ABSTRACT

This book of 100 essays written over the last three post-apartheid decades provides profiles of pan-African figures, mostly from Africa and its diaspora in the Americas, Europe, and the Caribbean. It covers the most important figures of “Global Africa” — and some important non-African personalities — encompassing diverse historical and political figures, technocrats, activists, writers, public intellectuals, musical and film artists, and sporting figures. These include: Cecil Rhodes, Kwame Nkrumah, Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, Mobutu Sese Seko, Idi Amin, Barack Obama, Margaret Thatcher, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Kofi Annan, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Adebayo Adedeji, Martin Luther King Jr., Wangari Maathai, Ruth First, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, James Baldwin, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Bell Hooks, Buchi Emecheta, Ali Mazrui, Edward Said, Angela Davis, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, Burna Boy, Asa, Muhammad Ali, Pelé, Eusébio, Diego Maradona, Viv Richards, Jonah Lomu, Hakeem Olajuwon, and many others.

Print edition not for sale in Sub-Saharan Africa.

chapter |8 pages

Introduction

part I|24 pages

Historical Figures

chapter 1|7 pages

Cecil Rhodes's Crumbling Legacy

chapter 2|8 pages

Was Mahatma Gandhi a Racist?

part II|140 pages

Political Figures

chapter 4|3 pages

Kwame Nkrumah: Africa's Philosopher-King

chapter 5|4 pages

Albert Luthuli: The Nobel Black Moses

chapter 6|4 pages

Nelson Mandela: Pan-African Prophet

chapter 9|4 pages

Thabo Mbeki's Xenophobia Denialism

chapter 13|3 pages

The Fall of Robert Mugabe

chapter 14|4 pages

FW de Klerk: A Nobel without Honour?

chapter 15|12 pages

Olusegun Obasanjo: The Emperor's New Clothes

chapter 20|6 pages

Mobutu Sese Seko: The Sick Man of Africa

chapter 21|3 pages

Idi Amin: The Making of a Warrior God

chapter 22|4 pages

Daniel arap Moi: A Ruthless Dictator

chapter 24|3 pages

Qaddafi's Monarchical Delusions

chapter 26|3 pages

Obama, Clinton, and Africa

chapter 27|5 pages

Obama's Six Deadly Sins

chapter 28|3 pages

Obama, Gandhi, and Egypt

chapter 29|3 pages

Obama's Africa Legacy

chapter 32|3 pages

Margaret Thatcher's Black Mischief

chapter 33|3 pages

The Trial of Tony Blair

part III|68 pages

Technocrats

chapter 45|2 pages

Augustine Mahiga: A Tanzanian Peacemaker

chapter 47|12 pages

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: Nigeria's Iron Lady

chapter 49|8 pages

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma: The Alchemist

part IV|31 pages

Activists

chapter 53|5 pages

Remembering Martin Luther King Jr

chapter 54|4 pages

John Lewis: The Last of the Mohicans

chapter 55|3 pages

Wangari Maathai: Kenya's Earth Mother

chapter 56|4 pages

A Wreath for Saro-Wiwa

chapter 58|3 pages

Ruth First's Pan-African Martyrdom

chapter 59|2 pages

Mahlangu's Moving Martyrdom

chapter 60|3 pages

Kaye Whiteman: Ode to an Obituarist

chapter 61|2 pages

Tor Sellström: A Cosmopolitan

part V|49 pages

Writers

part VII|31 pages

Artists

chapter 80|5 pages

Abami Eda: Fela's Enduring Legacy

chapter 81|4 pages

Bob Marley: Rebel with a Cause

chapter 83|4 pages

Burna Boy: The Afropolitan Troubadour

chapter 84|4 pages

Asa: Nigeria's Songbird

chapter 85|4 pages

Measuring Sidney Poitier's Life

part VIII|63 pages

Sporting Figures

chapter 87|5 pages

Muhammad Ali: King of the World

chapter 88|5 pages

Pelé: The Greatest Footballer of All Time

chapter 91|5 pages

George Weah: The Genius of King George

chapter 92|3 pages

Samuel Eto'o: Cameroon's Indomitable Lion

chapter 94|4 pages

Africa's Golden Generation: Salah,

chapter 95|4 pages

The Golden Age of West Indian Cricket

chapter 96|3 pages

Jesse Owens's Race

chapter 97|2 pages

Jonah Lomu: Rugby's First Global Superstar

chapter 98|4 pages

The Greatness of Rafa Nadal

chapter 99|3 pages

The Age of Hakeem