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An Affair with Africa: Expeditions And Adventures Across A Continent | 
 enlarge | Author: Alzada Carlisle Kistner
Publisher: Island Press
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy Used: $6.45
You Save: $23.50 (78%)
Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 951206
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 262
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.8 x 1
ISBN: 1559635312
Dewey Decimal Number: 916.704326
EAN: 9781559635318
ASIN: 1559635312
Publication Date: May 1, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Former Library book.1st Edition.ACCEPTABLE with noted wear to cover and pages. Binding intact. We offer a no hassle guarantee on all our items. Orders are generally shipped no later than next business day. We offer a no hassle guarantee on all our items.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Book Description
In June 1960, a young faculty wife named Alzada Kistner and her husband David, a promising entomologist, left their 18-month old daughter in the care of relatives and began what was to be a four month scientific expedition in the Belgian Congo. Three weeks after their arrival, the country was gripped by a violent revolution trapping the Kistners in its midst. Despite having to find their way out of numerous life-threatening situations, the Kistners were not to be dissuaded. An emergency airlift by the United States Air Force brought them to safety in Kenya where they continued their field work. Thus began three decades of adventures in science. In An Affair with Africa, Alzada Kistner describes her family's African experience-the five expeditions they took beginning with the trip to the Belgian Congo in 1960 and ending in 1972-73 with a nine-month excursion across southern Africa. From hunching over columns of ants for hours on end while seven months pregnant to eating dinner next to Idi Amin, Kistner provides a lively and humor-filled account of the human side of scientific discovery. Her wonderfully detailed stories clearly show why, despite hardship and danger-and contrary to all of society's expectations-she could not forsake accompanying her husband on his expeditions, and, to this day, continues to find the world "endlessly beckoning, a lively bubbling cauldron of questions and intrigue. In the spirit of Beryl Markham's West with the Night and Isak Dinesen's Out of Africa, An Affair with Africa shares with readers the thoughts and experiences of a remarkable woman, one whose unquenchable thirst for adventure led her into a series of almost unimaginable situations. Readers-from armchair travelers fascinated by stories of Africa to scientists familiar with the Kistners's work but unaware of the lengths to which they went to gather their data-will find An Affair with Africa a rare treasure.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Not a very politically correct book March 6, 2005
John Speer (Seattle, WA United States)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I agree that the author (somewhat) romanticizes colonialism. However, the family didn't seem to have a lot of contact with black Africans, so she wrote about what she experienced: the privileged lives of the Europeans there. She and her husband seem incredibly politically naive though.
That aside, I found it a fascinating book, in spite of the science, which wasn't too daunting, but caused me to mutter "here we go ..." each time it appeared.
I'd like to hear more of their adventures in other continents.
 A Family in Africa February 4, 2000
Carol J. Horky (Los Angeles, CA United States)
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
While I finished this book (and enjoyed the last half) and learned a lot of about Africa and scientific research, the insensitivity of the author to her surroundings ruined the experience for me! How can Kistner rave continually about the wonderful social whirl of the diamond-owners and fail to even mention the plight of the workers in those diamond mines. Same for the "glamorous" safaris. Not to mention the life-threatening danger to her children! Here she is -- for more than a decade -- exposed to perhaps the greatest of social and political upheavals, and nary a word except to lament that this wonderful way of life was changing! Read this book if you're curious about Africa in the 60s and scientific expeditions to remote sites w/ a family. But don't expect more than a limited, narrow report -- written as if the author wore blinders.
 One of the best reads about Africa August 26, 1999
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
ALZADA CARLISLE KISTNER...my hat is off to you! You lived a life I could never live and yet through your wonderful book I have experienced the adventure, high drama, stark terror and beauty of Africa.Thank you. You are an inspiration! Talk about a positive attitude! When the going gets tough for me I will think of you and your family. I can't think of anyone who wouldn't enjoy this book. Your humor and practicality made it a book I just couldn't put down.
Great in many ways, great for my African curiosity January 22, 1999
anthology@webmail.co.za (Ohio, USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have always been greatly intriqued by Africa, this book made me love it even more, as it was one I picked out to give me wings to travel in my mind without having the means. Spectacular Book!
Captivating true-life adventures in Africa in turmoil. June 3, 1998
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Many themes run through this book about a remarkable and admirable family of scientists, including scientific ferver, compassion and love, concern and terror for Africa on the cusp of change, fascination for Africa's variety of life, adventure, and protection of the family's well-being. The Kistners' adaptability is amazing. They went through continuous and diverse challenges with aplomb. A matter of hours could find them moving from dirt-groveling scientific search for tiny insects in disease infested and personally threatening environments, to high society, twelve-course dinner parties . They spent unbelievably long hours and days of sustained scientific hard work in rain forests, deserts, and plains. A glimpse into the multitude of challenges required to mount a scientific expedition leaves the reader awe-struck. Mrs. Kistner's adaptablility and resourcefulness is truly inspiring. (It's an exciting tale and now that I've finished reading the book, I can finally get some sleep!) Kudos to the editor, publisher, and printer for a very attractive book, beautiful, readable format and print, CLEAR maps, (which is quite unusual) and pictures, and a comfortable size for carrying about. The presentation is a lovely invitation to read about this "Affair With Africa."Hurry, get this on talking books so that my blind parents can read (hear) it! .
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