Parent	Penguin Group
Founded	1949
Founder	Alfred R. Plaine and Matthew Huttner
Country	United States
Headquarters	New York City
Url

Jove Books, formerly Pyramid Books, is a paperback publishing company, founded in 1949 by Almat Magazine Publishers (Alfred R. Plaine and Matthew Huttner). The company was sold to the Walter Reade Organization in the late 1960s. It was acquired in 1974 by Harcourt Brace (which became Harcourt Brace Jovanovich) which renamed it to Jove in 1977 and continued the line as an imprint. In 1979, they sold it to The Putnam Berkley Group, which is now part of the Penguin Group.

Phil Hirsch was vice president of Pyramid Books from 1955-1975 and had his name on as author or editor of many of Pyramid's books.

References

External links

Hyde Park Books: Paperback Publishers: Pyramid Books

Penguin Group (USA): About Us: Jove Books

Category:Book publishing companies of the United States

Name	Sister Souljah
Birth name	Lisa Williamson
Birth place	Bronx, New York
Nationality	American
Known for	Sister Souljah moment No Disrespect The Coldest Winter Ever
Education	Cornell University, Advanced Studies Program Rutgers University, B.A. American History and African Studies University of Salamanca, Study Abroad Program
Alma mater	Rutgers University
Occupation	Author Activist Recording artist Film producer
Spouse	Mike Rich
Children	1
Website	http://www.sistersouljah.com

Sister Souljah (born 1964) is an American hip hop-generation author, activist, recording artist, and film producer. She is well known for Bill Clinton's criticism of her remarks about race in the United States during the 1992 presidential campaign. Clinton's well-known repudiation of her comments led to what is now known in politics as a Sister Souljah moment.

Souljah was the executive director of Daddy's House Social Programs Inc., a not-for-profit corporation for urban youth, financed by Sean Combs and Bad Boy Entertainment.

Early life

Souljah was born Lisa Williamson in the Bronx, New York. She recounts in her autobiography that she was born into poverty and raised on welfare for some years. At age 10 she moved with her family to the suburbs of Englewood, New Jersey, a middle-lower class suburb with a strong African-American presence, a slight change from the big city feel of the Bronx. Englewood is also home to other famous Black artists such as George Benson, Eddie Murphy, and Regina Belle.

Souljah disliked what American students were being taught in school systems across the country. She felt that the school systems purposely left out the African origins of civilization. Also, she criticized the absence of a comprehensive curriculum of African American history, which she felt all students, Black and White, needed to learn and understand in order to be properly educated. She felt that she was being taught very little of her history, since the junior high school and high school left out Black history, art, and culture. The Englewood school district, however, took an active role recruiting Black educators and administrators, which has lasted to the present day.

Souljah took a very active and special interest in learning everything she could about African history, which she felt was left out of the education curriculum in the United States purposely: "I supplemented my education in the White American school system by reading African history, which was intentionally left out of the curriculum of American students." While at Dwight Morrow High School, a school that had a relatively even distribution of Black-, Latino-, and Jewish-student enrollment and a majority Black administration during the time of her studies, from 1978 to 1981. She was a legislative intern in the House of Representatives.

Sister Souljah became a controversial figure during the 1990s as a frequent guest on American television and radio talk shows. Her comments drew attention and criticism due to their inflammatory nature concerning race relations. Her position of influence among Black Americans as a hiphop artist polarized groups and individuals both Black and White and led to public controversy.

Sister Souljah is married to Mike Rich. They have one child named Michael Jr. An indirect sequel of the novel, titled ), originally scheduled for October 14, 2008, was published November 4, 2008, and entered The New York Times bestseller list at #7 its first week out and remained there as of February 2009. Another sequel, , is to be released in April 2011, and another novel, Porsche Santiaga, is due in 2012.

She also does occasional pieces for Essence Magazine and has written for The New Yorker.

Community activist

As a community activist, Souljah has organized a number of service programs. In 1985, during her senior year at Rutgers University, she developed and financed the African Youth Survival Camp for children of homeless families, a 6-week summer sleep-away camp in Enfield, North Carolina. She has been a motivating force behind a number of hip-hop artists' efforts to give back to the community, organizing major youth events, programs, and summer camps with artists such as Lauryn Hill, Doug E. Fresh, and Sean "Diddy" Combs.

Souljah was the executive director of Daddy's House Social Programs Inc., a not-for-profit corporation for urban youth, financed by Sean Combs and Bad Boy Entertainment. Daddy's House educates and prepares youth, aged 10–16, to be in control of their academic, cultural, and financial lives. The students progressing through the program earn support to travel throughout the world.

Discography

{| class="wikitable" !align="left"|Album information |- |align="left"|360 Degrees of Power

Released: March 17, 1992

Chart positions: #72 Top R&B;/Hip Hop

Last RIAA Certification: N/A

Singles: "The Hate that Hate Produced," "The Final Solution: Slavery’s Back in Effect"

|}

References

External links

Transcript of Sister Souljah's 1992 interview regarding the Los Angeles riots at the LINGUIST List

Sister Souljah Statement, Justifies her 1992 comments at the Rock Out Censorship (ROC)

Profile at Harlem Live

Profile at Washington University St Louis

A review of The Coldest Winter Ever at Salon.com

"The Hate that Hate Produced" music video at Youtube

Category:1964 births Category:American film producers Category:American rappers Category:American writers Category:Cornell University alumni Category:Female rappers Category:People from Englewood, New Jersey Category:People from the Bronx Category:Public Enemy members Category:Living people Category:Rutgers University alumni Category:University of Salamanca alumni

Name	Shaka Zulu
Caption	The only known drawing of Shaka—standing with the long throwing assegai and the heavy shield in 1824, four years before his death
Birth date	c. 1787
Birth place	KwaZulu-Natal, near Melmoth
Death date	22 September 1828 (aged 41)
Death cause	assassination
Resting place	Stanger, South Africa
Religion	Zulu
Children	unknown
Parents	Senzangakona (father) Nandi (mother)

Shaka kaSenzangakhona (c. 1787 – c. 22 September 1828), also known as Shaka Zulu (), was the most influential leader of the Zulu Kingdom.

He is widely credited with uniting many of the Northern Nguni people, specifically the Mtetwa Paramountcy and the Ndwandwe into the Zulu Kingdom, the beginnings of a nation that held sway over the large portion of southern Africa between the Phongolo and Mzimkhulu rivers, and his statesmanship and vigour marked him as one of the greatest Zulu chieftains. He has been called a military genius for his reforms and innovations, and condemned for the brutality of his reign. Other historians note debate about Shaka's role as a uniter versus a usurper of traditional Zulu ruling prerogatives, and the notion of the Zulu state as a unique construction, divorced from the localised culture and the previous systems built by his predecessor Dingiswayo. Research continues into the character, methods and influence of the Zulu warrior king, who continues to cast a long shadow over the history of southern Africa.

Early life

Shaka was the first son of the chieftain Senzangakhona and Nandi, a daughter of Bhebhe, the past chief of the Elangeni tribe, born near present-day Melmoth, KwaZulu-Natal Province. He was conceived out of wedlock somewhere between 1781 and 1787. Some accounts state that he was disowned by his father (Tabile Raziya) and chased into exile. Others maintain that his parents married normally. Shaka almost certainly spent his childhood in his mother's settlements. He is recorded as having been initiated there and inducted into an ibutho lempi (fighting unit). In his early days, Shaka served as a warrior under the sway of local chieftain Dingiswayo and the Mthethwa, to whom the Zulu were then paying tribute.

Dingiswayo called up the emDlatsheni iNtanga (age-group), of which Shaka was part, and incorporated it in the Izichwe regiment. Shaka served as a Mthethwa warrior for perhaps as long as ten years, and distinguished himself with his courage, though he did not, as legend has it, rise to great position. Dingiswayo, having himself been exiled after a failed attempt to oust his father, had, along with a number of other groups in the region (including Mabhudu, Dlamini, Mkhize, Qwabe, and Ndwandwe, many probably responding to slaving pressures from southern Mozambique) helped develop new ideas of military and social organisation, in particular the ibutho, sometimes translated as 'regiment' or 'troop'; it was rather an age-based labour gang which included some better-refined military activities, but by no means exclusively. Most battles before this time were to settle disputes, and while the appearance of ibutho lempi (fighting unit) dramatically changed warfare at times, it largely remained an instrument for seasonal raiding and political persuasion rather than outright slaughter. Of particular importance here is the relationship which Shaka and Dingiswayo had.

Shaka granted permission to Europeans to enter Zulu territory on rare occasions. Henry Francis Fynn provided medical treatment to the king after an assassination attempt from a rival tribe member hidden in a crowd. (see account of Nathaniel Isaacs). To show his gratitude, Shaka permitted European settlers to enter and operate in the Zulu kingdom. This would open the door for future British incursions into the Zulu kingdom that were not so peaceful. Shaka observed several demonstrations of European technology and knowledge, but held that the Zulu way was superior to that of the foreigners.

Later Dingiswayo was murdered by Zwide, a powerful chief of the Ndwandwe (Nxumalo) clan. Shaka took it upon himself to avenge Dingiswayo's blood. At some point Zwide barely escaped Shaka, though the exact details are not known. In that encounter Zwide's mother Ntombazi, a Sangoma (Zulu seer or shaman) was killed by Shaka. Shaka chose a particularly gruesome revenge on her, locking her in a house and placing jackals or hyenas inside: they devoured her and, in the morning, Shaka burned the house to the ground. Despite carrying out this revenge, Shaka was still eager to kill Zwide. It was not until around 1825 that the two great military men would meet, near Phongola, in what would be their final meeting. Phongola is near the present day border of KwaZulu-Natal, a province in South Africa. The victory went to Shaka. However, he sustained heavy casualties and lost his head military commander, Umgobhozi Ovela Entabeni.

In the initial years, Shaka had neither the influence nor reputation to compel any but the smallest of groups to join him, and he operated under Dingiswayo's aegis until the latter's death at the hands of Zwide's Ndwandwe. At this point, Shaka moved southwards across the Thukela River, establishing his capital Bulawayo in Qwabe territory; he never did move back into the traditional Zulu heartland. In Qwabe, Shaka may have intervened in an existing succession dispute to help his own choice, Nqetho, into power; Nqetho then ruled as a proxy chieftain for Shaka.

Expansion of power and conflict with Zwide

As Shaka became more respected by his people, he was able to spread his ideas with greater ease. Because of his background as a soldier, Shaka taught the Zulus that the most effective way of becoming powerful quickly was by conquering and controlling other tribes. His teachings greatly influenced the social outlook of the Zulu people. The Zulu tribe soon developed a "warrior" mindframe, which made it easier for Shaka to build up his armies.

Shaka's hegemony was primarily based on military might, smashing rivals and incorporating scattered remnants into his own army. He supplemented this with a mixture of diplomacy and patronage, incorporating friendly chieftains, including Zihlandlo of the Mkhize, Jobe of the Sithole, and Mathubane of the Thuli. These peoples were never defeated in battle by the Zulu; they did not have to be. Shaka won them over by subtler tactics of patronage and reward. The ruling Qwabe, for example, began re-inventing their genealogies to give the impression that Qwabe and Zulu were closely related in the past. In this way a greater sense of cohesion was created, though it never became complete, as subsequent civil wars attest. Sigujana was killed, the coup was relatively bloodless and accepted by the Zulu. Shaka still recognised Dingiswayo and his larger Mthethwa clan as overlord after he returned to the Zulu but, some years later, Dingiswayo was ambushed by Zwide's amaNdwandwe and killed. There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that Shaka had betrayed Dingiswayo. Indeed, the core Zulu had to retreat before several Ndwandwe incursions; the Ndwandwe was clearly the most aggressive grouping in the sub-region.

Shaka was able to form an alliance with the leaderless Mthethwa clan and was able to establish himself amongst the Qwabe, after Phakathwayo was overthrown with relative ease. With Qwabe, Hlubi and Mkhize support, Shaka was finally able to summon a force capable of resisting the Ndwandwe (of the Nxumalo clan). Historian Donald Morris states that Shaka's first major battle against Zwide, of the Ndwandwe, was the Battle of Gqokli Hill; on the Mfolozi river. Shaka's troops maintained a strong position on the crest of the hill. A frontal assault by their opponents failed to dislodge them and Shaka sealed the victory by sending elephants in a sweep around the hill to attack the enemy's rear. Losses were high overall but the efficacy of the new Shakan innovations was proved. It is probable that, over time, the Zulu were able to hone and improve their encirclement tactics.

Another decisive fight eventually took place on the Mhlatuze river, at the confluence with the Mvuzane stream. In a two-day running battle, the Zulu inflicted a resounding defeat on their opponents. Shaka then led a fresh reserve some seventy miles to the royal kraal of Zwide, ruler of the Ndwandwe, and destroyed it. Zwide himself escaped with a handful of followers before falling foul of a chieftainess named Mjanji, ruler of the baPedi clan (he died in mysterious circumstances soon afterward). Shaka's general Soshangane (of the Shangaan) moved north towards what is now Mozambique to inflict further damage on less resistant foes and take advantage of slaving opportunities, obliging Portuguese traders to give tribute. Shaka later had to contend again with Zwide's son Sikhunyane in 1826.

Death and succession

Dingane and Mhlangana, Shaka's half-brothers, appear to have made at least two attempts to assassinate Shaka before they succeeded, with perhaps support from Mpondo elements, and some disaffected iziYendane people. While the British colonialists considered his regime to be a future threat, allegations that white traders wished his death are problematic given that Shaka had granted concessions to whites prior to his death, including the right to settle at Port Natal (now Durban). Shaka had made enough enemies among his own people to hasten his demise. It came relatively quickly after the devastation caused by Shaka's erratic behavior after the death of his mother Nandi. According to Donald Morris in this mourning period Shaka ordered that no crops should be planted during the following year, no milk (the basis of the Zulu diet at the time) was to be used, and any woman who became pregnant was to be killed along with her husband. At least 7,000 people who were deemed to be insufficiently grief-stricken were executed, though it wasn't restricted to humans, cows were slaughtered so that their calves would know what losing a mother felt like.

The Zulu monarch was killed by three assassins sometime in 1828, September is the most often cited date, when almost all available Zulu manpower had been sent on yet another mass sweep to the north. This left the royal kraal critically short of security. It was all the conspirators needed—they being Shaka's half-brothers, Dingane and Mhlangana, and an iNduna called Mbopa. A diversion was created by Mbopa, and Dingane and Mhlangana struck the fatal blows. Shaka's corpse was dumped into an empty grain pit by his assassins and filled with stones and mud but the exact site is unknown, though a monument was built at one alleged site. Historian Donald Morris holds that it is somewhere on Couper Street in the village of Stanger, South Africa.

Shaka's half-brother Dingane assumed power and embarked on an extensive purge of pro-Shaka elements and chieftains, running over several years, in order to secure his position. A virtual civil war broke out. Dingane ruled for some twelve years, during which time he fought, disastrously, against the Voortrekkers, and against another half-brother Mpande, who with Boer and British support, took over the Zulu leadership in 1840, and ruled for some 30 years. Later in the 19th century the Zulus would be one of the few African peoples who managed to defeat the British Army; at the Battle of Isandlwana.

Shaka's social and military revolution

Some older histories have doubted the military and social innovations customarily attributed to Shaka, denying them outright, or attributing them variously to European influences. More modern researchers argue that such explanations fall short, and that the general Zulu culture which included other tribes and clans, contained a number of practices that Shaka could have drawn on to fulfill his objectives—whether in raiding, conquest or hegemony.

The "buffalo horns" formation

Most historians credit Shaka with initial development of the famous "buffalo horns" formation. #The "horns", while the enemy Impi was pinned by the "chest", would flank the Impi from both sides and encircle it; in conjunction with the "chest" they would then destroy the trapped force.

Shaka as the creator of a revolutionary warfare style

A number of historians argue that Shaka 'changed the nature of warfare in Southern Africa from 'a ritualised exchange of taunts with minimal loss of life into a true method of subjugation by wholesale slaughter'.

Much controversy still surrounds the character, methods and activities of the Zulu king. From a military standpoint historian John Keegan notes exaggerations and myths that surround Shaka, but nevertheless observes: :Fanciful commentators called him Shaka, the Black Napoleon, and allowing for different societies and customs, the comparison is apt. Shaka is without doubt the greatest commander to come out of Africa.

Scholarship on Shaka

Sources on Shaka's life

Scholarship in recent years has revised views of the sources on Shaka's reign. The earliest are two eyewitness accounts written by white adventurer-traders who met Shaka during the last four years of his reign. Nathaniel Isaacs published his Travels and Adventures in Eastern Africa in 1836, creating a picture of Shaka as a degenerate and pathological monster which survives in modified forms to this day. Isaacs was aided in this by Henry Francis Fynn, whose diary (actually a rewritten collage of various papers) was edited by James Stuart only in 1950.

Their accounts may be balanced by the rich resource of oral histories collected around 1900 by the same James Stuart, now published in 6 volumes as The James Stuart Archive. Stuart's early 20th century work was continued by D. McK. Malcolm in 1950. These and other sources such as A. T. Bryant gives us a more Zulu-centred picture. Most popular accounts are based on E. A. Ritter's novel Shaka Zulu (1955), a potboiling romance which was re-edited into something more closely resembling a history. The work of John Wright (history professor at University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg), Julian Cobbing and Dan Wylie (Rhodes University, Grahamstown) have been among a number of writers that have modified these stories.

Various modern historians writing on Shaka and the Zulu point to the uncertain nature of Fynn and Isaac's accounts of Shaka's reign. A standard general reference work in the field is Donald Morris's "The Washing of The Spears" that notes the sources, as a whole, for this historical era are not the best. Morris nevertheless references a large number of sources, including Stuart, and A. T. Bryant's extensive but uneven "Olden Times in Zululand and Natal" which is based on four decades of exhaustive interviews of tribal sources. After sifting through these sources and noting their strengths and weaknesses, Morris generally credits Shaka with a large number of military and social innovations, and this is the general consensus in the field.

A 1998 study by historian Carolyn Hamilton summarizes much of the scholarship on Shaka towrds the dawn of the 21st century in areas ranging from ideology, politics and culture, to the use of his name and image in a popular South African theme park, Shakaland. It argues that in many ways, the image of Shaka has been "invented" in the modern era according to whatever agenda persons hold. This "imagining of Shaka" it is held, should be balanced by a sober view of the historical record, and allow greater scope for the contributions of indigenous African discourse.

Military historians of the Zulu War must also be considered for their description of Zulu fighting methods and tactics, including authors like Ian Knight and Robert Edgerton. General histories of Southern Africa are also valuable including Noel Mostert's "Frontiers" and a detailed account of the results from the Zulu expansion, J. D. Omer-Cooper's "The Zulu Aftermath", which advances the traditional Mfecane theory.

Shaka and the Mfecane

History and legacy

The increased military efficiency led to more and more clans being incorporated into Shaka's Zulu empire, while other tribes moved away to be out of range of Shaka's impis. The ripple effect caused by these mass migrations would become known (though only in the twentieth century) as the Mfecane (annihilation). Some groups which moved off (like the Hlubi and Ngwane to the north of the Zulus) could have been impelled by the Ndwandwe, not the Zulu. Some moved south (like the Chunu and the Thembe), but never suffered much in the way of attack; it was precautionary, and they left many people behind in their traditional homelands.

At the time of his death, Shaka ruled over 250,000 people and could muster more than 50,000 warriors. His 10-year-long kingship resulted in a massive number of deaths, mostly due to the disruptions the Zulu caused in neighbouring tribes, although the exact death toll is a matter of scholarly dispute. Further unquantifiable deaths occurred during mass tribal migrations to escape his armies.

Among the many fascinating cases of the Mfecane is that of Mzilikazi of the Khumalo who was a 'general' of Shaka's, who fled Shaka's employ, and in turn conquered an empire in Zimbabwe, after clashing with European groups like the Boers. The settling of Mzilikazi's people, the AmaNdebele or Matabele, in the south of Zimbabwe with the concomitant driving of the AmaShona into the north caused a tribal conflict which still resonates today. Other notable figures to arise from the Mfecane include Shoshangane, who expanded from the Zulu area into what is now Mozambique. Shaka was clearly a tough, able leader, the most able of his time who, during the last four years of his reign, indulged in several long-distance raids.

Disruptions of the Mfecane

The theory of the Mfecane holds that the aggressive expansion of Shaka's armies caused a brutal chain reaction across the southern areas of the continent, as dispossessed tribe after tribe turned on their neighbours in a deadly cycle of fight and conquest. This theory must be treated with caution, some scholars hold, as it generally neglects several other factors such as the impact of white encroachment, slave trading and expansion in that area of Southern Africa around the same time. The development of the view that Shaka was the monster responsible for the devastation is based on the need of apartheid era historians to justify the apartheid regime's racist policies. Other scholars acknowledge distortion of the historical record by apartheid supporters and shady white traders seeking to cover their tracks, but dispute the revisionist approach, noting that stories of cannibalism, raiding, burning of villages, or mass slaughter were not developed out of thin air but based on the clearly documented accounts of hundreds of black victims, and refugees. Confirmation of such accounts can also be seen in modern archaeology of the village of Lepalong, an entire settlement built underground to shelter remmnants of the Kwena people from 1827-36 against the tide of disruption that engulfed the region during Shakan times.

Shaka in Zulu culture

The figure of Shaka still sparks interest among not only the contemporary Zulu but many worldwide who have encountered the tribe and its history. The current tendency appears to be to lionise him; popular film and other media have certainly contributed to his appeal. Against this must be balanced the devastation and destruction that he wrought. Certain aspects of traditional Zulu culture still revere the dead monarch, as the typical praise song below attests. It should be noted that the praise song is one of the most widely used poetic forms in Africa, applying not only to gods but to men, animals, plants and even towns.

Other Zulu sources are sometimes critical of Shaka, and numerous negative images abound in Zulu oral history. When Shaka's mother Nandi died for example, the monarch ordered a massive outpouring of grief including mass executions, forbidding the planting of crops or the use of milk, and the killing of all pregnant women and their husbands. Oral sources record that in this period of devastation, a singular Zulu, a man named Gala, eventually stood up to Shaka and objected to these measures, pointing out that Nandi was not the first person to die in Zululand. Taken aback by such candid talk, the Zulu king is supposed to have called off the destructive edicts, rewarding the blunt teller-of-truths with a gift of cattle.

The figure of Shaka thus remains an ambiguous one in African oral tradition, defying simplistic depictions of the Zulu king as a heroic, protean nation builder on one hand, or a depraved monster on the other. This ambiguity continues to lend the image of Shaka its continued power and influence, almost two centuries after his death.

uShaka Marine World, an aquatic theme park in Durban opened in 2004.

See also

List of Zulu kings

African military systems to 1800

African military systems after 1900

African military systems (1800–1900)

Brother, assassin, Umthlangana

King Moshoeshoe I of Lesotho

Ndebele

Shaka Zulu, an SABC TV series about Shaka

List of South Africans – Voted 14th in the TV Show 100 Greatest South Africans

Chaka, a novel by Thomas Mofolo based loosely on Shaka Zulu's life

Nada the Lily, a novel by Henry Rider Haggard based in part on the events of Shaka's reign

Emperor Shaka the Great- a heroic epic poem based on Zulu Oral history collected by Mazisi Kunene

References

Bibliography

Chanaiwa, David Shingirai (1980), "The Zulu Revolution: State Formation in a Pastoralist Society," In: African Studies Review 23(3) (Dec. 1980): 1–20.

Edgerton, Robert (1988) Like Lions They Fought

Hamilton, Carolyn (1998) Terrific Majesty: the Powers of Shaka Zulu and the Limits of Historical Invention

Knight, Ian (1995) Anatomy of the Zulu Army

Mostert, Noel (1992) Frontiers

Omer-Cooper, J. D. (1965) The Zulu Aftermath

Ritter, E. A. (1955) Shaka Zulu: The Rise of the Zulu Empire

Wylie, Dan (2006) Myth of Iron: Shaka in History

External links

The South African Military History Society - The Zulu Military Organization and the Challenge of 1879

Shaka: Zulu chieftain

The History of Shaka

Statue proposal

"Shaka Zulu," Carpe Noctem

Rory Carroll in Johannesburg, Shaka Zulu's brutality was exaggerated, says new book, Monday May 22, 2006, The Guardian.

|- | colspan=3 align=center | King of the Zulu Nation |- | align="center" | Preceded by:
Senzangakhona | align="center" | Reign
1816–1828 | align="center" | Succeeded by:
Dingane

Category:1787 births Category:1828 deaths Category:1828 crimes Category:19th-century African people Category:History of Kwa-Zulu Natal Category:Murdered monarchs Category:People from KwaZulu-Natal Category:Zulu kings

Name	Rick Riordan
Caption	Riordan signing copies of The Battle of the Labyrinth on November 3, 2007
Birthdate	June 05, 1964
Birthplace	San Antonio, Texas
Occupation	Author
Genre	Fantasy, Detective fiction, Mythology
Notableworks	Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, The Red Pyramid, The Lost Hero, The Maze of Bones
Influences	Greek mythology, Roman Mythology and Egyptian mythology
Website	http://www.rickriordan.com

Richard Russell "Rick" Riordan, Jr. (born June 5, 1964) is the author of the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series. He also wrote the Tres Navarre mystery series for adults and helped to edit Demigods and Monsters, a collection of essays on the topic of his Percy Jackson series. He helped develop the 10 books in The 39 Clues series, published by Scholastic Corporation, and wrote the first book in the series, The Maze of Bones.

Life and career

Riordan was born in San Antonio, Texas. He graduated from Alamo Heights High School in 1982 and the University of Texas at Austin in 1986, where he double-majored in English and History. For fifteen years, Riordan taught in public and private schools in California and in San Antonio. He was awarded St. Mary's Hall's first Master Teacher Award in 2002.

As a novelist, Riordan has created many successful series. The multi-award-winning Tres Navarre mystery series, intended for adults, follows the fast-paced adventures of an erudite Texan private eye. Riordan also helped create the young adult series The 39 Clues; he authored several of its books, including The Maze of Bones, which topped the New York Times Best Seller list on September 28, 2008. His Percy Jackson and the Olympians series features a twelve-year-old boy who discovers he is the modern-day son of an ancient Greek god. Twentieth Century Fox purchased the film rights and released a feature film on February 12, 2010. Following the success of Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan created The Kane Chronicles, which features a modern-day Egyptian pantheon and two new sibling protagonists. Its first book, The Red Pyramid, was released on May 4, 2010; the sequel will be released on May 4, 2011. Rick Riordan lives in San Antonio with his wife and their two sons.

Published books

Camp Half-Blood Series

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

The Lightning Thief – June 28, 2005 hardcover, March 21, 2006 paperback

The Sea of Monsters – May 3, 2006

The Titan's Curse – May 1, 2007

The Battle of the Labyrinth – U.S.A. May 6, 2008, U.K. July 3, 2008

The Last Olympian – May 5, 2009

The Heroes of Olympus

The Lost Hero - October 12, 2010

The Son of Neptune - Fall 2011

Companion books

The Demigod Files – February 10, 2009

Demigods and Monsters – February 10, 2009

The Ultimate Guide – January 19, 2010

Movie

(2010)

Graphic novels

The Lightning Thief - October 12, 2010

The 39 Clues series

The Maze of Bones – September 9, 2008

The Black Book of Buried Secrets – (Introduction) October 26, 2010

Vespers Rising – (Partial; Four Authors) April 1, 2011

Tres Navarre Series

Big Red Tequila – June 1997

Widower's Two-Step – June 1998

The Last King of Texas – January 2000

The Devil Went Down to Austin – June 2001

Southtown – April 2004

Mission Road – June 2005

Rebel Island– August 2007

The Kane Chronicles

The Red Pyramid – May 4, 2010 The Throne of Fire - May 3, 2011

Awards

1998 Shamus Award and Anthony Award for Big Red Tequila

2008 Mark Twain Award for The Lightning Thief

2009 Mark Twain Award for The Sea of Monsters

2009 Rebecca Caudill Award for The Lightning Thief

Further reading

Art at Our Doorstep: San Antonio Writers and Artists featuring Rick Riordan. Edited by Nan Cuba and Riley Robinson (Trinity University Press, 2008).

References

External links

Official Rick Riordan Site

Official Percy Jackson UK Site

Miss Erin interview

Starred Review of The Last Olympian

Teen Libris interview

Category:1964 births Category:Alamo Heights High School alumni Category:American writers Category:Living people Category:People from San Antonio, Texas Category:University of Texas at Austin alumni

Name	Jomo Kenyatta
Imagesize	220px
Order	1st
Office	President of Kenya
Term start	12 December 1964
Term end	22 August 1978
Vicepresident	Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Joseph Zuzarte Murumbi Daniel arap Moi
Predecessor	Elizabeth II as Queen of Kenya Malcolm MacDonald as Governor-General
Successor	Daniel arap Moi
Order2	Prime Minister of Kenya
Term start2	1 June 1963
Term end2	12 December 1964
Monarch2	Elizabeth II
Governor-general2	Malcolm MacDonald
Predecessor2	Office Established
Successor2	Himself as President of Kenya Raila Odinga as Prime Minister of Kenya in 2008
Birth date	1894
Birth place	Ichaweri, Gatundu British East Africa
Death date	August 22, 1978
Death place	Mombasa, Coast Kenya
Birthname	Kamau wa Muigai
Spouse	Grace Wahu (m. 1919), Edna Clarke (1942-1946), Grace Wanjiku, Mama Ngina (1951-1978)
Party	KANU

Jomo Kenyatta^[pron.] (c. 1894 – 22 August 1978) served as the first Prime Minister (1963–1964) and President (1964–1978) of Kenya. He is considered the founding father of the Kenyan nation.

In Kenya, Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi's main street and main streets in many Kenyan cities and towns, numerous schools, two Universities (Kenyatta University and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology), the country's main referral hospital, markets, and housing estates are named after Jomo Kenyatta. A statue in downtown Nairobi and monuments all over Kenya stand in his honour. Kenya observed a public holiday every 20 October in his honour until the new 2010 constitution abolished Kenyatta Day and replaced it with Mashujaa (Heroes' ) day. Kenyatta's face adorns Kenyan currency notes and coins of all denominations,but this is expected to change as the new constitution bans the use of the portrait of any person on Kenya's currency.

Early life

Jomo Kenyatta was born Kamau wa Muigai to parents Muigai and Wambui in the village of Gatundu, in British East Africa (now Kenya), a member of Kikuyu people. His date of birth, sometime in the early to mid 1890s, is unclear, and was unclear even to him, as his parents were almost certainly not literate, and no formal birth records of native Africans were kept in Kenya at that time.

His father died while Kamau was very young after which, as per custom, he was adopted by his uncle Ngengi, who also inherited his mother, to become Kamau wa Ngengi. When his mother died during childbirth, young Kamau moved from Ng'enda to Muthiga to live with his medicine man grandfather Kũngũ wa Magana, to whom he became very close.

He then left home to become a resident pupil at the Church of Scotland Mission (CSM) at Thogoto, close to Kikuyu Town, about 12 miles north-west of Nairobi. He studied amongst other subjects: the Bible, English, mathematics, and carpentry. He paid the school fees by working as a houseboy and cook for a white settler living nearby.

In 1912, having completed his mission school education, he became an apprentice carpenter. The following year he underwent initiation ceremonies, including circumcision, to become a member of the kihiu-mwiri age group. In 1914, he converted to Christianity, assuming the name John Peter, which he then changed to Johnstone Kamau. He left the mission later that year to seek employment. and who maintained secret contact with the then colonial Governor of Kenya Evelyn Baring during the trial — was openly hostile to the defendants' cause.

The defense, led by British Lawyer Dennis Pritt, argued that the white settlers were trying to scapegoat Kenyatta and that there was no evidence tying him to the Mau Mau. The court sentenced Kenyatta on April 8, 1953 to seven years imprisonment with hard labor and indefinite restriction thereafter. The subsequent appeal was refused by the British Privy Council in 1954.

Kenyatta remained in prison until 1959, after which he was detained in Lodwar, a remote part of Kenya.

The state of emergency was lifted on January 12, 1960.(Anderson, pg 393)

On Feb 28 1960, a public meeting of 25,000 in Nairobi demanded his release. On April 15, 1960, over a million signatures for a plea to release him were presented to the Governor. On May 14, 1960, he was elected Kanu President in absentia. On Mar 23 1961, Kenyan leaders, including Daniel arap Moi, later his long time Vice President and successor as president, visited him at Lodwar. On Apr 11 1961, he was moved to Maralal with daughter Margaret where he met world press for the first time in eight years. On Aug 14 1961, he was released and brought to Gatundu to a hero's welcome.

While contemporary opinion linked Kenyatta with the Mau Mau, historians have questioned his alleged leadership of the radical movement. Kenyatta was in truth a political moderate. His marriage of Colonial Chief's daughters, his post independence Kikuyu allies mainly being former colonial collaborators, and his short shrift treatment of former Mau Mau fighters after he came to power, all strongly suggest he had scant regard for the Mau Mau.

Leadership

Heinrich Lübke in 1966]]

Pre-independence

Kenyatta was admitted into the Legislative Council after his release in 1961, after Kariuki Njiiri (son of late Chief Njiiri) gave up his Kigumo seat for him.

In 1961 and 1962, he led the KANU delegation to first and second Lancaster Conference in London where Kenya's independence constitution was negotiated.

Elections were then held in May 1963, pitting Kenyatta's KANU (Kenya African National Union- which advocated for Kenya to be a unitary state) against KADU (Kenya African Democratic Union- which advocated for Kenya to be an ethnic-federal state). KANU beat KADU by winning 83 seats out of 124. On June 1, 1963, Kenyatta became prime minister of the autonomous Kenyan government, with Queen Elizabeth II remaining as Head of State (after Independence, styled as Queen of Kenya), represented by a Governor-General. He consistently asked white settlers not to leave Kenya and supported reconciliation.

Post-independence

Kenyatta retained the role of prime minister after independence was declared and jubilantly celebrated on December 12, 1963.

On June 1, 1964, Kenyatta became President when he successfully had Parliament amend the Constitution to make Kenya a republic with his office becoming executive President: the head of State, head of Government, and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.

His policy was that of continuity and gradual Africanization of the government, keeping many colonial civil servants in their old jobs as they were gradually replaced by Kenyans. He asked for British troops' help against Somali rebels, Shiftas, in the northeast and in ending an army mutiny in Nairobi in January 1964.

On November 10, 1964, KADU officially dissolved and its representatives joined KANU, forming a single party.

Kenyatta was re-elected un-opposed in 1966, and the next year had the Constitution amended to expand his powers. This term featured border conflicts with Somalia, and more political opposition. He made the Kikuyu-led KANU practically the only political party of Kenya. He consolidated his power greatly, and placed several of his Kikuyu tribesmen in most of the powerful state and security offices and posts. State security forces harassed dissidents and were suspected of complicity in several murders of prominent personalities deemed as threats to his regime, including Pio Gama Pinto, Tom Mboya and J.M. Kariuki. MP and Lawyer C.M.G. Argwings-Kodhek and former Kadu Leader and minister Ronald Ngala, also died in suspicious car accidents.

In 1968 he published his biography Suffering Without Bitterness.

In the 1969 elections, Kenyatta banned the only other party, KPU (formed and led by his former vice president, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga who had been forced to quit KANU along with his left leaning allies), detained its leaders, and called elections in which only KANU was allowed to participate.

On 29 January 1970 he was sworn in as President for a further term. For the remainder of his presidency, Kenya was effectively a one-party state, and Kenyatta made use of detention, appeals to ethnic loyalties, and careful appointment of government jobs to maintain his commanding position in Kenya’s political system. However, his advancing age kept him from the day-to-day management of government affairs. He intervened only when necessary to settle disputed issues. His relative isolation resulted in increasing domination of Kenya’s affairs by well-connected Kikuyu who acquired great wealth as a result.

Kenyatta was again re-elected as President in 1974, in elections in which he, again, ran alone.

Legacy

Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, as he was popularly known, was an important and influential statesman in Africa. He is credited with leading Kenya to independence and setting up the country as a relatively prosperous capitalist state. He pursued a moderate pro-Western, anti-Communist economic philosophy and foreign policy. He oversaw a peaceful land reform process, oversaw the setting up of the institutions of independent Kenya, and also oversaw Kenya's admission into the United Nations. During his reign, the country was reasonably well governed, peaceful and stable, the economy developed and grew rapidly and attracted high levels of foreign investment, and a black Kenyan professional and business middle class was established.

However, Kenyatta was not without major flaws, and did also bequeath Kenya some major problems which continue to bedevil the country to date, hindering his development, and threatening her existence as a peaceful unitary multi-ethnic state.

His authoritarian style, with elements of patronage, favouritism, tribalism and/or nepotism drew criticism and dissent, and set a bad example followed by his successors. He had the Constitution radically amended to expand his powers, consolidating executive power. He has also been criticised for ruling through a post colonial clique consisting largely of his relatives, other Kikuyus, mostly from his native Kiambu district, and African Kikuyu colonial collaborators and their offspring, while giving scant reward to those whom most consider the real fighters for Kenya's independence. This clique became and remains the wealthiest, most powerful and most influential class in Kenya to date, and has held the country back, blocking reform and change, and the emergence of fresh progressive leadership, in its manoeuvres to maintain its power and wealth. Kenyatta has further been criticised for encouraging the culture of wealth accumulation by public officials using the power and influence of their offices, thereby deeply entrenching corruption in Kenya.

His policies are also criticised for leading to a large income and development inequality gap in the country. Development and resource allocation in the country during his reign was seen to have favoured some regions of the country, mainly Nairobi and the Country's Central Highlands, over others.

He had one son, Peter Magana Kenyatta (born 1943) from his short marriage with Edna Clarke.

His third wife, Grace Wanjiku, died when giving birth in 1950. Daughter Jane Wambui survived.

His fourth wife, the best known due to her role as First Lady, was Ngina Kenyatta (née Muhoho), also known as Mama Ngina. She often accompanied him in public and also has some streets in Nairobi and Mombasa named after her. She bore Kenyatta four children: Christine Wambui (born 1952), Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta (born 1961), Anna Nyokabi (also known as Jeni) and Muhoho Kenyatta (born 1964). Mama Ngina lives quietly as a wealthy widow in Kenya. Uhuru Kenyatta, Mzee Kenyatta's political heir, unsuccessfully vied for the Kenyan presidency as President Moi's preferred successor in 2002 and is today the Kenyan Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance. Muhoho Kenyatta runs his mother's vast family business but lives out of the public limelight.

Kenyatta was the uncle of Ngethe Njoroge, Kenya's first representative to the United Nations and the great uncle of Tom Morello, the guitarist for Rage Against the Machine. His niece, Beth Mugo, married to a retired ambassador, is an MP and currently serving as Minister for Public Health.

Bibliography

Books by Jomo Kenyatta

Facing Mount Kenya (1938)

My people of Kikuyu and the life of Chief Wangombe (1944)

Suffering Without Bitterness (biography 1968)

Kenya: The land of conflict (1971)

The challenge of Uhuru;: The progress of Kenya, 1968 to 1970 (1971)

Books about Jomo Kenyatta

Guy Arnold (1974), Kenyatta and the politics of Kenya, London: Dent ISBN 046007878X

Jeremy Murray-Brown (1979), Kenyatta, Allen & Unwin, ISBN 0049200593

George Delf (1961), Jomo Kenyatta: Towards Truth about "The Light of Kenya" New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-8371-8307-3

Rawson Macharia (1991), The Truth about the Trial of Jomo Kenyatta, Nairobi: Longman. ISBN 9966498230

Veena Malhotra (1990), Kenya Under Kenyatta Kalinga. ISBN 8185163162

Montagu Slater (1955), The trial of Jomo Kenyatta London: Secker and Warburg. ISBN 0436472007

Elizabeth Watkins, (1993) Jomo's Jailor — Grand Warrior of Kenya Mulberry Books ISBN 978-0952895206

Caroline Elkins, (2005) "Imperial Reckoning" Henry Holt and Co ISBN 0805076530

Films about Jomo Kenyatta

Anthony Howarth & David Koff (1973), Kenyatta Part 3 of The Black Man's Land Trilogy

See also

Harambee

List of African writers

Notes

   [pron.] - The name Jomo Kenyatta is pronounced in English.

External links

Speech by Kenyatta at the Kenya African Union Meeting at Nyeri, July 26, 1952

Mzee Jomo Kenyatta

Famous People in Kenya: Jomo Kenyatta

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