Curse Of The Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta
from powerHouse Books
Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta takes a graphic look at the profound cost of oil exploitation in West Africa. Featuring images by world-renowned photojournalist Ed Kashi and text by Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, prominent Nigerian journalists, human rights activists, and University of California at Berkeley professor Michael Watts, this book traces the 50-year history of Nigeria's oil interests and the resulting environmental degradation and community conflicts that have plagued the region.
Now one of the major suppliers of U.S. oil, Nigeria is the sixth largest producer of oil in the world. Set against a backdrop of what has been called the scramble for African oil, Curse of the Black Gold is the first book to document the consequences of a half-century of oil exploration and production in one of the world's foremost centers of biodiversity. This book exposes the reality of oil's impact and the absence of sustainable development in its wake, providing a compelling pictorial history of one of the world's great deltaic areas. Accompanied by powerful writing by some of the most prominent public intellectuals and critics in contemporary Nigeria, Kashi's photographs capture local leaders, armed militants, oil workers, and nameless villagers, all of whose fates are inextricably linked. His exclusive coverage bears witness to the ongoing struggles of local communities, illustrating the paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty.
The publication of Curse of the Black Gold occurs at a moment of worldwide concern over dependency on petroleum, dubbed by New York Times journalist Thomas Friedman as "the resource curse." Much has been written about the drama of the search for oil—Daniel Yergin's The Prize and Ryszard Kapus´cin´ski's Shah of Shahs are two of the most widely lauded—but there has been no serious examination of the relations between oil, environment, and community in a particular oil-producing region. Curse of the Black Gold is a landmark work of historic significance.
Nigeria 2nd (Bradt Travel Guide Nigeria)
by Lizzie Williams
from Bradt Travel Guides
Despite its negative image, for travelers with an open mind and friendly demeanor Nigeria is an incredibly absorbing country in which to travel. Experience the mind-boggling chaos of Lagos, the traditional durbars, Benin bronzes and walled cities, and enjoy its single greatest quality – the warm generosity of 140 million people.
Details of getting around, by bush taxi, rail, car or on foot, together with accommodations options, wildlife watching and activities, are balanced by a wealth of background information, from history (of a country dating back thousands of years) and geography to culture and the environment.
Nigeria Map by ITMB
by International Travel Maps
from International Travel Maps and Books
Folded road and travel map in color. Scale 1:1,600,000. Distinguishes roads ranging from freeways to other roads. Legend includes tracks, railways, international/domestic airports, airfields, gas stations, hospitals/medical facilities, hotels, rest houses, huts, camp sites, border crossings, ferries, points of interest, archaeological sites, museums, mosques, missions/churches, beaches, national parks, nature reserves. Includes inset map of Lagos, Lagos Island and Benin City.
Niger: The Bradt Travel Guide
by Jolijn Geels
from Bradt Travel Guides
Features include:
>Full range of travel and accommodation options
>Present-day peoples and ethnic groups, including the Hausa, the Peul, and the Tuareg, including vocabulary and phrases
>Niger culture and religion
>Wildlife and ecosystems
To Timbuktu: A Journey Down the Niger
by Mark Jenkins
from Modern Times
For nearly eight years as the monthly columnist for Outside magazine, and in his award-winning books, Mark Jenkins has held fans spellbound with his riveting accounts of expeditions to remote parts of the globe. In To Timbuktu, he sets out with three friends to attempt their first descent of the Niger River, hoping to reach the legendary city of Timbuktu. Along the way they are attacked by killer bees, charged by hippos, and stalked by crocodiles. They stumble upon a group of completely blind men living alone in the bush and dance with a hundred naked women. That Jenkins finally reaches his goal—riding alone across the Sahara on a motorcycle—stands in sharp contrast to what befell earlier explorers who tried to find Timbuktu and whose fates the author interweaves with the narrative of his own journey.
A rich combination of cultural exploration, history, and gripping adventure, this beautifully repackaged edition of To Timbuktu is a journey not to be missed.
Riding the Demon: On the Road in West Africa
by Peter Chilson
from University of Georgia Press
Nigeria (Countries of the World)
by Kristin Thoennes
from Capstone Press
No camera or fanny pack needed for this trip! We're traveling to faraway lands with the turn of a page! Children will discover similarities and differences of each country's culture, landscape, geography, economics, and more!
Nomads of Niger
by Carol Beckwith
from Harry N. Abrams
If one picture is worth a thousand words, then the combination of text and images in Nomads of Niger adds up to the equivalent of a whole encyclopedia. The cover photograph alone tells you this will be a special journey; before you even reach the title page you've already been treated to several stunning portraits of a nomadic people known as the Wodaabe, "who number among the last nomads of Africa, indeed among the last nomads on earth." The landscape the Wodaabe inhabit is a harsh one: "In central Niger, between the great Sahara Desert and the grasslands, lies an immense steppe, scattered with scrawny bushes and skeletal trees. For nine months of the year hardly a drop of rain falls. The days are torrid, the nights sometimes freezing cold. And the harmattan, the hot wind out of the desert, blows up relentlessly, filling the air with a sandy haze." Across this no-man's land the Wodaabe herd their cattle, migrating north in the rainy season and south again in the dry months and leaving no trace of their travels as they go.
Photographer Carol Beckwith spent 18 months traveling with one particular band of Wodaabe, and her photographs concentrate on the family of a herdsman named Mokao and his family. Nomads of Niger is more than just a coffee-table book; it is also an informative and highly entertaining account of the lives, customs, rituals, and taboos of the Wodaabe reminiscent of the best of National Geographic magazine.
To Timbuktu
by Mark Jenkins
from William Morrow & Co
Traveling with Mark Jenkins is a mixture of the daring and the dangerous, the dramatic and the absurd. Here, he and three friends, with the aid of a remarkably intuitive African guide, set out to attempt the first descent of the Niger River, the legendary city of Timbuktu their final goal. Along the way, they are attacked by killer bees, charged by hippos, stalked by crocodiles. They pass through villages where every female child has undergone a clitorectomy, stumble upon a group of completely blind men living in the bush, dance with a hundred naked women. That Jenkins reaches his goal, riding alone across the Sahara on a motorcycle, stands in sharp contrast to what befell those who first tried to find Timbuktu and whose fates the author interweaves with the narrative of his own adventures.
Dear Family Letters From Nigeria
by Gayle Lewis
from Abigail Press
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