---
product_id: 66540065
title: "Africans: The History of a Continent (African Studies, Series Number 137) 3rd Edition"
brand: "john iliffe"
price: "€ 74.14"
currency: EUR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 7
url: https://www.desertcart.sk/products/66540065-africans-the-history-of-a-continent-african-studies-series-number
store_origin: SK
region: Slovakia
---

# Africans: The History of a Continent (African Studies, Series Number 137) 3rd Edition

**Brand:** john iliffe
**Price:** € 74.14
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

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- **What is this?** Africans: The History of a Continent (African Studies, Series Number 137) 3rd Edition by john iliffe
- **How much does it cost?** € 74.14 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.sk](https://www.desertcart.sk/products/66540065-africans-the-history-of-a-continent-african-studies-series-number)

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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This is excellent account of the broad sweep of Africa's social history
*by F***R on September 13, 2014*

This is excellent account of the broad sweep of Africa's social history, giving us deep insights into the forces that have delivered to us the Africa of today, from ancient Egypt to the present. It has a thoroughly informative analysis of the history of slavery, before during and after the Atlantic trade. The analysis of Africa's uniquely distinct demographics, and how African societies transitioned from a people-scarce continent, to what it is today, verging on the last major expansion of earth's humanity, and how this determined decolonisation and contemporary politics, is a vital body of insight. It is not a book that panders to currently correct politics, and raises deep questions about Africa in the world today. A criticism, which does not detract from its value as synthesis, is that few sources are cited, and although the important ones are there, I found myself often having to accept that questions I had would not be answered without further scholarship.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A history of Africa for the 21st century.
*by M***M on November 6, 1998*

Iliffe's 'Africans' is the most distinguished and intelligent brief history of Africa yet written. Dry, and at times dense with information, it nonetheless succintly and brilliantly outlines the history of this complex and fascinating continent from earliest man to the democratic movements of the 1990s. Centred around a thesis that the key to Africa's history is population change, Iliffe weaves his tale with masterly skill. Underpopulated until the middle of the 20th century, the central feature of African history till the modern period has been a struggle for the control of scarce labour - land, by contrast, being abundant. Only with the massive population increases and urbanisation of the last fifty years have parts of the continent become over-populated, where a struggle for natural resources among an abundance of competitors has become the defining feature of African society (anyone who has spent time in the dog-eat-dog societies of Kenya or Nigeria can happily testify to this truth). This simple, somewhat tendentious but nonetheless thought-provoking thesis is the thread on which the book hangs, and is a relief from the dry, tedious and abstracted ideological and political theories which other historians have tried to apply to African history. This is a much richer book than such a summary might imply - Iliffe seems to have read every book and article ever written on African history (his Stakhanovite work methods are renowned), and politics, great men, religion, social movements all play a part in the narrative: and, as one has come to expect from Iliffe, African proverbs are studded in the text like diamonds in a tiara, illuminating and making real the events and processes on which he dwells. This is perhaps too dry a book to celebrate completely - Iliffe's Jesuitical approach to historical research lacks passion, and his powerful historian's mind perhaps takes for granted in the reader a too-deep understanding of that subject and its conventions. But ANYONE who wishs to understand more about the African continent cannot do without the learning, wisdom and intelligence that this book offers. Africa has been done a great service.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Educational but a tough read
*by D***L on October 19, 2011*

In just 300 pages the book provides a rich overview of the history of the peoples of Africa. It sheds light on so many areas and corrects a host of misconceptions I had. I enthusiastically recommend the book but I rated it only four stars because it is a slow and dense read. You will need to be highly motivated to finish it.

## Frequently Bought Together

- Africans: The History of a Continent (African Studies, Series Number 137)
- African History: A Very Short Introduction
- A History of Sub-Saharan Africa

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*Product available on Desertcart Slovakia*
*Store origin: SK*
*Last updated: 2026-02-04*