Joseph E. Harris

A very detailed and ambitious book, maybe a little too ambitious. To be honest I learnt alot about a number of the indigenous African States (Empires, Kingdoms, Tribal areas) and about Liberia and Sierra Leone. The Indian Ocean slave trade is also given as much space as the Atlantic slave trade, something that is quite unusual. I also enjoyed the chapter on the different attitudes of the European colonial powers. I was abit concerned that he was moving into Africanist territory were Africa is the birthplace of everything great. He does make some claims about African development before the scramble for Africa that I found hard to accept but overall the book is balanced. There are two major complaints I do have with the book 1) It's too busy, so many States are mentioned and apart from the name there is hardly anything to distinguish them. I don't know how it could have been done differently but it's confusing at times and I'm not a novice. 2) Were are the Boers? He mentions in my edition (1980's) that he disapproves of Apartheid, well fair enough but Boer history is alot more than that. For a people who have been in Africa for 400 years it's a big thing to leave out. Should you read the book? If your interested in the long history of Black Africa than yes you should.… (plus d'informations)