Cuba: Confronting the US Embargo details and analyses the effects of the US embargo on Cuban society and the response of Cuba and its population to overcoming its consequences. Although the embargo disrupts and harms almost all aspects of life concentration focuses on those sectors most affected. The book is framed by the issue of human rights - from both the Cuban and the US perspective - an ideological gulf which underpins the political differences that exist between the two countries, and which raises the question of how extensively the implementation of the embargo violates the human...

Many African nations are now described as 'fourth world nations', ones which essentially have no future. How could this have happened? Through the scope of the 1960's, the first decade of African independence, Peter Schwab presents a compelling and provocative answer to this question. Designing West Africa tells the story of a pivotal decade in African history, when the fate of the continent was decided. Focusing on the six most visible leaders of the period - painting detailed portraits of them both as leaders and as people - Schwab looks at how Africa served as a ground to play out larger...

A noted authority makes a provocative argument that the fate of the African continent was decided in its first decade of independence