AN AFRICAN HISTORY OF AFRICA, from the dawn of humanity to independence

532pp., illus., maps, paperback, London, 2024

"There is no shortage of big tomes about Africa written by old Africa hands – those white journalists, memoirists, travel writers or novelists who know Africa better than Africans. This genre ... weaves together stories that exalt the continent’s landscape but decry its politics, that revere its wildlife but patronise its people, that use words such as “timeless”, “primordial” and “tribal” when explaining Africa’s historical trajectories.

Zeinab Badawi’s An African History of Africa is a corrective to these narratives. Ambitious in scope and refreshing in perspective, the book stretches from the origins of Homo sapiens in east Africa through to the end of apartheid in South Africa. It is informed by interviews Badawi conducted with African scholars and cultural custodians, whose expertise, observations and wisdom are threaded through the book."Simukai Chigudu, The Guardian

Zeinab Badawi, a Sudanese-British television and radio journalist and former BBC presenter, is currently President of SOAS, University of London.