Is That It?

Author: Bob Geldof
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780230768376
Category : Fund raisers (Persons)
Languages : en
Pages : 448

Book Description
Bob Geldof formed Band Aid, orchestrated Live Aid, and is the driving force behind Live 8. He has rallied the forces of rock performers all over the world and inspired millions to raise millions for the starving in Africa. He has met with world leaders and demanded that they change their aid policies. He has travelled in Africa and seen famine first-hand, and he has overseen the disbursement of the millions that Band Aid has raised. In this vividly honest autobiography, written with wit, candour and characteristic energy, Geldof recounts his extraordinary childhood in Dublin and schooldays that were both horrifying and funny. He describes the origins of New Wave music and the beginnings, triumphs, and eventual eclipse of the Boomtown Rats. He writes of his years with Paula Yates, the formation of Band Aid and its achievements and he writes of his hopes for the future. Widely admired, Bob Geldof is nonetheless ferociously independent and remains the most charismatic and controversial public figure in Britain today. '(It) shows that by a combination of charm, loquaciousness and irrevocable moral certainty, a wayward, catholic, hand-reared boy can shift the world on its axis’ Sunday Times

Feed the World: Birhan Woldu and Live Aid

Author: Oliver Harvey
Publisher: Fox Chapel Publishing
ISBN: 1780091397
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 209

Book Description
Birhan Woldu became one of the most recognized faces and forms of the late 20th century after her skeletal image was broadcast at the end of Live Aid to publicize famine in Africa. Although Live Aid, led by musicians such as Bob Geldof and Bono, raised millions for famine relief, most people thought Birhan was dead - until, that is, she was 'rediscovered' by Canadian journalist Brian Stewart, who helped fund her schooling and helped change her life. Twenty years later, Birhan once again became a symbol of hope for Africa when she appeared on stage at Live 8 with Madonna and Geldof in front of millions. But how did she get to that point? Journalist Oliver Harvey tells Birhan's life story - from the days of famine and war in Ethiopia when her father literally carried Birhan and her sister on his shoulders more than 900 km on an epic journey to life, to Live Aid and the years of struggle between. This is a truly inspirational story of triumph over extreme adversity. The ongoing crisis in East Africa makes this book extremely topical and important. New Holland is donating proceeds from the book to Oxfam's DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal.

The Coffin Confessor

Author: Bill Edgar
Publisher: Penguin Group Australia
ISBN: 176014570X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Book Description
Imagine you are dying with a secret. Something you’ve never had the courage to tell your friends and family. Or a last wish – a task you need carried out before you can rest in peace. Now imagine there’s a man who can take care of all that, who has no respect for the living, who will do anything for the dead. Bill Edgar is the Coffin Confessor – a one-of-a-kind professional, a man on a mission to make good on these last requests on behalf of his soon-to-be-deceased clients. And this is the extraordinary story of how he became that man. Bill has been many things in this life: son of one of Australia’s most notorious gangsters, homeless street-kid, maximum-security prisoner, hard man, family man, car thief, professional punching bag, philosopher, inventor, private investigator, victim of horrific childhood sexual abuse and an activist fighting to bring down the institutions that let it happen. A survivor. As a little boy, he learned the hard way that society is full of people who fall through the cracks – who die without their stories being told. Now his life’s work is to make sure his clients’ voices are heard, and their last wishes delivered: the small-town grandfather who needs his tastefully decorated sex dungeon destroyed before the kids find it. The woman who endured an abusive marriage for decades before finding freedom. The outlaw biker who is afraid of nothing . . . except telling the world he is in love with another man. The dad who desperately needs to track down his estranged daughter so he can find a way to say he's sorry, with one final gift. Confronting and confounding, heartwarming and heartbreaking, The Coffin Confessor is a compelling story of survival and redemption, of a life lived on the fringes of society, on both sides of the law – and what that can teach you about living your best life . . . and death.

With Geldof in Africa

Author: David Blundy
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 164

Book Description

Dead Aid

Author: Dambisa Moyo
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0374139563
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 209

Book Description
Debunking the current model of international aid promoted by both Hollywood celebrities and policy makers, Moyo offers a bold new road map for financing development of the world's poorest countries.

The State of Africa

Author: Martin Meredith
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0857203894
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1082

Book Description
'Meredith has given a spectacularly clear view of the African political jungle' – Spectator 'This book is hard to beat... Elegantly written as well as unerringly accurate' – Financial Times The fortunes of Africa have changed dramatically since the independence era began in 1957. As Europe’s colonial powers withdrew, dozens of new states were born. Africa was a continent rich in mineral resources and its economic potential was immense. Yet, it soon struggled with corruption, violence and warfare, with few states managing to escape the downward spiral. So what went wrong? In this riveting and authoritative account, Martin Meredith examines the myriad problems that Africa has faced, focusing upon key personalities, events and themes of the independence era. He brings his compelling analysis into the modern day, exploring Africa’s enduring struggles for democracy and the rising influence of China. It is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the continent’s plight and its hopes for a brighter future.

How to Write About Africa

Author: Binyavanga Wainaina
Publisher: One World
ISBN: 0812989678
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 369

Book Description
From one of Africa’s most influential and eloquent essayists, a posthumous collection that highlights his biting satire and subversive wisdom on topics from travel to cultural identity to sexuality “A fierce literary talent . . . [Wainaina] shines a light on his continent without cliché.”—The Guardian “Africa is the only continent you can love—take advantage of this. . . . Africa is to be pitied, worshipped, or dominated. Whichever angle you take, be sure to leave the strong impression that without your intervention and your important book, Africa is doomed.” Binyavanga Wainaina was a pioneering voice in African literature, an award-winning memoirist and essayist remembered as one of the greatest chroniclers of contemporary African life. This groundbreaking collection brings together, for the first time, Wainaina’s pioneering writing on the African continent, including many of his most critically acclaimed pieces, such as the viral satirical sensation “How to Write About Africa.” Working fearlessly across a range of topics—from politics to international aid, cultural heritage, and redefined sexuality—he describes the modern world with sensual, emotional, and psychological detail, giving us a full-color view of his home country and continent. These works present the portrait of a giant in African literature who left a tremendous legacy.

Geldof in Africa

Author: Bob Geldof
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 328

Book Description
Bob Geldof celebrates the glories of Africa and its diverse peoples in a stunningly illustrated book tracking his journey across the continent. Provocative, informative, funny, poignant and endlessly entertaining, Geldof supplies his own unique take on this extraordinary land.Travelling through Ghana, Benin, Mali, D. R Congo, Uganda, Ethiopa, Tanzania and Somalia he mixes adventure and anecdote to bring the colours and contradictions of Africa to life. Includes over 350 photographs u many taken by Bob himself u of his amazing journey. Author Comments: "Africa has the lot, desert with its vast seas of sand, tropical with its jungles, equatorial with its rainforest, savannah and coastal with its animal and fish. And within this immense continent, more peoples, more language, more cultures, more animals than anywhere else on our world. It is quite smiply the most extraordinary, beautiful and luminous place on our planet".

The Shackled Continent

Author: Robert Guest
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
ISBN: 1588342972
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 289

Book Description
A former Africa editor for The Economist, Robert Guest addresses the troubled continent's thorniest problems: war, AIDS, and above all, poverty. Newly updated with a preface that considers political and economic developments of the past six years, The Shackled Continent is engrossing, highly readable, and as entertaining as it is tragic. Guest pulls the veil off the corruption and intrigue that cripple so many African nations, posing a provocative theory that Africans have been impoverished largely by their own leaders' abuses of power. From the minefields of Angola to the barren wheat fields of Zimbabwe, Guest gathers startling evidence of the misery African leaders have inflicted on their people. But he finds elusive success stories and examples of the resilience and resourcefulness of individual Africans, too; from these, he draws hope that the continent will eventually prosper. Guest offers choices both commonsense and controversial for Africans and for those in the West who wish Africa well.

Famine and Foreigners: Ethiopia Since Live Aid

Author: Peter Gill
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191614319
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Book Description
The terrible 1984 famine in Ethiopia focused the world's attention on the country and the issue of aid as never before. Anyone over the age of 30 remembers something of the events - if not the original TV pictures, then Band Aid and Live Aid, Geldof and Bono. Peter Gill was the first journalist to reach the epicentre of the famine and one of the TV reporters who brought the tragedy to light. This book is the story of what happened to Ethiopia in the 25 years following Live Aid: the place, the people, the westerners who have tried to help, and the wider multinational aid business that has come into being. We saved countless lives in the beginning and continued to save them now, but have we done much else to transform the lives of Ethiopia's poor and set them on a 'development' course that will enable the country to do without us?