Overview

My First Coup D'Etat chronicles the coming-of-age of John Dramani Mahama in Ghana during the dismal post-independence 'lost decades' of Africa. He was seven years old when rumours of a coup reached his boarding school in Accra. His father, a minister of state, was suddenly missing, then imprisoned for more than a year. My First Coup D'Etat offers a look at the country that has long been considered Africa's success story. This is a one-of-a-kind book: Mahama's is a rare literary voice from a political leader, and his stories work on many levels - as fables, as history, as cultural and political analysis, and, of course, as the memoir of a young man who, unbeknownst to him or anyone else, would grow up to be vice president of his nation. Though non-fiction, these are stories that rise above their specific settings and transport the reader - much like the fiction of Isaac Bashevis Singer and Nadine Gordimer - into a world all their own, one which straddles a time lost and explores the universal human emotions of love, fear, faith, despair, loss, longing, and hope despite all else.

Full Product Details

Author:   John Dramani Mahama
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN:  

9781408832684

ISBN 10:   1408832682
Pages:   336
Publication Date:   19 July 2012
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Reviews

It's a rich, gentle, powerful, kind African voice that is largely missing from America, and that is certainly invisible in American accounts of African politics. Andrew Solomon, author of THE NOONDAY DEMON [Mahama's stories] lure the reader into an unforgettable journey in which he interacts with history as a living tissue. The characters and the episodes are part of the everyday but one imbued with magic and suggestive power that go beyond the concrete and the palpable to hint at history in motion. Ngugi wa Thiongo, author of WEEP NOT CHILD and WIZARD OF THE CROW I found the stories - or rather snapshots of a life - warm and engaging. I particularly liked the view of a complex world in microcosm. Aminatta Forna, author of THE MEMORY OF LOVE

Author Information

His Excellency John Dramani Mahama is a writer, historian, communications expert, former member of Parliament and Minister of State, and sitting Vice President of the Republic of Ghana. He lives in Accra, Ghana.

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