New Encyclopedia of Africa

Editors Middleton (Yale U.) and Miller (U. of Virginia) present the successor to 1997's Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara, which now includes coverage of Northern Africa. The five-volume set contains 1,121 alphabetical entries from 'Abt al-Qadir, a 19th century Algerian Islamic scholar and military and political leader, to Rahma Mansur al-Zubayr, a 19th century Sudanese slave trader and military officer. The entries include 303 other biographies of present-day and historical figures; 53 composite essays on the independent countries of Africa covering geography and economy, society and cultures, and history and politics; and 96 on individual cities and towns. A large number of entries are more thematic in nature and cover such topics as Islamic pilgrimage, postcolonialism, names and naming, number systems, textiles, regional theater, slave trades, spirit possession, refugees, prophetic movements, and capitalism and commercialization, to cite just a few examples. The editors have made an effort to include older "Eurocentric" and newer "Afrocentric" scholarly perspectives. Each entry includes cross-references and short bibliographies. Included alongside the entries are some 650 maps, diagrams, portraits, photographs, and tables and each volume includes an eight-page color insert. Prior to presentation of the entries, four longer essays on invention and images of Africa, the idea of Africa in political and social thought, legacies of African history, and genocidal wars of identity are presented. Three appendices include information on the chronology of Africa, the periodization of history used in the encyclopedia, and around 1000 selected ethnic groups of the African continent. A general index is included in the final volume. Annotation c2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)