in this shocking book, one country - France - was secretly providing military, financial and diplomatic support to the genocidaires all along. Based on new interviews with key players and eye-witnesses, and previously unreleased documents, Wallis'book tells a story which many have suspected, but never seen set out before. This riveting expose of the French role in one of the darkest chapters of human history will provoke furious debate, denials, and outrage. 224pp, UK. IB TAURIS.
2006 1845112474 Hardback GBP20.99

Quest’ultimo ve lo segnalo non perchè dica in realtà qualcosa di nuovo, che tutti oramai sanno che i Tutsi Rwandesi sono stati sterminati con i soldi della Francia (benchè i Francesi si ostinino ovviamente a negare.) Ma perchè da quella razza di popolo arrogante e a volte senza vergogna che non sono altro si sono messi in testa di processare Kagame (l’attuale presidente Rwandese, e quello che –di fatto- fermò il genocidio) per l’assassinio di Habiarimana.
(scusate ma non ho tempo di rifare la storia del genocidio, che è invero alquanto complicata). Dirò solo che la mia personale opinione è che la tesi non sta in piedi (leggetevi Pottier) e – se pure fosse- ma cosa diamine vogliono ancora i tribunali francesi dal Rwanda??

Vergogna.

Books of the month

Suggestions, inspirations, advices...

(from the African Book Centre)

Asher, Michael

KHARTOUM: The Ultimate Imperial Adventure

Now in paperback. The British campaigns in the Sudan
in the closing years of Queen Victoria's reign are
an epic tale of adventure more thrilling than any fiction.
Evoking images of broken squares, jammed Gatling guns,
ferocious'Fuzzy Wuzzies', British gunboats on the Nile,
the Camel Corps, and the charge of the 21st Lancers at
Omdurman, the story also brings together a cast of
larger-than-life characters - Gordon, Wolseley, Kitchener,
Gladstone, Churchill, the Mahdi, the Khalifa 'Abdallahi,
and many others. 480pp, UK.

PENGUIN BOOKS.

Mafundikwa, Saki

AFRIKAN ALPHABETS: The Story of Writing in Afrika

New in paperback. A well-illustrated visual
journey through the various African alphabets,
describing their place in art and culture.
The author, a Zimbabwean graphic designer, describe
his twenty year journey to collect information on
the highly graphical and inspiring symbols that make up
the alphabets collected.Among those featured are
Adinkra symbols, the Tifinagh alphabet of the Tuareg,
Somali and Ethiopic scripts, Mnemonic devices,
Bussa Vah scrpit and Nsibidi.
Illustrated with colour photographs and images.
Index, gloss, bib, map,

xix, 169pp, USA. MARK BATTY PUBLISHERS.

just published

This post is in english as it is an attempt to a "serious service" for my readers, which -you know- are not just italians...:)
and also it is good for me, as my english here is constantly under scrutiny, and I need to exercise as much as I can.
So, for the non-english speakers, go and look for a dictionary now!

Just published useful materials from the WB and other sources:

World Development Report 2007 (World Bank, 2006)

Beyond the Numbers: Understanding the Institutions for Monitoring Poverty Reduction Strategies (World Bank, 2006)
Includes country studies of Mali, Malawi, Niger, Tanzania, Uganda

The African Growth and Opportunity Act, Exports, and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa (World Bank, August 2006)

What is Effective Aid? How Would Donors Allocate It? (World Bank, Sept 2006)
This latter to be read together with Easterly's book a few post earlier...

Book of the month

My Favourite, FAVOURITE Economist and Writer:


Easterly, William
THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN: Why the West's Efforts to Aid
the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good
Why after 50 years and US$2.3 trillion are there still
children dying for lack of twelve cents' medicine?
Why are there so many people still living on less
than $1 a day without clean water, food, sanitation,
shelter,education or medicine? This book argues that
grand plans and good intentions are a part of the
problem not the solution.
Giving aid is not enough, we must ensure that it
reaches the people who need it most and the
only way to make this happens is through
accountability and by learning from past experiences.
Index, notes, charts, 380pp,
UK. OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS.
2006 0199210829 Hardback GBP16.99