Key Events in African History: A Reference Guide - Softcover

TOYIN FALOLA is the Frances Higginbothom Nalle Centennial Professor in History at the University of Texas, Austin. A distinguished Africanist, Falola serves on the editorial board of many journals, co-edits the Journal of African Economic History, and serves as the series editor of the University of Rochester's Studies in African History and the Diaspora. He is also series editor of the Greenwood Press series Culture and Customs of Africa. His publications include many essays and books on Nigeria, including Decolonization and Development Planning (1996), Violence in Nigeria: The Crisis of Religious Politics and Secular Ideologies (1998), and The History of Nigeria (Greenwood, 1999).

Following a detailed time line of historical events, each topic is highlighted in an individual chapter including cross-references, historical and political maps, illustrations, a notes section, and a suggested list for further reading that provides many recent references by international scholars. The chapters are in chronological sequence and divided into ancient and precolonial, nineteenth-century, and twentieth-century periods, and the index is well arranged. Only a cursory mention is made of the AIDS epidemic, which now accounts for more than 70 percent of the number of worldwide cases. Perhaps the impact of this disease can be the subject of a chapter in an updated edition.

In his overview, the author comments about the paucity of interest in African history that existed as recently as 100 years ago, with the resulting lack of historiography. Much research is now being published by both non-African and indigenous scholars; one advantage of this volume for the student is that it spans such a broad time frame, where other references, such as Vogel's Encyclopedia of Precolonial Africa (AltaMira, 1997) or Oliver and Atmore's Medieval Africa, 1250-1800 (Cambridge, 2001), address a specific time period or a single subject area, although in greater detail. High-school and college libraries will find this book a valuable addition to their collections. RBB
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved