To Strive for African Greatness is about a people emerging from slavery, but continuing to be victims of socio-political ills that must be overcome. The problems include widespread strife, dictatorships, corruption, rising crime rates, rampant disease, starvation, economic disparity and mushrooming slums.According to Vincent Mapesi Gondwe, "We, the Africans, more than any other people, should strive to make significant contributions toward perfecting our life as human beings." The author hopes his autobiographical novel portrays a dream that will awaken and nourish similar dreams in young Africans. He writes of his heightened awareness nurtured during his secondary school and university years spent in the U.S. while reaching for his dreams. "I began it in the early 1950s, with the introduction of Western formal education into my life, which stirred higher aspirations." To Strive for African Greatness is a story made all the stronger by its use of a narrator, and for the pictures and sketches that strengthen the narration about revolutionaries. Vincent Mapesi Gondwe is from Malawi. "Although I have qualifications in economics and education obtained from the University of Massachusetts, University of Malawi, University of Reading, University of London and Harvard University, I regard myself as a student of Pan-Africanism and of biographies, especially of the 'third world' revolutionaries." He has been an operations manager in the private sector, a teacher and a politician, and was elected to Malawi Parliament from 1996 to 2004. Publisher's website: http://sbpra.com/VincentMapesiGondwe