Africa in World History: From Prehistory to The Present - Softcover

Gilbert, Erik; Reynolds, Jonathan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0205053998 ISBN 13: 9780205053995

Publisher: Pearson, 2011

Synopsis

Provides a view of African history in the wider context of world history.

  

Africa in World History is the first comprehensive survey to illustrate how Africans have influenced regions beyond their continent’s borders, how they have been influenced from the outside and how internal African developments can be compared to those elsewhere in the world. By identifying and presenting key debates within the field of African history, this volume encourages students to confront the many oversimplified myths regarding Africa and its people.

 

About this title

Review:

"Africa in World History offers several things that other African history textbooks do not: a world-history perspective, a lively and witty narrative style, and special attention to the debates and issues which make African history relevant to contemporary Americans. Its level of specificity and complexity is appropriate for beginning undergraduates, while it will satisfy specialists with its up-to-date information and broad scope." ― Lisa Lindsay, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

"A general book on Africa is a tough assignment, given the diversity of the continent, the multiplicity of peoples and states, and the sheer size of the continent, but Gilbert and Reynolds have done an excellent job. Africa in World History is well written and a delight to read." ― Edmund Abaka, University of Miami

"Africa in World History reflects a well-thought-out strategy for introducing Africa to American undergraduate students. It especially addresses their concerns and interests, as well as the often muddled notions of Africa they bring to the course." ― John Edwin Mason, University of Virginia

"Since World History courses are a reaction to the Eurocentrism found in the old Western Civilization texts, having a book such as Africa in World History that surveys the history of Africa from a global perspective is good and useful. I would definitely assign this text." ― Andrew Barnes, Arizona State University

About the Author:

Erik Gilbert was born in Fairfax, Virginia. He and his family moved to Ghana in 1966, when he was two years old. He subsequently lived in Nigeria, Cameroun and Tanzania. He did his undergraduate work at the College of William and Mary, where he studied ancient Greek. After a short stint as an ice cream scooper, bartender and ski bum, he went to the University of Vermont where he received an M.A. in history. He then moved to Boston University where he received a Ph.D. in African history in 1997. His research has focused primarily on coastal East Africa and Indian Ocean trade. Indian Ocean research has taken him to Zanzibar on a Fulbright scholarship, to Yemen (where in addition to doing research in the ports, he studied Arabic at the Yemen Language Center) and to Kenya. He has taught at Casdeton State College, the University of Vermont and is currently an associate professor of history at Arkansas State University.

 

Jonathan T. Reynolds completed his undergraduate work at the University of Tennesse in 1988 with majors in honors history, anthropology and ancient Mediterranean civilizations. He completed his Ph.D. in African history at Boston University in 1995. A specialist in West Africa and Islam, he has traveled extensively in the region since 1990–including an unsuccessful attempt at driving across the Sahara in a British car in 1994. His research has been supported by the Fulbright Foundation and the West Africa Research Association. He has taught at Bayero University, the University of Tennessee, Livingstone College (where he received the Aggrey Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1998) and Northern Kentucky University (where he received the Outstanding Junior Faculty Award in 2001). He served as the coordinator for the Southeastern Regional Seminar on African Studies from 1997 to 2000. Dr. Reynolds currently holds the rank of associate professor of history at Northern Kentucky University.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pearson
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0205053998
• ISBN 13: 9780205053995
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 480