Manchuelle's history of Soninke migration up to 1960 is based upon extensive research on colonial documents of French West Africa, specifically the places known today as Senegal and Mali. He makes use of everything from crew manifests of river steamers to harvest reports by French administrators to argue his central point: that the Soninke people began migrating in such great numbers not because they were forced by harsh colonial policies and taxes, but because they were attracted to high-wage jobs that allowed them to accumulate wealth on their own terms.

The author describes Soninke communities, farming systems, and authority structures as they were in the 19th century, and analyzes the important role played by those communities in "desert side" trade: Soninke merchants acted as commercial middle-men between desert-dwelling nomads to the north and sedentary farmers to the south. He goes on to explain how young Soninke were drawn by this intermediary role into itinerant trade and seasonal agricultural labor even before the advent of French colonialism in the region. Modern migration, the author says, is more or less an extension of this earlier form.

Manchuelle reinforces his argument effectively by showing that the Soninke's neighbors, while subjected to the same conditions as the Soninke (e.g. drought, forced labor and colonial head taxes), migrated with nowhere near the same frequency. His contention that Soninke migration stems more from cultural factors than from issues of survival seems hard to argue with, given the weight of documentary evidence cited (the endnotes and bibliography are about as long as Manchuelle's text itself).

I would have greatly liked to see a follow-up study on migration since 1960, but alas the author's career was cut short by the crash of TWA 800 in 1996. "Willing Migrants" is clearly written and impressively researched, and is useful to anyone wishing to understand modern migration in Africa.

In "Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo" Richard F. Burton wrote:

"My visits to Mr. Walker [Rev. William Walker, in Gabon] first gave me the idea of making the negro describe his own character in a collection of purely Hamitic proverbs and idioms. It appeared to me that, if ever a book aspires to the title 'l'Africaine peint par lui-meme' [the African depicted by himself], it must be one in which he is the medium of his own spirit, the interpreter of his own thoughts. Hence, 'Wit and Wisdom from West Africa' "

First published in 1865, "Wit and Wisdom from West Africa" is a collection of roughly 1700 proverbs from seven languages spoken along the Atlantic coast of Africa. The proverbs were not collected by Burton himself; he complied them from other published sources (mostly missionaries who were working on African language dictionaries and grammar books). In a few cases Burton had some communication with the collectors whose works he borrowed from. "Wit and Wisdom from West Africa" contains the following chapters (noted with the original source and number of proverbs):

1) Proverbs in the Wolof Tongue (from "Grammaire Wolofe", by J. Dard, 1826), 226 proverbs.

2) Proverbs in the Kanuri Tongue (from "African Native Literature", by Rev. S.W. Koelle, 1854), 83 proverbs.

3) Proverbs in the Oji Tongue (from "Grammatical Outline of the Oji Language" by Rev. H.N. Riis, 1854), 265 proverbs.

4) Proverbs in the Ga or Accra Language (from "A Grammatical Sketch of the Akra, or Ga, Language", by Rev. J. Zimmermann, 1858), 221 proverbs.

5) Proverbs in the Yoruba Language (from "Grammar and Dictionary of the Yoruba Language" by Rev. T.J. Bowen, 1858) 483 proverbs.

6) Proverbs in the Efik or Old Calabar Language (from "A Dictionary of the Efik Language", by Rev. Hugh Goldie, 1862) 418 proverbs.

7) Proverbial Sayings and Idioms in the Mpangwe (Fan) Tongue (collected by Rev. Preston and Rev. Adams) 14 proverbs.

Each proverb is printed in its original language (in the Latin alphabet) as well as in English. Many proverbs have a few sentences of additional commentary. In a few cases Burton questions the spelling used by the original collectors.

With the strange (to us) mix of admiration and admonition vis-a-vis Africa that characterizes Burton, he provides an introduction to each chapter that discusses each people's (tribe's) geography and history. It seems clear that Burton was looking for something African to celebrate; and not finding an African Shakespeare or Da Vinci, he settled on proverbs as an African accomplishment worthy of acclaim.

These proverbs having been collected over a century ago, they offer a glimpse into Africa's past; perhaps as Burton wished, a bit of "the African as depicted by himself".

What most reviewers of "Riding the Demon" miss is the way in which the author metaphorizes Africa for his own "literary" ends. As non-Africans have done now for centuries, Chilson translates "Africa" into a useful tool for his own soul-searching-and pontificating. While in some respects the book may open western eyes to the complex that is "Africa," ultimately Chilson bends "Africa" to his purposes and authorial desires.

This book was very disappointing indeed. Niger is a large country, but the author only rode a few short stretches on the only real highway at the Southern border. Niger is endless sand dunes with tiny water holes that are tough to find. It has ghost towns and the salt oasis of Bilma. It has small oases where the people never saw a doctor and where children will die from infections when they step on an acacia thorn. It is a land of camel caravans where natives get lost and die in the desert. And where, in the mountains, live the blue men of the desert, the Tuaregs. On the desert sands, you can find fish skeletons. And in Agadez you see the world's oldest mosque and can shake hands with the sultan. And where was the author? Nowhere in sight of the real Niger.Forget it.

This book was informative, but it is limited to "on the road". You'll hear about the bush taxis and their drivers, but will visit only a small part of the country. This book could have used a good editor -- there's some repetition -- and a better map. The map in the front of the book doesn't list all the towns, villages, etc. that were visited and doesn't name the adjacent countries. I thought it was worth reading, but disappointing.

First one is " A muslim Traveller of the 14th Century", and other one is "Ibn Battuta in Black Africa."I also like to review his Biography and Islamic Empire.

Ibn Battuta (born in Tangier, Morocco, 1304 AD) probably traveled more miles overland than any person in history before the invention of motor vehicles. Beginning with a trip to Mecca for the Islamic pilgrimage, he spent nearly three decades traveling and working in almost every Islamic country in the Eastern Hemisphere (He also traveled in many non-Islamic countries). His "Rihlah" ("Travels") is the monumental achievement in travel writing, made all the more amazing by the fact that he accomplished his travels almost 700 years ago. Most of his writing covers his travels outside of Africa (Arabia, Persia, India, and China). However, his written accounts of his visits to the nascent Swahili city-states on Africa's East Coast and the West African kingdom of Mali are the only primary historical sources for these civilizations in medieval times. Battuta is truly a window to the past, giving modern readers a look at the social, cultural, and political history of medieval African Islamic civilization.

"Ibn Battuta in Black Africa" is a well-edited collection of Battuta's travels in Sub-Saharan Africa. The book is not a lengthy one (it can be easily read in an evening), but it is full of useful information in the introduction and notes on Battuta's text. This is a very good introduction to Ibn Battuta for the student of African history.

Also see "The Travels of Ibn Battuta" (three volumes) by Sir Hamilton Gibb: an unabridged translation with excellent notes.

This is a fascinating topic and some useful data is provided, but that is all. Surprisingly, this book was given quite an appropriate review in the journal, Ethnomusicology. Its style is an example of what is wrong with academic writing today. Unfortunately, the publishing establishment tends not to notice that such books are intentionally written so as to be inpenetrable to readers. Academics write this way to avoid criticism. Since nobody can tell what exactly they mean, nobody can challenge them or prove them wrong on any points. Some readers feign complete understanding of such books in order not to seem ignorant. Presses should not exascerbate the problem further by printing such things.

In what he describes as a "topography of global culture," Erlmann attempts to discet the global fictions of modern statehood, national identity, history, subjectivity, the arts etc. showing how they are not representations of fixed realities, or one sided determinations but rather processes that take form and develop through what he calls the global imagination, "the means by which people shift the contexts of their knowledge and endow phenomena with significance beyond their immediate realm of personal experience." The book examines how cross cultural interaction between different senses of modernity over the past 100 years have shaped the constitutive categories of race, class and gender. The book ultimately argues that the cultural topography of a "world that is now truly one" is based on the interdependency of people the world over. Erlmann explores the workings of this global imagination through two examples of interaction between South Africa, England, and the United States. The first of these is a tour of two African chiors in the 1890s, and the second is the work of Ladysmith Black Mambazo after 1986. Erlmann does not attempt a historical or narrative continuity between or within the two examples, but rather examines aspects of each as texts within their specific political and historical context. The author gets at the complexities of each example from many angles, examining the significance of biography, dance, composition, politics, religion etc. The diversity of focus makes the book read somewhat like a collection of articles, but Earlmann speaks authoritatively on every page. The value I find in the book is how assumptions of race, identity and authenticity (among others) are examined in context of global interaction and change with a result that is much more vialbe than many essentialist ideas of the colonial encounter and African/ African American music. Erlmann also gives emphasis to agency, a focus that is denied in too many other works in contemporary theory. The book is written for the academic audience, but should find wide interest outside of Antropology and Ethnomusicology.

I enjoy reading about the many and varied forms of travel, so an account of an African adventure by microlight was intriguing. I felt that both the location and method of travel offered exciting possibilities. I was disappointed, however, by the account that was written in the book. The author, not a pilot but rather a student, travels with her flight instructor. Yet I never got the feeling he was part of the adventure at all. He was there to pilot, instruct the author, and seemingly act as so much a 'driver/mechanic' for our 'intrepid adventurer.' When the slightest hint of trouble with the aircraft cropped up, the author abandons both plane and pilot to carry on alone, leaving him to catch up after making repairs. I was let down that Ms. Dodwell seems to take pleasure in the novelty of the adventure - a photo of her alone with the plane is on the cover - while a major team member of the expedition was shuffled to a minor role in the book.

This is a memorable book. Ms. Dodwell is an Englishwoman with a great sense of adventure. Building on her childhood knowledge of Nigeria, and her earlier horseback trip through the Camerouns (Travels with Fortune), she made a major ultra-light trip right across West Africa. She then wrote a fascinating book about the trip.

In WANDERINGS IN WEST AFRICA, the future Sir Richard Burton starts out with his departure from Liverpool and his arrival in Madeira, stops briefly in Tenerife (Island of the guanches in the Canary Islands) then heads down the coast (still onboard the A.S.S. Blackland), around Cape Verde and Goree, to Bathurst on St. Mary Island off Cape St. Mary near the mouth of the Gambia, then around the horn of Africa, past Elmina and Cape Coast Castle, and eventually reaches the island then known as Fernando Po (named after a Portuguese officer, Fernao do Po - now Bioko, a part of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea) near the more familiar islands of Principe and Sao Tome. Along the way, there are many vivid descriptions of people and locations.

At Tenerife, Burton provides a short account of the conquest of the guanches and describes them as being dark-complexioned [curiously, Peter Russell, in his excellent biography PRINCE HENRY 'THE NAVIGATOR' which recounts the beginnings of European involvement in West Africa, describes them as "probably fair-haired" based on descriptions in primary Portuguese sources].

At St. Mary's, Bathurst, he impugns Mungo Park, a well-known explorer, disparaging the latter with phrases such as "[s]o Park calls the Bomax," referring to the term "bentang" - even though a "bentenki" tree plays a role in the Lion of Manding in Courlanger's A TREASURY OF AFRICAN FOLKTALES - and also referring to Mumbo Jumbo (also mentioned by Francis Moore), which Park didn't come across until further from the coast, and coffles of slaves as "genius," implying they are fictional - notably, he fails to mention that Park wrote before the British interdiction on slave trading. The entire attack is sadly reminiscent of Burton's actions and statements in relation to J. H. Speke in Alan Moorehead's THE WHITE NILE. Here, we are also introduced to his rather curious views on Africans - the "noble" race which includes Berbers and Mandingos, the "ignoble" race which includes "pure-blood" or typical Africans and Kaffirs or others he thinks may also be biracial. Later, we are treated to something of the history of the establishment of El Mina and Cape Coast Castle as well as the cruel type of slavery practiced by the Efiks of Calabar - a comparison with slavery in the contemporaneous South of the United States being quite to the benefit of the latter!

All in all, the work is highly entertaining if frequently superior and derogatory to any and all with whom Mr. Burton disagrees or dislikes; however, where neither Mr. Burton's desire for glory nor his prejudices come into play, the book appears to be generally accurate and informative.

Note: I am resubmitting this review so it will not be anonymous...

One must come to Burton's "Wanderings in West Africa" with the understanding that there are not a lot of primary (first-hand) sources of information about Atlantic coast Africa in the 19th century. Furthermore, the majority of books about Africa of this era (mostly by explorers and missionaries; few or none by Africans) are long out of print and can only be accessed in mjor libraries. Given that, Burton's work is a valuable and readable account of a voyage along Africa's West Coast, as far south as Fernando Po (Equatorial Guinea). (We should be thankful for the publisher.) His text is direct and readable. The account is chronological, port by port. Burton describes the the places and people and whatever catches his interest. His opinion is always present. Burton goes into many details--trade, early colonial administration, rulers, languages, etc.--and it is unlikely that any one reader would be interested in all of it, but most students of African history are likely to find something of interest. There is no index. It should be noted that Burton has plenty of scorn and disdain for many of the Africans he encounters (as well as for many Europeans); this is typical for Burton, but may upset a reader who is new to this writer.

Many of the names (of places, tribes, etc.) are antiquated so a good reference book is a help.

Overall this is not Burton's best book, but it does have a place along with his other books on Africa ("First Footsteps in East Africa", "The Lake Regions of Central Africa") and it adds something of value to the reputation of the great writer, explorer, traveler, and translator who produced "Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al Madinah and Mecca" and "The Arabian Nights".

One must come to Burton's "Wanderings in West Africa" with the understanding that there are not a lot of primary (first-hand) sources of information about Atlantic coast Africa in the 19th century. Furthermore, the majority of books about Africa of this era (mostly by explorers and missionaries; few or none by Africans) are long out of print and can only be accessed in mjor libraries. Given that, Burton's work is a valuable and readable account of a voyage along Africa's West Coast, as far south as Fernando Po (Equatorial Guinea). (We should be thankful for the publisher.) His text is direct and readable. The account is chronological, port by port. Burton describes the the places and people and whatever catches his interest. His opinion is always present. Burton goes into many details--trade, early colonial administration, rulers, languages, etc.--and it is unlikely that any one reader would be interested in all of it, but most students of African history are likely to find something of interest. There is no index.

It should be noted that Burton has plenty of scorn and disdain for many of the Africans he encounters (as well as for many Europeans); this is typical for Burton, but may upset a reader who is new to this writer.

Many of the names (of places, tribes, etc.) are antiquated so a good reference book is a help.

Overall this is not Burton's best book, but it does have a place along with his other books on Africa ("First Footsteps in East Africa", "The Lake Regions of Central Africa") and it adds something of value to the reputation of the great writer, explorer, traveler, and translator who produced "Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al Madinah and Mecca" and "The Arabian Nights".

This book is a good overview at West Africa's attempts to police itself and solve its own problems. It covers the three ECOMOG deployments to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau (this was written before the as of now potential ECOMOG deployment to Cote d'Ivoire) as well as adding several chapters which analyze all three of the deployments and how they succeded or failed in their missions. Finally, a brief view of how ECOMOG and the rest of the world should cooperate is peppered throughout the book. While small, the book is well researched and intelligently put together. It covers the history of each conflict well, and explores the deployments without getting bogged down in details of combat or the establishment of bases, etc. However, I would not reccomend this book to someone who does not already have a basic understanding of West Africa or else of basic peacekeeping principles from operations in other areas of the world. Without this, much of the details needed to fill in some of the gaps in the book would be missing and would bring down the value of the read. This book is not intended to educate a person on each of conflicts, but rather to provide an overview of how ECOMOG/ECOWAS responded to each, and whether lessons were learned.

Dr. Lobban's factual description of the culture, geography, economy, and history of Cabo Verde is unmatched. This book is an essential introduction to this island nation, and packs a large amount of information into a very readable format, illustrated with adequate photos by the author. The book fails, however, whenever Dr. Lobban tries to match that information with his preconceptions. He states, correctly, that the central political/cultural issue in CV is the choice of African or European or Criole identity. Writing for a Modern Africa series, he tries to force the conclusion that the 'real' identity is obviously African, and as a result cannot understand the political and cultural forces which have dominated CV because they reject African identity. His political coverage similarly suffers from an obvious bias toward the leftist PAICV independence party (e.g. the takeover of a radio station by PAICV activists was 'revolutionary justice'while a threat to take over a radio station by the opposition UCID party was described as a criminal plot) which weakens his coverage of the transition to a democratic pluralistic political regime. Nevertheless, he has presented a valid, readable, and factually accurate picture of Cabo Verde which is invaluable to any researcher. Especially enjoyable was his section on "Cultural Markers" in which, inter alia, he traces the development of the unique forms of music which are Caboverdian. I would love to read more on that subject alone by this author.

At the moment, there are two main contenders on the market with comparable books on West Africa: Rough Guide and Lonely Planet. Neither is perfect.

Rough Guide may feel a bit more professionally-made, and has been made on a bigger budget too, but it suffers from terminally boring writing style.

I said this before and I`ll say it again: if people who write guidance for your tax returns were to write guidebooks they would probably come up with similarly uninspired language.

The book does not offer the same level of self-righteous (and often annoying) rhetoric about evils of capitalism as Lonely Planet. I find this aspect commendable: some of us want the travel guide to give us facts and not explanations for whom to vote and what to think.

However, on balance, I have to admit that Lonely Planet is better resarched and more accurate, and also less bulky. If you have plenty of luggage allowance and money's no object, buy both, otherwise, stick with Lonely Planet.

The Rough Guide series is nice, if sometimes odd, for understanding what to do and what not to do in particular countries or regions. Usually, its best to get both Rough Guide and Lonely Plaent and compared the information between the two, just to avoid any unfortunate occurances. But thats just me. Anyway, this book basically covers travel in West Africa: Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Senegal, the Gambia, Cabo Verde, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria and Cameroon. Theres basic travel information, as well as notes for getting into and out of each country, and things you can do while your there. Maps, religious information, notes on social mores, currency info, food and so forth are all covered throughout the book. There are also some useful phrases in French (the most widely spoken language in West Africa), as well as some phrases in Hassaniya Arabic, Mandinka, Bamana, Twi, Susu, Hausa, Yoruba and other indigenous languages.
Fans of Afro-Pop should check out the back of this book, which is full of cultural references. There are lists of significant books, movies, musicians and songs. Sure, it is a bit dated, but some old favorites are included on the list who are well worth checking out. In fact, I should restate that, given the mercurial nature of African society, it is pretty likely that many things in this book have changed since it was published. Before doing anything in this book, you might want to look it up online or something first.

Yes, this is an interesting guide. If you are either an adventurer and/or an armchair traveller, by all means try it out ! Yet, this is not the kind of book it clams to be, namely a travel guide. Few people would find it relevant to their travel plans while in Africa. If you want advice from Lonely Planet, who published this book, then get their other book "Lonely Planet West Africa", much more thorough and relevant for most travellers.