Historical fiction can be the a fantastic way to ingrain history events as long as it doesn’t deviate too far from the dry and dusty demands of factual “truthiness”, and in the vein The Second Seal by Dennis Wheatley is an excellent primer for the dabbler who wants to get started in the area World …
Aminatta Forna tackles trauma, although not in the way that most western readers are used to dealing with trauma’s effects. Her previous book, Happiness, brings a different explanation to how different cultures deal with trauma. The problem, rather than the trauma itself, is societal expectations of trauma. Those who expect a trauma-free life as …
There is little historical fiction addressing any genocide in Africa, but genocides took place. There are even fewer books about what comes after a genocide in Africa. While The Scattering by Lauri Kubuitsile addresses the genocide of the Herero in what is now Namibia, it also delves into the after – and what …
Ghana Must Go was a historical event. But Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi is the story of a family. The two share many similarities, not the least of which is that the historical event, the effects of the 1983 expulsion of Ghanaians from Nigeria on the father in this story. Both the event and …
The events of this novel draw on the infinite well of human memory, whose treasures may be brought to the surface in any period, including our own. In view of this, any resemblance between the characters and circumstances of this tale and real people and events is inevitable. –Ismail Kadare Published first in 2003 (in …
The separate yet intertwined conflicts of 1956, in Hungary and Egypt, changed the presentation and path of the Cold War. Most stunning among the changes and yet one of the least mentioned outside scholarly works is that Great Britain began the month of October 1956 as one of the great powers at the center of …
First published in 1930, Mhudi was finished in 1920. The author, Sol Plaatje had trouble finding a publisher, and so the manuscript languished for a decade. Mhudi was a groundbreaking novel, approaching history from an Afro-Centric view rather than the more common European view. It was a radically different approach for the time, showing the …
In 2018, just under half of the world’s new HIV infections, 800,000, appeared in South and Eastern Africa. There are some bright spots – currently 85% of people living with HIV in these areas are now aware of their status. Thanks to a sustained world effort and the United States PEPFAR program, 79% of those …
On 31 October 1984, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards. By that evening, riots were happening throughout Delhi. By the next day the unrest spread all over India. The target of the unrest was India’s Sikh community. And when it all ended, up to 17,000 Sikhs were dead and over 50,000 displaced. The …
Vampires are from Serbia. They aren’t attractive, either. The question is – are vampires real? That is the question addressed in Kiss of the Butterfly by James Lyon. With the action taking place back and forth between centuries, the story follows grad student Stephen Roberts as he researches ancient folklore in a war-ravaged former Yugoslavia. …
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