Includes bibliographical references and index.

Coming of Age in the Shadow of Colonialism, 1949-1966 -- Education of a Revolutionary, 1966-1973 -- A Rising Star: Soldiers and the Political Left, 1973-1982 -- From Political Prisoner to Populist Prime Minister, 1982-1983 -- The "Revolution of August 4" and the People's President -- "This Man Who Unsettles": Confronting the Neocolonial Order, 1983-1984 -- The Struggle for Unity, 1983-1984 -- "Daring to Invent the Future": Nation Building and the Promise of Revolutionary Change, 1984-1985 -- Politics Is War and War Is Politics: Sankara in the International Arena, 1984-1985 -- Revolutionary Duties and Perils, 1986-1987 -- No Turning Back: The Road to October 15, 1987.

"'Thomas Sankara: A Revolutionary in Cold War Africa' offers the first complete biography in English of the dynamic revolutionary leader from Burkina Faso, Thomas Sankara. Coming to power in 1983, Sankara set his sights on combating social injustice, poverty, and corruption in his country, fighting for women's rights, direct forms of democracy, economic sovereignty, and environmental justice. Drawing on government archival sources and over a hundred interviews with Sankara's family members, friends, and closest revolutionary colleagues, Brian J. Peterson details Sankara's political career and rise to power, as well as his assassination at age 37 in 1987, in a plot led by his close friend Blaise Compaoré. 'Thomas Sankara: A Revolutionary in Cold War Africa' offers a unique, critical appraisal of Sankara and explores why he generated such enthusiasm and hope in Burkina Faso and beyond, why he was such a polarizing figure, how his rivals seized power from him, and why T-shirts sporting his image still appear on the streets today"--