Best nonfiction books on: Africa, Afghanistan and/or the Middle East, New Orleans

Sorry for the somewhat random request, but I'm looking for the best nonfiction books on any of these three topics:

1. Africa (either the continent as a whole, or on specific countries)
2. Afghanistan and/or the Middle East (not limited to the recent wars)
3. New Orleans (particularly anything that focuses on the history or pre-hurricane events)

If you have anything to recommend, please post it here!

Thanks!

For Africa, Ryszard Kapuściński is always worth a look--'Another Day of Life' I loved, and 'The Shadow of the Sun' is a really good collection of 40 years of essays about different parts of Africa

zunguzungu and some other africa/lit/africa-lit bloggers are reading the winners of the caine prize for african writing:

http://zunguzungu.wordpress.com/2011/05/30/blogging-the-caine-prize/

http://zunguzungu.wordpress.com/2011/06/18/blogging-the-caine-timothy-keegans-what-millie-knew/

oh NONfiction

WELL NEVER MIND

Middle East:

Peter Mansfield's History of the Middle East is a brilliant single-volume introduction to the history and politics of the region. I really can't praise this book enough, it is a triumph of succinct communication that manages to be brief yet give the sense that nothing of consequence has been omitted. I have not seen the revised edition that came out after Mansfield's death, but I reckon it would probably still be a great introduction to the subject.

If you are interested in Lebanon, Robert Fisk's Pity The Nation: Lebanon At War is a great impressionistic introducion to that country and its travails.

oh NONfiction

That's Kapuściński out, then.

Kapuscinski's "The Emperor", about the fall of Haile Selassie in Ethiopia, is an amazing book, though you do have to bear in mind that he probably made most of it up.

His "Travels With Herodotus" also has some interesting African stuff in it, but similar caveats apply.

i ripped off a section of 'the emperor' for a thing i was writing for oh god nanowrimo

this thread might have some relevant stuff on the middle east, less so the other two --

can anyone recommend me a good book about the iranian revolution, & its causes and ramifications?

There are some historical aspects, but this is probably not what you are looking for:
Somebody Else: Arthur Rimbaud in Africa 1880-91, by Charles Nicholl

"the state of africa" - martin meredith

a friend & i are reading william l cleveland's middle east survey, how brief is mansfield ndv? cleveland's is like 550 pages & so far very good, also has an immsense further reading appendix