Benin

 

Amazons of Black Sparta : The Women Warriors of Dahomey by Stanley B. Alpern Paperback from New York University Press Amazons of Black Sparta: The Women Warriors of Dahomey by Stanley B. Alpern Examines the role of women as elite troops of the West African kingdom in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.  Hardcover: 288 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.88 x 8.83 x 5.75 Publisher: New York University Press; (December ) ISBN: 0814706770

Art, Innovation, and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Benin
by Ben-Amos, Paula Girshick

The Art of Benin
by Paula Girshick Ben-Amos
Listed under African Art

Benin Country Study Guide (World Country Study Guide
by USA International Business Publications

The Benin Kingdom of West Africa (Celebrating the Peoples and Civilizations of Africa)
by John Peffer-Engels

At Her Majesty's Request: An African Princess in Victorian England
by Walter Dean Myers
Once there was a little girl--an orphaned African princess--who narrowly escaped death by human sacrifice in a West African village in 1850. A British sea captain named Frederick E. Forbes saved her life by talking King Gezo of Dahomey into giving the girl to Queen Victoria of England as a gift: "She would be a present from the King of the blacks to the Queen of the Whites." As impossible as this tale sounds, it is a true one. Award-winning author Walter Dean Myers--piecing together her story from letters he found in a rare book and ephemera shop in London--paints a hauntingly detached portrait of the small African princess whom the heroic captain named Sarah Forbes Bonetta. 

We follow her charmed but unlucky life as the Queen's protégée through a succession of British middle-class households, beginning with the Forbes home. Because of her celebrated association and frequent visits with the Queen, Sarah grows up in an unusual position of privilege, education, and celebrity. On the flip side, she is keenly aware that her decisions are not her own, and as a rescued orphan under the Queen's protection, her life's path is dictated by those acting in what they perceive to be her best interests. It is hard not to feel that it was cruel of her protectors to wrench her (more than once in her life) from the adopted family she adores, and eventually to encourage her to marry a West African businessman whom she clearly stated she could never love, and who would take her away from her adopted country. As the epilogue states, "She was both unfortunate in her losses, and fortunate that those losses were not greater.... She seemed to find a measure of comfort wherever she was, but was destined to be apart from the world in which she lived." This story, rich with historic prints, photographs, newspaper clippings, excerpts from Queen Victoria's diary, and Sarah's letters, is both fascinating and tragic. We have Myers to thank for rescuing this fine woman again--this time from the forgotten shelf of a London bookstore. (Ages 11 and older) Amazon.com.

Antiquities from the City of Benin & from Other Parts of West Africa in the British Museum
by Charles H. Read, Ormonde, M. Dalton

Divine Inspiration : From Benin to Bahia
by Phyllis Galembo et al.

Dawn to Dusk : Folk Tales from Benin
by Iro Eweka

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

The Emergent Independent Press in Benin and Cote d'Ivoire
by W. Joseph Campbell (Author)

Palace Sculptures of Abomey: History Told on Walls (Conservation and Cultural Heritage)
by Francesca Pique, Leslie H. Rainer
(Paperback)

Wives of the Leopard: Gender, Politics, and Culture in the Kingdom of Dahomey
by Edna G. Bay
(Paperback)

Ife Akan and Benin: Awest African Art from 2000 Years
by Fritz Falk (Preface)
(Hardcover)

The Yoruba Artist: New Theoretical Perspectives on African Arts
by Rowland Abiodun (Editor), et al
(Hardcover)

In The Niger Country: Benin--The Surrounding Country, Inhabitants, Customs and Trade
(Hardcover)

African Vodun: Art, Psychology, and Power
by Suzanne Preston Blier
(Hardcover)

Historical Dictionary of Benin
by Samuel Decalo
(Hardcover)

King Guezo of Dahomey 1850-52: The Abolition of the Slave Trade on the West Coast of Africa
by Tim Coates (Editor)
Paperback: 240 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.76 x 7.34 x 4.48
Publisher: The Stationery Office;
ISBN: 0117024600

The Viceroy of Ouidah
by Bruce Chatwin
Paperback from Viking Press
1988

Archaeology and history in southern Nigeria : the ancient linear earthworks of Benin and Ishan
by P. J. Darling
Out of Print - Try Used Books

Benin : Royal Art of Africa from the Museum Fur Volkerkunde, Vienna
by Armand Duchateau 
Out of Print - Try Used Books

City of Blood Revisited : A New Look at the Benin Expedition of 1897
by Robert Home
Out of Print - Try Used Books

Oyo, Benin, Ashanti : The Guinea Coast (African Kingdoms of the Past)
by Kenny Mann
Out of Print - Try Used Books

The archaeology of Benin : excavations and other researches in and around Benin City, Nigeria
by Graham Connah
Out of Print - Try Used Books

Royal Art of Benin The Perls Collection
by Kate Ezra
Out of Print - Try Used Books

Warrior Women: The Amazons of Dahomey and the Nature of War
by Robert B. Edgerton
Out of Print - Try Used Books