麻豆约拍

The late 1950s and early 1960s: a time of immense change and hope in Africa, as newly independent nations pushed off the shackles of colonialism.

Ghana's founding father, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, called on African countries to "unite now or perish". Martin Luther King wrote that he 'cried for joy' at Ghana's independence.

But Ghana's early years - and those of many African states - were complicated. They were even dramatically changed by intrigue and plotting by the American spy agency - the CIA who determined that the US should fill the gap left by the departing colonial powers.

A new book - called White Malice: the CIA and the Neocolonialisation of Africa - is the result of years of research by the historian, Dr Susan Williams, of the University of London.

But it wasn鈥檛 actually the book she set out to write. (Photo: US President John Kennedy with Kwame Nkrumah, President of Ghana in 1961 during Nkrumah's visit to the USA. Credit: Universal History Archive via Getty Images)