Skip to main content
Job vacancy with the National Education Union
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 [Rafiki Theatre/Creative Commons]

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.”

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Morning Star and Xinhua Daily meeting
History / 27 September 2025
27 September 2025

A chance find when clearing out our old office led us to renew a friendship across 5,000 miles and almost nine decades of history, explains ROGER McKENZIE

Chinese President Xi Jinping virtually addresses a climate summit, September 24, 2025, at U.N. headquarters
Climate Crisis / 25 September 2025
25 September 2025
Morning Star team in China
Features / 20 September 2025
20 September 2025

ROGER McKENZIE argues that the BRI represents a choice between treating humans as commodities or as equals — an essential project when, aside from China’s efforts, hundreds of millions worldwide are trapped in poverty

A PROMISE RENEGED ON: Let Us Beat Swords Into Plowshares bronze sculpture by Soviet artist Evgeny Vuchetich which encapsules the UN charter. It was presented to the UN in December 1959 by the government of the USSR, it stands in the North Garden of UN HQ in New York Pic: Rodsan18/CC
Features / 18 September 2025
18 September 2025

The colonial mindset behind the governance of the UN is the reason for its inertia when it comes to conflict resolution, argues ROGER McKENZIE – but can China’s Global Governance Initiative point in a new direction of global equality?

Similar stories
Kathe Kollwitz, Charge, sheet 5 of the cycle Peasants War, 1
Culture / 13 April 2025
13 April 2025
JOHN GREEN is fascinated by a history that excavates the enormous role played by agricultural workers in recent times
AFRICAN HERO: A Walter Rodney poster in Georgetown, Guyana
Features / 20 March 2025
20 March 2025
The Guyanese scholar’s groundbreaking work revealed how Europe deliberately underdeveloped Africa while using its resources and people to fuel Western capitalism, writes ROGER MCKENZIE
LEGACY OF BRUTALITY: (L to R) Congolese slave whipped with a
Features / 6 March 2025
6 March 2025
ROGER McKENZIE argues that Africa's ultimate liberation depends on its ability to decolonise itself including the redrawing of its present national borders imposed by Europe
PAST INFORMS FUTURE: Bronze statues, in a free arrangement,
Features / 12 December 2024
12 December 2024
Following the Eurocentric pathways to identity and development are a fallacy that is holding Africa back, ROGER McKENZIE argues