Zamani: A Survey of East African History

by Bethwell Allan Ogot (Editor)

Good overall in illustrated wrappers (prev owner's name, minor wear). Trade paperback. A book in which eighteen leading scholars, including the two editors, have combined to produce an authoritative and up-to-date assessment of the last two thousand years in East Africa, covering both social and economic developments and discussing the varied methods of research in use by historians in East Africa. Among the contributors are Edward Alpers, Norman Bennett, John Iliffe, Ali Mazrui and more. Introduction by Ogot and Kiernan. Maps, charts, suggestions for further reading at the end of each essay. Index, 407 pp.

Genres: Africa, History

407 pages, Paperback

First published March 11, 1974

About the author

Bethwell Allan Ogot was a Kenyan historian and eminent African scholar who specialised in African history, research methods, and theory. One of his works started by saying that "to tell the story of a past so as to portray an inevitable destiny is, for humankind, a need as universal as tool-making. To that extent, we may say that a human being is, by nature, historicus".
Ogot was the Chancellor of Moi University up to early 2013.

Reviews

[John Benson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this overview of East African history. Though I lived in East Africa for many years as a child and returned many times as an adult to do research, I still found that I learned a lot from this book. The book consists of 18 chapters, usually about 15 pages long, and most chapters include very good maps. It is especially good on the settlement of East Africa by different linguistic groups. After these excellent chapters, it looks at the impact of Arabs in the country and the German and English colonial administrations. The chapters at the end are not as strong as they bring out what was current in 1968. I did feel that in so many ways this book helped me understand the big picture of East African history in a very clear way.

[Namuleme Mastulah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stone age period and it's impact

[Bunza · Rating 2 out of 5]

Each chapter is a different author, and the quality varies. D.W. Cohen's section on the River-Lake Nilotes is excellent, as are the numerous maps.