Benin

Books, Maps & Atlases

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Country Guides & Maps   |   History & Politics   |   People & Culture  |   Other Books & Novels


Country Guides & Maps


Benin (Bradt Travel Guides S.)   (amazon.com) - USA     (amazon.co.uk) - UK
by Stuart Butler
exploring this small but varied country which is gaining popularity with adventure and exotic travel enthusiasts. National parks, game viewing, markets, pristine tropical beaches, and surfing are just some of the highlights of Benin that are readily available with aid of this guide, which caters to cultural and historical visitors, those tracing their roots in Benin's slave trade, overland adventurers, and wildlife enthusiasts.

The Rough Guide to West Africa   (amazon.com) - USA    (amazon.co.uk) - UK
by Jim Hudgens, Richard Trillo
Covering all 16 West African nations, plus trans-Saharan routes and Cameroon, this revised edition includes information on the latest political developments, looks at every national park, and provides practical information on music, eating and drinking, and accommodation. Includes a useful word and phrase list for more than 30 languages. 135 maps and plans.

Benin, Republic of   (Maps Worldwide)
Sheet map, Full colour Institut Geographique National (IGN) - Countries and Cities of the World

West Africa   (Maps Worldwide)
Paperback - Lonely Planet Publications - Country/Regional Guides
This guide covers travel in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. Now revised, it features an expanded 32-page section on the region's culture and birdlife. Listings of places to stay and eat are included for all budgets and there is comprehensive coverage of contemporary and traditional music. Language sections and a glossary are also included

Benin Country Study Guide (World Country Study Guide)  (amazon.com) - USA
by USA International Business Publications
This study guide contains basic information on economy, government, business, history and geography, climate, traditions, people, places to visit. Provides information on government, political organizations, and more... Includes basic statistics, information on the most important business contacts and business travel. Updated annually

The Kingdom of Benin (First Book)   (amazon.com) - USA
by Dominique Malaquais

Cotonou (Benin) Map   (Maps Worldwide)
Institut Geographique National (IGN) Series Countries & Cities Format Folded Map, Scale 1: 15,000

History & Politics

Country Review, Benin 1999/2000  (amazon.com) - USA

by Robert C. Kelly (Editor), Debra Ewing (Editor), Stanton Doyle (Editor), Denise Youngblood (Editor)
concise, up-to-date source for political and economic information

Dahomoy : The Warrior Kings (The Kingdoms of Africa)   (amazon.com) - USA
by Philip Koslow
Surveys the history of the Fon Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful West African states during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and describes the important role of its military women

Wives of the Leopard : Gender, Politics, and Culture in the Kingdom of Dahomey   (amazon.com) - USA    (amazon.co.uk) - UK
by Edna G. Bay

Benin : Lords of the River (The Kingdoms of Africa)
by Philip Koslow
  (amazon.co.uk) - UK

People & Culture

Edo : The Bini People of the Benin Kingdom (Heritage Library of African Peoples. West Africa)  (amazon.com) - USA
by Chukwuma Azuonye

Dahomean Narrative : A Cross-Cultural Analysis   (amazon.com) - USA    (amazon.co.uk) - UK
by Melville J. Herskovits (Editor), Frances S. Herskovits, J. Melville, Jane I. Guyer, David Easterbrook
Melville Herskovits, with his wife and collaborator, Frances, had spent over twenty years studying the social networks, religion, music, and oral traditions of the peoples of West Africa and their descendants in the New World. Dahomey, the major site of their Africa work, is in the country now known as the Republic of Benin.

African Vodun : Art, Psychology, and Power  (amazon.com) - USA    (amazon.co.uk) - UK
by Suzanne Preston Blier
In this first major study of its kind, Suzanne Preston Blier examines the artworks of the contemporary vodun cultures of southern Benin and Togo in West Africa as well as the related vodou traditions of Haiti, New Orleans, and historic Salem, Massachusetts.

Divine Inspiration : From Benin to Bahia   (amazon.com) - USA    (amazon.co.uk) - UK
by Phyllis Galembo, Robert Farris Thompson, Joseph Nevadomsky
A book with moving photographs and interesting essays. Divine Inspiration is an unusual coffee table book because the pictures do tell a thousand words, and because the text is helpful and interesting, not just filler. It is a good, respectful introduction to the Yoruba religion and its many offspring in the Americas.   (A reader from New York, NY , July 6, 1999)

Benin : Royal Art of Africa from the Museum Fur Volkerkunde, Vienna  (amazon.com) - USA
by Armand Duchateau

The Yoruba Artist : New Theoretical Perspectives on African Arts  (amazon.com) - USA    (amazon.co.uk) - UK
by Rowland Abiodun (Editor), John Pemberton (Editor), Henry J. Drewal (Editor)
The cultural legacy of the Yoruba peoples is revealed in a strong collection which examines the artist's legacy and social influences and the Yoruba's influence on African arts as a whole. Striking black and white and color images pepper a collection which reveals the works of carvers, singers, painters, and a host of Yoruba artists from many different walks of life. A compelling collection  (Midwest Book Review )

The Art of Benin  (amazon.com) - USA
by Paula Girshick Ben-Amos
The stunning artwork of the Benin kingdom (Nigeria) displayed by expert photography is the main attraction in this revised edition, although Ben-Amos' carefully researched text complements the visual delights.  (Booknews, Inc. , August 1, 1996)

Other Books & Novels

Why Goats Smell Bad and Other Stories from Benin  (amazon.com) - USA    (amazon.co.uk) - UK
by Raouf Mama, Imna Arroyo (Illustrator
A fascinating collection of 20 traditional folktales that makes the Fon culture of Benin come alive.

Amazons of Black Sparta : The Women Warriors of Dahomey  (amazon.com) - USA    (amazon.co.uk) - UK
by Stanley B. Alpern

Royal Art of Benin : The Perls Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art   (amazon.co.uk) - UK
by Kate Ezra
This volume presents a recent gift to The Metropolitan Museum of Art of over 150 works of Benin sculpture, making the Museum's collection of sixteenth- to nineteenth-century Benin art one of the most comprehensive in the world.

Ancient African Town (Metropolis)   (amazon.com) - USA
by Fiona MacDonald, Gerald Wood (Illustrator

It Takes a Village  (amazon.com) - USA    (amazon.co.uk) - UK
by Jane Cowen-Fletcher
Ages 3-6. The communalism of African village life is at the heart of this cheerful picture book set in Benin, West Africa. The author spent two years in Benin with the Peace Corps, and her realistic colored pencil illustrations with watercolor wash show a variety of individual people in the vital marketplace, which is filled with pottery, fabrics, baskets, and produce.  (Hazel Rochman Copyright© 1994, American Library Association. All rights reserved)

Doguicimi :The First Dahomean Novel (1937)   (amazon.com) - USA    (amazon.co.uk) - UK
by Paul Hazoume, Richard Bjoursno (Translator), Richard Bjornson (Translator)

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