Kwame Nkrumah's Political Kingdom and Pan-Africanism ReInterpreted, 1909-1972 provides an in-depth study of the life of the late Pan-African leader from the former Gold Coast, Kwame Nkrumah. Authors A.B. Assensoh and Yvette M. Alex-Assensoh analyze Nkrumah's life from his birth on the Gold Coast through his studies in the United Kingdom and the United States, his activism and political life, and his exile and death. Throughout, Assensoh and Alex-Assensoh present a twenty-first-century reinterpretation of Nkrumah's Pan-Africanist views in the context of Black unity as well as Black liberation within the African continent and the United States and Caribbean diaspora.
A.B. Assensoh is emeritus professor of Indiana University and courtesy emeritus professor at University of Oregon. Yvette M. Alex-Assensoh is professor of political science and vice president of equity and inclusion at University of Oregon.
Chronology (1909-1972) Chapter 1: Birth, Early Education and Employment Chapter 2: Overseas Student Years: Nkrumah's American and UK Sojourns, 1935-1947 Chapter 3: Kwame Nkrumah and Pan-Africanism: A New Interpretation Chapter 4: Years of Activism and Post-Colonial Gold Coast, 1947-1960 Chapter 5: Ghana: Kwame Nkrumah's Political Kingdom, 1960-1966 Epilogue: The 1966 Coup, Exile, Death, and Cultural Legacy of Kwame Nkrumah
[A] thought-provoking book by Assensoh and Alex-Assensoh.... A re-envisioned 21st-century Pan-Africanism, the authors argue, must embrace both growth and development. Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty. * Choice Reviews * Professors Assensoh and Alex-Assensoh have written a book that creatively combines a fresh intellectual biography of Kwame Nkrumah with the genealogical history of Pan-Africanism, and they have done so in the most concise and comprehensive way. Above all, it is also a timely contribution to African History, Pan-African Studies and Africana Studies in general. It is a publication that should benefit college students as well as college professors and the general reader interested in Pan-Africanism and African political leadership. * African and Asian Studies (AAS) * "Just when we thought we had exhausted our understanding of Kwame Nkrumah's concept of Pan-Africanism, this refreshing discourse by A.B. Assensoh and Yvette M. Alex-Assensoh comes. Both admirers of Nkrumah, they approach this subject with a balanced academic rigor seeped in rigorous analysis and respect for credible sources. In the end, we are forced to delight in their brilliant presentation of Pan-Africanism in all its colors, depths, and approaches. Young academics will find this book a useful primer, and seasoned academics will wonder why they had ignored some of these nuances for so long. I recommend this work enthusiastically." -- Victor Essien, Nyansapo College, Ghana "This is an able partnership between a political scientist (Alex-Assensoh) and a historian ( Assensoh) that has produced a nuanced and thoughtful synthesis and analysis of Pan-Africanism as a movement. The authors not only situate Pan-Africanism's foremost African champion, Kwame Nkrumah, but provide an insightful discussion of the early antecedents of Pan-Africanism as well as its contemporary expressions and challenges in a neoliberal age. They call for a need to create a Pan-Africanism that is in tune with the inclusive spirit of the twenty-first century and, in recognition, that the idea or sentiment of Pan-Africanism also has non-African support. This is a must-read for those interested in the life and political career of Nkrumah and the history of Pan-Africanism." -- Emmanuel Kwaku Akyeampong, Harvard University Center for African Studies "This outstanding book on the political and social thought-and the enduring legacy-of the great African nationalist and visionary Kwame Nkrumah is exceptionally framed in the context of colonial, 'decolonial', African diaspora, Black Atlantic, and global histories. Intellectually insightful and analytically rigorous, the authors have given us a compelling and riveting political biography-and legacy-of this towering figure in modern African history. This landmark book will be widely read by scholars, students, and lay learners for many decades to come." -- Olufemi Vaughan, Amherst College
