black gold of the sun: searching for home in africa and beyond

At the age of thirty-three, Ekow Eshun--born in London to African-born parents--travels to Ghana in search of his roots. He goes from Accra, Ghana's cosmopolitan capital city, to the storied slave forts of Elmina, and on to the historic warrior kingdom of Asante. During his journey, Eshun uncovers a long-held secret about his lineage that will compel him to question everything he knows about himself and where he comes from. From the London suburbs of his childhood to the twenty-first century African metropolis, Eshun's is a moving chronicle of one man's search for home, and of the pleasures and pitfalls of fashioning an identity in these vibrant contemporary worlds.

Ekow Eshun is a former editor of the British men’s magazine Arena and is now artistic director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, where he lives. This is his first book.