History of Africa

By Kevin Shillington

Book Overview

This best-selling core history textbook offers a richly illustrated, single volume, narrative introduction to African history from a hugely respected authority in the field.

Richly illustrated with 96 maps and 195 photographs in full colour, this fifth edition offers a new primary source feature that highlights African voices throughout history, a revised and expanded chapter on contemporary Africa in light of recent events, and new material on women, gender and the environment throughout.

Already hugely popular on introductory African History courses, the book has been widely praised for its engaging and readable style, and is unrivalled in scope, both geographically and chronologically - while many competitors limit themselves to certain regions or eras, Shillington accounts for the entire continent, from prehistory right up to the present day, with an easy-to-follow chronological structure.

New to this Edition:
- 'Engaging with the Evidence' primary source feature in each section that highlights African voices and encourages historical interpretation
- Comprehensive online primary source collection and methodology guide for lecturers and students, curated by experts teaching in the field
- Revised and expanded chapter on contemporary Africa, including the events of 2016-2026
- Expanded coverage of women, gender and the environment throughout
- Two new chapters and revisions providing greater coverage of Africa's ancient kingdoms and the Early Iron Age in west Africa
- Fully revised and updated in light of recent research

Accompanying online resources for this title can be found at bloomsburyonlineresources.com/history-of-africa-5e. These resources are designed to support teaching and learning when using this textbook.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 135053854X
• ISBN13: 9781350538542
• Release Date: January 2027
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Length: 624 Pages
• Weight: 1.11 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 7.6" x 10.2"

Customer Reviews

Great book must have.

Must have in your library

The scars of Western democracy?

Imperialistic colonization and foreign domination are a stain on the forehead of democracy. But since when monopolization of ethical thoughts under the pretext of urban development and building a nation fed by foreign interests paved the way to progress and national prosperity? This book might appear as anti- European propaganda, but it is not. The severe tone of the book is not to be ignored, and I admit the arguments lack historic foundation, nevertheless, the scars of African sufferings are still bleeding, and there is a powerful lesson to learn from this book.

concise and thoughtful, without being superficial

I had the good fortune to be introduced to this book by reading it aloud as a volunteer for Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic. Shillington builds a lucid case that the decline of the Egyptian civilization coincided with a shift away from trade and toward imperial domination -- which failed over long distances. Each chapter provides a clear perspective and a compelling read. High praise for a textbook!

Admirable Intention

The book is written from an African point of view, which is badly needed in the current world of academia. Shillington does a great job of portraying things from the "other side". The only defect is that he can sometimes be too sympathetic to the other side and penalize westerners, giving the book a slight bias. Despite this, it is an excellent book for getting a look into African history from another angle.

Excellent survey for the first-time reader

Extremely well written and hard to put down.Shillington has an obvious affection for Africa, but I expected it and allowed for it. I'd recommend this book to anyone looking for a first survey of African history.I would like to have seen more maps, with less information on each map. I'm not sure the book would make a good text for college, but it makes a great book for general reading.

Absolutely outstanding for survey courses!

Kevin Shillington's organization and structure serve well the one semester survey course in African history. There are 29 chapters from pre-history to post-independence Africa. The maps are excellent - the best I have seen. The book does not get bogged down into too much detail but has the most important concepts, people and events. We use it at the Air Force Academy every year with no plans to change in the near future.