• My Time My Nation: The Autobiography of Prof. George Benneh

    Professor Benneh’s life story reflects the promise of the country he serves so faithfully. It captures the anticipation of the pre-independence years, the disillusionment of the forays into military rule, and the integrity of the return to civilian rule with many painful lessons learnt. Indeed, as he recalls his early years with his father on the campaign trail, he presents the mixture of excitement, superstition, and euphoria as the Gold Coast transitions into an independent country ad later the Republic of Ghana.

    The author narrates his years of preparation with an impressive roll of mentors and acquaintances—Mr. Gbeho, Professor Steele, Professor Manshard. K.A. Busia, J.B. Danquah, Krobo Edusei, K.A. Gbedemah, Otumfuor Osei Tutu II, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

    Through out the autobiography the reader is conscious that the astute politician is also an astute scholar—lecturer, researcher, administrator. As he brings his analytical acumen to his performance of his responsibilities as Head of Department, Pro Vice-Chancellor and, finally, Vice Chancellor, Professor Benneh demonstrates a unique ability to move seamlessly between two worlds often considered incompatible.

    The autobiography provides a vivid account of an enviable range of experiences from the author’s childhood in Brong-Ahafo region, through conferences in some of the most exotic locations in the world. Yet, he always remains the family man, devoted to his covenant wife, children, grandchildren, wider family and the abiding reliance and trust in his Maker. The autobiography ends with the octogenarian’s tribute to his late father who was his first and best mentor and inspired him reach beyond the sky.

    Professor Benneh presents a career that few can equal and recounts his successes as well as his shortcomings with candour and great courage.

    The history of a great nation is presented by an insider — that could be enough incentive to read this book. Always more than a historical account, the reader sees the life of a great man who continues, even in adversity, to write a story that will inspire people of all ages, political ties and religious faiths.

  • Ghana’s 2012 Presidential Election Petition

    The story of the presidential election petition as it unfolded outside and inside the courtroom is graphically retold by the author of this book in a straightforward and memorable manner. If you were not among the audience in the courtroom or if you were not a constant watcher of the TV during the hearing of the petition, or if your understanding of the legal process is limited, this book is your best story teller of all that happened.

    The author, although a lawyer of many years standing, and a very well-known politician, has not written  book on law or politics. His several books deal with history, chieftaincy, culture and conflict in Dagbon. This is his first time of venturing into the politico-legal field. And he has done it well.

    Even though the book is intended to tell the story of Ghana’s 2012 presidential election petition, it equally deals with the politics of Ghana and the country’s electoral laws. The book is therefore recommended not only for people who want to know the story of the election petition, but also to politicians and first year law students as well as people interested in law. The book will inspire them.

  • Two Views from Christiansborg Castle Vol I: A Brief and Truthful Description of a Journey to and from Guinea

    Selena Axelrod Winsnes has been engaged, since 1982, in the translation into English, and editing of Danish language sources to West African history, sources published from 1697 to 1822, the period during which Denmark-Norway was an actor in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. It comprises five major books written for the Scandinavian public. They describe all aspects of life on the Gold Coast [Ghana], the Middle Passage and the Danish Caribbean islands [US Virgin Islands], as seen by five different men. Each had his own agenda and mind-set, and the books, both singly and combined, hold a wealth of information – of interest both to scholars and lay readers. They provide important insights into the cultural baggage the enslaved Africans carried with them to the America’s.

    One of the books, L.F. Rømer’s A Reliable Account of the Coast of Guinea was runner-up for the prestigious International Texts Prize awarded by the U.S. African Studies Association.

  • Women Do More Work than Men: Birifor Women as Change Agents in the Mission and Expansion of the Church in West Africa (Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, and Ghana)

    Foreword by Mercy Amba Oduyoye
    The author was the first woman in Burkina to receive her Ph.D. in Theology, with research on the contributions of Birifor women to the growth of the Church in West Africa. Her work, which includes fascinating in-depth ethnographic research, has recently been published as Women Do More Work Than Men: Birifor Women as Change Agents in the Mission and Expansion of the Church in West Africa (Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, and Ghana)

    In the book’s Foreword, Ghanaian feminist theologian Mercy Amba Oduyoye shares these thoughts: “If you have not heard of Birifor women, this is your opportunity to read about them. You are not alone, for before I read the thesis that preceded this book, I had no idea there was a people in West Africa called the Birifor. It is a fact that even among Africans, the neighbour is hardly known. The continent is so vast. This book is therefore a special treat as it is a lens into the lives of a minority among minorities. The marginalised of this minority are women.”

    Addressing this marginalisation further, Oduyoye notes that Dorcas’ book “demonstrates the two-edged sword that westernisation has been, especially in women’s lives. Specifically, Western education led families to privilege boys and thereby aggravated the inferior position of women among the Birifor, who are formally matrilineal but in practice extremely patriarchal and androcentric.”

    “Dorcas’ book is important for several reasons. Firstly, as Oduyoye notes, it sheds light on a people group many of us have never heard of, and within that context, draws attention to the important but very overlooked roles that women play. As Dorcas boldly states, ‘women do more work than men!’ Yet they more often receive ridicule, or face added obstacles, rather than respect, for such contributions. Dorcas’ work is also important for scholars of religion in Africa, with large sections of history and ethnographic research providing a comprehensive picture of the religious cosmology of the Birifor. Her treatment of funeral rites is fascinating!” — Dr. Sara Fretheim, Postdoctoral Researcher in World Christianity and African Christianity

  • An Ethnographic Study of Northern Ghanaian Conflicts: Towards a Sustainable Peace

    Conflict in Northern Ghana appears to be increasing in amplitude and frequency and its effects are getting more devastating. It is the view of this book that The Government of Ghana and civil society organisations involved in aspects of conflict management have approached peace issues in the region with an inadequate understanding of the local issues that divide and unite the people, or using sufficient resources to preempt conflict.

    In 2003 The Mole V summit was held in Damongo to discuss strategic directions for comprehensive development and poverty reduction in Northern Ghana as a mechanism for supporting conflict management.

    It is the aim of this publication to contribute to the proposed plan by suggesting past and current conflict management resources and mechanisms which could be employed. The suggestions are informed by surveys, which are outlined in the book, of particular conflicts in the three northern Regions of Ghana between 2006 and 2008 – their histories, causes and efforts and their resolution.

  • Speaking of Ghana: Did You Know That…?

    The book is a simple story about Ghana, intended to be a companion to students, and all people who would like to know more about Ghana. It is written in a simple style, and through bullet points and questions, teaches some basic facts about Ghana’s recent political history as well as essential information about each of the sixteen regions. The book is a peek into Ghana, but gives the reader a broad view of the country.
    The book has been recommended by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, (NaCCA) for use as supplementary material for Junior and Senior high schools.

  • Rewards: An Autobiography

    Prof. Marian Ewurama Addy was a Professor of Biochemistry. In January 2008 she was appointed President of the Anglican University College of Technology, then a newly launched private initiative for higher technical education in Ghana. Professor Addy’s interest and extension activities were in bridging the gap between scientific and indigenous knowledge and in the popularisation of science.

    In her autobiography Ewurama Addy takes us through the various stages of her life, culminating in her rise up the academic ladder and an affirmation of her Christian faith.

    Professor Mariama Ewurama Addy, the popular host of the Science and Maths quiz died at age 72 in 2014. Prof. Addy was the first woman professor of Science from the University of Ghana. She was also a resource person for science education programs in the country.

    As the Quiz Mistress of a national weekly science and mathematics quiz program on television, she contributed immensely to science education by making the subject interesting to Ghanaians of all ages. It is believed that her quiz mistress role inspired many female students to study science.

  • …Power to the People: Reflections on Retrogressive Politics

    Published in 1984…Power to the People is a doctor’s medicine for Ghana’s ills. The pill is occasionally bitter, but is coated with a generous layer of therapeutic laughter, to help its message slide gently into the appropriate organs of the national digestive system.

    Presented in the form of prose, poetry and cartoons, the first part of the book, subtitled The Past, covers the Nkrumah, Kotoka, Afrifa & Ankrah, Busia, Acheampong & Akuffo, Rawlings 1979 and Limann eras. The second part, subtitled The Present, covers the first three years of the second coming of Rawlings.

    In a satirical treatment of our history over almost 30 years, this book sheds a great light onto the paths that Ghana traversed in those heady years, in a form that is easy to read, reflect on and learn.

    In the author’s own words, “in recording these…my hope is that others would be induced to ponder over and question loudly some of those short-comings, lapses and omissions in our national character and situation which are stifling our growth and retarding the country’s progress. If our questions get loud and irritating enough to cause discomfiture in our policy makers, then the reader wouldn’t have been bored for nothing.”

  • Thumb Prints

    The “Thumb Prints” is a historical fiction novel, and as such, it is based on two important events in history: the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the Fante-Asante wars (Fante and Asante are tribes that form part of modern-day Ghana, West Africa). These two events are prominent in the history of Ghana, with the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade being prominent in world history.

    The purpose of this book is to provide a good read for readers, and not to incite any resentment towards any group of people or race.

    Thumb Prints

    65.00
  • Taytu Betul: The Sunshine Queen (Hardcover)

    Age Range: 3 – 8 years

    Africa has produced its own formidable women; and one such women is Taytu Betul, Empress of Ethiopia and consort to Emperor Menelik II.

    In this story, we see how the Empress managed to save Ethiopia from becoming an Italian colony.

    Ethiopia is the only African country that was never colonised by the Europeans; how did that happen?

  • Amu the African: A Study in Vision and Courage

    This book is an account of the life and work of Dr. Ephraim Amu, the renowned Ghanaian educationist and reformist — a great creative musician of world rank whose contributions are a cultural heritage for the world. It gives the story of Amu’s life and the contribution he has made to the development of the Church, Education, Morality, the Youth, Agriculture, Nutrition, Ghanaian Cultural Nationalism and, especially, the evolution of Ghanaian music.

    Not since Dr Kwegyir Aggrey has any other Ghanaian influenced more positively the development of Ghanaian culture and pride in the African Personality than Dr Ephraim Amu.

  • Elmina, ‘The Little Europe’: European Impact and Cultural Resilience (Hardcover)

    This is a brief introduction to the history of Elmina, its castle, the people, and their traditions. It outlines the town’s 500-year relations with Europeans, highlighting the transformations that have developed out of these interactions. Written by one of the top historians of Ghana and a leading scholar of the African diaspora, the book is based on original archival information and orally-derived sources. It is also richly informed by the writer’s own personal knowledge as a Nyampa Safohen and citizen of Elmina. Despite the tremendous changes engendered by the European contact, Elmina’s historical development demonstrates an amazing degree of cultural continuity and resilience in its political institutions, social organization, economic systems and worldview.

  • The Mind of Africa

    The Mind of Africa, written while the author was A Fellow of  All Souls College, Oxford, was a fruit of that enlarged perspective. After several years, he visited Ghana in 1962. There Kwame Nkrumah, then President of Ghana, successfully persuaded him to return to teach at the University of Ghana, Legon and he subsequently resigned from All Souls. In 1968, he went to the United States as a visiting professor. This was followed by invitations to teach at various academic institutions there, including Berkeley and Stanford. He subsequently settled in California, where he continued to teach and research philosophy in the University of California at Santa Cruz until his retirement.

    The Mind of Africa appeared at a time when a number of African countries were obtaining, or fighting for, their political freedom from their colonial rulers; and becoming independent nations expecting to build new societies in accordance with their own visions and conceptions, though not necessarily jettisoning all the features of their colonial heritage. Building new societies requires appropriate ideologies and philosophies fashioned within the crucible of their cultural and historical experiences. Thus, the relation between ideology and society is taken up at the very outset of the book… The Mind of Africa is important for Africa’s future and identity.

Main Menu