Part 1. Introduction. Obama's Nobel ancestors : from Bunche to Barack and beyond / Adekeye Adebajo -- Barack Obama : between racial compatriots and Nobel ancestors / Ali A. Mazrui -- Part 2. The three African Americans. Ralph Bunche, Martin Luther King Jr and Barack Obama : three African-American Nobel laureates debate war and peace / Pearl T. Robinson -- Ralph Bunche : the scholar-diplomat / James O.C. Jonah -- Martin Luther King Jr : the great provocateur / Lee A. Daniels -- Part 3. The four South Africans. Albert Luthuli : the Black Moses / Chris Saunders -- Desmond Tutu : the wounded healer / Maureen Isaacson -- Nelson Mandela : the oratory of the Black Pimpernel / Elleke Boehmer -- Frederik Willem de Klerk : the pragmatic peacemaker / Gregory F. Houston -- Part 4. The two Egyptians. Anwar Sadat : the tragic peacemaker / Boutros Boutros-Ghali -- Mohamed ElBaradei : the rocket man / Morad Abou-Sabé -- Part 5. The Kenyan and the Ghanaian. Wangari Maathai : the Earth Mother / Janice Golding -- Kofi Annan : the soft-spoken prophet / Gwendolyn Mikell -- Part 6. The two Liberians. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf : the iron lady / Adekeye Adebajo -- Leymah Gbowee : the prayerful peace warrior / Rosaline Daniel.