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World » Africa

Most Recommended Books

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

“What Achebe is saying is that there was a culture, there were really intricate social and economic systems that existed before colonialism, that were disrupted by that process.”

Tendai Huchu, Novelist

Read more

Portrait with Keys by Ivan Vladislavic

Move Your Shadow by Joseph Lelyveld

Browse book recommendations:

Africa

  • Egypt
  • Nigeria
  • South Africa
  • Zimbabwe

World

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    The best books on Nigeria, recommended by Helon Habila

  • Read

    1

    A Month and a Day
    by Ken Saro-Wiwa

  • Read

    2

    Aké
    by Wole Soyinka

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    3

    Dangerous Love
    by Ben Okri

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    4

    Home and Exile
    by Chinua Achebe

  • Read

    5

    Things Fall Apart
    by Chinua Achebe

The best books on Nigeria, recommended by Helon Habila

The award-winning Nigerian writer, Helon Habila, picks his favourite books about Nigeria.

    Humphrey Davies recommends the best of Contemporary Egyptian Literature

  • Read

    1

    The Yacoubian Building
    by Alaa Al Aswany & Humphrey Davies

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    2

    On Being Abbas El Abd
    by Ahmed Alaidy & Humphrey Davies

  • Read

    3

    Life Is More Beautiful than Paradise
    by Khaled al-Berry

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    4

    Taxi
    by Khalid Al Khamissi

  • Read

    5

    Metro
    by Magdy El Shafee

Humphrey Davies recommends the best of Contemporary Egyptian Literature

One of the leading translators of contemporary Egyptian literature, Humphrey Davies, gives us his top choices.

    The best books on Africa, recommended by Michela Wrong

  • Read

    1

    The Worst Date Ever
    by Jane Bussmann

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    2

    Dreams From my Father
    by Barack Obama

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    3

    Britain in Africa
    by Tom Porteous

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    4

    The Antelope's Strategy
    by Jean Hatzfeld

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    5

    Africa Dances
    by Geoffrey Gorer

The best books on Africa, recommended by Michela Wrong

The long-time foreign correspondent and author of books on Zaire, Eritrea and Kenya tells us where to turn for engaging foreign perspectives on Africa. She picks the best books on Africa.

    The best books on Understanding Mandela and South Africa, recommended by John Carlin

  • Read

    1

    The Washing of the Spears
    by Donald R Morris

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    2

    Move Your Shadow
    by Joseph Lelyveld

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    3

    Age of Iron
    by JM Coetzee

  • Read

    4

    Mandela
    by Anthony Sampson

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    5

    After Mandela
    by Alec Russell

The best books on Understanding Mandela and South Africa, recommended by John Carlin

Nelson Mandela was a most unusual, and unusually astute, leader, says John Carlin. He used forgiveness as a political tool, in so doing ensuring that South Africa avoided what could have been a bloodbath

    The best books on Egypt and America, recommended by Lloyd Gardner

  • Read

    1

    American Orientalism
    by Douglas Little

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    2

    Quicksand
    by Geoffrey Wawro

  • Read

    3

    The Looming Tower
    by Lawrence Wright

  • Read

    4

    The Far Enemy
    by Fawaz A Gerges

  • Read

    5

    Nasser: The Last Arab
    by Saïd K Aburish

The best books on Egypt and America, recommended by Lloyd Gardner

The historian reflects on the past 60 years of American involvement in Egypt and tells us, after the Arab Spring, what may make the coming years different

    The best books on Africa through African Eyes, recommended by George Ayittey

  • 1

    Awakening Giant Africa
    by Charles Nhova

  • Read

    2

    Dead Aid
    by Dambisa Moyo

  • Read

    3

    Precolonial Black Africa
    by Cheikh Anta Diop

  • Read

    4

    Africa’s Greatest Entrepreneurs
    by Moky Makura

  • Read

    5

    Defeating Dictators
    by George Ayittey

The best books on Africa through African Eyes, recommended by George Ayittey

The Ghanaian economist George Ayittey denounces the failure of leadership and Western policy in Africa and explains what “African solutions to African problems” would mean in practice.

    The best books on South African Fiction, recommended by Imraan Coovadia

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    1

    A World of Strangers
    by Nadine Gordimer

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    2

    Waiting for the Barbarians
    by JM Coetzee

  • Read

    3

    Welcome to Our Hillbrow
    by Phaswane Mpe

  • Read

    4

    Spud
    by John van de Ruit

  • Read

    5

    Portrait with Keys
    by Ivan Vladislavic

The best books on South African Fiction, recommended by Imraan Coovadia

The South African novelist gives us an unvarnished view of the writer’s life, and explains how literature told the story of apartheid and why comedy is the easiest way to talk about race

    The best books on Identity in South Africa, recommended by Jonny Steinberg

  • Read

    1

    Agaat
    by Marlene van Niekerk

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    2

    Another Country
    by Karel Schoeman

  • Read

    3

    The Heart of Redness
    by Zakes Mda

  • Read

    4

    Black Hamlet
    by Wulf Sachs

  • Read

    5

    Native Nostalgia
    by Jacob Dlamini

The best books on Identity in South Africa, recommended by Jonny Steinberg

The journalist and author discusses five books with strikingly different interpretations of what it means to be South African today, whether black or white

    The best books on Post-Apartheid Identity, recommended by Kevin Bloom

  • Read

    1

    My Traitor's Heart
    by Rian Malan

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    2

    Disgrace
    by JM Coetzee

  • Read

    3

    Country of My Skull
    by Antjie Krog

  • Read

    4

    Portrait with Keys
    by Ivan Vladislavic

  • Read

    5

    Notes from the Middle World
    by Breyten Breytenbach

The best books on Post-Apartheid Identity, recommended by Kevin Bloom

The award-winning South African writer Kevin Bloom discusses five books that bring light to post-apartheid South Africa with focus on the predicament of the white South African. Do whites ‘deserve’ to feel at home in their country?

    The best books on Nigeria, recommended by Michael Peel

  • Read

    1

    Anthills of the Savannah
    by Chinua Achebe

  • Read

    2

    Leviathan
    by Thomas Hobbes

  • Read

    3

    The Trial
    by Franz Kafka

  • Read

    4

    Half of a Yellow Sun
    by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

  • Read

    5

    A Fine Balance
    by Rohinton Mistry

The best books on Nigeria, recommended by Michael Peel

The FT's former West Africa correspondent talks us through five books that helped him to understand Nigeria.

    The best books on Colonial Africa, recommended by Sam Kiley

  • Read

    1

    Things Fall Apart
    by Chinua Achebe

  • Read

    2

    Travels into the Interior of Africa
    by Mungo Park

  • Read

    3

    The Scramble for Africa
    by Thomas Pakenham

  • Read

    4

    Petals of Blood
    by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

  • Read

    5

    The Will to Die
    by Can Themba

The best books on Colonial Africa, recommended by Sam Kiley

‘Wherever you go today in the Congo, you will find monstrous warlords. But you will find far more volunteer nurses and Red Cross workers and teachers who haven’t been paid for 20 years but are still doing their job, not allowing things to fall apart.’

    Georgina Godwin on Memoirs of Zimbabwe

  • Read

    1

    Mukiwa
    by Peter Godwin

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    2

    Rainbow's End
    by Lauren St John

  • Read

    3

    Harare North
    by Brian Chikwava

  • Read

    4

    Nervous Conditions
    by Tsitsi Dangarembga

  • Read

    5

    House of Hunger
    by Dambudzo Marechera

Georgina Godwin on Memoirs of Zimbabwe

Via five engrossing memoirs, the Zimbabwe-born journalist Georgina Godwin talks wistfully about her country; amongst the older generation, she says, there is a feeling that Rhodesia was sold down the river by Britain and things needn’t have turned out the way they did.

    The best books on South Africa, recommended by Alec Russell

  • Read

    1

    The Scramble for Africa
    by Thomas Pakenham

  • Read

    2

    Anatomy of a Miracle
    by Patti Waldmeir

  • Read

    3

    Move Your Shadow
    by Joseph Lelyveld

  • Read

    4

    Playing the Enemy
    by John Carlin

  • Read

    5

    Thabo Mbeki: The Dream Deferred
    by Mark Gevisser

  • Read

    6

    After the Party
    by Andrew Feinstein

  • Read

    7

    Shades of Difference
    by Padraig O'Malley

The best books on South Africa, recommended by Alec Russell

World News Editor at the FT and Pulitzer Prize nominee discusses the struggles and triumphs of South Africa – the colonial scramble, the end of apartheid, Mbeki, Mandela and rugby, ANC corruption and more

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