The charming real-life fairy tale of an American secretary who discovers she has been chosen king of an impoverished fishing village on the west coast of Africa.

Focusing primarily on Cape Coast Castle, the African headquarters of the British slave trade from 1664-1807, this thought-provoking account tells the story of the people who lived, worked, or were imprisoned within its walls, the soldiers stationed there, the negotiations with local African leaders, and the deadly diseases inside the compound. 

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.

Traveler Megan McCormick travels in West Africa: Ghana and the Ivory Coast. In Ghana she learns about the gold trade, explores Accra and other historical locales, and takes a train to the port of Takoradi where she visits the slave castles of Elmina & Cape Coast. In the Ivory Coast she takes a bus along unspoilt coast, fishes in a dug out canoe with a local fisherman, and attends a local wedding.