African History: A Very Short Introduction

• There is no other short book that explains African history and historiography.
• Concrete histories and stories are used to build a picture of both the continent's past and how that past has been interpreted in Africa and beyond.
• Africa has been known as 'the cradle of mankind', and its recoverable history stretches back to the Pharoahs. But the idea of study of 'African history' itself is new, and the authors show why it is still contested and controversial.
• Important themes include the unity and diversity of African cultures, slavery, religion, colonial conquest, the diaspora, and the importance of history in understanding contemporary Africa.
• Examines questions such as: Who invented the idea of 'Africa'? How is African history pieced together, given such a lack of documentary evidence? How did Africa interact with the world 1,000 years ago?

Readership: Anyone interested in history and the different interpretations of history. Anyone with an interest in Africa, from the non-specialist needing a brief and intelligent survey of the continent's history, to students of history, politics, geography, development studies, and postcolonialism.

John Parker, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and Richard Rathbone, Honorary Professor of History, University of Aberystwyth

"A very well informed and sharply stated historiography... should be in every historiography student's kitbag. A tour de force... it made me think a great deal." - Terence Ranger, The Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies

"You will finish this book better informed, with a better understanding of Africa and a clearer idea of the questions." - Robert Giddings, Tribune

"This small book is a smart and stimulating essay exploring issues of history, sources and methods, Africa in the world, colonialism and postcolonialism, and the past in the present as a means of introducing students and others to academic thinking about African history." - Tom Spear, Journal of African History

1: The idea of Africa
2: Africans: diversity and unity
3: Africa's past: historical sources
4: Africa in the world
5: Colonialism in Africa
6: Imagining the future, rebuilding the past
7: Memory and forgetting, past and present