Africa for the African

by Harry W. Langworthy

Missionaries have often been accused of being hand in glove with colonialism. If this may be true for many, it is definitely not true for Joseph Booth, who published in 1897 his book "Africa for the African" and two years later demanded independence for Malawi before 1920. Without him, the pacifist, the 1915 Chilembwe Rising in Malawi would not have been possible, and seven major churches in Malawi would not exist without him, either. Based on a careful and extensive study of the primary sources in three continents the book tells the story of the "maverick missionary" in Malawi, South Africa and Lesotho and of his efforts to find support in Australia, Britain and in the United States of America.