Photo by Joseph B. French

Howard W. French

Howard W. French is a professor of journalism at Columbia University and a former New York Times bureau chief for Central America and the Caribbean, West and Central Africa, Japan and the Koreas, and China, based in Shanghai. The author of six books, including Born in Blackness and The Second Emancipation, French lives in New York City.

Howard W. French

Awards

Longlisted — Museum of African American History Stone Book Award, 2022

Shortlisted — Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, 2022

Longlisted — Cundill History Prize, 2026

Shortlisted — Plutarch Award, 2026

Books by Howard W. French

Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War
Howard W. French
Hardback, 2021
Revealing the central yet intentionally obliterated role of Africa in the creation of modernity, Born in Blackness vitally reframes our understanding of world history.
Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War
Howard W. French
E Book, 2021
Revealing the central yet intentionally obliterated role of Africa in the creation of modernity, Born in Blackness vitally reframes our understanding of world history
Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War
Howard W. French
Paperback, 2022
Revealing the central yet intentionally obliterated role of Africa in the creation of modernity, Born in Blackness vitally reframes our understanding of world history
The Second Emancipation: Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, and Global Blackness at High Tide
Howard W. French
Hardback, 2025
One of the Most Anticipated Books of 2025 by Foreign Policy. “Howard French’s The Second Emancipation stands the second half of the last century on its geopolitical head.” —David Levering Lewis,...
The Second Emancipation: Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, and Global Blackness at High Tide
Howard W. French
E Book
Howard French’s The Second Emancipation stands the second half of the last century on its geopolitical head.” — David Levering Lewis, winner of the Pulitzer Prize
The Second Emancipation: Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, and Global Blackness at High Tide
Howard W. French
Paperback, 2026
Howard French’s The Second Emancipation stands the second half of the last century on its geopolitical head.” — David Levering Lewis, winner of the Pulitzer Prize
The Jungles: Thelonious Monk and the Lost Cradle of Modern Jazz
Howard W. French
Hardback, 2027
A hidden history of twentieth-century American modernity that re-examines an area on Manhattan’s Upper West Side with Thelonious Monk as its guiding star
The Jungles: Thelonious Monk and the Lost Cradle of Modern Jazz
Howard W. French
E Book
A hidden history of twentieth-century American modernity that re-examines an area on Manhattan’s Upper West Side with Thelonious Monk as its guiding star