African History Booklist
World History > African History
Book recommendations pertaining to African History.
Ancient Africa | Medieval Africa | Modern Africa
See Also:
The history of Africa begins with the emergence of hominids, archaic humans and—at least 200,000 years ago—anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens), in East Africa, and continues unbroken into the present as a patchwork of diverse and politically developing nation states. The earliest known recorded history arose in Ancient Egypt, and later in Nubia, the Sahel, the Maghreb and the Horn of Africa.
Ancient Africa (200,000 BCE - 399 CE)
See Also: Ancient Egypt
Book Title | Author | PubDate | Reading Age | Time Period | Time Frame | Geographic Area | Country | Topic | Genre | Format |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
When We Became Humans | Bright, Michael | 2019 | LE MG | Prehistory | 5,000,000-250,000 BCE | Africa | Various | Early Man Evolution | NF | PB |
The Kin | Dickinson, Peter | 1998 | MG YA | Prehistory | 200,000 BCE | Africa | Various | Stone Age Ancient Africa | F | N |
Medieval Africa (400-1399)
Modern Africa (1400-Present)
Book Title | Author | PubDate | Reading Age | Time Period | Time Frame | Geographic Area | Country | Topic | Genre | Format |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts | Hall, Rebecca | 2022 | YA A | Age of Revolutions | 1708-2002 | Africa North America | United States | Racism Atlantic Slave Trade Slave Revolts | NF | GN |
Homegoing | Gyasi, Yaa | 2016 | YA A | Age of Revolutions | 1775-2016 | Africa North America | United States | Racism African American History Atlantic Slave Trade Great Migration Civil Rights | F OV | N |
Leopold II: Butcher of the Congo | Olson, Tod | 2008 | YA UMG | Age of Revolutions | 1835-1909 | Africa | Belgium Congo | Congo Free State Leopold II | NF Bio | CB |
The Mirror at Midnight: A South African Journey | Hochschild, Adam | 2007 | YA A | Age of Revolutions | 1836–1839 | Africa | South Africa | Colonial Africa | NF | N |
Abina and the Important Men: A Graphic History | Getz, Trevor R. | 2016 | YA A | Industrial Age | 1876 | Gold Coast | Ghana | Slavery | NF Bio | GN |
What the River Knows | Ibañez, Isabel | 2023 | YA A | Industrial Age | 1880 | Africa | Egypt | Egyptology Archaeology Cleopatra | HF | N |
King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa | Hochschild, Adam | 1999 | YA A | Industrial Age | 1885-1908 | Africa | Belgium Congo | Congo Free State Leopold II | NF Bio | N |
Black Dove White Raven | Wein, Elizabeth | 2015 | YA A | Modern Age | 1930-1936 | Africa North America | Ethiopia | Italo-Ethiopian War African History | F | N |
Idi Amin (A Wicked History 20th Century) | Dougherty, Steve | 2010 | UMG YA | Modern Age | 1946-2003 | Africa | Uganda | Ugandan Army | NF Bio | CB |
Orange for the Sunsets | Athaide, Tina | 2020 | MG UMG | Modern Age | 1972 | Africa | Uganda | Immigration | F | N |
First They Killed My Father | Ung, Loung | 1999 | YA A | Modern Age | 1975-1979 | Africa | Cambodia | Cambodian Genocide | NF Bio | B |
Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and the Trees of Kenya | Napoli, Donna Jo | 2010 | LE | Modern Age | 1977 | Africa | Kenya | Environment | F | PB |
Journey To Jo'Burg: A South African Story | Naidoo, Beverley | 1985 | MG | Modern Age | 1980 | Africa | South Africa | Apartheid | F | CB |
Nya's Long Walk: A Step at a Time | Park, Linda Sue | 2019 | LE | Modern Age | 1985-2009 | Africa | Sudan | Sudanese Civil War | F | PB |
A Long Walk To Water | Park, Linda Sue | 2011 | MG UMG | Modern Age | 1985-2009 | Africa | Sudan | Sudanese Civil War | F | CB |
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families | Gourevitch, Philip | 1999 | YA A | Modern Age | 1994 | Africa | Rwanda | Rwandan Genocide | NF | B |
Broken Memory: A Novel of Rwanda | Combres, Elisabeth | 2011 | UMG | Modern Age | 1994 | Africa | Rwanda | Rwandan Genocide | F | N |
Machete Season: The Killers in Rwanda Speak | Hatzfeld, Jean | 2006 | A | Modern Age | 1994 | Africa | Rwanda | Rwandan Genocide | NF | B |
Life Laid Bare: The Survivors in Rwanda Speak | Hatzfeld, Jean | 2007 | A | Modern Age | 1994 | Africa | Rwanda | Rwandan Genocide | NF | B |
Bill and Pete go Down the Nile | DePaola, Tomie | 1987 | LE | Early Civilization | 1987 | Africa | Egypt | Ancient Egypt | F HF | PB |
When Stars Are Scattered | Jamieson, Victoria Mohamed, Omar | 2020 | UMG | Modern Age | 1996-2011 | Africa | Somalia Kenya | Somalian Civil War Kenyan Refugee Camp | NF Bio OV | GN |
Africa Is Not a Country | Knight, Margy Burns | 2002 | LE | Modern Age | 2000 | Africa | Various | African Continent | NF | PB |
The Antelope's Strategy: Living in Rwanda After the Genocide | Hatzfeld, Jean | 2010 | A | Modern Age | 2003 | Africa | Rwanda | Rwandan Genocide | NF | B |
The Red Pencil | Davis Pinkney, Andrea | 2015 | MG UMG | Modern Age | 2003-2011 | Africa | Sudan | Sudanese Refugees | F | N |
Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree | Nwaubani, Adaobi Tricia | 2020 | YA A | Modern Age | 2014 | Africa | Nigeria | Boko Haram | F | N |
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Reading Age | Genre | Format |
LE = lower elementary MG = middle grade (8-12 yrs.) UMG = upper-middle grade (11-14 yrs.) YA = young adult (14+) A = adult (18+) |
NF - non fiction F = fiction Bio = biography HF = historical fantasy AH = alternate history OV - own voices M = mythology S = spine book |
PB = picture book GN = graphic novel ER = early reader CB = chapter book B = book (NF) N = novel M = memoir |