Ben Waber reviewed Great Kingdoms of Africa by John Parker
A Great Collection of Brief Histories
4 stars
Like all good historical essay collections, this one gives you good grounding in a number of different areas and provides a jumping off point for future reading. It does come with all of the normal weaknesses of the genre, however - brief surveys that are unconnected, and by its nature there's little room for depth here. That being said, academic volumes on African kingdoms that also come in audiobook form are rare, and this one checks all the boxes. Each chapter is written by a different researcher, including luminaries such as David Wengrow, and it has a dynamite forward. Highly recommend
Like all good historical essay collections, this one gives you good grounding in a number of different areas and provides a jumping off point for future reading. It does come with all of the normal weaknesses of the genre, however - brief surveys that are unconnected, and by its nature there's little room for depth here. That being said, academic volumes on African kingdoms that also come in audiobook form are rare, and this one checks all the boxes. Each chapter is written by a different researcher, including luminaries such as David Wengrow, and it has a dynamite forward. Highly recommend