It’s that time again — the African Politics Summer Reading Spectacular is back for its EIGHTH year! Join us for the next couple of months as we read and do Q&As with the authors of several of the best new books in African politics.
We define “politics” broadly, incorporating biographies about historical figures, journalists’ accounts of contemporary events and the latest political science research on topics ranging from memory to market trading. A special thanks to our guest reviewers for helping out with this year’s series!
We hope you’ll join us in reading along with some or all of these titles. Reviews and Q&As will appear on Fridays throughout the next two months. Don’t forget to tag your social media posts about the books with #APSRS21!
Without further ado, here are this year’s selections:
July 23: Joe Parkinson and Drew Hinshaw, “Bring Back Our Girls: The Untold Story of the Global Search for Nigeria’s Missing Schoolgirls”
July 30: New reads on Kenya, featuring “Regime Threats and State Solutions: Bureaucratic Loyalty and Embeddedness in Kenya” by Mai Hassan; “Political Violence in Kenya: Land, Elections, and Claim-Making” by Kathleen Klaus; and “Kakuma Refugee Camp: Humanitarian Urbanism in Kenya’s Accidental City” by Bram J. Jansen. (These books were postponed from last year’s series.)
Aug. 6: Shelby Grossman, “The Politics of Order in Informal Markets: How the State Shapes Private Governance”
Aug. 13: Michela Wrong, “Do Not Disturb: The Story of a Political Murder and an African Regime Gone Bad”
Aug. 20: Séverine Autesserre, “The Frontlines of Peace: An Insider’s Guide to Changing the World”
Aug. 27: Robtel Neajai Pailey, “Development, (Dual) Citizenship and Its Discontents in Africa: The Political Economy of Belonging to Liberia”
Sept. 3: Carolyn E. Holmes, “The Black and White Rainbow: Reconciliation, Opposition, and Nation-Building in Democratic South Africa”
Sept. 10: Tabitha Kanogo, “Wangari Maathai”