RUTH AYLETT admires the blunt honesty with which a woman’s experience is recorded, but detects the unexamined privilege that underlies it
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Africa in its own right
ROGER McKENZIE welcomes an important contribution to the history of Africa, telling the story in its own right rather than in relation to Europeans
IN SEARCH OF RELEVANCE: Rafiki Theatre (Uganda) production Beyond the Nomads Pic: Rafiki Theatre/CC
IAN SINCLAIR draws attention to the powerful role that literature plays in foreseeing the way humanity will deal with climate crisis
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DENNIS BROE notes what happens to content when the streaming giants incorporate AI and deregulation into their economic models
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SCOTT ALSWORTH hears the call to burn down and rebuild the video game industry from the bottom up
The Chinese language only introduced a feminine pronoun in the 1920s. Now, it might adopt a gender-inclusive one, suggests JANET DAVEY
The African Revolution: A History of the Long Nineteenth Century
Richard Reid, Princeton University Press, £30
IF YOU have a preference for a well researched book about a much neglected period of African history before the “scramble for Africa” written by a white academic, then The African Revolution: A History of the Long Nineteenth Century is for you.
The author, Richard Reid, is a professor of African history at the University of Oxford and a fellow at the university’s St Cross graduate college.
He is clearly extremely learned on African history, having written numerous books on modern Africa. His latest work innovatively uses a stretch of road in east Africa in what is now known as Tanzania to help him to paint a picture of events leading up to the feasting on African labour and resources that took place during what he terms the “long nineteenth century.”
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Public libraries are sanctuaries which facilitate the exploration of the universe of ideas for free for those curious enough. ROGER McKENZIE advocates their protection against authoritarian incursions, US style
