From the deserts of Namibia to the savannah of Cameroon, from the Himba shepherds to the Peul nomads, this moving collection of 200 images takes readers on a voyage of discovery through the heart of African life and thought, revealing a mosaic of cultures and peoples with beauty and depth. 216pp, UK. ABRAMS.

In 1994, photographer Lucian Niemeyer began a series of journeys to Africa to document and expose atrocities being committed there. Niemeyer travelled to the Rwandan refugee camps in Zaire a few months after the terrible Hutu-on-Tutsi genocide. Subsequent trips to the Sudan were made to document slavery, the oil field genocide, and the Nuba Mountain epoch. Four main types of holocausts are presented in these stories: inter-ethnic genocide (Rwandan Refugees), slavery (The Sudan Slave Story), religious Jihad genocide (Sudan Oil Field Geno-cide), and ethnic cleansing (Nuba Mountains, Sudan). Over 180 colour photos document these atrocities. 170pp, USA. UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO PRESS.

In Africa, there is probably no single entity that has produced as many varied images as GETAWAY. The magazine has portrayed the continent's people, fauna and landscapes in myriad indelible ways over the past 20 years. Assignments have taken photographers on camels across the Sahara, to being manhandled by gorillas in Rwanda, to micro-lighting over the Victoria Falls or snowmobiling across the wastes of Antarctica. 144pp, SOUTH AFRICA. JACANA MEDIA.

Taps into a wealth of research and experience to depict the relationship between people and environments, including conservation of the land by those who have had the longest connection with it over time. Foreword by President Thabo Mbeki. 154pp, SOUTH AFRICA. DAVID PHILIP.

South African author and photographer Peter Steyn has been travelling to the Antarctic and the islands of the Southern Ocean for many years. This is a record in words and pictures of these journeys, spanning the period from his first trip to Marion Island in 1979 to a 1997 visit to the Emperor Penguin colonies on the Antarctic coast. It covers visits to the Antarctic Peninsula, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, Tristan da Cunha, Gough Island and other outposts of this remote region, an exploration of the ecology of these fragile environments. 176pp, SOUTH AFRICA. DAVID PHILIP.

Beginnings, Pioneers, portrait photographers, official agencies, photojournalists, street photographers, essayists, artists. 200 African photographers, 500 pictures, essays by 35 specialists from across the globe. IN FRENCH & ENGLISH. 432pp, FRANCE. REVUE NOIR.

The concept of the book was to have 100 photojournalists across the continent to capture the images of Africa over a twenty four hour time span, 28 February 2002 The result is a beautifully achieved volume of photography from the 53 nations. Evokes the daily life of Africans from the teeming market places, at home and in schools, and in all variety of landscapes from the deserts to the seas. Foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and introduced by Kofi Annan.Over 250 colour photographs. 288pp, USA. TIDES FOUNDATION.

2002 0971802106 Hardback

New in paperback. Illustrated guide to the private domains of, among others, Idi Amin, Mobutu Seso Seko and Jean-Bedel Bokassa. With an introduction by Douglas Coupland. 119pp, UK. ATLANTIC BOOKS.

This album of over 200 century-old postcards takes the reader on a magical journey across the world in five travelogues, depicting the Orient, the Arab lands, Africa, the Americas and Oceania. These haunting postcards and the people they depict strike us with a special force today, vividly expressing a deep-seated connection with the land and customs that gave them their identities. Foreword by Paul Theroux. 208pp, UK. THAMES & HUDSON.

New in paperback. A history of the mid to late twentieth century as seen by the photographers of LIFE magazine. Includes iconic images of the Depression and the Second World War to portraits of celebrities. Includes portfolios by Alfred Eisenstaedt, Margaret Bourke-White, Carl Mydans, Gordon Parks and Robert Capa. Introduction by John Loengard. 608pp, UK. THAMES & HUDSON.

A series of moving portraits of people from Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Cambodia and Liberia describing the psychological and physical effects of war. Text in English and Italian. Photos by James Mollison. 118pp, ITALY. SKIRA.

Offers a multifaceted view of photography from North Africa to Iraq. Images by 56 Arab and Western photographers challenge preconceptions about the region and offer insights into the cultural, political, religious, economic and aesthetic dynamics of these regions. 250pp, NETHERLANDS. APERTURE.

These haunting photographs are the result of a fifteen month project in the drought stricken Sahel region of Chad, Ethiopia, Mali and Sudan. Taken in 1984 and first published in Spanish in 1988, this work still evokes the enormous suffering endured by refugees and those caught by environmental degradation and military conflict. Includes supporting narratives by Orville Schell, Fred Ritchin and Eduardo Galeano. 139pp, USA. CALIFORNIA U P, 0520241703

Features approximately 250 works by 30 artists from across the African continent, presenting a range of highly individual artistic responses to the unprecedented changes now taking place in the economic, social, and cultural spheres of African nations and provides new insight into the increasing role of the visual arts within the global cultural community. Organized into four main thematic groups (landscape; urban formations; the body and identity; and history and represen-tation) around which Africa's experimental artists have articulated individual artistic styles and languages. Edited by Nigerian independent curator and art historian Okwui Enwezor, with an additional essay by art historian Colin Richard, an appendix on recent exhibitions of African photography, artist bios, and a general bibliography. 384pp, GERMANY. STEIDL VERLAG.

From a Brazilian mine where 50,000 mud covered men haul heavy sacks of dirt up and down slippery ladders in search of a nugget of gold, to a former lake in western Africa now swallowed by the encroaching desert, where emaciated, starving people walk over its surface of sand, Sebastiao Salgado explores through photography the lives of often ignored people. B/w images, 157pp, UK. THAMES & HUDSON, 050028489X

A book of b/w photography focused on the people and landscape of Africa from Egypt to Sudan. The travelogue style text is in both Finnish and English. B/w ill, 220pp, FINLAND. OY LIKE KUSTANNUS, 9515789532

Contains the results of the annual World Press Photo Contest in 2006: over 200 illustrations (80 in colour) selected from 69 000 entries. 140pp, UK. THAMES & HUDSON.

This book, focuses on the best and most notorious lens-men who cover the African beat. This relives the single most memorable experience in covering Africa for each of ten photographers. Their stories are told with an emphasis on the often bizarre, dangerous and tragic circumstances in which African stories so frequently play themselves out. The text is given definition by the inclusion of the best visuals that encapsulate the event. 60 colour plates, 127pp, SOUTH AFRICA. SPEARHEAD, 0864864825