The Story of Africans and Yale Students Who Don’t Appreciate Reading: Lessons from “The Cold War: A New History” by John Lewis

 The Story of Africans and Yale Students Who Don’t Appreciate Reading: Lessons from “The Cold War: A New History” by John Lewis

For donkey years, Africans have always considered books to be kryptonite to their enthusiasm. It is widely believed that if you want to keep something away from an average African, keep it inside a book. This is an illustration of how torpid Africans are when it comes to reading. They don’t read. 


The inability to cultivate the habit of reading is continuously putting Africans backward in every aspect of human life. Africa does not have any effective or forward-thinking agenda. Agenda 2050 or 2063 are 

little more than a publicity campaign. They are a popularity contest at best. We are not talking about issues that matter. Even if we do, we don’t seem to appreciate the enormity of the tasks ahead. 


John Lewis Gaddis, who was once a lecturer from Yale University one day thought of how his students perceived the subject of Cold War history. Describing how far distance the students were from understanding the subject, he stated, “I have to keep reminding myself that hardly any of them remember any of the events I’m describing. When I talk about Stalin and Truman, even Reagan and Gorbachev, it could as easily be Napoleon, Caesar, or Alexander the Great.” John describes this. This was because of the level of interest in reading the students had. It was at low rate. 


John, a man always ‘lost in the world of books, found in the realm of writing, wrote “The Cold War A New History” to respond to many questions posed by his students, largely on why always voluminous books they would read. Assigning them to read books almost 300 pages made some students say, “Can’t you cover more years with fewer words?”


Just as one should admit that this is a reasonable question, I also find it offensive from the students who are enthusiastic to know the world they live in. 


Mu’azu Ahmad; Foreign Affairs Analyst

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