Into The House Of The Ancestors: Inside The New Africa

Based on hundreds of interviews - with traditional healers, chiefs, business innovators, scientists, generals, doctors, poets, and politicians, - Into the House of the Ancestors goes beyond cliched images of corruption, brutality, and starvation to illuminate the essence of Africa's extraordinary spirit. Karl Maier reveals a rising force of activists and innovators taking control of their lives and their destinies in ways that are ingenious and inspirational. Distinctively African, they are forging a quiet revolution that holds immense promise for the continent's future. Maier grounds his hopeful view of Africa's potential not only on contemporary reporting, but on the keen perspectives and insights of the continent's most distinguished historians. Providing crucial context about the scope and impact of the slave trade and the colonial period, Maier offers a probing analysis of the key aspects of Africa's past that shape the challenges for the future.

Experience Africa's vibrant and volatile struggle at the crossroads between tradition and modernity . . .
INTO THE HOUSE OF THE ANCESTORS
"Rich . . . fascinating." --The New York Times Book Review
"A master of eyewitness description and of the telling interview, Maier] has unearthed Africa's hidden heroes and heroines." --Financial Times
"Maier has written a sensitive and complex narrative. . . . excellent descriptions of the lives and experiences of both ordinary and extraordinary individuals in different parts of Africa." --Richard Leakey, The Times (London)
"A remarkable book. . . . It is no easy task to articulate an intangible undercurrent in an area so geographically large and culturally diverse, but Maier has succeeded admirably. Maier gives us hope that the Africans] can rebound and even thrive. Highly recommended." --Library Journal