Timberlake's dissection of the African environmental crisis takes as its starting point the continuing famine in the Sahel and Ethiopia, seen in the west as an act of malevolent nature, and demonstrates that it is an expression of a series of interlinked, cumulative and above all, man-made porblems. These problems are the effects of human mistakes and mismanagement both within and outside Africa, the unintended outcomes of the action of political, social and economic forces, rather than a series of physical mishaps.
Famine is shown to be the most immediate and pressing of linked problems.
Timberlake investigates the phenomenon of desertification and associated issues of overgrazing, overcultivation, deforestation, soil erosion and their contribution to falling production of food, with particular attention being paid to fuel wood overuse and to misuse of water including the deleterious effects of big dams - so attractive to aid donors and central governments, so destructive of people's lives. Problems of disease and of wildlife conservation are considered and apartheid is interpreted as an institutionalisation of environmental degradation, with the associated flight of labour to the cities.