I am so completely in agreement with Ayittey's observations. I was living in East Africa when he was probably a child. I saw Africa when it was a continent with great aspirations. In those days a person could speak with the presidents of these countries personally. I came to work in what was then the Kenya Parliament, so I met all of the most outstanding politicians. I also had an opportunity to meet with and speak to Sekou Toure. During that period, I spoke to him about Africa and also talked about the manner in which the French left his country. He confirmed everything I had read, and then more. I lived in Kenya from 1964-1974, so I was able to see what would have been possible and its creeping divergence from those aspirations. In many instances I am heartbroken. Some years ago, I wrote a book for my students "Kijani" which looked at five strata of society and revealed the initial steps of the slide into today's condition, at a level freshman students could understand.
Now and then I get snippets (via film) of what became of places like Kariako and Kaloleni and Bahati where I once lived. It seems that many of these suburbs have fallen into the same condition as that of Pumwani. I am very concerned about Africa's future. It seems everyone talks about corruption as the main cause, but my question is, "If those in government have something to sell, how is it possible to make the sale without a customer?" We need to examine the purchaser as closely as we do the salesman.
Bonita Evans, Ph.D.
Buy new:
-51% $49.00$49.00
$4.88 delivery January 14 - 16
Ships from: American University of Sovereign Nations Books Sold by: American University of Sovereign Nations Books
Buy new:
-51% $49.00$49.00
$4.88 delivery January 14 - 16
Ships from: American University of Sovereign Nations Books
Sold by: American University of Sovereign Nations Books
Save with Used - Good
$29.90$29.90
Ships from: Amazon Sold by: Wilco Supply
Save with Used - Good
$29.90$29.90
Ships from: Amazon
Sold by: Wilco Supply
$60.88 with 39 percent savings -39% $60.88
List Price: $99.99 List Price: $99.99$99.99
The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. Except for books, Amazon will display a List Price if the product was purchased by customers on Amazon or offered by other retailers at or above the List Price in at least the past 90 days. List prices may not necessarily reflect the product's prevailing market price.
Learn more
Learn more
FREE pickup Tuesday, January 14
0.27 mi | MANASSAS 20110
Pick up from nearby pickup location
Step 1: Place Your Order
Select the “Pickup” option on the product page or during checkout.
Step 2: Receive Notification
Once your package is ready for pickup, you'll receive an email and app notification.
Step 3: Pick up
Bring your order ID or pickup code (if applicable) to your chosen pickup location to pick up your package.
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$49.0049.00
()
Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options.
Details
Price ($49.00x)
$49.00
Subtotal
$$49.0049.00
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Enhancements you chose aren't available for this seller. Details
To add the following enhancements to your purchase, choose a different seller.
%cardName%
${cardName} not available for the seller you chose
${cardName} unavailable for quantities greater than ${maxQuantity}.
Returns
30-day refund/replacement
30-day refund/replacement
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Follow the author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.
OK
Africa Unchained: The Blueprint for Africa's Future 2005th Edition
by
G. Ayittey
(Editor)
Sorry, there was a problem loading this page. Try again.
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$49.00","priceAmount":49.00,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"49","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"00","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"uM%2BxisSjlaalwHW5Xp2rhm%2B%2BlKoSczUc%2B8WG6Pu4tuM%2FKMnKvdzwWGISbO6%2BULqffY9Eo45tqyZU3XFTxX5u26clbvr7RyikrkAo06fD83cyA3kVLO9JsJkERoNggNYFX5HRkoq88idz5EIOogSuV8xvHJSq29hU1UCzQzPnW4t%2BNDRT3Ihgs%2FbsRNokL%2BcW","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$29.90","priceAmount":29.90,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"29","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"90","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"uM%2BxisSjlaalwHW5Xp2rhm%2B%2BlKoSczUcIMVjUKR3XT9tbOCu2RWSmFGiJ3xvr9w4DKb8K%2BPqjIBCAIGHTSGJu3HnNMzwgBjtTHQ1vgQfMC51LsAs3NFsQv46X0WtP13DhQ1NTuMe5%2BAFybP452X67ogIJXYLH3LFYHP3H3KPS2sHMA0hxFe45Q%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}],"desktop_buybox_group_2":[{"displayPrice":"$60.88","priceAmount":60.88,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"60","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"88","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"uM%2BxisSjlaalwHW5Xp2rhm%2B%2BlKoSczUckZDFJpVE5xpH2MvxxmyJo4u%2Bf65PHjezOidsEf%2FRikVjBYoV3k7f%2F7s2SQep7bpKUVvFcwo%2Fh1jzq38D4mBee6SjB8AI31TEIbeLD2x3b3MWxPkyk%2FoPb7dR6MrQjYgfGPgc66lz8P11KYp3XaMTTmcBNSml1oL%2F","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"PICKUP","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":2}]}
Purchase options and add-ons
In Africa Unchained , George Ayittey takes a controversial look at Africa's future and makes a number of daring suggestions. Looking at how Africa can modernize, build, and improve their indigenous institutions which have been castigated by African leaders as 'backward and primitive', Ayittey argues that Africa should build and expand upon these traditions of free markets and free trade. Asking why the poorest Africans haven't been able to prosper in the Twenty-first-century, Ayittey makes the answer obvious: their economic freedom was snatched from them. War and conflict replaced peace and the infrastructure crumbled. In a book that will be pondered over and argued about as much as his previous volumes, Ayittey looks at the possibilities for indigenous structures to revive a troubled continent.
- ISBN-101403973865
- ISBN-13978-1403973863
- Edition2005th
- PublisherPalgrave Macmillan
- Publication dateSeptember 25, 2006
- LanguageEnglish
- Dimensions5.51 x 1.16 x 8.5 inches
- Print length509 pages
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Defeating Dictators: Fighting Tyranny in Africa and Around the WorldPaperbackFREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by AmazonGet it as soon as Saturday, Jan 11
Customer reviews
4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
37 global ratings
How customer reviews and ratings work
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonTop reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2013
- Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2014Note--I base my 4-stars on having only read the first four chapters--but those knocked my socks off. I was at chapter four when I gave it to an African (Ghanaian) friend. I will be purchasing another copy for myself and additional copies for friends. Can't wait to finish reading this book!
- Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2008Ayittey is an economist who remains very realist in revealing how much some African leaders have ruined their continent. The hope relies in the generation of Cheetah, ready to dirt their hands and to sustain the local capacities. The former generation considered as hippo who seat in chairs and ready to grab everything to the expenses of real life of the population. The development will come only from within Africa and not from outside.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2005He put's his faith on africa's young up and coming "cheetahs", and so do I. I feel empowered by George's bare knuckle rumble in the jungle with the political elite and can't wait to join this fight.
They'll fight dirty, and we'll fight smarter and faster and with a good old man like George to show us the tricks, we shall overcome.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2009George B.N. Ayittey's *Africa Unchained* contributes some important points to the contemporary discussion of Africa's (lack of) development. His main focus is the abysmal leadership offered by African politicians who have used the mechanisms of the state to enrich themselves at the expense of their populations. Here Ayittey is at his best, ridiculing and excoriating the corruption, avarice, and stupidity of African political leaders in a way that would be difficult for a non-African writer to pull off. His book argues for policies aimed at improving the productivity of Africa's rural agricultural masses, for recognizing and supporting indigenous institutions such as free markets and local politics based on traditional chieftaincy, and for a reduced role of the state in economic activity.
Although Ayittey's ideas have a great deal of merit, they are poorly, incompletely, and haphazardly presented in *Africa Unchained*. The book reads a bit like a drunken rant from a stranger at a bar: it begins relatively coherently, but quickly becomes disjointed, repetitive, and long winded. The author seems unable to make a simple point without numerous tangential diversions. Chapter and section divisions seem to have been distributed at random throughout the book's 450 pages, which is at least 400 pages more than necessary to make the book's substantive points. Africa Unchained is perhaps most remarkable as a marvel of poor editing.
Besides being overwritten and under-edited, the real disappointment of *Africa Unchained* is its failure even to attempt anything approaching its ambitious subtitle as "the Blueprint for Africa's Future." Ayittey offers a few policy ideas, but leaves them largely undeveloped. The book is long on anecdotes but surprisingly short on the kind of evidence and rigorous analysis one would expect from a professor of economics writing about economic issues. Rather than the promised blueprint for success, the book's conclusion offers little in the way of constructive recommendations or even optimism about Africa's prospects. "Africans have no future because their leaders don't use their heads and the Western donors who give them money don't use theirs, either." It's easy to imagine our stranger at the bar muttering this, the book's final sentence, suppressing a few hiccups, then turning back to the bartender, ordering another drink, and continuing, "but did I already tell you about price controls? You know, traditional chiefs never controlled prices in local markets..."
- Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2016As expected.
- Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2016I am so inspires by Professor Ayittey's historical approach to African economic theory ... I will be following his work
- Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2017Capitalist viewpoint.
Top reviews from other countries
PjReviewed in the United Kingdom on April 9, 20153.0 out of 5 stars Important but outdated
This is a fascinating book written with passion and offering a persuasive argument that African problems need African solutions and why so much of the blame for the failures of leadership across the continent are misdirected.
However this book is now badly outdated and the shifts across Africa with the Arab spring, the rise if Islam, Boko Haram (although interestingly this is almost foreseen in the explanation of how/why this happens), the longevity of Mugabe, the impact of oil wealth in places such as Angola, the increase in Chinese investment etc. could not be addressed. The book urgently needs a new edition (please George can you write a new one?) or a replacement that take these valuable arguments forward and gives them relevance to the present day.
