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The Second Emancipation

Nkruman, Pan-Africanism, and Global Blackness at High Tide

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The Second Emancipation

By: Howard W. French
Narrated by: Howard W. French, David Sadzin
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About this listen

Named one of the Most Anticipated Books of 2025 by Foreign Policy

"Howard French's The Second Emancipation stands the second half of the last century on its geopolitical head."―David Levering Lewis, winner of the Pulitzer Prize

From the acclaimed author of Born in Blackness comes an extraordinary account of Africa's liberation from colonial oppression, a work that fundamentally reshapes our understanding of modern history.

A work of epic dimension that recasts the liberation of twentieth-century Africa through the lens of revolutionary leader Kwame Nkrumah.

The Second Emancipation, the second work in a trilogy from bestselling author Howard W. French about Africa's pivotal role in shaping world history, underscores Adam Hochschild's contention that French is a "modern-day Copernicus." The title―referring to a brief period beginning in 1957 when dozens of African colonies gained their freedom―positions this liberation at the center of a "movement of global Blackness," with one charismatic leader, Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972), at its head.

©2025 Howard W. French (P)2025 Highbridge Audio Activists Africa Politics & Activism Presidents & Heads of State Imperialism Social justice Socialism

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Most books on Kwame Nkrumah are either hagiographies or critiques of his life and career. This book is perhaps the only fair assessment that matches and in some aspects surpasses previous research on the great leader. I highly recommend it especially to Africans.

Excellent and fair appraisal of one of the great leaders of the 20th century

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If you are looking for a biography of Nkumrah, relating him to the US civil rights movement then this may be of interest. It fails at this by being too much of a hagiography, with little on how he ran Ghana into economic failure surrounded by corruption within a decade. A lesson perhaps that being an inspirational orator and populist organiser does not lead to good government.

There are brief sections on other independence leaders including Lumumba and Nyerere, but each of these are viewed via their relationship with Nkumrah rather than their own distinct history and politics.

There must be a better book out there on post colonial Africa.

Too long and too much Nkumrah hagiography

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