Burkina Faso: A History of Power, Protest, and Revolution
3/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
In October 2014, huge protests across Burkina Faso succeeded in overthrowing the long-entrenched regime of their authoritarian ruler, Blaise Compaoré. Defying all expectations, this popular movement went on to defeat an attempted coup by the old regime, making it possible for a transitional government to organize free and fair elections the following year. In doing so, the people of this previously obscure West African nation surprised the world, and their struggle stands as one of the few instances of a popular democratic uprising succeeding in postcolonial sub-Saharan Africa.
For over three decades, Ernest Harsch has researched and reported from Burkina Faso, interviewing subjects ranging from local democratic activists to revolutionary icon Thomas Sankara, the man once dubbed ‘Africa’s Che Guevara.’ In this book, Harsch provides a compelling history of this little understood country, from the French colonial period to the Compaoré regime and the movement that finally deposed him.
Brian C. Rathbun
Ernest Harsch is a research scholar at the Institute of African Studies at Columbia University. He worked on African issues at the United Nations for more than twenty years and is the author of South Africa: White Rule, Black Revolt.
Read more from Brian C. Rathbun
Thomas Sankara: An African Revolutionary Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5At the Precipice: Americans North and South during the Secession Crisis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiplomacy's Value: Creating Security in 1920s Europe and the Contemporary Middle East Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Burkina Faso
Related ebooks
From Asylum to Immigrant: My Years in Germany(1984-2010) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUrban Politics in Nigeria: A Study of Port Harcourt Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Season of Rains: Africa in the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Threat of Liberation: Imperialism and Revolution in Zanzibar Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Black Consciousness Reader Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Burundi’S Negative Peace: The Shadow of a Broken Continent in the Era of Nepad Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAfrican Nationalism: African Nationalism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThings Still Fall Apart Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe United African States: The Federal African State Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBanking on the State: The Financial Foundations of Lebanon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Other Side of History: An anecdotal reflection on political transition in South Africa Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPan-Africanism Reconsidered Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsARISE AND WALK, O BELOVED AFRICA: MY exciting Story of the African Union Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBe a Beacon of Hope in the World: A Message to Young Britain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Myth of Self-Reliance: Economic Lives Inside a Liberian Refugee Camp Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings"Africa": Doomed? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEveryday Sectarianism in Urban Lebanon: Infrastructures, Public Services, and Power Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBusiness of Civil War: New Forms of Life in the Debris of the Democratic Republic of Congo Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Origins of Non-Racialism: White opposition to apartheid in the 1950s Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRobert Sobukwe: How Can Man Die Better Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSounds of Sirens: Essays in African Politics & Culture Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBush Bound: Young Men and Rural Permanence in Migrant West Africa Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBefore the Fires I Was Black: A Blueprint for a Brighter Future Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Painful Ramifications of the South African Democracy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Concrete Bridge on Wooden Pillars: Opinions and Wishes of the Marginalised Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy First Coup d'Etat: And Other True Stories from the Lost Decades of Africa Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roots in Reverse: Senegalese Afro-Cuban Music and Tropical Cosmopolitanism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsI Am Brother Oji Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAfrica Memoir: 50 Years, 54 Countries, One American Life (Algeria - Liberia) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Republic of Monkeys Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
African History For You
King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Boy [Seventy-fifth Anniversary Edition] Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Forgotten Slave Trade: The White European Slaves of Islam Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Orishas: An Introduction to African Spirituality and Yoruba Religion Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Africa's Gift to America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Encyclopedia of the Yoruba Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nelson Mandela Biography: The Long Walk to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 21: A Journey into the Land of Coptic Martyrs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Original Names and Descriptions of God and Jesus Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Black Biblical Heritage Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5African Founders: How Enslaved People Expanded American Ideals Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Kingdom of Kush: The Civilization of Ancient Nubia Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Precolonial Black Africa Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Three Sips of Gin: Dominating the Battlespace with Rhodesia's Elite Selous Scouts Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Operation Certain Death: The Inside Story of the Greatest SAS Battles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Explorers of the Nile: The Triumph and Tragedy of a Great Victorian Adventure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Affluence Without Abundance: The Disappearing World of the Bushmen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Congo: The Epic History of a People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Machete Season: The Killers in Rwanda Speak Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5MANSA MUSA: Emperor of The Wealthy Mali Empire Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Inheritors: An Intimate Portrait of South Africa's Racial Reckoning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Land, Mobility, and Belonging in West Africa: Natives and Strangers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Road to Mecca Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Emperor: Downfall of an Autocrat Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blood River: The Terrifying Journey through the World's Most Dangerous Country Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Burkina Faso
2 ratings1 review
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5“Burkina Faso: A History of Power, Protest, and Revolution” by Ernest Harsch is a comprehensive history of Burkina Faso. Particular attention is paid to the revolutionary years (1983-87) under Thomas Sankara, whom the author interviewed several times, and the Burkinabe Uprising in 2014 that deposed Blaise Compaoré.As I was expecting a deeper analysis of Burkina Faso, I was disappointed that most of the book consist of almost verbatim historical facts, and consequently reads more like a Wikipedia article. But considering the dearth of material available on Burkina Faso, perhaps I was expecting too much. Maybe the author’s biography of Thomas Sankara (which I also own) will be more of what I am looking for :)