FROM THE BOOK JACKET: Already a major international bestseller, Zeinab Badawi's sweeping and much-needed survey of African history traces the continent's extraordinary legacy from prehistory to the present from the African perspective.

Everyone is originally from Africa, and this book is therefore for everyone.

For too long, Africa's history has been dominated by western narratives of slavery and colonialism, or simply ignored. Now, Zeinab Badawi sets the record straight.

In this fascinating book, Badawi guides us through Africa's spectacular history--from the very origins of our species, through ancient civilizations and medieval empires with remarkable queens and kings, to the miseries of conquest and the elation of independence. Visiting more than thirty African countries to interview countless historians, anthropologists, archaeologists and local storytellers, she unearths buried histories from across the continent and gives Africa its rightful place in our global story.

The result is a gripping new account of Africa: an epic, sweeping history of the oldest inhabited continent on the planet, told through the voices of Africans themselves.

Zeinab Badawi - Sudanese-British television and radio journalist.ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Born in Sudan, Zeinab Badawi is President of the University of London's SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) and an award-winning broadcaster, journalist, and filmmaker. She was previously Chair of the Royal African Society. Badawi is a recipient of the President's Medal of the British Academy; an honorary fellow of her alma mater, St Hilda's College, University of Oxford; a Patron of the United Nations Association UK; and is on the boards of the Mandela Institute for Development Studies, the International Crisis Group, and Afrobarometer. An African History of Africa is her first book.


Read this book and join over 300,000 other readers with a free Library Online Book Club subscription

Subscribe
  Catalog
Online Book Clubs
  • Online Book Clubs is a fun way to discover and read books on your web browser, smartphone or tablet.
  • Subscribe to the clubs for free to get access to the first few chapters of a new book. Receive a 5-minute read daily for 5 days.
  • Author Buzz and Kids Buzz: exclusive weekly service featuring 4-5 authors, up close and personal. Authors offer free signed copies of their books and dozens of other free giveaways every week.


Start reading today

What our readers think...

Join an online "Book Club" and start receiving sample chapters from popular books in your daily email. Every day, Monday through Friday, we'll send you a portion of a book that takes only five minutes to read. Each Monday we begin a new book and by Friday you will have the chance to read 2 or 3 chapters, enough to know if it's a book you want to finish. You can read a wide variety of books including fiction, nonfiction, romance, business, teen and mystery books. Just give us your email address and five minutes a day, and we'll give you an exciting world of reading.