In this new edition of Nkrumah and the Ghana Revolution, C. L. R. James tells the history of the socialist revolution led by Kwame Nkrumah, the first president and prime minister of Ghana. Although James wrote it in the immediate post-independence period around 1958, he did not publish it until nearly twenty years later, when he added a series of his own letters, speeches, and articles from the 1960s. Although Nkrumah led the revolution, James emphasizes that it was a popular mass movement fundamentally realized by the actions of everyday Ghanaians. Moreover, James shows that Ghana’s independence movement was an exceptional moment in global revolutionary history: it moved revolutionary activity to the African continent and employed new tactics not seen in previous revolutions. Featuring a new introduction by Leslie James, an unpublished draft of C. L. R. James's introduction to the 1977 edition, and correspondence, this definitive edition of Nkrumah and the Ghana Revolution offers a revised understanding of Africa’s shaping of freedom movements and insight into the possibilities for decolonial futures.

A new biography of Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, one of the most influential political figures in twentieth-century African history. As the first prime minister and president of the West African state of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah helped shape the global narrative of African decolonization. After leading Ghana to independence in 1957, Nkrumah articulated a political vision that aimed to free the country and the continent—politically, socially, economically, and culturally—from the vestiges of European colonial rule, laying the groundwork for a future in which Africans had a voice as equals on the international stage. Nkrumah spent his childhood in the maturing Gold Coast colonial state. During the interwar and wartime periods he was studying in the United States. He emerged in the postwar era as one of the foremost activists behind the 1945 Manchester Pan-African Congress and the demand for an immediate end to colonial rule. Jeffrey Ahlman’s biography plots Nkrumah’s life across several intersecting networks: colonial, postcolonial, diasporic, national, Cold War, and pan-African. In these contexts, Ahlman portrays Nkrumah not only as an influential political leader and thinker but also as a charismatic, dynamic, and complicated individual seeking to make sense of a world in transition.

The developmental years of Ghana - the first state to become independent from colonialism in sub-Saharan Africa in 1957 - were marked by the United Kingdom's effort to showcase its former colony as a model of successful democracy export for the rest of Black Africa. They called it the "Ghana Experiment". Major Western powers like the United States and West Germany participated in the attempt to keep Ghana aligned with the West. As Ghana's President Kwame Nkrumah embarked on a bold anti-imperialistic, pan-African policy, Britain and the United States concerted a common strategy which accelerated Nkrumah's eventual downfall in 1966 and brought Ghana back into the Western sphere of influence.

Comprises a study of Ghana's first post-colonial prime minister and president Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972), focusing on his use of religion in the development of national integration and modernization, among other political goals. The author offers a historical account of religion and politics in Ghana, draws on social, political, and anthropological theories to evaluate Nkrumah's leadership from several different angles, and finally assesses Nkrumah's legacy. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

First published in 1989. During the days follow­ing Kwame Nkrumah's death in 1972, the idea of writing this book first took form. During the past fifteen years, Africa has gone through a major trauma. The events of these years help throw light on the Nkrumah experiment, and underline its continued relevance for Ghana and for Africa.

Dark Days in Ghana Kwame Nkrumah Kwame Nkrumah, foremost exponent of African Unity and socialism never saw Ghana in isolation from the rest of Africa or from the world revolutionary struggle.