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A Short History of Africa
During the 20th century the centre of the world shifted. The dramatic alterations in political power have corrected the vision of a European-centered world. Where the centres of European culture flourished, decayed and sprouted in turn, empires in Africa rose, ruled, resisted and succumbed. Much of Africa's past has now been excavated from ignorance and error, revealing a rich and previously little known human heritage.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1962
11 people are currently reading
237 people want to read
About the author
Roland Anthony Oliver
19 books14 followersRoland Oliver was one of the founders of the academic study of African history in the West.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
April 13, 2021
THE PLEASURE OF OK BOOKS
Sometimes the book you have, the book that's not Definitive, or The Best on the subject, or Perfect, the book that is merely OK, is the right book. One of the consequences of the internet is the idea that we can always get The Best thing, and so we go without, trying to get it, instead of taking the OK bird in our hand. We reject the out-of-date, the imperfect in whatever sense, almost out of a sense of moral duty.
And I think the publishers of the world no longer want the OK book either. They want the punchy and the pop, the friendly and accessible, when it comes to nonfiction, assuming they're not in the business of publishing the Important or Definitive for a captive audience of academics. The heyday of the OK book, it seems to me, was in that midcentury postwar middlebrow moment, when GI Bill grey-flannel-suit suburban husbands dutifully read intellectual-ish magazines to Get the Facts on foreign affairs and the worldwide struggle against Communism; and publishers like Penguin put out stolid, zero percent pop, OK books like this one on subjects they thought the educated man ought to know.
The pleasures of the OK book are enhanced by its apparatus and its phyiscal form; this book is a particularly nice example, especially my copy, which I found on the sidewalk during the COVID quarantine, deaccessioned from the Oakland Unified School District Library, having belonged to Skyline High and to Lowell Junior High over its long career in school. In addition to the due date card envelope (which unfortunately obscures the titles of the Penguin African Library, of which this was the second volume) and stamps and Dewey Decimal number on the spine, there is nice graphic design, a pleasingly academic bibliography, and delightful maps in almost every chapter, where every place mentioned in the text will be found labeled, very helpful for a reader like me whose sense of African geography is not strong. This is one of those things OK books do so well that neither Important Academic books nor "The Surprising History of Calcium: How One Mineral Changed the World" type pop books do, these well-calculated helps for the reader.
I feel like I'm sounding condescending, but I don't mean to be. There is an optimism and a nobility about this kind of book, made by and for people who thought regular, average people, who bought pocket paperbacks, both could and wanted to understand the world, its history and science and philosophy and so on, without needing silly clickbait titles and a third grade reading level. Of course it's not an Important Academic book -- it's 10,000 years in 250 pages -- but it's certainly not junk or silly, and according to my friend who is a distinguished professor of African history, the two authors were giants of the field. That they would write a book like this is a testament to the book market of 1965 having a space for scholars to reach the average reader, and at least some readers who wanted to be reached.
One of the things that is good about reading old books, whether OK or not, is that it's easier to read them with a critical eye. Two European white guys, we know, must have their biases; both the archeology of Subsaharan Africa and the theoretical position of postcolonialism were barely begun when they wrote it. When a book is old, we always double-check before we decide we've really learned something, which should probably always be true, but let's face it, generally isn't. Our two authors do, as they approach their own contemporary time, start to lose their Olympian objectivity, which is somewhat surprising and not unwelcome -- their understatedness in general makes their condemnation of the apartheid regimes of South Africa and Rhodesia more striking, and their optimistic ending, emphasizing the community of the African nations, unexpectly touching. It is a nice relief, coming at the end of second half which is mostly super-depressing.
These days the OK book lives on, to my knowledge, particularly in the Very Short Introduction series, but it is sad that they are indeed so very short, and without the nice design and maps and so on of a book like this. Still, I'm glad they exist. The world needs them, as much as we need Important books. If I had insisted on waiting for the perfect history, instead of the one I happened to have to hand, well, I'd still be waiting.
Sometimes the book you have, the book that's not Definitive, or The Best on the subject, or Perfect, the book that is merely OK, is the right book. One of the consequences of the internet is the idea that we can always get The Best thing, and so we go without, trying to get it, instead of taking the OK bird in our hand. We reject the out-of-date, the imperfect in whatever sense, almost out of a sense of moral duty.
And I think the publishers of the world no longer want the OK book either. They want the punchy and the pop, the friendly and accessible, when it comes to nonfiction, assuming they're not in the business of publishing the Important or Definitive for a captive audience of academics. The heyday of the OK book, it seems to me, was in that midcentury postwar middlebrow moment, when GI Bill grey-flannel-suit suburban husbands dutifully read intellectual-ish magazines to Get the Facts on foreign affairs and the worldwide struggle against Communism; and publishers like Penguin put out stolid, zero percent pop, OK books like this one on subjects they thought the educated man ought to know.
The pleasures of the OK book are enhanced by its apparatus and its phyiscal form; this book is a particularly nice example, especially my copy, which I found on the sidewalk during the COVID quarantine, deaccessioned from the Oakland Unified School District Library, having belonged to Skyline High and to Lowell Junior High over its long career in school. In addition to the due date card envelope (which unfortunately obscures the titles of the Penguin African Library, of which this was the second volume) and stamps and Dewey Decimal number on the spine, there is nice graphic design, a pleasingly academic bibliography, and delightful maps in almost every chapter, where every place mentioned in the text will be found labeled, very helpful for a reader like me whose sense of African geography is not strong. This is one of those things OK books do so well that neither Important Academic books nor "The Surprising History of Calcium: How One Mineral Changed the World" type pop books do, these well-calculated helps for the reader.
I feel like I'm sounding condescending, but I don't mean to be. There is an optimism and a nobility about this kind of book, made by and for people who thought regular, average people, who bought pocket paperbacks, both could and wanted to understand the world, its history and science and philosophy and so on, without needing silly clickbait titles and a third grade reading level. Of course it's not an Important Academic book -- it's 10,000 years in 250 pages -- but it's certainly not junk or silly, and according to my friend who is a distinguished professor of African history, the two authors were giants of the field. That they would write a book like this is a testament to the book market of 1965 having a space for scholars to reach the average reader, and at least some readers who wanted to be reached.
One of the things that is good about reading old books, whether OK or not, is that it's easier to read them with a critical eye. Two European white guys, we know, must have their biases; both the archeology of Subsaharan Africa and the theoretical position of postcolonialism were barely begun when they wrote it. When a book is old, we always double-check before we decide we've really learned something, which should probably always be true, but let's face it, generally isn't. Our two authors do, as they approach their own contemporary time, start to lose their Olympian objectivity, which is somewhat surprising and not unwelcome -- their understatedness in general makes their condemnation of the apartheid regimes of South Africa and Rhodesia more striking, and their optimistic ending, emphasizing the community of the African nations, unexpectly touching. It is a nice relief, coming at the end of second half which is mostly super-depressing.
These days the OK book lives on, to my knowledge, particularly in the Very Short Introduction series, but it is sad that they are indeed so very short, and without the nice design and maps and so on of a book like this. Still, I'm glad they exist. The world needs them, as much as we need Important books. If I had insisted on waiting for the perfect history, instead of the one I happened to have to hand, well, I'd still be waiting.
February 27, 2018
Well-written, concise, informative
I read the 1966 (second)edition of this volume and was not aware of updates until checking Amazon. Despite much political and demographic change in Africa over the last 30-odd years, and despite the availability of much more research and the advent of DNA-based studies, not even heard of in 1966, I found Oliver and Fage's work a pleasure to read. Their chapters are intelligently organized, the flow of ideas and trends unblemished by superfluous detail or tedious asides. The entire continent is covered, North Africa as well as Sub-Saharan, though personally, I felt a little more could have been said about Madagascar. As a reader without a professional stake in African history, I found this book just the thing. It raised many issues that I had not thought of, told me about many patterns and issues of which I had known nothing, and did so in clear, concise language which kept my interest throughout. I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in African history.
I read the 1966 (second)edition of this volume and was not aware of updates until checking Amazon. Despite much political and demographic change in Africa over the last 30-odd years, and despite the availability of much more research and the advent of DNA-based studies, not even heard of in 1966, I found Oliver and Fage's work a pleasure to read. Their chapters are intelligently organized, the flow of ideas and trends unblemished by superfluous detail or tedious asides. The entire continent is covered, North Africa as well as Sub-Saharan, though personally, I felt a little more could have been said about Madagascar. As a reader without a professional stake in African history, I found this book just the thing. It raised many issues that I had not thought of, told me about many patterns and issues of which I had known nothing, and did so in clear, concise language which kept my interest throughout. I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in African history.
February 6, 2016
Tucked away on a bookshelf in my parents home since I was a teenage boy was this book entitled "A Short History of Africa" by Roland Oliver and J.D. Fage. I made a promise to myself in the 1980s, when I was at university, that one day I would start reading the book. That promise has been honored and I am glad I kept it. The basis for my satisfaction is not due to the quality or style of the authors' writing - not that there are any major problems there.
My satisfaction in reading this book stems form the fact that the authors confirm what I am learning - perhaps somewhat late in life - that Africa is where the "real action" was, as it played a central role in creating the foundation of modern civilization; and given that things go in cycles the real action probably will be there once again. Africa is indeed rising rapidly in terms of economic development and I expect her to play an important role in future global economic growth - she has an abundance of natural resources and highly skilled people from diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds. A United States of Africa would be a formidable federal state and global economic powerhouse.
Oliver and Fage's book gave me three important things:
1) it made me realize that during the period of history called the middle ages, "states" existed in Africa. These states functioned effectively. There were cities, foreign trade, universities and impressive empires. Some prime examples are the powerful kingdoms of Mali, Ghana and Songhay. The notion that Africans are incapable of governing themselves is therefore patently false.
2) Much of Sub-Saharan Africa was subject to European colonial rule for a relatively short period of time. The first European settlement in this zone was established by the Portuguese in the first half of 15th century. Others followed but these were confined primarily to the coastal areas. The Europeans only deeply explored the African interior in the 19th century. This meant that for large swathes of the continent native tribal customs, state organization and day to day life were not significantly impacted by the arrival of the Europeans . The so-called "Scramble for Africa" - whereby the European nations partitioned the resource rich land mass - occurred late in the 19th century. That is not very long ago as some of my grandparents would have been alive when this mad scramble occurred. Sadly then, we in the Caribbean were colonial subjects for a much longer period (continuously from the early 16th century through to mid 20th). That fact alone should cause Caribbean peoples to have a much higher regard for Africa than we currently do.
3) Missionaries played an important role in "opening up" Africa to the Europeans. The Scramble for Africa might not have occurred - or if did, might not have been so all encompassing (only Liberia and Ethiopia were not exposed to colonization or other similar subjugation by the Europeans during this period) - without the efforts of missionaries in carrying out expeditions. One prime set of expeditions exemplifying this point were those conducted by the famous David Livingstone of the London Missionary Society. This fact gives credence to this quote attributed to both Bishop Tutu and the great Jomo Kenyatta “When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.”
If you grew up in the Caribbean - like I did - after reading this book you might wonder why your history lessons in school did not expose you to the rich and great history of Africa pre-medieval times, before the advent of the Atlantic slave trade? I suspect we all know why this was so. Our history syllabus was written by well meaning scholars, who though they did their best to give us a record of Caribbean history of redemptive and unifying value in multi-racial societies, were doing so from a Eurocentric perspective for it was through the lens of Europe that they themselves were taught history.
It is refreshing and heartening to see that there is a generation of scholars who are working assiduously to bring a more balanced perspective to our appreciation of Africa. Still... there is much more work to be done.
My satisfaction in reading this book stems form the fact that the authors confirm what I am learning - perhaps somewhat late in life - that Africa is where the "real action" was, as it played a central role in creating the foundation of modern civilization; and given that things go in cycles the real action probably will be there once again. Africa is indeed rising rapidly in terms of economic development and I expect her to play an important role in future global economic growth - she has an abundance of natural resources and highly skilled people from diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds. A United States of Africa would be a formidable federal state and global economic powerhouse.
Oliver and Fage's book gave me three important things:
1) it made me realize that during the period of history called the middle ages, "states" existed in Africa. These states functioned effectively. There were cities, foreign trade, universities and impressive empires. Some prime examples are the powerful kingdoms of Mali, Ghana and Songhay. The notion that Africans are incapable of governing themselves is therefore patently false.
2) Much of Sub-Saharan Africa was subject to European colonial rule for a relatively short period of time. The first European settlement in this zone was established by the Portuguese in the first half of 15th century. Others followed but these were confined primarily to the coastal areas. The Europeans only deeply explored the African interior in the 19th century. This meant that for large swathes of the continent native tribal customs, state organization and day to day life were not significantly impacted by the arrival of the Europeans . The so-called "Scramble for Africa" - whereby the European nations partitioned the resource rich land mass - occurred late in the 19th century. That is not very long ago as some of my grandparents would have been alive when this mad scramble occurred. Sadly then, we in the Caribbean were colonial subjects for a much longer period (continuously from the early 16th century through to mid 20th). That fact alone should cause Caribbean peoples to have a much higher regard for Africa than we currently do.
3) Missionaries played an important role in "opening up" Africa to the Europeans. The Scramble for Africa might not have occurred - or if did, might not have been so all encompassing (only Liberia and Ethiopia were not exposed to colonization or other similar subjugation by the Europeans during this period) - without the efforts of missionaries in carrying out expeditions. One prime set of expeditions exemplifying this point were those conducted by the famous David Livingstone of the London Missionary Society. This fact gives credence to this quote attributed to both Bishop Tutu and the great Jomo Kenyatta “When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.”
If you grew up in the Caribbean - like I did - after reading this book you might wonder why your history lessons in school did not expose you to the rich and great history of Africa pre-medieval times, before the advent of the Atlantic slave trade? I suspect we all know why this was so. Our history syllabus was written by well meaning scholars, who though they did their best to give us a record of Caribbean history of redemptive and unifying value in multi-racial societies, were doing so from a Eurocentric perspective for it was through the lens of Europe that they themselves were taught history.
It is refreshing and heartening to see that there is a generation of scholars who are working assiduously to bring a more balanced perspective to our appreciation of Africa. Still... there is much more work to be done.
May 1, 2023
It is a really short history, but I liked it. I am looking for more info on the history since 1945 and due to unfamiliar names and places, it is a tough read.
Read
December 2, 2025Informative yet succinct.
Do wish though he digressed a bit on the mysterious land of 'Punt', that if it was in Africa the Ancient Egyptian writings of their journeys there must be some of the earliest descriptions in writing of sub-saharan Africa.
Also, after reading you think 'maybe European colonization wasn't that bad?'. I think the author is a bit breezy (but not necessarily Pro Imperialist) about the effects of colonization and feel the need now to read a very anti-colonial history to balance things out.
Do wish though he digressed a bit on the mysterious land of 'Punt', that if it was in Africa the Ancient Egyptian writings of their journeys there must be some of the earliest descriptions in writing of sub-saharan Africa.
Also, after reading you think 'maybe European colonization wasn't that bad?'. I think the author is a bit breezy (but not necessarily Pro Imperialist) about the effects of colonization and feel the need now to read a very anti-colonial history to balance things out.
July 3, 2012
Not the most recent scholarship or the deepest investigations, but it is good to look at this overview of all of African history from two of the modern founders of the discipline. Especially since I am woefully ignorant of it except where it intercepts with the history of the Mediterranean (Egypt), of Islam, and of Europe (slave trade, colonialism, and 20th century political and religious developments). Heavier on European involvements in the 19th and 20th centuries, the book always left me wanting more - it seems I have some more research to do.
February 25, 2008
Covers too vast a subject in too few pages to be very readable or helpful. It has its moments of insight, but overall a better history would be more useful. The final chapters are too Eurocentric, the middle chapters too dense, and the beginning chapters too erroneous. p.s. I read the 1965 second edition, so I'm sure that didn't help matters much.
July 31, 2023
It was written by some master academic professor who supposedly founded academic Africa studies so I was expecting quality.
The problem is, I don't really care what kind of axes they used in prehistoric times or about some random similar details. I am looking for historical narratives or ways to explain historical narratives that have had a large impact on the world.
For example one such narrative being the founding of the Muslim state at about 600 AD which supposedly brought about a golden age of Muslim civilization, which is also repeated here in this book. The debate among historians and archaeologists being that either the Roman empire disintegrated and Muslim empire simply replaced it or another possibility is that wherever the Muslim empire established itself, it destroyed the previous classical civilization which eventually led into the dark age. The hard evidence of archaeology definitely seems to support this last theory as there is no archaeological evidence of this golden Muslim civilization and the quality of the glasswork and pottery starts to reduce rapidly everywhere after the Muslims took power. In addition the Mediterranean trade was cut off completely by Muslim pirates which had a massive impact on North African and European economies, with the addition that papyrus production in Egypt and its dissemination in Europe and North Africa was cut off by Muslims, causing a decline in historical records. Not only that, the quality of coinage declined rapidly after Muslims assumed power, dropping from gold and silver to a bartering or semi-bartering economy in many areas in Europe and North Africa and furthermore a widespread decline in population, literacy and a general reduction in urban life started appearing. Anyway I digress.
While this author ostensibly strives to maintain a dry, impartial academic tone, I don't think he succeeds very well with regard to explaining these kinds of narratives and especially about the colonial times of African history in fear of appearing racist or due to some other undisclosed bias. He describes the Europeans engaging in trade in the colonies as economic exploitation which is rather silly and attempts to minimize the massive increase in GDP growth in South Africa after widespread industrialization and urbanization by the Europeans by claiming that this did not matter since the wealth was unequally distributed among the races. Furthermore he describes people who provide arguments for good effects of the colonies as "apologists".
Despite all that there's much to learn here. For example the way western powers were supposed to reap benefits from the colonies under their command was by creating new tax bases in these African colonies and for them to be able to do that, these nations needed massive investments into infrastructure, government institutions and services and social developments since backward colonies had no real value to the powers possessing them. According to the author, this was done not only because of economic benefits to the Europeans but also because the powers felt a moral obligation towards their colonial subjects. Hundreds of millions of pounds were invested by just the British into its colonies in the 40s and 50s for example and a massive boom followed in the industries of these colonies. The author claims that this boom might have taken place regardless of the European's investments due to the increasing demand of many products in the global markets, which I think is, again, rather silly as these colonies practically had nonexistent industries before the investments of the Europeans.
Therefore this kind of narrative that the Europeans just went in to Africa to pillage the riches and natural resources is not based on reality and similarly the idea that the colonies somehow ruined the futures of these nations due to some kind of forever enduring exploitation is invalidated by many Asian countries, which share a very similar or even worse history than African nations of colonial occupation and wars but despite all that, thrived and became global economic powerhouses. Such examples would be South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and even Indonesia and Vietnam, although to a lesser extent in terms of achieving global success although definitely relative stability and peace.
So there we go, although this book was quite dry, boring and biased, despite all that we learned something and that's what matters most.
The problem is, I don't really care what kind of axes they used in prehistoric times or about some random similar details. I am looking for historical narratives or ways to explain historical narratives that have had a large impact on the world.
For example one such narrative being the founding of the Muslim state at about 600 AD which supposedly brought about a golden age of Muslim civilization, which is also repeated here in this book. The debate among historians and archaeologists being that either the Roman empire disintegrated and Muslim empire simply replaced it or another possibility is that wherever the Muslim empire established itself, it destroyed the previous classical civilization which eventually led into the dark age. The hard evidence of archaeology definitely seems to support this last theory as there is no archaeological evidence of this golden Muslim civilization and the quality of the glasswork and pottery starts to reduce rapidly everywhere after the Muslims took power. In addition the Mediterranean trade was cut off completely by Muslim pirates which had a massive impact on North African and European economies, with the addition that papyrus production in Egypt and its dissemination in Europe and North Africa was cut off by Muslims, causing a decline in historical records. Not only that, the quality of coinage declined rapidly after Muslims assumed power, dropping from gold and silver to a bartering or semi-bartering economy in many areas in Europe and North Africa and furthermore a widespread decline in population, literacy and a general reduction in urban life started appearing. Anyway I digress.
While this author ostensibly strives to maintain a dry, impartial academic tone, I don't think he succeeds very well with regard to explaining these kinds of narratives and especially about the colonial times of African history in fear of appearing racist or due to some other undisclosed bias. He describes the Europeans engaging in trade in the colonies as economic exploitation which is rather silly and attempts to minimize the massive increase in GDP growth in South Africa after widespread industrialization and urbanization by the Europeans by claiming that this did not matter since the wealth was unequally distributed among the races. Furthermore he describes people who provide arguments for good effects of the colonies as "apologists".
Despite all that there's much to learn here. For example the way western powers were supposed to reap benefits from the colonies under their command was by creating new tax bases in these African colonies and for them to be able to do that, these nations needed massive investments into infrastructure, government institutions and services and social developments since backward colonies had no real value to the powers possessing them. According to the author, this was done not only because of economic benefits to the Europeans but also because the powers felt a moral obligation towards their colonial subjects. Hundreds of millions of pounds were invested by just the British into its colonies in the 40s and 50s for example and a massive boom followed in the industries of these colonies. The author claims that this boom might have taken place regardless of the European's investments due to the increasing demand of many products in the global markets, which I think is, again, rather silly as these colonies practically had nonexistent industries before the investments of the Europeans.
Therefore this kind of narrative that the Europeans just went in to Africa to pillage the riches and natural resources is not based on reality and similarly the idea that the colonies somehow ruined the futures of these nations due to some kind of forever enduring exploitation is invalidated by many Asian countries, which share a very similar or even worse history than African nations of colonial occupation and wars but despite all that, thrived and became global economic powerhouses. Such examples would be South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and even Indonesia and Vietnam, although to a lesser extent in terms of achieving global success although definitely relative stability and peace.
So there we go, although this book was quite dry, boring and biased, despite all that we learned something and that's what matters most.
March 20, 2019
While this book was certainly interesting, it felt short of what I was hoping to get from it. I was mainly curious to find out more about pre-colonial Africa. The authors do make an effort to cover this aspect, and were quite successful in their discussion of ancient Egypt’s influence on what they call Sudanic kingdoms, but at the same time they left such aspects as the Bantu expansions in southern Africa largely untouched. While part of this may have been due to a lack of historical knowledge at the time of writing, the book is originally from the 1960s, the updated edition in the 1980s covers much more about contemporary history rather than filling any gaps in the pre-colonial period. I was also a little irked by its focus on European-African relations, especially over exploring inter-African ones. Again, the authors do make some effort towards this, detailing the trade routes that linked pre-colonial African kingdoms from the interior to the coasts, but this is not emphasized upon while every aspect of colonial government is. Perhaps it’s a good sign that the book leaves the reader wanting to learn more but it makes for a frustrating reading experience.
June 14, 2019
The state of Africa before, during and after colonisation.
The book clearly demonstrat that while political stability was achieved during colonisation, Africa was better off after they became independent. Good summary of African history and a little bit about the Arab peninsula but only through its effects on the African continent. Trade. Islam and the sorts that stretch from Egypt and all the way to the sahara and tourag tribe.
The book clearly demonstrat that while political stability was achieved during colonisation, Africa was better off after they became independent. Good summary of African history and a little bit about the Arab peninsula but only through its effects on the African continent. Trade. Islam and the sorts that stretch from Egypt and all the way to the sahara and tourag tribe.
April 11, 2021
This book was BORING. There was some good info hidden within but gosh dang what a slog. Written in the 1960s right when revolution and i dependence was one the menu all across the continent, so because of that, there isn’t much info on the current state of affairs in Africa. Its not for a pre-scramble history but I feel like even the scramble for Africa was a little light with information. Ugh. This book sucked. The reader was also what killed it for me. Terrible.
June 10, 2018
Excessively academic, which as well as rendering this necessarily brief overview relatively comprehensive, also makes it feel exceptionally dry. A page-turner she ain't. But as a quick social and historical fly-by to add context to my ongoing exploration of African lit, it's a useful tool, and most importantly one packed to the rafters with suggested further reading.
October 5, 2020
Not bad *for what it was*; if anything it comes across as almost progressive considering when it was written. I got this for free as an audiobook from the library from a very limited selection about African History - given the book's age I probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone with a wider variety of choices.
May 7, 2019
Narrator who sounded like Cary Grant kept me going with this book, which felt outdated and reliant on dates and places over human stories. Still, a good sweeping overview of a continent I knew too little about.
January 20, 2019
I'm suspicious of anything that calls itself a "Short History" but begins in the Neolithic age and ends in the 1960's...
February 27, 2019
Needs to be updated, but good brisk tour of African history!
August 12, 2020
Read as research for my novel The Name of Hero.
April 9, 2021
Good information, interesting, but very dry to read. They could have taken more time to explain certain ideas better for clarification purposes.
abandoned-or-hiatus
May 19, 2023Abandoned. Written in 1962, it’s hopelessly out of date and has too-little decolonization perspective.
July 23, 2023
Dnf. Don’t know why I even attempted this. Not a history person. Couldn’t even tell you what happened in it
March 13, 2024
Good overview but skirts around the worst atrocities, namely Leopold
June 9, 2024
Very textbook-ey, very names-and-dates oriented. Very skimmable. I do not believe I retained anything besides things I already knew about Africa.
October 25, 2012
Interesting in large part because of it's release in the mid-1960s, the author's do a good job of covering pre-colonial Africa and covering the continent. It's an admirable short history of the continent.
July 16, 2012
Eurocentric, not enlightening, traditional history. The narrator made no attempt to pronounce African and Africaans words correctly.
May 6, 2015
A more apt title would be "A Short History of Colonial Interests in Africa". Almost entirely useless.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews