LAMB'S perspective is a broad one, in that he essentially castigates Africa's elitist leadership, sympathizes with the ordinary people and seeks a solution to the continent's problems through the establishment of responsible leadership and a middle class to provide the backbone of a new society. slight fading to spine, slight usage soiling to covers, small pencil mark half-title page, otherwise book clean and tight. When I picked this up off my shelf, finally mentally prepared to tackle it, I imagined it to be a book of around 500 pages, judging by the spine thickness.

Ghana gets an indulgent interview with the (black) Prime Minister, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, then a quick side trip to Togoland - British Togoland, which was joined to Gold Coast and is now part of Ghana, and French Togoland - now Togo. Imperialism and colonialism, if not highly respectable, were at least accepted as normal conditions at the turn of the century and for some time afterwards.It is simplistic to say that in Africa there is always something afoot - but there are defiantly some interesting things happening at the time this book was published. Owner inscription on front and back paste down pages and a little browning/toning to the end papers and page block edge. The racial tensions which exist in one section are almost wholly different from those prevailing in another.

WITH ''The Africans'' David Lamb has produced a timely and valuable work that cuts through many of the distorted images propagated by Africans themselves, by the continent's apologists and by its detractors. The important element in the book is the present political and social conditions in Africa and the outlook for the future which they imply. Scholars may find that its very scope precludes detailed analysis of any one particular subject, but Mr. Africans were free to become fully fledged Portuguese citizens, the catch of course being that very few met the qualifications. Tanganyika, starting with Kilimanjaro and Uganda make up the section on British East Africa - Tanganyika being a UN trust territory administered by the British, Uganda a protectorate.xii, 960pp, line maps in text, section of statistical charts, col'd maps at endpapers, brown cloth with black title panel lettered in gilt at spine, top edge coloured, coloured lettered dustwrapper, an account of the 44 countries or political sub-divisions of contemporary Africa, based mainly on a journey undertaken 1952-3 covering 40,000 miles, a little bumped at lower cnrs. As soon as you feel the weight of the book in your hands it certainly feels like it's an effort to cover a continent. There is only a page on each, and a few pages on FWA, almost as if the author had run out of steam - although I can see how that might be. The British policy is to educate and train the native Africans for self-government, but they hesitate to have a definite date assigned for that purpose. Sudan was experiencing finding its own way after Britain and Egypt stepped back from their joint sovereignty, and was declared an independent state.

I am paraphrasing, but near the start Gunther says this is not a book about his travels in Africa, but a description of the contemporary history and politics of Africa. There seems to be a disconnect with the Belgians in this book - Gunther seems overwhelmingly positive in spite of the horrendous treatment dished out to the locals. Nigeria gets a long mention - held up as the most advanced and successful British protectorate, already partly self-ruled and moving towards full independence by 1960. Written with humor, sympathy and a journalist's verve, it cuts back and forth from personal anecdotes (a spell with Idi Amin's goons, an Ethiopian air raid in the disputed Ogaden) to portraits of individual nations and essays on the larger themes: the role of Marxism, the roots of economic decline, the colonial heritage. From the Sahara in the north, the rainforests of the Congo Basin in Central Africa, the Ethiopian highlands and other mountain ranges, the various rivers and lakes and the savanna of east and southern Africa.Morocco at least is far from ready for independence, but whether or not the French can persuade the Arabs and the Berbers in this vast territory to seek their future under French guidance and coöperation remains to be seen. Gunther has interesting chapters on Portuguese Africa, on Rhodesia and Nyasaland, on the Belgian Congo, on British A Vest Africa with principal reference to Nigeria and the Gold Coast. First edition hard back binding in publisher's original black cloth covers, silver title and author lettering to the spine, end paper maps. The more whites in the colony, such as in Rhodesia or Kenya, the more resistance to independence, and arguably the bigger the tensions between Africans and Europeans. Since then the British Empire has moved out of India and Burma and Ceylon — probably the greatest gesture of renunciation in history.