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The African Experience: From 'Lucy' to Mandela

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The African Experience: From 'Lucy' to Mandela

By: Kenneth P. Vickery, The Great Courses
Narrated by: Kenneth P. Vickery
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About this listen

The story of Africa is the oldest and most event-filled chronicle of human activity on the planet. And in these 36 lectures, you'll explore this great historical drama, tracing the story of the Sub-Saharan region of the continent from the earliest evidence of human habitation to the latest challenges facing African nations in the 21st century.

By learning with these lectures, you'll finally be able to bust myths and correct potential misunderstandings about Africa. For example, in Africa, the word "tribe" is used in a neutral way to connote ethnic identity. Another example: Sub-Saharan Africa was not as isolated as is often suggested by references to the "lost" continent; in fact, an ancient Greek sailing guide from 2,000 years ago clearly shows that the East African coast was already connected commercially with areas to the north.

The primary focus of these eye-opening lectures is Sub-Saharan Africa, the region separated from North Africa by the harsh climate of the Sahara Desert and traditionally the part of the continent that has been the most mysterious and most misunderstood by Westerners. But by traveling on this exciting learning experience (one imbued with a pervasive spirit of charm and adventure), you'll finally be able to strengthen your understanding of this beautiful, multifaceted region.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2006 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2006 The Great Courses
World Africa Ancient History
All stars
Most relevant
I ignored this lecture for years unfortunately but the history of the continent in the 19th and 20th centuries is fascinating. highly recommended

surprisingly interesting

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Whilst the subject itself is rich and interesting, what really makes this series of lectures stand out is the lecturer. Could not recommend more.

Fascinating

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I thoroughly enjoyed this lecture course which packed a huge amount of information in a very compact form, and presented it in a very entertaining way. The lecturer clearly has a huge knowledge base but combines it with relevant and fascinating anecdotes. This course exposed my huge ignorance about all things African, but by the end of it I feel a slight expert, and a lot of events from the last 20 years or so suddenly make much more sense. This course is very highly recommended to anyone with curiosity about Africa.

Compelling and Highly Informative

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This course was very informative, comprehensive and well structured. I'm West African and I'm ashamed to admit that I was completely ignorant about the history of our southern and eastern neighbours before embarking on this course.

Remarkable!

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I've read a few histories of Africa, and I was afraid that this was going to be mainly a rehashing of what was stated in these. That fear was however, totally without basis, as this series turned out to be totally different in its approach from anything I've experienced earlier. Although the first few lectures were perhaps a bit difficult to get through, it soon became highly engrossing. Really happy I bought this one.

Different and informative

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