Recommendations based on "NW: A Novel"

Hailed as "a monumental history . . . more exciting than any novel" (NRC Handelsblad),David van Reybrouck’s rich and gripping epic, in the tradition of Robert Hughes' The Fatal Shore, tells the extraordinary story of one of the world's most devastated countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo. Epic in scope yet eminently readable, penetrating and deeply moving, David van Reybrouck's Congo: The Epic History of a People traces the fate of one of the world's most critical, failed nation-states, second only to war-torn Somalia: the Democratic Republic of Congo.Van Reybrouck takes us through several hundred years of history, bringing some of the most dramatic episodes in Congolese history. Here are the people and events that have impinged the Congo's development—from the slave trade to the ivory and rubber booms; from the arrival of Henry Morton Stanley to the tragic regime of King Leopold II; from global indignation to Belgian colonialism; from the struggle for independence to Mobutu's brutal rule; and from the world famous Rumble in the Jungle to the civil war over natural resources that began in 1996 and still rages today.Van Reybrouck interweaves his own family's history with the voices of a diverse range of individuals—charismatic dictators, feuding warlords, child-soldiers, the elderly, female merchant smugglers, and many in the African diaspora of Europe and China—to offer a deeply humane approach to political history, focusing squarely on the Congolese perspective and returning a nation's history to its people.

Sixteen-year-old Sashi wants to become a doctor. But over the next decade, as a vicious civil war subsumes Sri Lanka, her dream takes her on a different path as she watches those around her, including her four beloved brothers and their best friend, get swept up in violent political ideologies and their consequences. She must ask herself: is it possible for anyone to move through life without doing harm?

The official movie tie-in edition to the winner of the 2014 Academy Award for Best Picture, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, and Lupita Nyong’o, and directed by Steve McQueenNew York Times bestseller“I could not believe that I had never heard of this book. It felt as important as Anne Frank’s Diary, only published nearly a hundred years before. . . . The book blew [my] mind: the epic range, the details, the adventure, the horror, and the humanity. . . . I hope my film can play a part in drawing attention to this important book of courage. Solomon’s bravery and life deserve nothing less.” —Steve McQueen, director of 12 Years a Slave, from the ForewordPerhaps the best written of all the slave narratives, Twelve Years a Slave is a harrowing memoir about one of the darkest periods in American history. It recounts how Solomon Northup, born a free man in New York, was lured to Washington, D.C., in 1841 with the promise of fast money, then drugged and beaten and sold into slavery. He spent the next twelve years of his life in captivity on a Louisiana cotton plantation.After his rescue, Northup published this exceptionally vivid and detailed account of slave life. It became an immediate bestseller and today is recognized for its unusual insight and eloquence as one of the very few portraits of American slavery produced by someone as educated as Solomon Northup, or by someone with the dual perspective of having been both a free man and a slave.

From the award-winning author of Half of a Yellow Sun, a powerful new novel-her first in seven years: a story of love and race centred around a young man and woman from Nigeria who face difficult choices and challenges in the countries they come to call home.

*a Washington Post Best Book Of January 2025* *a Book Of The Month Pick For January 2025* *from The Viral Clark Atlanta University Commencement Speaker* *from The Georgia Author Of The Year Award Winner* “isaac's Song Is The Lullaby We All Need And The Healing Balm For Generations To Come.” —joyce White, Author Of Ecology, Spirituality, And Cosmology In Edwidge Danticat The Beloved Author Of Don’t Cry For Me And Perfect Peace Returns With A Poignant, Emotionally Exuberant Novel About A Young Queer Black Man Finding His Voice In 1980s Chicago Isaac Is At A Crossroads In His Young Life. Growing Up In Missouri, The Son Of A Caustic, Hard-driving Father, He Was Conditioned To Suppress His Artistic Pursuits And Physical Desires. But Now, In Late ’80s Chicago, Isaac Has Finally Carved Out A Life Of His Own And Built Up The Courage To Seek Out A Community. Yet Just As He Begins To Embrace Who He Is, Two Social Catalysts—the Aids Crisis And Rodney King’s Attack—collectively Extinguish His Hard-earned Joy. At A Therapist’s Encouragement, Isaac Begins To Write Down His Story. As He Taps Into His Creative Energy, He Commences A Journey Back To His Family, His Ancestral Home In Arkansas And The Inherited Trauma Of The Past. But A Surprise Discovery Will Either Unlock The Truths He’s Seeking Or Threaten To Derail The Life He’s Fought So Hard To Claim. Poignant, Sweeping, And Luminously Told, Isaac's Song Is A Return To The Beloved Characters Of Don’t Cry For Me And A High-water Mark In The Career Of An Award-winning Author.

The New York Times #1 Bestseller Oprah Book Club Pick 'one Of The Best Books I Have Ever Read In My Entire Life. I Haven't Felt This Way Since I First Read Beloved . . .' Oprah Winfrey Lose Yourself In The Stunning Debut Novel Everyone Is Talking About - The Unmissable Historical Story Of Injustice And Redemption That Resonates Powerfully Today Hiram Walker Is A Man With A Secret, And A War To Win. A War For The Right To Life, To Family, To Freedom. Born Into Bondage On A Virginia Plantation, He Is Also Born Gifted With A Mysterious Power That He Won't Discover Until He Is Almost A Man, When He Risks Everything For A Chance To Escape. One Fateful Decision Will Carry Him Away From His Makeshift Plantation Family And Into The Heart Of The Underground War On Slavery... 'a Transcendent Work From A Crucial Political And Literary Artist' Diana Evans 'i've Been Wondering Who Might Fill The Intellectual Void That Plagued Me After James Baldwin Died. Clearly It Is Ta-nehisi Coates' Toni Morrison

The story of Macon Milkman Dead, heir to the richest black family in a Midwestern town, as he makes a voyage of rediscovery, travelling southwards geographically and inwards spiritually. Through the enlightenment of one man, the novel recapitulates the history of slavery and liberation.

In 1927, Zora Neale Hurston went to Plateau, Alabama, just outside Mobile, to interview eighty-six-year-old Cudjo Lewis. Of the millions of men, women, and children transported from Africa to America as slaves, Cudjo was then the only person alive to tell the story of this integral part of the nation’s history. Hurston was there to record Cudjo’s firsthand account of the raid that led to his capture and bondage fifty years after the Atlantic slave trade was outlawed in the United States.In 1931, Hurston returned to Plateau, the African-centric community three miles from Mobile founded by Cudjo and other former slaves from his ship. Spending more than three months there, she talked in depth with Cudjo about the details of his life. During those weeks, the young writer and the elderly formerly enslaved man ate peaches and watermelon that grew in the backyard and talked about Cudjo’s past—memories from his childhood in Africa, the horrors of being captured and held in a barracoon for selection by American slavers, the harrowing experience of the Middle Passage packed with more than 100 other souls aboard the Clotilda, and the years he spent in slavery until the end of the Civil War.Offering insight into the pernicious legacy that continues to haunt us all, black and white, this work is an invaluable contribution to our shared history and culture.

“The Power of One has everything: suspense, the exotic, violence; mysticism, psychology and magic; schoolboy adventures, drama.”–The New York Times“Unabashedly uplifting . . . asserts forcefully what all of us would like to believe: that the individual, armed with the spirit of independence–‘the power of one’–can prevail.”–Cleveland Plain DealerIn 1939, as Hitler casts his enormous, cruel shadow across the world, the seeds of apartheid take root in South Africa. There, a boy called Peekay is born. His childhood is marked by humiliation and abandonment, yet he vows to survive and conceives heroic dreams–which are nothing compared to what life actually has in store for him. He embarks on an epic journey through a land of tribal superstition and modern prejudice where he will learn the power of words, the power to transform lives, and the power of one.“Totally engrossing . . . [presents] the metamorphosis of a most remarkable young man and the almost spiritual influence he has on others . . . Peekay has both humor and a refreshingly earthy touch, and his adventures, at times, are hair-raising in their suspense.”–Los Angeles Times Book Review“Marvelous . . . It is the people of the sun-baked plains of Africa who tug at the heartstrings in this book. . . . [Bryce] Courtenay draws them all with a fierce and violent love.”–The Washington Post Book World“Impressive.”–Newsday“A compelling tale.”–The Christian Science Monitor

This is the story of Macon "Milkman" Dead, heir to the richest black family in a Midwestern town, as he makes a voyage of rediscovery, travelling southwards geographically and inwards spiritually. Through the enlightenment of one man, the novel recapitulates the history of slavery and liberation.