AFRICA MUST UNITE

xvii, 229 pages: map on endpapers, some spotting to pages edges and preliminary pages and small chip on front free endnpaper. Cloth, dust wrapper with slight fraying along edges.

Nkrumah (1909-1972) was born and educated in the Gold Coast. After teaching in Accra for a short time he travelled to the United States in 1935 and then, after WWII, to England where he studied and became politically active. Upon his return to his home he became a leading proponent of change. In 1951 he became the popular de-facto leader of the Gold Coast and in 1957 the leader of Ghana, as it became known, the first of Britain's African colonies to obtain full independence and membership of the Commonwealth.

Sadly the riches of Ghana (the cocoa price was very high at this time) were squandered and Nkrumah was overthrown in a coup whilst on visit to Vietnam and China in 1966. He never returned to Ghana.

The years he spent in the US and his visits to the USSR motivated him to suggest that the only manner in which a new Africa could emerge from the shackles of colonialism and imperialism would be to unite and form a greater whole. He correctly predicted that if this did not happen Africa would be targeted and divided by the new world power blocks that had emerged. Idealistic and unrealistic it might have been, but in 1963 Africa's future looked very bright and Nkurmah stood at its apex.

Hard to find in such good condition.