• Anansi’s Gold: The Man Who Looted the West, Outfoxed Washington, and Swindled the World (Paperback)

    **Available in 3 weeks after order

    ‘Fabulously entertaining’ Daily Telegraph
    ‘This astonishing book reveals some of the most important global events of the twentieth century’ Afua Hirsch
    ‘Perfect for fans of Frank Abignale Jr.’s Catch Me If You Can‘ Publishers Weekly


    The astounding, never-before-told story of how an ingenious Ghanaian con artist ran one of the 20th century’s longest and most audacious frauds.

    When Ghana declared independence from Britain in 1957, it immediately became a target for opportunists determined to lay hold of whatever assets colonialism hadn’t already stripped. The military ousted the new nation’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, then falsely accused him of stealing the country’s gold and hiding it overseas.

    Into this story stepped one of history’s most charismatic scammers, John Ackah Blay-Miezah – a con man to rival the trickster god Anansi. Born into poverty, Blay-Miezah declared himself the custodian of an alleged Nkrumah trust fund worth billions. You, too, could claim a piece, if only you would help him rescue it – with a small investment. Over the 1970s and ’80s, he grew his scam to epic proportions, amassing hundreds of millions of pounds from thousands of marks all over the world. He baffled Henry Kissinger, scandalised Shirley Temple-Black, and had Nixon’s former attorney-general at his beck and call. Many tried to stop him, but Blay-Miezah continued to live in luxury, protected by ex-SAS soldiers while he deceived lawyers, businessmen and investigators around the globe.

    In Anansi’s Gold, Yepoka Yeebo chases the ever-wilder trail of Blay-Miezah – and unfolds a riveting account of Cold War entanglements and African dreams – revealing the untold story of the grifter who beat the West at its own thieving game.

  • Kwame Nkrumah: A Leninist Czar or Radical Pan Africanist and Visionary?

    There have been several misconceptions and distortions concerning the Man Kwame Nkrumah. This book attempts to correct these. It sheds light on the life and accomplishments of Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana and Africa’s Man of the Millennium. It does an objective appraisal of him through critical issues that engaged his energies during his time; including his world outlook, the nature and direction of the African revolution; African unity and the role of the state; the DR Congo and imperialism; democracy, the nation and social justice; etc.

  • Kwame Nkrumah: Contributions to the African Revolution

    Drawing on the published works, correspondence and speeches of Kwame Nkrumah, as well as on contemporary press reportage during Nkrumah’s final months in Ghana, Doreatha Mbalia offers a view of the theory and practice of the visionary proponent of a united African continent.

    This work traces the development Mbalia sees in Nkrumah’s theory and practice, from the early formation of his unique ideology that emphasises the crucial role of socialism in the progress towards a united African continent, to the coup that ended his Presidency of Ghana and his subsequent belief that the people of Africa must, when diplomatic and political means had failed, raise arms against neo-colonialism. Mbalia urges that Nkrumah’s vision still points the way to Pan-African unity.

  • Ghana: A Tortuous Walk from Colonial Rule to Self Government and After – An Observer’s View

    In Ghana: A Tortuous Walk from Colonial Rule to Self-Government and After – An Observer’s View, the author takes the stand of an engaged citizen who watched the closing transformation of tribal states into colonial Gold Coast, and its metamorphosis into independent Republic of Ghana. Through his attachment to his nation, and from the perspective of an observer of the political process, he emotively describes the procession of events, the people and passions that brought the momentous occasion of independence, the dashing of hopes as political stability was continually disrupted through coup d’etats, and the character and contributions of the various regimes that took over the leadership of Ghana. He takes us on a walk through the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and now the 4th Republic, and describes the promises that the present dispensation of democracy makes to the Ghanaian. His presentation of how present-day Ghana has evolved explains the mixed emotions of anxiety and hope that shape the national outlook and the consistent angst exuding through fractious political groupings.

    The book is a must read for every person who wishes to know and understand the various events that have shaped the Ghana of the early 21st century.

  • Death of an Empire: Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana and Africa

    A participant-witness in the history of the transition from Gold Coast to Ghana, Jantuah who died in 2011 at the age of 89, reflects and interprets with unique understanding some of the major events of the 1950s and 60s as well as foreign policy formulation including his role as a diplomat during the Algerian struggle for Independence and France’s Charles de Gaulle’s retrogressive policies; his dealings with the African National Congress and it’s president, Oliver Tambo, an Apartheid and Southern Rhodesia; becoming at the end an executor to his friend – Nkrumah’s Will.

    The book also has reflections on Ghana’s Fourth Republic and development on the African Continent since. It is edited with a detailed introduction by Jantuah’s nephew, the development specialist and literacy writer, Ivor Agyeman-Duah, who he worked with over the years on this and is currently a Visiting Associate Professor at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa.

  • Kwame Nkrumah and the Dawn of the Cold War: The West African National Secretariat, 1945-48

    The history of a Pan-Africanist movement based in Britain and its role in the Cold War in Africa

    The West African National Secretariat (WANS) has almost been forgotten by history. A pan-Africanist movement founded in 1945 by Kwame Nkrumah and colleagues in London and France, WANS campaigned for independence and unity. Nkrumah returned to the Gold Coast in late 1947. The colonial government accused him of being a communist and fomenting the riots of early 1948. He was jailed. This led to the beginning of the Cold War in West Africa.

    Drawing on archival research including the newly released MI5 files, Marika Sherwood reports on the work of WANS, on the plans for a unity conference in October 1948 in Lagos, and on Nkrumah’s return home. Sherwood demonstrates that colonial powers colluded with each other and the US in order to control the burgeoning struggles for independence. By labelling African nationalists as ‘communists’ in their efforts to contain decolonisation, the Western powers introduced the Cold War to the continent.

    Providing a rich exploration of a neglected history, this book sheds light for the first time on a crucial historical moment in the history of West Africa and the developmental trajectory of West African independence.

  • Frantz Fanon (Panaf Great Lives)

    Required reading for all interested in the Algerian Revolution, and in Fanon’s brief but highly productive contribution. A close study is made of the relationship between Fanon’s ideological development and the content and impact of his political philosophy.

  • Patrice Lumumba (Panaf Great Lives)

    This book considers the first years of the Congo Republic following independence in 1960. Particular analysis is made of Lumumba’s policies and of western pressures in this crucial experience of the African Revolution.

    The story of Lumumba underlines the correctness of Nkrumah’s Pan-African thesis.

  • Voice from Conakry

    The texts of broadcasts to the people of Ghana made in Conakry by Kwame Nkrumah between March and December 1966 on Radio Guinea’s “Voice of the Revolution”. Their purpose was first to expose the true nature of the coup of 24th February 1966; and secondly to encourage resistance.

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