30 top books about Africa (MalWarwickOnBooks)

This is one of the 759 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

MalWarwickOnBooks, 32 Books

Mal Warwick, an author, co-author, or editor of some 20 books, and also a member of the National Book Critics Circle and the Northern California Book Reviewers. He's reviewed over 2,200 books on his blog.
"... 30 top books about Africa in two lists: the top nonfiction books, and the top novels. I’ve recently read and reviewed nearly all these books... Each of the two lists is arranged in alphabetical order by the authors’ last names. I’ve awarded each title I’ve reviewed a rating of ★★★★☆ or ★★★★★ in each of the two lists."
Note the list is actually 32 books.

This list was originally published in 2022 and was added to this site over 1 year ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
14732 The Looting Machine Tom Burgis 2015 British English
14554 Portfolios Of The Poor Daryl Collins, Jonathan Morduch, Stuart Rutherford, Orlanda Ruthven 2009 Unknown English
13259 The Great Escape Angus Deaton 2013 British English
14458 The White Man’s Burden William Russell Easterly 2006 Unknown English
14698 The Tyranny Of Experts William Russell Easterly 2014 American English
15667 Born In Blackness Howard W. French 2021 American English
14554 The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind William Kamkwamba 2009 Malawian English
13351 The Shadow Of The Sun Ryszard Kapuscinski 1998 Polish Polish
14493 Cobalt Red Siddharth Kara 2023 Unknown English
13259 The Idealist Nina Munk 2013 American English
14698 The Bright Continent Dayo Olopade 2014 Unknown English
14554 It's Our Turn To Eat Michela Wrong 2009 British English
15667 Do Not Disturb Michela Wrong 2021 British English
15686 River Spirit Leila Aboulela 2023 Sudanese English
15686 A Spell Of Good Things Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ 2023 Nigerian English
1158 Half of a Yellow Sun Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2006 Nigerian English
443 Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2013 Nigerian English
14698 Radiance Of Tomorrow Ishmael Beah 2014 American English
14599 Running The Rift Naomi Benaron 2010 American English
15594 The Mandela Plot Kenneth Bonert 2018 Canadian English
8593 The Promise Damon Galgut 2021 South African English
14732 The Death Of Rex Nhongo C. B. George 2015 Unknown English
9856 Afterlives Abdulrazak Gurnah 2020 British English
2504 Homegoing Yaa Gyasi 2016 Ghanaian English
14599 The Hairdresser Of Harare Tendai Huchu 2010 Zimbabwean English
878 The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver 1998 American English
10197 How Beautiful We Were Imbolo Mbue 2021 Cameroonian English
732 A Bend in the River V. S. Naipaul 1979 Trinidadian English
14493 A History Of Burning Janika Oza 2023 Unknown English
15686 The Whitewashed Tombs Kwei Quartey 2023 Ghanaian English
13362 The Seersucker Whipsaw Ross Thomas 1967 American English
5101 Cutting for Stone Abraham Verghese 2009 American English