Thanks largely to the landmark Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka case of 1954, which declared that separate educational facilities were inherently unequal and therefore unconstitutional, the civil rights movement began to gain momentum. This movement, which was led by such activists as Martin Luther King Jr., espoused nonviolent protest as a means to ending racial segregation and promoting equal rights for African Americans.
Africa's strong tradition of storytelling has long been an expression of an oral narrative culture. African writers such as Amos Tutuola, Naguib Mahfouz, Wole Soyinka and J. M. Coetzee have adapted these older forms to develop and enhance the genre of the novel, in a shift from the oral mode to print. Comprehensive in scope, these new essays cover the fiction in the European languages from North Africa and Africa south of the Sahara, as well as in Arabic.
Best known for the highly controversial Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie brings to his novels the perspective of a South African expatriate caught between the diverse cultures of the East and West. He is able to bring to his work a parodic detatchment from the two cultures, as well intimate knowledge of the struggle of a South African expatriate.
The African continent is home to a fascinating and strong tradition of myth, due in part to the long history of human habitation in Africa; the diversity of its geography, flora, and fauna; and the variety of its cultural beliefs. African Mythology A to Z, Second Edition is a readable reference to the deities, places, events, animals, beliefs, and other subjects that appear in the myths of various African peoples. For the first time, this edition features full-color photographs and illustrations.
