Turkey is an incredibly powerful broker in the current world crisis, and a masterful negotiator: A Turkish military ship in the Bosphorus. Atakan Divitlioglu/Shutterstock While Turkey’s government is struggling to deal with mass protests at home (after Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was imprisoned), in foreign affairs it is in an increasingly strong position as a …
Winnie and Mandela biography: a masterful tale of South Africa’s troubled, iconic power couple: A new book on South African liberation struggle icons Nelson and Winnie Mandela is a masterful biography of the pair. It’s a work of scholarship involving an immense body of primary and secondary research, written with flair and panache but in …
The Plot to Save South Africa: masterful account of an assassination that nearly derailed efforts to end apartheid: Chris Hani (R) after being elected secretary general of the South African Communist Party in December 1991. To his left is the former secretary general Jo Slovo. Walter Dhladhla/AFP via Getty Images I was about to set …
Rudy Gomis, a masterful collaborator who kept the diversity of Senegalese music alive: World Circuit Records The world has lost one of the great pioneers of the post-independence movement of modern popular music in Senegal. After a long illness, Rudolphe “Rudy” Clément Gomis – co-founder of the famous Orchestra Baobab, bandleader, composer, singer and percussionist …
Booker Prize – masterful Scottish working-class story Shuggie Bain wins in most diverse year yet: Douglas Stuart, author of the Booker prize-winning Shuggie Bain. Clive Smith/Booker Douglas Stuart’s debut novel Shuggie Bain has won the 52nd Booker Prize. The ceremony, normally a glitzy affair with long speeches, readings from shortlisted books and a lavish dinner, …