Length4h
About this audiobook
Until the lion learns to write; every story will glorify the hunter."
With these words; an ancient Akan proverb; Abakɔsɛm announces its purpose. This is a book written by the lion. For the lion. And about the lion.
Abakɔsɛm follows a young boy who gathers with other children every night around a bonfire to listen to his grandmother Attaa; tell the history of the Akan people. Not from textbooks. Not from colonial records. But from the oral tradition that carried this history across deserts; rivers; oceans; and generations.
The story spans more than three thousand years.
It begins in ancient Nubia and Kush; where the ancestors of the Akan people lived beside the Nile; built pyramids; and produced the first Nubian Pharaohs. It moves through the great empires of Ghana and Mali; tracing the long migration of the Akan clans southward through the African continent. It arrives at the founding of two of West Africa's most powerful kingdoms; Akwamu and Asante.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★★ 5.0 (1)
GenreHistory, Historical Fiction
Length4 hrs
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateMay 12, 2026
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Prologue
17Chapter III (3): The Mother's Line
2Chapter I: Not Anansesɛm, it's Abakɔsɛm
18Chapter IV (3): The Night of Thunder
3Chapter II: Tutu Abo
19Chapter V (3): The Age of Formation and Fire
4Chapter III: The Throne Moves South
20Chapter VI (3): The Questions That Remain After Victory
5Chapter IV: The Border of Empires
21Chapter VII (3): The Bell That Cannot Be Ignored
Show all chaptersShow less
6Chapter V: The Long Road of Tutu Abo
22Chapter I (4): The Birth of the king and the priest.
7Chapter VI: Questions by the Fire.
23Chapter II (4): Exile, Spirit, and the Court of Power
8Chapter I (2): Ɛdwoada - The Day of Peace
24Chapter III (4): The Stool That Chooses
9Chapter II (2): Ɛbenada -The Day of Brave Waters and Fire Spirit
25Chapter IV (4): The Pattern of Forty.
10Chapter III (2): Wukuada - The Day of Curious Wisdom.
26Chapter V (4): The Return of a King.
11Chapter IV (2): Yawoada -The Day of the Earth
27Chapter VI (4): The Game, the Ride, and the Hidden War
12Chapter V (2): Efiada - The Day of Crossing Roads, the Travelers
28Chapter VII (4): The Stool That Refuses
13Chapter VI (2): Memeneda - The Day of Creation
29Chapter I (5): The Lion Must Speak.
14Chapter VII (2): Kwasiada - The Day of the Ancestors
30Chapter II (5): The Night the Fortress Fell
15Chapter I (3): Into the Forest of Signs
31Our elders say:: On Memory; Oral Tradition; and the Responsibility of the Storyteller Part 1
16Chapter II (3): The People Whose End Could Not Be Seen
32Our elders say:: On Memory; Oral Tradition; and the Responsibility of the Storyteller Part 2
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m$20 · $0.00
Frederick Douglass: All 3 Memoirs in One VolumeFrederick Douglass44h 9m$2 · $0.00
I've Been to the MountaintopMartin Luther King48m5 (1)$11 · $0.00
RevolutionariesSanjeev Sanyal11h 23m$29 · $0.00
We Crossed a Bridge and It TrembledWendy Pearlman6h$24 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m$8 · $0.00
The Red RecordIda B. Wells-Barnett2h 9m$2 · $0.00
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant7h 54m$26 · $0.00
Lily's PromiseLily Ebert, Dov Forman8h 54m$29 · $0.00
Saving My EnemyBob Welch9h 11m$20
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m$29 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m$29 · $0.00
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and BeyondJohn Lyons12h 37m$33 · $0.00
The Fire Next TimeJames Baldwin2h 25m$15
EnduranceAlfred Lansing6h 1m$20
LES MISERABLES (Illustrated Edition)Victor Hugo66h 17m$1 · $0.00
BeyondStephen Walker15h 39m$33 · $0.00
Kings and PawnsHoward Bryant10h 9m$29 · $0.00
No EscapeNury Turkel9h 30m$28 · $0.00
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Complete 6 Volume Edition)Edward Gibbon179h 45m$2 · $0.00
The Labyrinth of the SpiritsCarlos Ruiz Zafon27h 55m$53 · $0.00
MusashiEiji Yoshikawa53h 20m$30
The Things We Cannot SayKelly Rimmer13h 48m$33 · $0.00
Their Castilian OrphanAnna Belfrage14h 45m$27
With Fire and Sword, The Deluge & Pan MichaelHenryk Sienkiewicz113h 5m$1 · $0.00
The Complete 13 Novels & longer fiction: Treasure Island, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Black Arrow, Kidnapped, The Master of Ballantrae, The Wrong Box and more...Robert Louis Stevenson106h 29m$1 · $0.00
Eagles over BritainLee Jackson12h 26m$23
Rilla of InglesideLucy Maud Montgomery11h 44m$2 · $0.00
The Viennese DressmakerKathryn Gauci11h 46m$23 · $0.00
The Man in the Brown Suit & They Came to BaghdadAgatha Christie15h 43m$33 · $0.00
Under the Light of the Italian MoonJennifer Anton12h 28m$23 · $0.00
THE COMPLETE PALLISER NOVELS (All 6 Novels in One Edition)Anthony Trollope172h 46m$2 · $0.00
Jubilee, 50th Anniversary EditionMargaret Walker15h 43m$25 · $0.00
Arch of TriumphErich Maria Remarque15h 51m$28
Serenade for NadiaZülfü Livaneli9h 9m$20
Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen14h 44m$2 · $0.00
Zane Grey - Ultimate Collection: 60+ Western Classics, Historical Novels & Baseball StoriesZane Grey568h 56m$1 · $0.00
Les MisérablesVictor Hugo64h 17m$1 · $0.00
Between Two WorldsUpton Sinclair31h 43m$30
Under the Java MoonHeather B. Moore12h 23m$23
You may also like
Dwapar KathaSudipta Bhawmik11h 56m$29 · $0.00
The Story of the GreeksH. A. Guerber8h 35m$1 · $0.00
Norse SagasSnorri Sturluson, Anonymous100h 55m$2 · $0.00
The White Conquerors, A Tale of Toltec and AztecKirk Munroe8h 12m$2.30
The History of the Ancient CivilizationsMax Duncker92h 50m$1 · $0.00
RamayanamDushyanth Sridhar13h 25m$33 · $0.00
A Thousand Years of Jewish HistoryMaurice H. Harris8h 4m$2 · $0.00
The Kebra NagastAnonymous10h 20m$1 · $0.00
The Coming of CuculainStandish O'Grady4h 4m$2 · $0.00
The History of Eternal RomeF. Marion Crawford16h 22m$1 · $0.00
The Book of the EpicH. A. Guerber19h 13m$1 · $0.00
The History of the Ancient CivilizationsMax Duncker92h 37m$2 · $0.00
The History of Antiquity (Vol. 1-6)Max Duncker92h 44m$1 · $0.00
Hero-Tales of IrelandJeremiah Curtin14h 6m$2.30
Rámáyan of Válmíki (Summarized Edition)Válmíki7h 27m$2
The History of Rome (Vol. 1-4)Livy102h 32m$2 · $0.00
History of Greece (Vol. 1-12)George Grote260h 57m$1 · $0.00
The ABCs of History: A 14-Book Series for Young ExplorersPlutarch, Andrew Lang, Jennie Hall, Charlotte M. Yonge, Mrs. Beesly, John S. White, Agnes Strickland, Henry Gilbert, Elbridge S. Brooks, Henrietta Christian Wright, Mary Stoyell Stimpson, James Otis, James H. Shaw, Lydia Hoyt Farmer104h 6m$2
From a Terrace in PragueB. Granville Baker5h 7m$2 · $0.00
Indian tales of the great ones among men, women, and bird-peopleCornelia Sorabji1h 11m$2 · $0.00