Rhyming Chaos
Rhyming Chaos
An African vision for freedom
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An African vision for freedom

Author Howard French is one of the best narrators of recent African history in book form. We discuss his latest book, on Kwame Nkrumah—an African political hero who has been forgotten in the West.
Cover of The Second Emancipation: Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, and Global Blackness at High Tide, by Howard D. French.

Howard French has reported for the Washington Post and New York Times from nearly every country in Africa; all over the Caribbean; Japan; and Korea. He is the author of several books, including Disappearing Shanghai: Photographs and Poems of an Intimate Way of Life, and China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants are Building a New Empire in Africa

His latest book, The Second Emancipation: Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, and Global Blackness at High Tide is an examination of the life of Ghanaian Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah, who in 1957 became the first leader of a post-colonial country in sub-Saharan Africa.

On this show, we discuss:

  • Kwame Nkrumah’s rise from the son of a goldsmith in a small town to activist to leader of Ghana

  • Nkrumah's role in Ghana's independence

  • Pan-Africanism

  • If there are any lessons from Ghana for Trump’s America

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