I have owned - and read - this book for many years. For anyone who has had an interest in delving in to the world of theatre which is on the very edge of discovery, read this book. Take a group of ethnically diverse actors, a carpet, a pair of boots, a very rough idea and a collection of small African villages, some of whom have never encountered anyone from outside their own small community, and you have the perfect mix for rediscovering the true meaning of theatre. At one and the same time massively amusing and wonderfully inspiring, enter into the world and the mind of the 20th century's most creative forces - Peter Brook.

Hi, I am working at ILISA Spanish Language Institute and I just want to let you know that this book is perfect for business man that want learn Spanish in Costa Rica and have future working plans that involves Spanish. Thanks!

traditional and political life in south africa is uncommun since many things happened there through many stages, this book is very usefull to depict some elements usefull to understand the changes that occures in africa...

This a very accessible, though dated, introduction to Ghana written by a political scientist (now in the Israeli Knesset) and an anthropologist. The only real problem with the book is that the story ends in 1979, just as Flt Lt Jerry J Rawlings comes to power and initiates a significant reorientation of the Ghanaian economic and political system. It is a pity that Pellow and Chazan have not updated this book. Now of interest more as a history than a description of the contemporary scene.

First of all, thank you to Scarecrow Press and its Asian historical dictionary series. These are superb resources. Yes, they are expensive, but for a student/scholar they are indispensable.

The main drawback of this historical dictionary is its 1993 publication. So much has happened in Malaysia and Southeast Asia since then: the "Asian Tiger" concept; the 1997 economic crisis; the Anwar crisis and subsequent Reformasi movement; the growth of Muslim fundamentalism and political Islam, and; Mahathir's and UMNO's flagging leadership. A new edition of this reference is imminent, and I trust it will address all of these issues.

There are a few disappointing aspects of this dictionary. First, the list of abbreviations/acronyms can be much more comprehensive. The chronology is a bit thin; there are many events in the post-colonial era, especially during the Emergency and the Indonesian Konfrontasi period that, alhtough somewhat minor, really would serve to flesh out the chronology. The maps are a big disappointment. No, this is not an historical atlas, but if the maps are to be included, they should be full-page (fold-out would be even better), full-color, better annotated, and much more detailed. Yes, such an improvement would raise the cost of the book somewhat, but if one is spending close to $50 on such a reference, a few more dollars would not be a budget-breaker.

The dictionary itself is fine, well cross-referenced. The bibliography is superior, an indispensable resource for further research. The bibliography is sub-divided into subject areas, which further aids in refining research. I am looking forward especially to the new edition's updated bibliography. The appendices and tables are also useful, albeit somewhat shallow and now dated.

Having been brought up in Liberia and being familiar with quite a few of the places and seen the effects of her subject matter, I can honestly say that what she has written a very perceptive and poignant book. I think that she has pointed out has truly affected the culture in Liberia was and still is influenced by the first settlers. One can certainly tell how in so many ways, why the ties are still so strong between Liberia and the United States and also how modern Liberian culture has assimilated to certain customs that can almost be described as being recycled. That is, customs having been brought from Africa originally and then influenced by European culture and slavery, returned to Africa by way of the freed slaves, sered as the basis on which many of these settlements were formed. The difficulties many of the initial freed slaves encountered when trying to establish themselves and the feelings of resentment fostered by them within the indigenous people by following their former masters example and setting themselves up as seperate and superior due to education, skin caste and religion. All over a very informative book, easy to read for anyone who is not already familiar with the subject.

Perhaps I was looking for a bit of a lighter work on the subject of the history of Trinidad and Tobago. This particular title by Eric Williams, the first Prime Minister of T&T is a bit more academic than what I was looking for. It does, however, deliver with quite a bit of interesting information on the roots and evolution of Trinidadian culture. From the days before Christopher Columbus claimed the island for Spain through the years of the island changing hands and struggling to survive through horrible mismanagement, right up to its struggle for independence from the crown, it appears that Mr. Williams doesn't miss a single detail. However, I don't have anything to compare it to with this being the first title I have read concerning the history of Trinidad and Tobago. If you are looking for light reading and general info concerning T&T, your best bet is probably a travel guide...but if you are looking for a comprehensive history of the country, this book is a great starting point!

There are few books that analyze the ecology of West Africa in an accessible and comprehensive way. This volume is, therefore, a welcome addition to a field in which geographers, ecologists and agronomists have made important contributions. Kathy Baker makes a strong case for seeing West African environments as non-equilibrial - in other words they are primarily controlled by "abiotic" factors that have uncertain effects, like changing human land use (especially under conditions of economic stress) and climate. While we know that many ecologies in the region are resilient and do rebound from short-term stress, they rarely return to an 'equilibrium state' after disturbances like intensive cultivation or pest attacks. Equilibrium conditions are attained in rare circumstances - notably in locations where human uses and climate are relatively unchanging, and even then, usually for short periods. Baker goes on to argue that land use systems in West Africa are 'autoecological'  -  taken in a broad sense to mean that farmers and pastoralists understand and respond to the prevailing absence of environmental certainty, and the specific requirements of crops and other species. Rural people create ecologies in the process of creating settlements, livelihoods, and communities.  
The book focuses on selected West African environments in which the human impact is strong. Baker reviews trends in crop yields, the impact of agricultural technology and economic policy, and the altered visions guiding development interventions. She uses the term 'adaptation' as, she argues, wholly appropriate to describe the repertoires of farmers to manage perturbations in the environmental and economic conditions they face. While "...the motivation behind the cultivation of a range of different ecological environments is economic, ...the physical environment initially defines the range of environments available for cultivation" (p86). This argument is pursued in several extended discussions of key farming systems in which human adaptation to unpredictable environments is visible.
In the humid tropics, particular attention is given to the farming systems of south east Nigeria and central Sierra Leone, drawing on secondary data. In a subsequent chapter, the commercial agrarian ecology of cocoa, a crop introduced during the colonial period, is described, focusing on autoecological farming methods, and the structuring of crop production by commercial interests. Tropical West Africa is the world's largest producer, despite the volatility of the international market and the emergence of new producers in East Asia. However production has declined since independence, and this can be understood in relation to the life cycle of the crop, as well as the complex political ecology of its cultivation and sale.
A discussion of savanna environments (from the dry Sahel of Senegal to Chad, and from the forest savanna mosaics of northern Guinea to central Nigeria) highlights their contribution to biomass productivity, and to biodiversity. No longer is the assumption made that savannas are "tending toward" domination by woody species, as ecological thinking once had it; rather, it is clear that equilibrium is a "virtual impossibility" (p149) in these ecosystems, and that they result from human activity, fire, as well as moisture and nutrient availability and herbivore activity (p157). This debate has been reinvigorated by Melissa Leach and James Fairhead who have made similar 'autoecological' arguments.  
Two further sections also deal with dryland West Africa, expanding on the claim that indigenous farming and rangeland management offers sound and sensible adaptations to non-equilibrium environments. Here Baker draws on her own fieldwork in the Gambia, in both rainfed farming and wetland rice systems. She shows how women have diversified into horticultural production, and she makes an interesting foray into the relatively little-known history of Chinese and Taiwanese extension work in Senegal and the Gambia. She speculates briefly on the effects of politics and economic interests on the lack of technological advancement in West African dryland agriculture. A chapter about Sahelian pastoralism focuses on the common misunderstanding of animal agriculture by policymakers, and the common belief that it is poorly adapted to Sahelian conditions. The science of range ecology has been a hold-out for successional theories of equilibrium ecology, and  Baker outlines some of the key debates that challenge this view.
Three themes run through this book. The first is that equilibrium thinking needs to be challenged in West African environments. Secondly, understanding ecological conditions is of fundamental importance to the development of smallholder agriculture. Thirdly, indigenous farming techniques should not be written off as anachronistic. Baker follows Paul Richards and Mike Mortimore (and many others) in stressing this latter point. Nonetheless, and perhaps suggesting equilibrium thinking is not entirely absent in the book, she admits that while indigenous farming systems have generally succeeded to meet food needs they are "...often far from perfect" and have "... much room for improvement..." (p110). This is particularly evident in the failure of many farmers to react to falling productivity in West Africa's cocoa sector. The book works well as an overview text and as an introduction to the region's farming systems, illustrating the value of comparative analysis and the presentation of vignettes of particular farming systems and ecologies. The lack of a single bibliography is annoying, and it would have been nice to see more reference to some of the classic French-language studies. Nonetheless, the book balances the much greater literature on West African political economy, politics, and agrarian history, in which ecological questions often take a back seat.

Contrary to my expectations this turned out to be a good biography of Nkrumah and highlighted his many great achievements. It reassessed him and his place in history in a positive light. A must have for Nkrumah admirers.