The History of modern West Africa is largely the history of five centuries of trade with European nations commerce was the fundamental relationship that bound Africa to Europe - Kenneth Onwuka Dike. African Tales Of a Green Planet is a fictional work set in the Niger Delta area of West Africa roughly between 1730-1850, among the Igbo speaking peoples of the Niger Delta. The Niger Delta area of Nigeria is an area blessed in economic terms and has played a pivotal role in the economic history of Africa as a whole. It is an area, which in the first 400 years of trade with Europe produced, first gold, then slaves during the period of the slave trade, and palm oil after the prohibition of the slave trade, and finally crude oil in modern times. This tale explores one mans attempt (Nwosisi) to preserve the African way of life in the Sacred Forest away from all foreign intrusion. He falls deeply in love with a very beautiful girl (Ugonma) and that changes not only the course of his life but that of his environs as well, a metaphor for Africa. This tale is recounted by an old Iroko tree five hundreds of years old. In true oral tradition it captures a story of love, trade and politics, power struggles, foreign intruders, mysticism, and the daunting task of one mans attempt to preserve a way of life in danger of extinction. This attempt seemed doomed from the onset; just as the notion of preserving a green planet is doomed in the context of so-called modern civilization.

Building from his acclaimed anthology Tales of Two Americas, beloved writer and editor John Freeman draws together a group of our greatest writers from around the world to help us see how the environmental crisis is hitting some of the most vulnerable communities where they live. In the past five years, John Freeman, previously editor of Granta, has launched a celebrated international literary magazine, Freeman's, and compiled two acclaimed anthologies that deal with income inequality as it is experienced. In the course of this work, one major theme came up repeatedly: Climate change is making already dire inequalities much worse, devastating further the already devastated. But the problems of climate change are not restricted to those from the less developed world. Galvanized by his conversations with writers and activists around the world, Freeman engaged with some of today's most eloquent storytellers, many of whom hail from the places under the most acute stress--from the capital of Burundi to Bangkok, Thailand. The response has been extraordinary. Margaret Atwood conjures with a dys¬topian future in a remarkable poem. Lauren Groff whisks us to Florida; Edwidge Danticat to Haiti; Tahmima Anam to Bangladesh; Yasmine El Rashidi to Egypt, while Eka Kurniawan brings us to Indonesia, Chinelo Okparanta to Nigeria, and Anuradha Roy to the Himalayas in the wake of floods, dam building, and drought. This is a literary all-points bulletin of fiction, essays, poems, and reportage about the most important crisis of our times.

This anthology includes eight traditional tales from all over Africa. Sumptuous hand-sewn collage artwork decorated with African beads adorns these unforgettable tales of bravery, wisdom, wit and heroic deeds

Green Planet Blues speaks with many voices - from Garrett Hardin and Herman Daly to Tanvi Nagpal, Chico Mendes, and Gita Sen, and from the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme to indigenous peoples of the Amazon, North-South relations combined with an emphasis on class, race, and gender are leitmotivs threaded throughout the selections.

Entertaining stories handed down from generation to generation among tribal cultures include "The Magic Crocodile," "The Hare and the Crownbird," "The Boy in the Drum," 15 others. 19 illustrations.

New in the Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the life of David Attenborough, the inspiring broadcaster and conservationist.

Sun and Moon must leave their earthly home after Sun invites the Sea to visit.