Author: The Second Emancipation: Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, and Global Blackness at High Tide. Starred review PW: publishersweekly.com/9781324…
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🙂The Second Emancipation named as one of the 20 best non-fiction books of 2025 by Publishers Weekly. best-books.publishersweekly.…
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Global silence.
The UN says nearly seven million people are now internally displaced within the Democratic Republic of Congo due to escalating violence.
According to the UN, the DRC is facing one of the world's biggest displacement and humanitarian crises. bbc.in/3FEvwha
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This is sharp and devastating. "Truss learns the hard way that Britain isn’t America." ft.com/content/bd511177-f2a3…
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Super interesting to note the contrast between the way Brown University and Columbia University have handled these protests. Brown agreed to a governance vote about divestment, the encampment there dissolved.
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One learns lots about deep-seated attitudes toward Africa thru incidents like this Ethiopian Airlines crash. Headlines scream abt non-African casualties, amid insinuations this was cheap, 3d World operation, when in fact Ethiopian has a great record of safety and global service.
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Smithsonian to give back its entire collection of Benin bronzes washingtonpost.com/arts-ente…
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"Why does a university invest in an arms manufacturer in the first place?" Question from a student.
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The economist Kenneth Rogoff just now on @NewsHour "Do I worry about debt if we have to spend $5 trillion to get out of this in the space of a few months? Who cares. Do I worry about inflation? No.
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The moment when you unbox the first copies of your new, finished book. Born in Blackness has been long in the making but it won't be long now in the waiting. It's due out on October 12.
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Europe has fallen behind America and the gap is growing ft.com/content/80ace07f-3acb…
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Harvard has remains of 7,000 Native Americans and enslaved people, leaked report says washingtonpost.com/history/2…
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Some happy book news. Amazon today named my new "Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World" one of the best history books of 2021. Also today, the Financial Times called it one the best "political books" of the year.
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Senegal's quiet COVID success: Test results in 24 hours, temperature checks at every store, no fights over masks usatoday.com/story/news/worl… via @usatoday
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Today is publication day for my new book, The Second Emancipation: Nkrumah,Pan-Africanism,and Global Blackness at High Tide. Widely available now..
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This should be leading the news everywhere. news.google.com/articles/CBM…
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Roughly 350,000 Africans fought for Britain in WWII. 30,000 Africans were killed in Western Front in WWI. Have u ever seen that in a movie?
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Make no mistake: the placing Nigeria, the world's largest black nation, on a sweeping US travel ban is a collosal foreign and public policy error. Made in racist spirit and in the most short-sighted pursuit of electoral advantage imaginable.
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All of this blather asking how could such violent events be visited upon civilized Europe. To think how much mental energy it must take to suppress memory of the fact that Europe has repeatedly been the scene of the greatest barbarity in last century.
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Trump simultaneously wants people to believe that this was crisis that no one could have ever dreamed of AND that states should have stocked up on ventilators in preparation three years ago.
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They disappeared after encounters with Nigeria’s security forces. Where are their bodies? washingtonpost.com/world/202…
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Nemat Shafik's instincts as president of Columbia are basically those of the police-state: conduct video surveillance of students, threaten them, and the lock down the campus, even keeping faculty out. Destroy the village in order to save it.
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My new NYRB piece on Mansa Musa and medieval Africa is now up and apparently, happily not gated. "Africa’s Lost Kingdoms" nybooks.com/articles/2019/06… via @nybooks
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Biden just now: There is no longer a bright line between foreign and domestic policy, and to push back against authoritarianism effectively, the US must make racial equity a "whole of government effort."
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I'm very excited to say that Born in Blackness is published today. Wherever you are, this is part of your story, too. "Built on the bodies of slaves: how Africa was erased from the history of the modern world" @historians theguardian.com/news/2021/oc…
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James Bennett upbraided me at a cocktail party over this piece: "The enduring whiteness of the American media" | Howard French theguardian.com/world/2016/m…
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I drove to Leshan, in Sichuan this morning, braving the heat to see the tallest stone Buddha and tallest premodern statue of any kind in the world. It's 13 centuries old, and I have long wanted to see it but never managed on previous visits to the region.
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This is total bullshit, and the page is a wreck, with superannuated or just simply out of touch columnists leavened with calculated but ill conceived occasional pandering to reactionary voices to validate a shallow notion of balance.
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Few thrills are as nice as seeing one's own book for the first time, but cracking open a box of newly issued paperbacks is a close second: Born in Blackness!
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So exciting to see this first thing Saturday morning: Born in Blackness freshly released in German, with lots of other new language editions on the way soon!
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The late queen incarnated and ably helped sell her nation and its system while never criticizing or apologizing for its past. foreignpolicy.com/2022/09/12…
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Remember when Novak Djokovic called out Naomi Osaka for not following the rules? deadspin.com/remember-when-n…
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No one has ever "broken a story" from a briefing room. nitter.app/kevinmkruse/status/835…
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McConnell, in remarks right now, basically says Trump was guilty of incitement, immediately after having lacked the courage to vote that way. Incredible example of cowardice and wanting to having it both ways.
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"Africa, the Center of History" I feel incredibly honored to have Born in Blackness reviewed so appreciatively by Adom Getachew, whose work I've long admired deeply. nybooks.com/articles/2023/08… via @nybooks
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Columbia University is basically encircled by a huge police presence. We're received a messages saying "shelter in place." The arrest of demonstrators occupying Hamilton Hall and perhaps others is imminent. Human chain around the building by supporting students.
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This story literally has every known trope of writing on Africa as a backdrop for whiteness. telegraph.co.uk/women/life/h…
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Some exciting personal news. I've accepted an invitation from the World Politics Review to begin writing a regular column on global affairs beginning next week. worldpoliticsreview.com/
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The Aaron Sorkin suggestion that Democrats nominate Romney isn't as ludicrous as it first seems. Yes, it's stupid, but it fits within decades of elite advice to the party: When in trouble, be more Republican.
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Southern Vietnam will all but disappear under water, as will much of Shanghai, Bangkok, Mumbai. Startling graphics. "Rising Seas Will Erase More Cities by 2050, New Research Shows" nyti.ms/2NkOqOQ
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Remembering their coverage of the ebola epidemic in Liberia, where their correspondent, Lara Logan, never spoke on camera to a single Liberian.
It's tiring to have to even note such things, but @60Minutes went all the way to Fukushima, site of Japan's nuclear disaster, to talk to Americans.
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If Trump does not concede, Biden campaign says U.S. government is ‘perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House.’
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Just received word that my book, Born in Blackness, will be published in a French edition in France in October (Calmann Levy). That's the 9th non-English edition so far.
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"Black Britons Know Why Meghan Markle Wants Out
It’s the racism." nytimes.com/2020/01/09/opini… via @NYTOpinion
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A new coronavirus vaccine heading to India was developed by a small team in Texas. It expects nothing in return. washingtonpost.com/world/202…
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From this it sounds like the New York Times has gone and hired it's first African ever for a staff position covering Africa, Abdi Latif Dahir, recently of @columbiajourn. Congrats @Lattif, and break lots of bones (gently).
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Clearly Africa disappointing folks once again.
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Born in Blackness showing up a a "best seller" now. Thank you everyone who has bought the book!
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Just hearing that Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World has hit the bestseller list in Germany.
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What a fine day this is to be able to share my first, finished copy of my new book, The Second Emancipation, pre-orders available, out in August.
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And while we're talking about lifetime seats on the Supreme Court, can we spend a minute on self-fossilizing columnists at the NYT?
“Al Gore is so feminized and diversified and ecologically correct, he's practically lactating.”
@maureendowd NYT
June16, 1999
(look it up)
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Oh, wow. Born in Blackness. Call me honored and deeply gratified.
Congratulations to @hofrench, @jarvisrgivens, & @TiyaMilesTAM - our 2022 MAAH Stone Book Award Winner & Finalists! Join us at our virtual award event on 10/13 @ 6:30pmET to celebrate these extraordinary authors. Registration opens 09/13. @LiverightPub @harvardpress @penguinrandom
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Salman Rushdie: I’ve seen dictators rise and fall. Beware, America. washingtonpost.com/opinions/…
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I can confirm that even faculty IDs are deactivated at Columbia today, and that it is impossible to access the buildings without (possibly) security escort.
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The ongoing political reforms in Angola have to count as one of the least expected, most and important, and under-covered stories of the decade in Africa.
Angola retrieves more than $5 bln in stolen assets amid crackdown on graft buff.ly/2ErJcwy
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A special moment that never gets old, unboxing a new book after years of work on it. Please help me welcome The Second Emancipation: Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, and Global Blackness at High Tide.
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Daniel Smith, one of the last children of enslaved Americans, dies at 90 washingtonpost.com/obituarie…
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Trump's meeting w Congo's Sassou Nguesso (a v repugnant guy) won't get much media, cuz it's Africa, but it shows truly atrocious judgment.
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This is a gigantic development that seems not to be getting any major attention in the US media. Ethiopia, where plenty of other big changes are underway, is one of Africa's biggest and most important countries. US has played played a historic role in war in this region.
Ethiopia and Eritrea declare end of war bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-…
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On American journalism during the Israel-Gaza conflict, from a long piece about Ta-Nehisi Coates. nymag.com/intelligencer/arti…
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Abdulrazak Gurnah and Wole Soyinka, two African Nobel Literature laureates at the @akefestival in Lagos, where I've just been.
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Good on @ABCWorldNews for showing how Africans are being denied entry by Ukraine's neighbors even as their doors are flung open for fleeing Ukrainians.
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Some Polynesians Carry DNA of Ancient Native Americans, New Study Finds: A new genetic study suggests that Polynesians made an epic voyage to South America 800 years ago. nytimes.com/2020/07/08/scien… via @NYTimes
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Easily the best thing I've read on Trump's world view. A must. "What Trump Is Throwing Out the Window" nybooks.com/articles/2017/02… via @nybooks
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I was just asked to write a 1,400-word book essay for a prestigious publication in the UK for a fee of £160. I had to decline. Writers shouldn't be subsidizing publishers.
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Surest sign of regime change in Tanzania: mask wearing is now de rigueur, with a new female head of state showing the way.
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Interesting fact. In 1974, after a decade and a half of high growth, average monthly wages in Côte d'Ivoire were twice those of Singapore and four times those of Taiwan.
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"Niger’s Coup Is a Turning Point for Africans - The crisis has created a truly geopolitical moment for intra-African politics." My column. foreignpolicy.com/2023/08/08…
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I've covered wars from C. America to W and Central Africa. I flew into ebola zone in Zaïre in peak outbreak, toured stricken neighborhoods and Kikwit's overrun hospital. Still, I've never felt a sense of dread quite like NYC right now. It's like frigging Stalingrad outside.
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My new column. "A War-Weakened Russia Has No Strategic Value to China" worldpoliticsreview.com/arti…
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Letter from members of the Congressional Black Caucus protesting treatment of people of African descent in Ukraine and by its neighbors.
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I'm out of the country right now, but intensely curious to know how Fox News will cover this, especially after having done so much, through people like @TuckerCarlson, to pump up anti immigrant sentiment.
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We've just agreed with a Taipei publisher to produce a Taiwanese edition of Born in Blackness in translation. That makes 7 publishing markets outside the US for the book, and also the third straight book of mine published in Taiwan.
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Amira Hass, Israeli child of Holocaust survivors, speaking at my journalism school's graduation right now: You must refuse to accept Hell on Earth as normal.
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Japan's low transmission rates don't actually seem all that mysterious: High rates of mask usage, hygiene obsessed culture, including frequent hand washing, and no custom of hand shaking or kissed greetings. Voila.
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Not a single African voice in @60Minutes piece from Liberia on ebola. Not remotely acceptable?We see a father whose son is dying. No quote.
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Many have asked here about an audio version of Born in Blackness. I'm very happy to announce it will finally be available on April 12th!
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.@TuckerCarlson says immigration has ruined California, making it poorer than Mississippi. CA per capita income $30k, median income $63k; MI per capita $21k, median $37k.
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Props to @60Minutes for tonight's segment on Syrian "white helmets" who excavate people from aerial bombings. Utterly gruesome and heroic.
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"China’s World," an NYT books podcast conversation with @PamelaPaulNYT about my book Everything Under the Heavens. nyti.ms/2sznqCu
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Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong have brought outbreaks under control — and without resorting to China’s draconian measures: Here’s How. nyti.ms/3cZboHk
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Out next year. google.com/books/edition/The…
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As someone who was nearly killed by this disease, and who has lost friends to it, hallelujah is the word.
Breaking News: The WHO approved the first ever malaria vaccine, which could save tens of thousands of children in sub-Saharan Africa. The quest for this vaccine has been underway for a hundred years, a WHO official said, and is a "historic event." nyti.ms/3oxUgAy
Community note
Minor correction but the WHO didn’t “approve” the vaccine — they “recommend” it. The WHO doesn’t have authority to approve vaccines.
who.int/news/item/06-1…
Phase 3 results of this vaccine were first published and the vaccine was approved by EMA in 2015.
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A piece of mine last October about the "secret" history of Haiti's treatment by France and the US after its independence: The West owes a centuries-old debt to Haiti latimes.com/opinion/story/20…
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A weekend suggestion, while it is still unlocked. "Africa’s Lost Kingdoms"nybooks.com/articles/2019/06… via @nybooks
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Dec. 20, was the anniversary of the transfer by France to the U.S. of New Orleans, in 1803, in the Louisiana Purchase. 828,000 sq. miles of territory, at less than 3 cents/acre. This deal flowed from the African defeat of Napoleon in Haiti, doubling the size of the US overnight.
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Where was the daily coverage of the Times throughout all of this?
Disturbing deep @nytimes history of how Israel’s radical right-wing religious terrorist fringe led by outlaw West Bank settlers has, over 50 years, moved into the mainstream, wrecked democracy and now taken over the country.
The parallels with the U.S. right are chilling. 1/2
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Even if you think you know this history, you may be surprised by many of these untaught details: "The West owes a centuries-old debt to Haiti" latimes.com/opinion/story/20…
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Key words: "Boeing says."
Boeing says it has corrected simulator software of 737 MAX jets buff.ly/2w50hrN
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