A fine book and an original synthesis. James Newman's superb synthesis of Africa's formative millennia is proof that the geographic perspective yields uncommonly productive insights. It is a well-written and beautiful book, illustrated throughout with maps and photographs, and a useful bibliographical essay. The achievement of presenting the diversity and vibrancy of apart from many previous interpretations of these challenging and controversial issues. . . . The scholarship involved in this effort is commendable.
Beautiful maps populate each chapter.
They represent clearly Newman's narrative devices of migration, trade, and the growth of political scale. This may stand as the book's most important achievement because too many of the other master narrators of early Africa avoid these ten centuries. . . . Intended for a more general readership, the book succeeds in synthesizing a vast array of scholarship in a manner which retains some of the complexities and engages the nonspecialist. The reviews of this book were provided by the Yale University Press . We have not yet seen the book, but understand the maps and illustrations to be superior.