History & Geography

Formation: The Making of Nigeria from Jihad to Amalgamation

25,000.00

Formation tracks the unlikely series of events and characters that led to the creation of the modern Nigerian nation: from 1804 when the first Jihadists began their attack on a collection of independent nations to 1914 when the current shape of Nigeria was completed as a British colony through amalgamation. Formation challenges the orthodox understanding of Nigeria’s past as merely a product of colonial interference, revealing an incredibly complicated portrait of a nation with a tangled history, where slavery, violence and instability was and remains a primary organising principle for elite competition and political negotiations.

Influential figures loom large over the narrative including: Usman dan Fodio, the revolutionary Islamic reformer and founder of the Sokoto Caliphate, Efunroye Tinubu, the prominent slave-trader and political figure, Fredrick Lugard, British colonial administrator, Nana Asma’u, revered poet and teacher, Samuel Ajayi-Crowther, Yoruba linguist and first Nigerian Anglican Bishop, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, political campaigner, suffragist and mother to Fela Kuti, maverick British statesman and industrialist, Joseph Chamberlain, alongside other well-known and many less familiar names. Formation uses colourful character sketches and first-hand reporting to show how local events and characters are intertwined with global occurrences over the period.

Gordon Ramsey’s Uncharted

25,000.00

From the heights of the Peruvian Andes to the banks of the Mekong River Delta in Laos, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has traveled far and wide to find culinary inspiration in some of the world’s most remote locations. In this travelogue-meets-cookbook, Ramsay reveals the rich food traditions and cultures he’s found in 25 remarkable destinations from his explorations on the National Geographic Channel’s Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted.

Within these mouthwatering pages, you’ll find insights into some of the world’s richest cultures, behind-the-scenes stories from filming, tips from top chefs around the world, and must-try adventures in places near and far. Best of all, you’ll be served 60 authentic recipes that are easy to achieve at home

The Money People

25,000.00

Money is more than just a medium of exchange; it is an important part of a country’s national identity. While many are aware of the use of barter, cowries and manillas for trading in the olden days, there are other early currencies that will come as a surprise to this generation, including hoes, iron bars, sticks, cloth and even feathers.

The kobo coin has been devalued over time due to inflation but, like the naira, it has a fascinating history.

The Money People gives a visual and comprehensive history of money, a factual summary of a branch of Nigerian history. It chronicles the history of money in Nigeria, the pre-colonial era of barter to the digital era of electronic banking.

The Money People explores the backgrounds of the national heroes and their contribution to the nation, which remains their legacy, and also examines the symbols commemorated on our past and present currencies.

Old Liverpool FC In Colour

25,000.00

A 130th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION OF LFC HISTORY WITH OVER 130 HISTORIC IMAGES EXPERTLY COLOURISED IN THE FIRST OFFICIAL LIVERPOOL FC BOOK OF ITS KIND

From humble origins to Kings of Europe, retrace the remarkable rise of Liverpool Football Club just as it would have been viewed by those who witnessed it first-hand in years gone by.

‘Old Liverpool FC In Colour’ delves deep into the archives to shed new light on a fascinating narrative, one that is brought to life through the expert colourisation of 130 stunning photographs, many of which have never been published before.

With meticulous research complementing every image, you will be taken on a nostalgic and educational journey through the initial 100 years of the club’s existence – when football really was the people’s game.

A passionately crafted celebration of Liverpool’s illustrious history, it is the first publication of its kind; a vivid insight into an era that, until now, had been predominantly documented only in black-and-white. Be transported back in time to what is fast becoming an almost forgotten age and immerse yourself in the LFC story as it unfolded back then. Let the pictures place you at scene like never before and see Liverpool through the eyes of your ancestors.

Relive the moments that helped shape the future and learn more about the big games and famous names; the titles, trophies and trips to far foreign lands; the key figures who lay the foundations and those who built on them, the iconic teams of the past and the supporters whose footsteps you follow in. All brought together in glorious colour for the very first time!

The State Of Africa

23,000.00

Africa is forever on our TV screens, but the bad-news stories (famine, genocide, corruption) massively outweigh the good (South Africa). Ever since the process of decolonialisation began in the mid-1950s, and arguably before, the continent has appeared to be stuck in a process of irreversible decline. Constant war, improper use of natural resources and misappropriation of revenues and aid monies contribute to an impression of a continent beyond hope. How did we get here?

What, if anything, is to be done? Weaving together the key stories and characters of the last fifty years into a stunningly compelling and coherent narrative, Martin Meredith has produced the definitive history of how European ideas of how to organise 10,000 different ethnic groups has led to what Tony Blair described as the ‘scar on the conscience of the world’. Authoritative, provocative and consistently fascinating, this is a major book on one of the most important issues facing the West today.

Someone Is Out To Get Us

20,000.00

In Someone Is Out to Get Us, Brian T. Brown explores the delusions, absurdities, and best-kept secrets of the Cold War, during which the United States fought an enemy of its own making for over forty years — and nearly scared itself to death in the process. The nation chose to fear a chimera, a rotting communist empire that couldn’t even feed itself, only for it to be revealed that what lay behind the Iron Curtain was only a sad Potemkin village.

In fact, one of the greatest threats to our national security may have been our closest ally. The most effective spy cell the Soviets ever had was made up of aristocratic Englishmen schooled at Cambridge. Establishing a communist peril but lacking proof, J. Edgar Hoover became our Big Brother, and Joseph McCarthy went hunting for witches. Richard Nixon stepped into the spotlight as an opportunistic, ruthless Cold Warrior; his criminal cover-up during a dark presidency was exposed by a Deep Throat in a parking garage.

Someone Is Out to Get Us is the true and complete account of a long-misunderstood period of history during which lies, conspiracies, and paranoia led Americans into a state of madness and misunderstanding, too distracted by fictions to realize that the real enemy was looking back at them in the mirror the whole time.

Dress Codes

20,000.00

Dress codes are as old as clothing itself. For centuries, clothing has been a wearable status symbol; fashion, a weapon in struggles for social change; and dress codes, a way to maintain political control. Merchants dressing like princes and butchers’ wives wearing gem-encrusted crowns were public enemies in medieval societies structured by social hierarchy and defined by spectacle. In Tudor England, silk, velvet, and fur were reserved for the nobility, and ballooning pants called “trunk hose” could be considered a menace to good order. The Renaissance-era Florentine patriarch Cosimo de Medici captured the power of fashion and dress codes when he remarked, “One can make a gentleman from two yards of red cloth.” Dress codes evolved along with the social and political ideals of the day, but they always reflected struggles for power and status. In the 1700s, South Carolina’s “Negro Act” made it illegal for Black people to dress “above their condition.” In the 1920s, the bobbed hair and form-fitting dresses worn by free-spirited flappers were banned in workplaces throughout the United States, and in the 1940s, the baggy zoot suits favored by Black and Latino men caused riots in cities from coast to coast.

Even in today’s more informal world, dress codes still determine what we wear, when we wear it—and what our clothing means. People lose their jobs for wearing braided hair, long fingernails, large earrings, beards, and tattoos or refusing to wear a suit and tie or make-up and high heels. In some cities, wearing sagging pants is a crime. And even when there are no written rules, implicit dress codes still influence opportunities and social mobility. Silicon Valley CEOs wear t-shirts and flip-flops, setting the tone for an entire industry: women wearing fashionable dresses or high heels face ridicule in the tech world, and some venture capitalists refuse to invest in any company run by someone wearing a suit.

In Dress Codes, law professor and cultural critic Richard Thompson Ford presents a “deeply informative and entertaining” (The New York Times Book Review) history of the laws of fashion from the middle ages to the present day, a walk down history’s red carpet to uncover and examine the canons, mores, and customs of clothing—rules that we often take for granted. After reading Dress Codes, you’ll never think of fashion as superficial again—and getting dressed will never be the same.

Winnie and Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage

20,000.00

One of the most celebrated political leaders of a century, Nelson Mandela has been written about by many biographers and historians. But in one crucial area, his life remains largely untold: his marriage to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. During his years in prison, Nelson grew ever more in love with an idealized version of his wife, courting her in his letters as if they were young lovers frozen in time. But Winnie, every bit his political equal, found herself increasingly estranged from her jailed husband’s politics. Behind his back, she was trying to orchestrate an armed seizure of power, a path he feared would lead to an endless civil war.

Jonny Steinberg tells the tale of this unique marriage—its longings, its obsessions, its deceits—making South African history a page-turning political biography. Winnie and Nelson is a modern epic in which trauma doesn’t affect just the couple at its center, but an entire nation. It is also a Shakespearean drama in which bonds of love and commitment mingle with timeless questions of revolution, such as whether to seek retribution or a negotiated peace. Steinberg reveals, with power and tender emotional insight, how far these forever-entwined leaders would go for each other and where they drew the line. For in the end, both knew theirs was not simply a marriage, but a contest to decide how apartheid should be fought.

Illustrated Black History

20,000.00

Illustrated Black History is a breathtaking collection of original portraits depicting black heroes—both famous and unsung—who made their mark on activism, science, politics, business, medicine, technology, food, arts, entertainment, and more. Each entry includes a lush drawing or painting by artist George McCalman, along with an insightful essay summarizing the person’s life story.

The 145 entries range from the famous to the little-known, from literary luminary James Baldwin to documentarian Madeline Anderson, who produced “I Am Somebody” about the 1969 strike of mostly female hospital workers; from Aretha Franklin to James and Eloyce Gist, who had a traveling ministry in the early 1900s; from Colin Kaepernick to Guion S. Bluford, the first Black person to travel into space.

Beautifully designed with over 300 unique four-color artworks and accessible to readers of all ages, this eye-opening, educational, dynamic, and timely compendium pays homage to Black Americans and their achievements, and showcases the depth and breadth of Black genius.

1 2 3 11