This book celebrates the relaunch of the African Pollen Database, presents state-of-the-art of modern and ancient pollen data from sub-Saharan Africa, and promotes Open Access science. Pollen grains are powerful tools for the study of past vegetation dynamics because they preserve well within sedimentary deposits and have a huge diversity in ornamentation that allows different taxa to be determined. The reconstruction of past vegetation from the examination of ancient pollen records thus can be used to characterize the nature of past landscapes (e.g. abundance of forests vs. grasslands), provide insights into changes in biodiversity, and gain empirical evidence of vegetation response to climatic change and human activity. In this, the 35th Volume of "Palaeoecology of Africa", we bring together new data and extensive synthetic reviews to provide novel insights into the relationships between human evolution, human activity, climate change and vegetation dynamics during the Quaternary, the last 2.6 million years. Current and ongoing climate and land-use change is exerting pressure on modern vegetation formations and threatening the livelihoods and wellbeing of many peoples in Africa. In this book the focus is on the Quaternary because it is during this geological period that the modern vegetation formations developed into their current configurations against a backdrop of high magnitude global climate change (glacial-interglacial cycles), human evolution, and a growing human land-use footprint. In this book the latest information is presented and collated from around the African continent to parameterize past vegetation states, identify the drivers of vegetation change, and assess the vegetation resilience to change. To achieve this research from two broad themes are covered: (i) the present is the key to the past (i.e. studies which improve our understanding of modern environments so that we can better interpret evidence from the past), and (ii) the past is the key to the future (i.e. studies which unlock information on how and why vegetation changed in the past so one can better anticipate trajectories of future change). This Open Access book will provide a strong foundation for future research exploring past ecological, environmental and climatic change within Africa and the surrounding islands. The book is organized regionally (covering western, eastern, central, and southern Africa) and it contains specialized articles focused on particular topics (such as modern pollen-vegetation relationships and fire as a driver of vegetation change), as well as regional and pan-African syntheses drawing together decades of research to assess key scientific questions (including the role of climate in driving vegetation change and the role of vegetation change in human evolution). These articles will be useful to students and teachers from high school to the highest level of university who are interested in the origins and dynamics of vegetation in Africa. Furthermore, it is also meant to provide societally relevant information that can act as an inspiration for the development of sustainable management practices for the future.

This book is a journey through the events in Mattie Fisher's life. There are also the life lessons gained from those events. Mattie was born at a time in history when being black and female was a double curse. You had to look very hard to find any human or legal rights. Mattie stood her ground. She was confident and fierce, always pushing forward, striving to do things she wanted to do. She turned a deaf ear to those who thought they could dictate her life. Mattie's story is very powerful and inspirational; her spirit tenacious and infectious. She encouraged all the women she met to never settle for less than they deserved. Let the tenacity of one woman inspire you to the greatness you were created for.

Does a deep and abiding love transcend time and space---and even death? Jenny Martin ponders this strange phenomen and knows she must have an answer before giving her trust, her faith---and her life.

This is a true story of raw survival. Of hunger and dust and dirty faces. But sometimes a little humor helps us get through tough times. Even the most honest upright man will raid his neighbor's chicken roost if his family is hungry, and it takes guts to shoot a few rounds over the heads of thieves in the watermelon patch---especially if the thieves shot back. There are make-do receipes blended among the pages of narrative hardships. Some of them have been embellished and added to---and handed down to today, but they had their initial beginning in desperation.

Scott presents readers with an in-depth look at the Great Depression by providing gripping memoirs from those who experienced it firsthand.