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Lomathinda
In 2023 I reviewed a series of short books by Ohio University Press. Looking to expand beyond the well known biographies, I came across “Lomathinda: Rose Chibambo Speaks” (2019), by Timwa Lipenga, which is an interview-style book. The text chronologically outlines the personal and political struggles of one of Malawi’s leaders. A few notes: “That’s how politics of women started. […]
Shariah Law Questions and Answers
In 2017, Mohammad Hashim Kamali, published a collection of crafted questions about Shariah, divided into 17 sections and 190 questions. I have posted on a number of Kamali’s books, largely with reference to their use in teaching ethics and integrating more diverse thought traditions into the course. The audience of the book appears geared toward […]
Stokely Speaks
Stokely Carmichael, better known as Kwame Ture, gave a number speeches and penned articles and letters, which were gathered in “Stokely Speaks: From Black Power to Pan-Africanism” (1965), with multiple prints and new Forwards added with each new print. A few quotes: “I wouldn’t be the first to point out the American capacity for self-delusion. One […]
Beginning with Heidegger
Millerman draws our attention to Heidegger as a source of key philosophical and political contributions that have shaped thought since his contributions in Beginning with Heidegger (2020). I came across Millerman via Dugin, some of whose books he has translated into English. This book is a slightly modified version of Michael Millerman’s 2018 PhD thesis with the […]
Democracy and Development in Africa
While a visiting scholar at Brookings, Claude Ake wrote “Democracy and Development in Africa” (1995), published by Brookings. As nearly three decades have passed, I focus less on the specifics (e.g., agricultural policy recommendations) and highlight the general arguments, a few notes: “Many factors have been offered to explain the apparent failure of the development […]
When McKinsey Comes to Town
As an expose of McKinsey, this book focuses on the most questionable and problematic aspects of the company’s work. Selection bias aside, the authors (Walt Bogdanich & Michel Forsythe) document a company seeking profits by any means: improving tobacco sales while knowledge the harmful effects, improving opioid sales amidst a peak of overdose deaths, human […]
Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat
In search of a book about Egyptian political leaders, I came across very little. An earlier post covered a book by the spouse of Gamal Abdel Nasser. Amazon put me on to the book “Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat: The Presidents Who Shaped Modern Egypt” (2014) by Charles River Editors. Disappointing. Partly brief biography […]
Imagining Afghanistan
Quite a number of books have followed in the tradition of Edward Said, critiquing and contesting the manufacturing of narratives. Nivi Manchanda’s “Imagining Afghanistan” The History and Politics of Imperial Knowledge” (2020) provides a deep dive into those narratives of Afghanistan. Chapters of the book explore the use of “tribe” and “tribalism”, the colonial construction […]
God’s Unruly Friends
I discovered “God’s Unruly Friends: Dervish Groups in the Islamic Middle Period 1200-1550” (2006) by Ahmet Karamustafa largely by accident (it was a footnote in another book I had read). The title got me, but it sat on the shelf for a while until I got to it. The book itself is quite short, the […]
Nasser: My Husband
The American University of Cairo published “Nasser: My Husband” (2013) by Tahia Gamal Abdul Nassar. The book was translated from an earlier Arabic version. For anyone interested in the personal life of Nasser, this provides some insight. It comparatively provides little on his political and military experiences – if one is after that information, better […]
About me
Logan Cochrane
Associate Professor at HBKU in the College of Public Policy. He is an Associate Fellow of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences and an Adjunct Professor at Hawassa University (Institute for Policy and Development Research). Over the last fifteen years, he has worked in Afghanistan, Benin, Burundi, Canada, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Logan acts as a consultant for governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations, seeking to create bridges between research and practice.
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