
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
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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