African Sketchbook Author:Frederick Franck Text and Drawings by Frederick Franck — Preface by Graham Greene — The delightful drawings that fill these pages, and the imaginative text that enhances them, provide readers with a unique and exciting experience: an artist's view of Africa today. The artist-author is Frederick Franck, whose earlier book, Days with Albert Schweitzer, won wide crit... more »ical acclaim in 1959. Now he gives us his impressions of ten turbulent areas of modern Africa: Dakar and the Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, the Sudan, the Belgian Congo (seen on the eve of its independence), and the Gabon Republic (home of Schweitzer's Lambarene hospital). Dr. Franck's beautiful pen-and-ink drawings and vivid prose depict a world of contrast and change: of fierce sun glare and dense jungle shade, of busy villages clustered beside slow-moving rivers, of ancient towns dotted with modern soft-drink parlors, of shining cities ringed by filthy shantytowns. From Dakar, the "African Paris," to Wolleka, village of the Falashas (Ethiopian Jews); from politically-minded Ghana to Bathurst, a stately bastion of Victorian England; Dr. Franck has traveled, observed, and captured for this book all the harsh beauty of the African scene. A highlight of African Sketchbook is its fascinating preface by Graham Greene, whose deep feeling for Africa and affection for her people is well known. In addition, there are brief chapter-end surveys giving vital facts about the customs, history, and government of each area portrayed. But the most dramatic quality of this book is the stirring way in which it evokes, in words and pictures, the sights, sounds, and spirit of the Dark Continent, as it surges into the limelight.« less