- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Cambridge University Press (Aug 25 1995)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0521484227
- ISBN-13: 978-0521484220
- Product Dimensions: 25.4 x 17.8 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 590 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #754,706 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
From Library Journal
Iliffe, an eminent African historian at Cambridge, offers a far-ranging survey of Africa from the development of the human species to the South African elections of 1994. He writes in a thematic rather than strictly chronological fashion. What sets his book apart from other such surveys (e.g., Basil Davidson's African Civilization Revisited, LJ 6/1/91. 2d ed.) is his treatment of the environment and population as factors in the development of Africa, including North Africa. Iliffe examines human coexistence with nature, the building up of enduring societies, and African reactions to outside forces; yet he always keeps the contemporary world in mind, focusing on the answers to such basic questions as why Africa remained relatively underdeveloped compared with Eurasian societies or why African states have experienced so many problems over the past couple of decades. Iliffe's excellent, well-written introductory text belongs in all collections of Africana.?Paul H. Thomas, Hoover Inst. Lib., Stanford, Cal.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"I have never read a more original, stimulating, current and authoritative text; it ranks with the best creative masters of the genre who defined the fields of African history." Joseph C. Miller, University of Virginia
"...an outstandingly impressive achievement. It supersedes all other single volume histories of Africa and is remarkable for its grasp of the recent literature on virtually everything from archaeology to current affairs. It sweeps away many of the assertions and interpretations of previous surveys of the history of Africa and replaces them with more reliably grounded narrative and analysis. The emphasis upon environment and population allows Iliffe to treat the whole of Africa, both north and south of the Sahara, more effectively than anyone else has done....This is a book which describes human agency, culture and belief. It is very well written and brought to life with vivid quotations. It has no equal or rival." Terence Ranger, University of Oxford
"This excellent continent-wide survey...is one of the best single volumes of African history that is currently available to the specialist as well as the student...In addition to providing a solid background in African history, Iliffe's stimulating interpretations open up many useful avenues for debate and further research. This work is highly recommended for scholars and students alike." The Historian
"...an outstandingly impressive achievement. It supersedes all other single volume histories of Africa and is remarkable for its grasp of the recent literature on virtually everything from archaeology to current affairs. It sweeps away many of the assertions and interpretations of previous surveys of the history of Africa and replaces them with more reliably grounded narrative and analysis. The emphasis upon environment and population allows Iliffe to treat the whole of Africa, both north and south of the Sahara, more effectively than anyone else has done....This is a book which describes human agency, culture and belief. It is very well written and brought to life with vivid quotations. It has no equal or rival." Terence Ranger, University of Oxford
"This excellent continent-wide survey...is one of the best single volumes of African history that is currently available to the specialist as well as the student...In addition to providing a solid background in African history, Iliffe's stimulating interpretations open up many useful avenues for debate and further research. This work is highly recommended for scholars and students alike." The Historian
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
The liberation of their continent has made the second half of the twentieth century a triumphant period for the peoples of Africa, but at the end of the century triumph has turned to disillusionment with the fruits of independence. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
The liberation of their continent has made the second half of the twentieth century a triumphant period for the peoples of Africa, but at the end of the century triumph has turned to disillusionment with the fruits of independence. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent,
By Robert Orion (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Africans: The History of a Continent (Paperback)
There isnt much more for me to add to the previous reviews, but I will say that this is an excellently written book that is amazingly wide in its breadth.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best of African Histories,
This review is from: Africans: The History of a Continent (Paperback)
Iliffe's 'Africans' is the most distinguished and intelligent brief history of Africa yet written. Dry, and at times dense with information, it nonetheless succintly and brilliantly outlines the history of this complex and fascinating continent from earliest man to the democratic movements of the 1990s. Centred around a thesis that the key to Africa's history is population change, Iliffe weaves his tale with masterly skill. Underpopulated until the middle of the 20th century, the central feature of African history till the modern period has been a struggle for the control of scarce labour - land, by contrast, being abundant. Only with the massive population increases and urbanisation of the last fifty years have parts of the continent become over-populated, where a struggle for natural resources among an abundance of competitors has become the defining feature of African society (anyone who has spent time in the dog-eat-dog societies of Kenya or Nigeria can happily testify to this truth). This simple, somewhat tendentious but nonetheless thought-provoking thesis is the thread on which the book hangs, and is a relief from the dry, tedious and abstracted ideological and political theories which other historians have tried to apply to African history. This is a much richer book than such a summary might imply - Iliffe seems to have read every book and article ever written on African history (his Stakhanovite work methods are renowned), and politics, great men, religion, social movements all play a part in the narrative: and, as one has come to expect from Iliffe, African proverbs are studded in the text like diamonds in a tiara, illuminating and making real the events and processes on which he dwells. This is perhaps too dry a book to celebrate completely - Iliffe's Jesuitical approach to historical research lacks passion, and his powerful historian's mind perhaps takes for granted in the reader a too-deep understanding of that subject and its conventions. But ANYONE who wishs to understand more about the African continent cannot do without the learning, wisdom and intelligence that this book offers. Africa has been done a great service.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A history of Africa for the 21st century.,
By markbearn@aol.com (London, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Africans: The History of a Continent (Paperback)
Iliffe's 'Africans' is the most distinguished and intelligent brief history of Africa yet written. Dry, and at times dense with information, it nonetheless succintly and brilliantly outlines the history of this complex and fascinating continent from earliest man to the democratic movements of the 1990s. Centred around a thesis that the key to Africa's history is population change, Iliffe weaves his tale with masterly skill. Underpopulated until the middle of the 20th century, the central feature of African history till the modern period has been a struggle for the control of scarce labour - land, by contrast, being abundant. Only with the massive population increases and urbanisation of the last fifty years have parts of the continent become over-populated, where a struggle for natural resources among an abundance of competitors has become the defining feature of African society (anyone who has spent time in the dog-eat-dog societies of Kenya or Nigeria can happily testify to this truth). This simple, somewhat tendentious but nonetheless thought-provoking thesis is the thread on which the book hangs, and is a relief from the dry, tedious and abstracted ideological and political theories which other historians have tried to apply to African history. This is a much richer book than such a summary might imply - Iliffe seems to have read every book and article ever written on African history (his Stakhanovite work methods are renowned), and politics, great men, religion, social movements all play a part in the narrative: and, as one has come to expect from Iliffe, African proverbs are studded in the text like diamonds in a tiara, illuminating and making real the events and processes on which he dwells. This is perhaps too dry a book to celebrate completely - Iliffe's Jesuitical approach to historical research lacks passion, and his powerful historian's mind perhaps takes for granted in the reader a too-deep understanding of that subject and its conventions. But ANYONE who wishs to understand more about the African continent cannot do without the learning, wisdom and intelligence that this book offers. Africa has been done a great service.
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