Download or read book Amin s Soldiers written by John Pancras Orau and published by Waterside Press. This book was released on 2013-10-11 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following the fall of African dictator Idi Amin, remnants of his army were rounded-up and thrown in jail. John Pancras Orau, a member of Amin’s Ugandan Air Force was one of these men. He saw first-hand the privations, isolation, hunger and humiliation in what were little more than concentration camps. In this book he describes the uncertainty and arbitrary punishments that—alongside fear that prisoners might just ‘disappear’ —were part of daily life. A true story of hope and belief, Amin’s Soldiers is a masterpiece of tragicomic writing falling somewhere between Catch 22 and Animal Farm as The Chieftain and his Brains Trust of fellow inmates try to govern themselves against a backdrop of prison gossip, rumour, misinformation and ever-changing rules. Yet it is not without a rich vein of humour as prisoners set up shops, cafes, entertainment, salvage teams and work on dubious escape plans. Equally comical are the ruses, subterfuge and corruption that become endemic as guards and prisoners seek to outwit each other. For more serious students of imprisonment, the book is about crime and punishment in a fluctuating political landscape – about ordinary people whose only real offence was being left on the wrong side of history. It is also a true story of belief and survival.The book came about as a result of links between the Anglican Diocese of Winchester and the Church of Uganda. ‘The last time I saw John Orau he was sitting in his tiny bookshop in Uganda wiling away his time reading. I asked how many he had sold today, he thought hard then answered, “None”. “And yesterday?” “None, either”. He was writing this book and his only ambition was to one day see it in print’: Reverend Gordon Randall. ‘A fascinating story, beautifully told, with episodes that are common to prisons the world over... I’m enjoying it enormously … It is a remarkable story in lots of ways, both the book itself and how it came to be published. The book itself is full of thought-provoking material – about power, politics and justice, about how to survive in prison; about the characteristics of prison guards; about Africa. It is written in distinctive style, simple, unaffected and uncompromising, and all the more effective for that. Chapter 2 reminded me of The Canterbury Tales’: David Faulkner
Download or read book Amin s Soldiers written by John Pancras Orau and published by Waterside Press. This book was released on 2013-10-11 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following the fall of African dictator Idi Amin, remnants of his army were rounded-up and thrown in jail. John Pancras Orau, a member of Amins Ugandan Air Force was one of these men. He saw first-hand the privations, isolation, hunger and humiliation in what were little more than concentration camps. In this book he describes the uncertainty and arbitrary punishments thatalongside fear that prisoners might just disappear were part of daily life. A true story of hope and belief, Amins Soldiers is a masterpiece of tragicomic writing falling somewhere between Catch 22 and Animal Farm as The Chieftan and his Brains Trust of fellow inmates try to govern themselves against a backdrop of prison gossip, rumour, misinformation and ever-changing rules. Yet it is not without a rich vein of humour as prisoners set up shops, cafes, entertainment, salvage teams and work on dubious escape plans. Equally comical are the ruses, subterfuge and corruption that become endemic as guards and prisoners seek to outwit each other. For more serious students of imprisonment, the book is about crime and punishment in a fluctuating political landscape about ordinary people whose only real offence was being left on the wrong side of history. It is also a true story of belief and survival.The book came about as a result of links between the Anglican Diocese of Winchester and the Church of Uganda. The last time I saw John Orau he was sitting in his tiny bookshop in Uganda wiling away his time reading. I asked how many he had sold today, he thought hard then answered, None. And yesterday? None, either. He was writing this book and his only ambition was to one day see it in print: Reverend Gordon Randall.
Download or read book In Idi Amin s Shadow written by Alicia C. Decker and published by Ohio University Press. This book was released on 2014-11-15 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Idi Amin’s Shadow is a rich social history examining Ugandan women’s complex and sometimes paradoxical relationship to Amin’s military state. Based on more than one hundred interviews with women who survived the regime, as well as a wide range of primary sources, this book reveals how the violence of Amin’s militarism resulted in both opportunities and challenges for women. Some assumed positions of political power or became successful entrepreneurs, while others endured sexual assault or experienced the trauma of watching their brothers, husbands, or sons “disappeared” by the state’s security forces. In Idi Amin’s Shadow considers the crucial ways that gender informed and was informed by the ideology and practice of militarism in this period. By exploring this relationship, Alicia C. Decker offers a nuanced interpretation of Amin’s Uganda and the lives of the women who experienced and survived its violence. Each chapter begins with the story of one woman whose experience illuminates some larger theme of the book. In this way, it becomes clear that the politics of military rule were highly relevant to women and gender relations, just as the politics of gender were central to militarism. By drawing upon critical security studies, feminist studies, and violence studies, Decker demonstrates that Amin’s dictatorship was far more complex and his rule much more strategic than most observers have ever imagined.
Download or read book Kosiya Kifefe written by Arthur Gakwandi and published by East African Publishers. This book was released on 1997 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first novel from an academic critic of African literature. It is a chequered account of growing up in post- independence Africa as profiled in the life and times of Kosiya Kifefe. Through Kosiya, the author traverses the years of the African youth with its dreams, uncertainties and escapades, while at the same time projecting the images of a changing society that is rapidly disintegrating. The story is full of political intrigues, facades in high places and lust for power and wealth.
Download or read book Idi Amin written by Mark Leopold and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2020-11-10 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first serious full-length biography of modern Africa’s most famous dictator Idi Amin began his career in the British army in colonial Uganda, and worked his way up the ranks before seizing power in a British-backed coup in 1971. He built a violent and unstable dictatorship, ruthlessly eliminating perceived enemies and expelling Uganda’s Asian population as the country plunged into social and economic chaos. In this powerful and provocative new account, Mark Leopold places Amin’s military background and close relationship with the British state at the heart of the story. He traces the interwoven development of Amin’s career and his popular image as an almost supernaturally evil monster, demonstrating the impossibility of fully distinguishing the truth from the many myths surrounding the dictator. Using an innovative biographical approach, Leopold reveals how Amin was, from birth, deeply rooted in the history of British colonial rule, how his rise was a legacy of imperialism, and how his monstrous image was created.
Download or read book Afghanistan written by Nabi Misdaq and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2006-04-18 with total page 675 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Afghan society is analyzed from a fresh standpoint in this book which discusses the country’s two and a half centuries of socio-political disquiet and outside interference. The author explores the continuous struggle between the central government and the cornerstone of the present state, the tribes. In its examination of the interchange between the centre and the periphery, the book presents a compelling review of Afghan history, the role of Islam and the contemporary theories of state, Islam, nationalism, ethnicity, and tribalism. In addition, Misdaq considers Afghanistan’s dynamism and long established custom of dealing with foreign invaders. Covering the Soviet occupation, ethnic conflicts and the US invasion, the book examines Afghan resilience and the capacity to raise an army of fighting men. Written by a well-respected authority on the region, the book highlights past mistakes which should not be repeated and recommends the way forward for this troubled nation.
Download or read book The New African Civil Military Relations written by Martin Rupiya and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2015-11-03 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1973, Yashev Raval wrote The Power of Wisdom, correctly pointing out that collusion between East and West had kept not only the balance of terror but provided the glue that kept geographic spheres of influence stable. Africa was part of that arena for global rivalry. With the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1991, the stifling grip the superpowers had exercised throughout the world was fundamentally altered. The transformation of the international security system, coupled with political democratization, allowed the partial reorganisation of the security establishments on the African continent to embark upon the New African Civil Military Relations (ACMR). In the last decade and half, the implosion of African states exposed to forces of democratization has escalated, manifest in Algeria, Egypt, Mali, Madagascar, Somalia, South Sudan, Central African Republic and Lesotho. At the heart of the states implosion has been weak, fragile and partisan defence and security institutions a phenomenon that requires urgent research intervention to guide the much-needed reforms. In 2014, the Russian Academy of Sciences hosted the bi-annual African Studies Conference, with the lead author accorded the responsibility of organizing a Session on ACMR. From amongst some of the exciting Abstracts presented, authors submitted these as full chapters for this book which captures International African Studies Perspectives, managed by the African Public Policy and Research Institute (APPRI). This process was further facilitated by one of the presenters and now co-editor, Maj Henrik Laugesen from the Royal Danish Defence College, who agreed to lead on the fundraising succeeding in securing support from the Royal Danish Defence College. The result is this book.
Download or read book Conquest and Community written by Shahid Amin and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2016-11-08 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conquest and Community, by prize-winning historian Shahid Amin, is a kaleidoscopic look into one of the most divisive issues in South Asian history: the Turkic conquest of the subcontinent and the subsequent spread of Muslim rule. Covering more than eight hundred years of history, the book centers around the enduringly popular saint Ghazi Miyan, the youthful and lovable soldier of Islam to whom shrines have been erected all over the country. After detailing the warrior saint s supposed exploits, Amin charts the various ways he has been remembered throughout the last millennium. As he shows, the charming stories, ballads, and proverbs that grew up around him domesticated the bloody conquest and made it appear both virtuous and familial. Amin brings the story of Ghazi Miyan s long afterlife into the contemporary period through his ethnographic analysis of the still-active shrines as sites of interreligious public piety. What is at first glance a story of just one mythical figure becomes through Amin s thoughtful treatment an allegory for the history of Hindu-Muslim relations over an astonishingly long period of time. As the Muslim conquest of India is being mobilized for dangerously polarizing political ends in India today, this nonsectarian account of religious strife will be a timely and sane contribution to the vexed historical debate."
Download or read book Mrs Queen s Chump written by J. J. Hespeler-Boultbee and published by CCB Publishing. This book was released on 2012-12-16 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mrs. Queen's Chump is the military memoir of a young man who, naively acquiescing to a period of "adventure" after leaving boarding school, soon found himself enmeshed in the agonies of subjugated peoples caught in the turmoil of a collapsing British Empire and demanding restoration of their dignity and rightful human freedoms. Left to deal as best he could with his own transition from boy to man - somewhat before PTSD became a recognizable quantity - he realized as a born Canadian citizen he might easily have avoided service in Britain's army - but he had committed himself, so entered with his eyes open and became a keen observer. In stories that are sometimes funny, sometimes frightening, yet somehow tinged with the sadness that always jolts the loss of innocence, the author tells of experiences as an infantry officer fighting in the jungles of both Kenya and Malaya. They are incident of another time, yet hauntingly contemporary - soldiers sent to far off corners of the world to secure the privileges of tough and ambitious colonizers, themselves champions of Empire (no matter whose) who feel full entitlement over both people and resources. Bring up the troops! Despite clear dangers, thousands of bright-eyed and brainwashed young Brits whose invincible dads had recently thrashed Hitler were now, by the late 1940's and 1950's, keen to do their bit, to head abroad and "have a go" at running the Empire. They sallied forth into what they thought a halcyon sunset in need of some burnishing, but in reality dazzling in its madness. By the end their military weight and wallop proved insufficient to address the anger of millions of very "restless natives" - or to douse the frenzies of the likes of Idi Amin. The initial disease was Empire Myopia. Within a short time, and like Kurtz in Heart of Darkness, those who had come to impose order themselves succumbed to an Idi-like dementia that tumbled the whole wretched Empire to its knees. About the Author Born in Vancouver, Canada, Jeremy Hespeler-Boultbee started school in Australia, continued in the United States and Canada, and graduated from high school in Britain - this last giving rise to the military service described in these pages. A young and insightful officer, whose views often ran counter to those expressed by his superiors, he was in a unique position to observe the collapsing British Empire. Later, as a journalist living in Lisbon, Portugal, he was again witness - this time to the revolutionary shake-up and demise of another of Europe's entrenched old orders. Hespeler-Boultbee has worked on major assignments in Canada, the United States, Portugal and numerous countries in Africa. In addition to writing, he is an architectural historian specializing in Renaissance Portugal. He considers "home" to be Victoria, British Columbia, Barrancos, Portugal and Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.
Download or read book AF Press Clips written by and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 764 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Uganda written by Thomas P Ofcansky and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-05-04 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an overview of Uganda, a country that represents the hope and despair of modern Africa. It deals with a brief examination of the factors and themes that have influenced Uganda's historical development, focusing mainly on the postindependence period.
Download or read book AF Press Clips written by United States Department of State. Bureau of African Affairs and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Encyclopedia of Africa written by Anthony Appiah and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 1372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Encyclopedia of Africa presents the most up-to-date and thorough reference on this region of ever-growing importance in world history, politics, and culture. Its core is comprised of the entries focusing on African history and culture from 2005's acclaimed five-volume Africana - nearly two-thirds of these 1,300 entries have been updated, revised, and expanded to reflect the most recent scholarship. Organized in an A-Z format, the articles cover prominent individuals, events, trends, places, political movements, art forms, business and trade, religions, ethnic groups, organizations, and countries throughout Africa. There are articles on contemporary nations of sub-Saharan Africa, ethnic groups from various regions of Africa, and European colonial powers. Other examples include Congo River, Ivory trade, Mau Mau rebellion, and Pastoralism. The Encyclopedia of Africa is sure to become the essential resource in the field.
Download or read book Afghanistan written by Mohammed Kakar and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2023-09-01 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few people are more respected or better positioned to speak on the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan than M. Hassan Kakar. A professor at Kabul University and scholar of Afghanistan affairs at the time of the 1978 coup d'état, Kakar vividly describes the events surrounding the Soviet invasion in 1979 and the encounter between the military superpower and the poorly armed Afghans. The events that followed are carefully detailed, with eyewitness accounts and authoritative documentation that provide an unparalleled view of this historical moment. Because of his prominence Kakar was at first treated with deference by the Marxist government and was not imprisoned, although he openly criticized the regime. When he was put behind bars the outcry from scholars all over the world possibly saved his life. In prison for five years, he continued collecting information, much of it from prominent Afghans of varying political persuasions who were themselves prisoners. Kakar brings firsthand knowledge and a historian's sensibility to his account of the invasion and its aftermath. This is both a personal document and a historical one—Kakar lived through the events he describes, and his concern for human rights rather than party politics infuses his writing. As Afghans and the rest of the world try to make sense of Afghanistan's recent past, Kakar's voice will be one of those most listened to.
Download or read book Daily Graphic written by J.K. Addo-Twum and published by Graphic Communications Group. This book was released on 1979-04-06 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Almanac of American Military History 4 volumes written by Spencer C. Tucker and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2012-11-21 with total page 4371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This almanac provides a comprehensive, chronological overview of all American military history, serving as the standard reference work of its type. Almanac of American Military History is yet another reference work from acclaimed historian Dr. Spencer C. Tucker and ABC-CLIO, offering an unprecedented resource for a wide range of students and researchers. A comprehensive, four-volume title, this almanac traces all of American military history from the European voyages of discovery through 2011, chronicling the pivotal moments that have shaped the United States into the country it is today. In addition to documenting key events, this title presents biographies of more than 250 key individuals and provides information on more than 250 historically significant technologies and weapons systems. A detailed glossary is included, as are discussions of ranks and military awards and decorations. Divided into conflict periods, each chapter includes a detailed chronology, reference-entry sidebars, statistical information, primary-source documents, and a bibliography.
