• The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography

    I have no wish to play the pontificating fool, pretending that I’ve suddenly come up with the answers to all life’s questions. Quite that contrary, I began this book as an exploration, an exercise in self-questing. In other words, I wanted to find out, as I looked back at a long and complicated life, with many twists and turns, how well I’ve done at measuring up to the values I myself have set.” —Sidney Poitier

    In this luminous memoir, a true American icon looks back on his celebrated life and career. His body of work is arguably the most morally significant in cinematic history, and the power and influence of that work are indicative of the character of the man behind the many storied roles. Sidney Poitier here explores these elements of character and personal values to take his own measure—as a man, as a husband and a father, and as an actor.

    Poitier credits his parents and his childhood on tiny Cat Island in the Bahamas for equipping him with the unflinching sense of right and wrong and of self-worth that he has never surrendered and that have dramatically shaped his world. “In the kind of place where I grew up,” recalls Poitier, “what’s coming at you is the sound of the sea and the smell of the wind and momma’s voice and the voice of your dad and the craziness of your brothers and sisters…and that’s it.” Without television, radio, and material distractions to obscure what matters most, he could enjoy the simple things, endure the long commitments, and find true meaning in his life.

    Poitier was uncompromising as he pursued a personal and public life that would honor his upbringing and the invaluable legacy of his parents. Just a few years after his introduction to indoor plumbing and the automobile, Poitier broke racial barrier after racial barrier to launch a pioneering acting career. Committed to the notion that what one does for a living articulates to who one is, Poitier played only forceful and affecting characters who said something positive, useful, and lasting about the human condition.

    Here is Poitier’s own introspective look at what has informed his performances and his life. Poitier explores the nature of sacrifice and commitment, price and humility, rage and forgiveness, and paying the price for artistic integrity. What emerges is a picture of a man in the face of limits—his own and the world’s. A triumph of the spirit, The Measure of a Man captures the essential Poitier.

  • Selected Speeches of Kwame Nkrumah (Volume 2)

    The death of Kwame Nkrumah, first President of Ghana, demonstrated a great irony: a man so much maligned and rejected in life, should be so praised and loved in death. The force of his personality, his convictions in the face of powerful opposition, and his vision for Ghana and a pan-Africa, are evident in his speeches. The speeches in this second of five volumes are arranged chronologically.

  • Selected Speeches of Kwame Nkrumah (Volume 1)

    The death of Kwame Nkrumah, first President of Ghana, demonstrated a great irony: a man so much maligned and rejected in life, should be so praised and loved in death. The force of his personality, his convictions in the face of powerful opposition, and his vision for Ghana and a pan-Africa, are evident in his speeches. The forty-seven speeches in this first of five volumes are arranged chronologically, and were all made in the year 1960.

  • Africa in Search of Prosperity

    Africa is a major player in global economic engineering. It is also a great development partner, a vital player in the economies of Asian nations who are eager to explore long awaited market possibilities that it presents by forging alliances with hi-growth emerging economies in Africa.

    This new economic order is shifting the developmental narratives as Africa’s rich potential market has become more attractive with a population of nearly one billion.

    The author of this book is a long time transnational business executive. Although he indicates a level of despair at times, he is quite hopeful of Africa’s prospects. His lived experience as an economist and policy advisor to Presidents, is reflected in these essays that address developmental issues from the colonial economy with those of the new states.

    In this, the author uses the experience of Ghana as an example and a site for an analytical perspective. He examines and writes about the issues of natural resource exploration, the oil economy, human skills and also looks at the vital factors of education, religion and the attendant attitudes to development.

  • My First Coup d’Etat: Memories from the Lost Decades of Africa

    My First Coup D’Etat chronicles the coming-of-age of John Dramani Mahama (former President of Ghana) in Ghana during the dismal post-independence ‘lost decades’ of Africa. He was seven years old when rumours of a coup reached his boarding school in Accra. His father, a minister of state, was suddenly missing, then imprisoned for more than a year.

    My First Coup D’Etat offers a look at the country that has long been considered Africa’s success story. This is a one-of-a-kind book: Mahama’s is a rare literary voice from a political leader, and his stories work on many levels – as fables, as history, as cultural and political analysis, and, of course, as the memoir of a young man who, unbeknownst to him or anyone else, would grow up to be vice president of his nation. Though non-fiction, these are stories that rise above their specific settings and transport the reader – much like the fiction of Isaac Bashevis Singer and Nadine Gordimer – into a world all their own, one which straddles a time lost and explores the universal human emotions of love, fear, faith, despair, loss, longing, and hope despite all else.

    An important literary debut from the then Vice President of Ghana, a fable-like memoir that offers a shimmering microcosm of post-colonial Africa.

    ‘A much welcome work of immense relevance.’ ~ Chinua Achebe

  • Our Motherland – My Life

    Our Motherland – My Life chronicles the remarkable life of a true Ghanaian patriot who has been an active participant and observer in Ghanaian political transitions. His African cultural influences are undergirded by his deep spiritual belief in articulating the needs of Ghana and Africa as an influential communicator. His leadership legacy as a visionary will be remembered for generations to come as one of the best Ghanaian and Pan Africanist thinkers of his generation.

  • The Shift: How to Awaken to the Aliveness Within

    After a devastating family tragedy, author Mo Issa was forced to reexamine his life. Six surprising catalysts helped him rethink his whole life plan. These came from a wide range of sources—from Leo Tolstoy’s seminal classic The Death of Ivan Ilyich to Brené Brown’s TED Talk. With these influences in mind, Issa thought about the way he was living and asked himself whether it was how he really wanted to live his life.

    It wasn’t, and Issa realized he had to change. He started working toward a more authentic, spiritual existence. Along the way, he dug deep into his psyche and got to know himself, identifying the habits that helped him focus on his purpose. He is now sharing these habits and more with you!

    In The Shift, Issa discusses

    – the importance of authenticity,
    – the connection between the spirit and the mind,
    – the need for vulnerability,
    – the direct and indirect actions that can help you form good habits,
    – the consequences of conforming to society’s standards instead of questioning and challenging them, and
    living a life without regret.

    Issa hopes he can inspire you and give you the tools you need to seek out the true version of yourselves.

  • Because of Kwadua

    An autobiography in honour of love, Because of Kwadua, is an easy read of love in the colonial and immediate independent Ghana from the late 40s to the late 60s.

    Set in the capital city of the country, Accra, and the Golden city, Kumasi, and their environs, the author, Hans Rudolf Roth recounts the stoic love of Kwadua, his wife, as he forays into work, experiences and making a living in Ghana at the time as a white.

    Because of Kwadua unfolds a magnificent gallery of memorable character, vivid snapshots of political rivalry, supervised and shrewd corporate efforts at profit making, the spell and blessing of domestic love and the nobility of traditional royal life.

    Transplanted from Europe to the Swiss African Trading firm in Kumasi, young Roth finds himself ensnared by the ‘dainty lady from Africa’, ‘the black beauty of the Gold Coast’. The hidden beauty, the excellent cooking and the charming manners of Mercy Kwadua Kwafo deepen the undying intimacy of the two till their love ripens into inescapable wedlock.

    The book is set in the turbulent last days of colonial administration in the Gold Coast and five decades of post-independence Ghana and moves with astonishing kaleidoscopic speed.

    Because of Kwadua unfolds a magnificient gallery of memorable characters, vivid snapshots of political party rivalry, supervised and shrewd corporate efforts at profit making, the spell and blessing of domestic love and the nobility of traditional royal life.

    Very exiting, very entertaining and full of drama, the book holds the reader with magnetic compulsion.

  • Unfinished Journey: The Life and Times of VCRAC Crabbe

    Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene, says this about the book:

    “The Life of Justice Crabbe has surely not been all rosy. He has suffered painfully from people who envied and misunderstood him. But through it all, he came out better, fearless and incurably optimistic. We learn from some of his painful experiences recounted in this book that misfortune is only a missed-fortune. We should always believe as individuals and as a nation that the best is yet to come! Clearly, part of his secret for aging so gracefully is being content with the lot that life grants him and not to carry any negative emotions in his body.”

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