The making of a president

When presented with a title of this kind, many readers think they know what to expect: drugged-up child soldiers, wince-inducing brutality, ranting demagogues, rebels in women’s wigs. This, thankfully, is not that book. It is something more nuanced, elliptical and elegant.

Ghana is in a different league from Liberia, Guinea or Sierra Leone, its traumatised West African neighbours.