Cameroon (1960–2026)

Africa in miniature: sixty-six years, two presidents.

On the first morning of 1960, in Yaoundé, Ahmadou Ahidjo proclaimed the independence of the Republic of Cameroon: "Cameroonian men, Cameroonian women, Cameroon is free and independent!" In the forests of the west, the war against the country's first nationalist movement, the UPC, was still being fought, and French officers still commanded the army. What followed was sixty-six years under only two presidents: a French- and an English-speaking territory joined in a federation that became a unitary state, a single party, a resignation announced on the radio and a coup attempt, ghost towns and a disputed count, a border settled in court, war in the Far North and in the English-speaking regions, and a constitution rewritten for the succession.

Cameroon: A Narrative History of Post-Colonial Leaders tells that story as a story — chronological, human and sourced. Six acts, named as the book names them: Independence at War, The United Republic, The New Deal, Ghost Towns and the Border, Two Fronts, and The Long Twilight — to 14 April 2026, when Paul Biya promulgated the constitutional revision that restored the office of vice-president.

Inside:

• The deep past — the Shum Laka rock shelter and the likely cradle of the Bantu languages, the Sao, the Adamawa emirate, King Ibrahim Njoya and the Bamum script, the River of Prawns, German Kamerun and Rudolf Duala Manga Bell, the two mandates, and the hidden war in which Ruben Um Nyobè was killed
• The national emblem — a flag that tells its history in the number of its stars (none in 1957, two in 1961, one since 1975), the arms with the scales of justice and the motto "Peace – Work – Fatherland", and an anthem written by schoolboys at Foulassi in 1928
• Six illustrated acts, from the independence of 1 January 1960 to the constitutional revision of April 2026 — Moumié's death in Geneva, the plebiscite and Foumban, the single party and the unitary state of 1972, Ahidjo's resignation and the coup attempt of 1984, Lake Nyos, the ghost towns and the election of 1992, the devaluation of 1994, Bakassi, the riots of February 2008, Boko Haram in the Far North, the Anglophone crisis, the joint report of French and Cameroonian historians, the disputed election of October 2025 and the return of the vice-presidency
• The country beneath the presidents — two official languages and some 250 national ones, cocoa, coffee and oil, lamidos, fons and chiefs, churches and mosques, schools, clinics and the world's first routine malaria vaccination, writers from Mongo Beti to Léonora Miano, makossa and Manu Dibango, the Indomitable Lions and Lionesses
• Verified quotes from Cameroon's leaders, and 51 key-fact cards on the pages that carry no picture or quote
• A chronology, a table of Cameroon's leaders (its two presidents, the first prime minister of the autonomous State and the vice-president of the federation), 68 source notes and a reader's guide of 114 entries — books, scholarly articles, reports and primary sources
• Lessons in Leadership — what the country's best and worst moments teach those who lead, and an epilogue on the latest official data to September 2026 (national statistics institute (INS), Caisse autonome d'amortissement, IMF, Bank of Central African States)
• The recurring patterns — two men in one chair, the hidden war's long shadow, union without consent, rules that bend, stability bought with patronage, commodities and secrecy, and law where it was tried

A clear, sourced introduction for anyone who wants to understand Cameroon, Central Africa, and a country that, after sixty-six years under two men, faces the question of who will come next.

What you get: the book in PDF and EPUB in one ZIP file, DRM-free, instant download. Future updates are included with your purchase.