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In A Continent for the Taking Howard W. French, a veteran correspondent for "The "New York Times, gives a compelling firsthand account of some of Africa's most devastating recent history-from the fall of Mobutu Sese Seko, to Charles Taylor's arrival in Monrovia, to the genocide in Rwanda and the Congo that left millions dead. Blending eyewitness reportage with rich historical insight, French" searches deeply into the causes of today's events, illuminating the debilitating legacy of colonization and the abiding hypocrisy and inhumanity of both Western and African political leaders.
While he captures the tragedies that have repeatedly befallen Africa's peoples, French also opens our eyes to the immense possibility that lies in Africa's complexity, diversity, and myriad cultural strengths. The culmination of twenty-five years of passionate exploration and understanding, this is a powerful and ultimately hopeful book about a fascinating and misunderstood continent.

This comprehensive work covers most conceivable aspects of the history of the Uneme people of South Western Nigeria, and is a welcome addition to the scant literature on the Edoid speaking peoples. It is a series of scholarly accounts of the historical origins, tradition, and cultural institutions of the Uneme; their migrations, evolution and development; and impact of imperial forces on the culture. Within this structure, the book covers theories of origins, the techno-economic culture in Benin pre-1370, migration from Benin, the early growth of Uneme villages, towns, clans, allied communities from the 1370s to the early 1900s, cultural adaptation; and contact with external forces up until 1962. The book also offers an appraisal of the caste prejudice against the Uneme, and biographies of this people's most eminent personalities.

A Different Kind of War Story takes us to the frontlines of one of the most brutal wars in recent history. The setting is Mozambique during the fifteen-year war of terror that took a million lives - mostly civilian - and completely destroyed homes, crops, hospitals, schools, and even access to water. Carolyn Nordstrom tells, often in their own words, what Mozambicans experienced and how many not only endured but responded creatively to brutality and unrelenting terror. She shows us how, drawing on a rich repertoire of cultural traditions, Mozambican civilians dealt with devastating violence without perpetuating it and, through their courage and creativity, made the restoration of peace possible. She compares the conflict in Mozambique with similar conflicts and offers a new way of looking at political violence, showing that just as violence is learned, it can be unlearned.

In A Green Place, A Good Place, David Schoenbrun depicts a complex dynamic of historical transformation characterized by the interplay of environmental, social, and philosophical change. This interplay of historical forces developed around an enormously varied tapestry of forms of power which Great Lakes peoples understood to work in their world. Schoenbrun elegantly weaves the diverse methodologies of historical and comparative linguistics, and comparative ethnography and archaeology, into a broadly conceived social history of interlacustrine peoples' ideas about health, politics, gender, and social life. This book suggests new ways to compose histories of societies for which there exist no written records, oral traditions, or conscious memories. Schoenbrun's research strategy demonstrates his extraordinary capacity to recover the achievements of ancient Africans. His book will be required reading for Africanist scholars across disciplinary boundaries. Other scholars interested in the This book suggests new ways to compose histories of societies for which there exist no written records, oral traditions, or conscious memories. Schoenbrun's research strategy demonstrates his extraordinary capacity to recover the achievements of ancient Africans. His book will be required reading for Africanist scholars across disciplinary boundaries, but other scholars interested in the effectiveness of interdisciplinary research methodologies will find the book highly valuable as well.

In a trawl through the entire sweep of sub-Saharan history, the authors have written an accessible introduction for students and general readers. The opening chapter on geography and climate frames the discussion, demonstrating how the environment has shaped the societies and cultures of those living in the region. Thereafter they describe the rise of states and empires in the classical period, the slave trade within Africa and beyond to the Americas, and the European conquest. The concluding section focuses on Africa in the twentieth century as it gains independence and searches for a new identity beyond colonialism. While the authors mull over the debates which have shaped the study of African history, at the centre of this story are the tragedies, triumphs and the resilience of the African people. The book is illustrated with photographs, maps, and sidebars which feature the salient points on either side of the debates.

This is the first comprehensive and fully documented history of modern Tanganyika (mainland Tanzania). After introductory chapters on the nineteenth century, Dr Iliffe concentrates on the colonial period, and especially on economic, social and intellectual change among Africans as the core of their colonial experience and the basis of their political behaviour. Particularl attention is paid to the consequences for small-scale societies of their incorporation into the international order; the impact of capitlaism and the emergence of capitalist relationships and attitudes; African attempts to defend or reform indigenous institutions and to organise movements of protest or revolt against European control; the successive formation and dissolution of a specifically colonial society; and the effects of economic change on Tanganyika's ecology in modern times. The book brings together the research which scholars of many nationalities have carried out in Tanzania over the last twenty years, and attempts to synthesise their findings with the evidence available from African and European records in Tanzania, Britain and Germany.

A Saro Community in the Niger Delta, 1912-1984: The Potts-Johnsons of Port Harcourt and Their Heirs reviews the history of Sierra Leoneans in the Niger Delta from the time of their migration there in the early twentieth century. The Saro, a Nigerian term for immigrants from Sierra Leone, settled in the newly established British-administered city of Port Harcourt, bringing with them their western education and enjoying undisguised British support. They easily dominated the indigenous population in several socio-economic fields: education, civil service, and trade. The Saro celebrated their cultural exclusivity and revelled in their civic and professional prominence, albeit in alliance with a small indigenous elite. As might be expected, Saro dominance engendered much resentment, though tensions were largely defused before World War II. After the war, immigrant dominance came increasingly under local challenge as Nigeria approached independence.

By focusing on the Reverend L. R. Potts-Johnson, the unofficial leader of the Saro community, the work provides an inside view of the trends, thus enhancing the treatment of many important issues to be considered when researching African history, among them intra-African migration, status of and dominance by elites (both indigenous and immigrant), women's roles in social relationships, and preservation of family and cultural values under extreme socio-economic stress.

This invaluable collection of detailed facts, statistics and directory details on the whole region provides a unique, impartial insight into the political affairs, economies and geography of these important countries.
The information included encompasses a variety of data on sub-Saharan Africa, including background information on the region with essays written by specialists on the region on economic trends, European colonial rule and reforming Africa. Details are also provided on calendars, time reckoning and weights and measures; information about the major commodities of Africa; a political map of contemporary Africa; dates of independence of African countries; a directory of research institutes concerned with Africa; and a select bibliography.
Coverage of regional organizations includes details of their activities, finances, publications and full directory data. Individual country surveys provide essays on physical and social geography, recent history and the economy; a statistical survey covering area and population, agriculture, mining, industry, finance, trade and education; and a directory of useful contacts from such fields as government, politics, diplomatic representation, religion, broadcasting and communications, finance, trade and industry, and transport.
A bibliography provides sources for further reading on the region.

General Olusegun Obasanjo was recently elected president in the first Nigerian free and popular elections held after fifteen years of military rule. Having voluntarily given over his power to civilians in 1979, Obasanjo has since dedicated himself to Pan-Africanism, conflict resolution in Africa, and regional and international cooperation. "Africa Through the Eyes of a Patriot" is a collection of his most memorable speeches from the 1980s to the present, touching on issues as varies as democracy and policy-making to human rights and the environment.

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Although numerous studies have been made of the Western educated political elite of colonial Nigeria in particular, and of Africa in general, very few have approached the study from a perspective that analyzes the impacts of indigenous institutions on the lives, values, and ideas of these individuals. This book is about the diachronic impact of indigenous and Western agencies in the upbringing, socialization, and careers of the colonial Igbo political elite of southeastern Nigeria. The thesis argues that the new elite manifests the continuity of traditions and culture and therefore their leadership values and the impact they brought on African society cannot be fully understood without looking closely at their lived experiences in those indigenous institutions where African life coheres. The key has been to explore this question at the level of biography, set in the context of a carefully reconstructed social history of the particular local communities surrounding the elite figures. It starts from an understanding of their family and village life, and moves forward striving to balance the familiar account of these individuals in public life, with an account of the ongoing influences from family, kinship, age grades, marriage and gender roles, secret societies, the church, local leaders and others. The result is not only a model of a new approach to African elite history, but also an argument about how to understand these emergent leaders and their peers as individuals who shared with their fellow Africans a dynamic and complex set of values that evolved over the six decades of colonialism.

In the summer of 1968 as killing and starvation escalated in Biafra in a war that used famine as a weapon, the West African conflict attracted media attention and U.S. officials felt strong domestic pressure to expand American involvement in Nigeria's civil war. The official U.S. policy of neutrality eventually encompassed an activist policy of humanitarian assistance for Biafra. Joseph E. Thompson's comprehensive study describes the events and decisions that led to increased American involvement in the Nigeria/Biafra War of 1966-1970--a complex period during which the U.S. was attempting to extricate itself from involvement in Vietnam. Professor Thompson provides a thorough examination of both the domestic and international pressures that resulted in dichotomous U.S. policies and analyzes the reasons for their longevity. The volume's contribution to an understanding of U.S. policy formation is important because the U.S. is the major respondent to international famine, one of the most serious contemporary problems of the developing world. An introductory essay, surveys the Nigerian political system and military coups of 1966 and details initial U.S. responses to these violent changes. An Epilogue scrutinizes the increased U.S. public and private relief for Biafra and compares it to the present African famine situation. The first three chapters consider the contrasting perceptions of Nigeria transmitted to Washington, detail both internal and external disruptions caused by Nigerian military activity, and review attempts to resolve the fratricidal conflict. Evolving U.S. policy, the role of church relief groups on governmental, technological and logistical obstacles, and bureaucraticroadblocks inherent in the structures of both government and humanitarian groups are explored in the next three chapters. Chapter 7 zeroes in on U.S. diplomatic efforts to skirt humanitarian issues, and Chapter 8 assesses U.S. difficulties in following a course of political non-involvement in Nigeria while supplying humanitarian relief to Biafra. Fifteen valuable tables and figures and 5 maps complete this distinguished contribution to African Studies literature.

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