The Autobiography of an African Princess

This critical edition of Princess Fatima Massaquoi's memoirs begins with her birth in southern Sierra Leone, continues through her childhood in Liberia, moves on to Hamburg, Germany, where she lived and experienced the rise of the Nazi movement, and ends with her life in the United States.

Vivian Seton is the daughter and only child of Fatima Massaquoi. She received her Abitur from the Freie Waldorf Schule in Germany, an LL.B from the University of Liberia, and an MSc from Georgetown's School of Languages and Linguistics. She has taught French and German at Montgomery College, Catholic University, and the University of Liberia. In the 1970s and 1980s she worked as a producer, writer, and broadcaster in Liberia. Seton has worked for the Voice of America and the German Broadcasting System and publishes Lady magazine.

Konrad Tuchscherer is a specialist in the history of written traditions in Africa, including the Vai script of Liberia, and his work has appeared in major journals and featured in reports by the BBC and NPR. He is the past recipient of Marshall and Fulbright awards. Tuchscherer contributed to the Smithsonian's groundbreaking exhibition on African scripts and wrote a chapter in the resulting book, Inscribing Meaning (2007). He is Associate Professor of History and Director of Africana Studies at St. John's University in New York, USA.

Arthur Abraham is one of the foremost historians of Sierra Leone who has researched/taught at universities in Europe, Africa and the United States. He has a lot of publications to his credit and is the leading authority on the Mende. He has served as a consultant for governments, film-makers and developers. His most famous work is Mende Government and Politics under Colonial Rule: A Historical Study of Political Change in Sierra Leone, 1890-1937 (1978). Currently Professor of History and Eminent Scholar at Virginia State University, USA, he is also the chairman of the Department of History and Philosophy.