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Or the equally bizarre journey in a taxi following a meeting with another local spiritualist who performed an invisibility charm on the author - it soon became obvious that the taxi driver didn't seem to think he was there at all and addressed only his companion, an unsettling experience reinforced shortly afterwards by the mad and erratic behaviour of his companion's dog towards the author's 'spiritual' presence. Startling, strange and often extremely surreal, Toby Green challenges the 'safe', colonial assumptions of the West about this so-called 'exotic' region and highlights the disparity between iconic, mercantile Europe and a culture imbued with spiritualism at every level of life and an equally potent belief in the mysterious powers of the mind. Engaging the reader with themes as diverse as the histories of the slave trade and the kingdoms of West Africa, the invisible men of HG Wells and Ralph Ellison, Plato's simile of the cave and Marco Polo's observations about Zanzibar, the book is by turns mysterious, hilarious, beautiful and troubling. 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In the spirit of Bruce Chatwin he befriended many local people, all of whom took him (and his horses) in, unquestioningly offering them shelter, food, assistance and astonishing insights into their lives, and voicing a uniform concern about the extraordinary and damaging changes to the environment over recent years.  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Its gold  had fuelled the economies of Europe and Islamic world since around  1000, and its sophisticated kingdoms had traded with Europeans along the  coasts from Senegal down to Angola since the fifteenth century. Until  at least 1650, this was a trade of equals, using a variety of currencies  - most importantly shells: the cowrie shells imported from the  Maldives, and the nzimbu shells imported from Brazil.  Toby  Green's groundbreaking new book transforms our view of West and  West-Central Africa. It reconstructs the world of kingdoms whose  existence (like those of Europe) revolved around warfare, taxation,  trade, diplomacy, complex religious beliefs, royal display and  extravagance, and the production of art.  Over time, the  relationship between Africa and Europe revolved ever more around the  trade in slaves, damaging Africa's relative political and economic power  as the terms of monetary exchange shifted drastically in Europe's  favour. 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Based on archival research, and rich with vivid reconstructions of 16th-century Spain and Mexico, the narrative becomes a biography not only of Quiroga, but also of utopia as both an idea and a literary form.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49614427357457,"sku":"GOR005918773","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49972447379729,"sku":"GOR001983442","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50363137360145,"sku":"CIN0753819783G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51329991246097,"sku":"CIN0753819783VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0753819783.jpg?v=1751138715"},{"product_id":"chile-handbook-book-toby-green-9781903471050","title":"Chile Handbook","description":"This revised and updated edition offers comprehensive recommendations and listings. 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As the fortunes of the richest soared, nationwide shutdowns devastated small businesses, the working classes and the Global South's informal economies. Gender-based violence surged, and the mental health of young people was severely compromised. Meanwhile, unprecedented health restrictions prevented participation in daily life without proof of vaccination.        Toby Green and Thomas Fazi argue that these policies grossly exacerbated existing trends of inequality, mediatisation and surveillance, with grave implications for the future. Rich in human detail, The Covid Consensus tackles head-on the refusal of the global political class and mainstream media to report the true extent of the erosion of democratic processes and the socioeconomic assault on the poor. 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