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The Library Tree: How a Canadian Woman Brought the Joy of Reading to a Generation of African Children
“You are proof that the vision and actions of just one person can make a tremendous difference in so many lives!” — Michaelle Jean, former Governor General of Canada, following a visit to the Nima Library, November 2006
It began one afternoon in the shade of a tree in the yard of a Canadian woman living in Ghana, West Africa. Kathy Knowles brought out a basketful of books thinking she might amuse the neighbourhood kids by reading to them.
Over 20 years, that simple storytelling session morphed into seven large community libraries in impoverished areas of the country’s capital, support for more than 200 similar initiatives around Ghana and other African countries, and a publishing venture that produces children’s books tailor-made for the African culture.
Kathy Knowles now runs her volunteer-based Osu Children’s Library Fund from her Winnipeg home with twice-yearly trips to Ghana. Her work promoting libraries and literacy in Africa has been recognised internationally. Her unflagging enthusiasm has created bricks-and-mortar projects and has brought the wonder of reading to thousands of children.
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Seven Stories and More: Family, Ethnicity and Politics in the Life of an African Lawyer – A Memoir
Seven Stories is a memoir by Azanne Kofi Akainyah broken into interwoven stories that constitute a life defined by a combination of grit, determination, hope and adversity all ground together into a most memorable tale. It is a book full of dramatic turns and twists. As with all good biographies, Seven Stories enlightens the reader about the context and milieu of the time and times in which the actions take place and their ramifications. Some of the passages in the book have a dramatic and cinematic quality. The reader is transported into the story. Many of the characters mentioned are drawn with such skill that the reader is left with the feeling that he also knows them. This is writing of the highest quality and distinction.
Nana Kwasi Gyan-Appenteng
Former Chairman of National Media Commission, GhanaThe ability of the author to keep the reader immersed in the narration is impressive. Lawyers should find his insights relating to the interplay between law and politics especially beneficial.
Bobby Banson Esq., FCIArb. Lecturer,
Ghana School of LawA fascinating set of stories, providing unique insights into life during the transition from the Gold Coast, one of the British Empire’s West African gems, to the modern Republic of Ghana, and the extensive interactions with the UK and the rest of the world. They are based on a wealth of well referenced contemporaneous material. These memoirs chronicle the forces at play in the complex and multi-layered process of self-determination and emerging nationhood, which wrought a dreadful toll on the lives of individuals as cultures and ideologies, egos and aspirations collided. Refreshingly candid, humorous and witty in parts, Azanne Akainyah shares recollections of his life, warts and all, laced with provocative and challenging reflections on universal issues. A must read!
Christiana Hyde MA (Cantab), Retired Employment Judge, England and Wales
A must-read book for those interested in “the African story”. It brings to life important aspects of this story from a unique and personal angle that grips the reader from beginning to end. It covers significant events in Ghana before and after the overthrow of Nkrumah and also the unfortunate happenings in Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Gambia. It portrays how familial, ethnic and parochial interests have played major roles in these events. Akainyah sets the pace in revealing another side of the African story.
Ivan Addae-Mensah PhD (Cantab.) FGA
(Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, Former Vice Chancellor
of the University of Ghana and former General Secretary of the
Peoples National Party under President Dr Hilla Limann)₵200.00 -
The Legislative System of Ghana
This book focuses on the legislative system of Ghana. It contains sixteen chapters, each focusing on a unique aspect of the legislative system of Ghana. It outlines the rules, the practice, and procedure that govern the conduct of business and Members in the Parliament of Ghana and its committees, and the various actors involved in the organisation of the legislative business. It breaks into minute forms, the procedural norms, and attitudes that influence members’ behaviour and the various parliamentary outcomes.
“This study is well researched and presented in a very lucid form…. Indeed, it is a very useful source for students, parliamentarians, and academics on the parliamentary history, procedure, and practice of Ghana’s Parliament.” – Hon Dr. Benjamin Kunbour, Former Majority Leader, Former Minister of Defence and Senior Lecturer, University of Ghana School of Law
₵300.00The Legislative System of Ghana
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Destiny and Politics: A Biography of Hon. Samuel Sallas-Mensah
From a humble beginning as the son of a farmer in a relatively small town, Hon. Samuel Sallas-Mensah, four terms MP for Upper West Akim would perhaps have ended up as a farmer too. In those days, children took after their parents’ trades. Sallas got the chance to go to America and the entire course of his life changed. After a distinguished career in accountancy in the US and later in Nigeria, destiny led his way once more but this time to the country of his birth, Ghana, where eventually, a new career window opened in his life – politics.
As a Member of the Consultative Assembly his accounting and financial acumen were in evidence as he actively contributed to the District Assembly Common Fund. And as a Member of Parliament he was instrumental in instituting the live television coverage of the sitting of the Public Accounts Committee – legacies to the nation that survive today.
In this compelling biography the reader come face-to-face with this influential man of few words who is famed to have friends and access to both sides of the Ghanaian political divide. But what would Sallas be remembered for most, a politician, a chartered accountant or family man? More importantly, where else will destiny lead him to?
“Crispy-delicious narratives, refreshingly-garnished insights. This fascinating biography of a patriot never finishes astonishing you with the twists and turns. But it is the authoritative revelations about a nation and its people that makes this book destined to be relevant to the politics of Ghana.” ~ Business & Financial Times
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The Putin Mystique: Inside Russia’s Power Cult (Pre-Order)
Getting to grips with Russia’s 21st century Tsar.
Vladimir V. Putin has confounded world leaders and defied their assumptions as they tried to figure him out, only to misjudge him time and again. The Putin Mystique takes the reader on a journey through the Russia of Vladimir Putin, named by Forbes magazine in 2013 as the most powerful man in the world. It is a neo-feudal world where iPads, WTO membership, and Brioni business suits conceal a power structure straight out of the Middle Ages, where the Sovereign is perceived as both divine and demonic, where a man’s riches are determined by his proximity to the Kremlin, and where large swathes of the populace live in precarious complacency interrupted by bouts of revolt.
Where does that kind of power come from? The answer lies not in the leader, but in the people: from the impoverished worker who appeals directly to Putin for aid, to the businessmen, security officers and officials in Putin’s often dysfunctional government who look to their leader for instruction and protection.
In her writing career, Anna Arutunyan has travelled throughout Russia to report on modern Russian politics. She has interviewed oligarchs and policemen, bishops and politicians, and many ordinary Russians. Her book is a vivid and revealing exploration of the way in which myth, power, and even religion interact to produce the love-hate relationship between the Russian people and Vladimir Putin.
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The Evolution of Parliament in Ghana
This study provides an overview of the development of Ghana’s parliament from 1844 when it was under British colonial jurisdiction, through transition to sovereign rule in the 1950s. It further covers the period post the 2000 elections, the third successive multiparty elections, and consolidation of multi-party democratic governance. Some of the topics covered include: the various post-independence constitutions, the committee system, the introduction of women to parliament, and parliament and the media. An essay analysing the strengths and weaknesses of the parliamentary system and snapshot portraits of the presidents and speakers conclude the volume.
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Unwrapped: The Story of a Shepherd Boy
Unwrapped is a deep and sincere account of how one can not only live well but also carve out a very impressive career that contributes to a better world. Abraham Mnzava’s account of his life demonstrates how one can contribute to improving health and eventually alleviating poverty by hard work. Moreover, Unwrapped reminds us that the basis for success relies not only on skills and determination but on partnerships that bridge systems and cultures, though this should be coupled with a deep respect for ones’ roots.
“If we do not know where we come from, we will not know where we are going to.”
However, if we are too attached to the past, we cannot be open to the future. The insight into the life of Abraham Mnzava provided by Unwrapped offers hope for the future for many of us across the globe.
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The Speech by The Prime Minister: Dr Kwame Nkrumah (Motion for Approval of Government’s Revised Constitutional Proposals, November 1956)
The Speech by the Prime Minister, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. Introducing the Motion for the Approval of the Government’s Revised Constitutional Proposals. At the Legislative Assembly, 12 November 1956.
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The Stars Are Ageless
A young woman who chooses love. A daughter who must repay her mother’s sacrifices. A filmmaker accused of stealing her own creation. A woman held up by faith, family and true friendship when her world is rocked to its very foundation. Omoni Oboli has played as many roles in life as she has on the big screen. But a movie ends and life goes on.
The Stars are Ageless presents the true story of the woman hailed as “The Box Office Queen” of Nigerian cinema.
These life experiences shaped Omoni into who she is, and promise that we will see much more from her.
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Joe Biden: The Life, the Run, and What Matters Now (Hardcover)
A concise, brilliant, and trenchant examination of Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s successful lifelong quest for the presidency by National Book Award winner Evan Osnos.
President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has been called both the luckiest man and the unluckiest—fortunate to have sustained a fifty-year political career that reached the White House, but also marked by deep personal losses and disappointments that he has suffered.
Yet even as Biden’s life has been shaped by drama, it has also been powered by a willingness, rare at the top ranks of politics, to confront his shortcomings, errors, and reversals of fortune. As he says, “Failure at some point in your life is inevitable, but giving up is unforgivable.” His trials have forged in him a deep empathy for others in hardship—an essential quality as he leads America toward recovery and renewal.
Blending up-close journalism and broader context, Evan Osnos, who won the National Book Award in 2014, draws on nearly a decade of reporting for The New Yorker to capture the characters and meaning of 2020’s extraordinary presidential election. It is based on lengthy interviews with Biden and on revealing conversations with more than a hundred others, including President Barack Obama, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, and a range of activists, advisers, opponents, and Biden family members.
This portrayal illuminates Biden’s long and eventful career in the Senate, his eight years as Obama’s vice president, his sojourn in the political wilderness after being passed over for Hillary Clinton in 2016, his decision to challenge Donald Trump for the presidency, and his choice of Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate.
Osnos ponders the difficulties Biden faces as his presidency begins and weighs how a changing country, a deep well of experiences, and a rigorous approach to the issues, have altered his positions. In this nuanced portrait, Biden emerges as flawed, yet resolute, and tempered by the flame of tragedy—a man who just may be uncannily suited for his moment in history.
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More Than My Scars: The Power of Perseverance, Unrelenting Faith, and Deciding What Defines You
The first thing you will notice when you meet Kechi Okwuchi is her scars. One of just two survivors of a devastating plane crash that killed more than 100 people, 16-year-old Kechi was left with third-degree burns over 65 percent of her body. More Than My Scars is her incredible story. A story of not just surviving impossible odds but thriving in a world that is too often caught up with how we look on the outside rather than seeing that our true value is within.
Now in her early 30s, Kechi has spent the last 16 years refusing to be defined by her trauma. Follow her as she decides for herself what role her scars will play in her life before society decides for her. Her strong sense of identity, rooted in seeing herself the way God sees her, has allowed her to live authentically in a world that constantly seeks to define us by its ever-changing (and ever-shallow) standards. Kechi’s story will inspire you to love and accept yourself as you are and confidently present your true self to the world.
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Straight Shooter: A Memoir of Second Chances and First Takes (Hardcover)
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
America’s most popular sports media figure tells it like it is in this surprisingly personal book, not only dishing out his signature, uninhibited opinions but also revealing the challenges he overcame in childhood as well as at ESPN, and who he really is when the cameras are off.
Stephen A. Smith has never been handed anything, nor was he an overnight success. Growing up poor in Queens, the son of Caribbean immigrants and the youngest of six children, he was a sports-obsessed kid who faced a number of struggles, from undiagnosed dyslexia to getting enough cereal to fill his bowl. As a basketball player at Winston-Salem State University, he got a glimmer of his true calling when he wrote a newspaper column arguing for the retirement of his own Hall of Fame coach, Clarence Gaines.
Smith hustled and rose up from a high school reporter at Daily News (New York) to a general sports columnist at The Philadelphia Inquirer in the 1990s, before getting his own show at ESPN in 2005. After he was unceremoniously fired from the network in 2009, he became even more determined to fight for success. He got himself rehired two years later and, with his razor-sharp intelligence and fearless debate style, found his role on the show he was destined to star in: First Take, the network’s flagship morning program.
In Straight Shooter, Smith writes about the greatest highs and deepest lows of his life and career. He gives his thoughts on Skip Bayless, Ray Rice, Colin Kaepernick, the New York Knicks, the Dallas Cowboys, and former President Donald Trump. But he also pulls back the curtain and talks about life beyond the set, sharing authentic stories about his negligent father, his loving mother, being a father himself, his battle with life-threatening COVID-19, and what he really thinks about politics and social issues. He does it all with the same intelligence, humor, and charm that has made him a household name.
Provocative, moving, and eye-opening, this book is the perfect gift for lovers of sports, television, and anyone who likes their stories delivered straight to the heart.
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Uphill: A Memoir (Hardcover)
One of Oprah Daily‘s Best Fall Nonfiction Books of 2022
An empowering, unabashedly bold memoir by the Atlantic journalist and former ESPN SportsCenter coanchor about overcoming a legacy of pain and forging a new path, no matter how uphill life’s battles might be.Jemele Hill’s world came crashing down when she called President Trump a “white supremacist”; the White House wanted her fired from ESPN, and she was deluged with death threats. But Hill had faced tougher adversaries growing up in Detroit than a tweeting president. Beneath the exterior of one of the most recognizable journalists in America was a need―a calling―to break her family’s cycle of intergenerational trauma.
Born in the middle of a lively routine Friday night Monopoly game to a teen mother and a heroin-addicted father, Hill constantly adjusted to the harsh realities of not only her own childhood but the inherited generational pain of her mother and grandmother. Her escape was writing.
Hill’s mother was less than impressed with the brassy and bold free expression of her diary, but Hill never stopped discovering and amplifying her voice. Through hard work and a constant willingness to learn, Hill rose from newspaper reporter to columnist to new heights as the coanchor for ESPN’s revered SportsCenter. Soon, she earned respect and support for her fearless opinions and unshakable confidence, as well as a reputation as a trusted journalist who speaks her mind with truth and conviction.
In Jemele Hill’s journey Uphill, she shares the whole story of her work, the women of her family, and her complicated relationship with God in an unapologetic, character-rich, and eloquent memoir.
₵550.98Uphill: A Memoir (Hardcover)
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Baba Chibsah: Inspirational Story of an Illustrious Migrant
Baba Chibsah: Inspirational Story of an Illustrious Migrant is one of those books that take the reader on a journey of illumination. At the core of the story is the life of Baba Chibsah, who was both a visionary and practical man who was driven by his own idealism and belief in God and community to achieve goals he could not have comprehended when he set out from his home in the Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), to work in the Gold Coast (Ghana) in 1922. His immediate aim was to earn enough money to buy a bicycle. Taking every opportunity that came his way, the acclaimed founder of Tafo Zongo never went back but created a community and values worth celebrating.
His adventures read like a story out of a thriller movie. However, the story breaks free of its boundaries and becomes the history of a whole generation. This book teaches more about life in pre-independence times, not only in Ghana but in our West African sub-region than most textbooks. Here the story of migration, impact of European colonial policy, social interaction, Islamic movements and trends, and indeed the development of the Tafo-Suame enclave in Kumasi are all laid out here in cinematic detail.
Alhaji Seidu Kibsa Sawadogo aka Alhaji Seidu Chibsah has not only honoured his father and his generation but also produced a history masterpiece.
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Paying My Debt: An Autobiography
“Every human life is a unique story. Telling my life story is not for vainglory. It is not a story of heroic deeds, but the story of a humble debtor who cannot pay his debts in a lifetime. This is an attempt to look at the trails of my life which would remind me that no matter how far I have come, I am nowhere close to paying all my debts.”
This is the opening paragraph of the autobiography of Mr Daniel Owusu-Koranteng, a Trade Unionist, human and environmental rights activist, Professional Paralegal, poet, human resource development/industrial relations practitioner and an ADR Practitioner.
₵100.00Paying My Debt: An Autobiography
₵100.00