{"product_id":"the-gifts-of-africa-how-a-continent-and-its-people-changed-the-world-9781633887701","title":"The Gifts of Africa: How a Continent and Its People Changed the World","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"The West will begin to understand Africa when it realizes it's not talking to a child--it's talking to its mother.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSo writes Jeff Pearce in the introduction to his fascinating, groundbreaking work, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Gifts of Africa\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e: \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHow a Continent and Its People Changed the World\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe learn early on in school how Europe and Asia gave us important literature, science, and art, and how their nations changed the course of history. But what about Africa? There are plenty of books that detail its colonialism, corruption, famine, and war, but few that discuss the debt owed to \u003ci\u003eAfrican\u003c\/i\u003e thinkers and innovators. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Gifts of Africa\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, we meet Zera Yacob, an Ethiopian philosopher who developed the same critical approach and several of the same ideas as Ren? Descartes. We consider how Somalis traded with China, and we meet the African warrior queens who still inspire national pride. We explore how Liberia's Edward Wilmot Blyden deeply influenced Marcus Garvey, and we sneak into the galleries and theaters of 1920s Paris, where African art and dance first began to make huge impacts on the world. Relying on meticulous research, Pearce brings to life a rich intellectual legacy and profiles modern innovators like acclaimed griot Papa Susso and renowned economist George Ayittey from Ghana. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom the ancient Nubians to a Nigerian superstar in modern painting and sculpture, from the father of sociology in the Maghreb to how the Mau Mau in Kenya influenced Malcom X, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Gifts of Africa\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e is bold, engaging, and takes the reader on a journey of thousands of years up to the present day. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePast works have reinforced misconceptions about Africa, from its oral traditions and languages to its resistance to colonial powers. Other books have treated African achievements as a parade of honorable mentions and novelties. This book is different--refreshingly different. It tells the stories \u003ci\u003ebehind\u003c\/i\u003e the milestones and provides insights into how great Africans thought, and how they passed along what they learned. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eProvocative and entertaining, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Gifts of Africa\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e at last gives the continent its due, and it should change the way we learn about the interactions of cultures and how we teach the history of the world. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJeff Pearce has traveled far to get his unusual and compelling stories. For his popular work of history, Prevail, he tracked down witnesses and survivors of the heroic struggle in Ethiopia against Fascist Italy. For his popular biography of adventurer Henry Layard, Winged Bull, he traveled across the Middle East and interviewed a Kurdish army commander near Mosul. He's investigated the dangerous realm of street gangs, and he's taught journalism in Myanmar. He has written novels, books on history and current affairs, and stage plays that have been performed in Toronto and Los Angeles.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Prometheus Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50561729364242,"sku":"9781633887701","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_02ec25df-c797-4562-8879-269b67310dbe.jpg?v=1731852023","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-gifts-of-africa-how-a-continent-and-its-people-changed-the-world-9781633887701","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}