Alumni Travel Reading: The Zambezi

"The essential guide for identifying Southern Africa's most visible wildlife", including birds, mammals, snakes, lizards, and insects.

Available in print and for Nook (in HarperCollins imprint) and other e-readers.

A brick of a book with 213 color plates depicting more than 950 bird species.

An old standard, describing 86 species with an emphasis on observable behaviors.

Also available for Kindle and Nook

Author David McDermott Hughes brings readers a comprehensive account of the lasting effects of European colonialism within South Africa, touching upon ideas and arguments surrounding development policy and environmentalism, and how native land can be saved.

A fundamental look at how the 'green' movement, aimed at sustainable development, can invigorate itself within the land of Zimbabwe without compromise of cultural components.

A composition of arguments against the European management and colonization of museums across Zimbabwe, which writers suggest must attain urgent attention to promote, and fight for, the preservation of Zimbabwean culture.

The third bestseller for general readers by these longtime Kalahari naturalists working in Botswana's Kalahari Game Reserve and the Luangwa Conservation Project, Zambia.

Also available for Kindle and Nook.

One of the African continent's most stunning creatures is placed in its historical, cultural, zoological, and photographic glory in this coffe-table sized book.

Also available for Kindle and Nook.

A slim book about Zimbabwe's pioneering ecologist, survivor of the country's liberation struggles, and his work providing water to rural small farms, that invites its readers "to celebrate the boundless potential for human development".

A whodunit in a remote bush camp in northern Botswana: a darker - but equally entertaining - take on Alexander McCall's world ... and there are others in this series too!

Also available for Kindle and Nook.

The debut novel for this Zimbabwe-born writer, "written with kinetic energy that crackles with life" (Jim Hannan, World Literature Today), on many "Best of" lists and shortlists. Shortlisted for the Mann Booker Prize.

While many leading African writers have US publishers, ABC is the nonprofit distributor owned by independent African publishers. ABC books are sold directly from the web site, with profits flowing back to the publishers; they're also sold by Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

"A magnificent contribution not just to contemporary African studies but also to the art of great historical writing. Anyone with an interest in either ought to read this book" (Historical Journal). A perennial required reading for Penn's African history courses.

Also available for Kindle and Nook.

A recent Big History from the author of critic-praised The Fate of Africa: A History of the Continent Since Independence (Revised and updated ed., Public Affairs, 2011.

An excellent collection of nonfiction writing, both primary and secondary. The anthology's selections highlight the politics of the past and the formation of South Africa's "complex, conflicted, cacophonous society".

Also available for Kindle and Nook.

The former editor of Mother Jones magazine reports on his interviews with three "insiders", three "outsiders", and President Zuma, as well as many other people encountered during his travels throughout South Africa between 2004 and 2012.

Also available for Nook.