Boston : Little, Brown, c1980.
A rev. and expanded ed.
304 p. : ill., maps ; 22 cm.
I've seen this book on the shelves many times. Often when weeding, it comes up as one of our collection's oldest and "outdated" items. However, the book is often cited as belonging to any non-fiction "Core Collection," and so I have kept it and finally decided to read it.
In many ways it is a really old book. It was first published in 1961 and then this revised version came out in 1980. I looked for reviews critiquing it as out of date, or recommending a newer treatment of the subject, but did not find anything.
The book is powerful and apparently was a real ground-shifter when it came out. It provides a very interesting treatment of the European relationships with African states and governments and notes how many of the initial trade relationships were established as between equals, but that the major European states maintained heavy-weapons advantages and eventually assumed a supremacy/colonial attitude toward the African states. Also the trade in enslaved peoples was initially only part of other trade, but quickly assumed an exclusionary status. States that resisted had little chance of survival and would face decimation and enslavement if they persisted.
The author emphasizes that the trade relationships brought nothing of real value to the African states while enriching and empowering the European states that shipped and sold the African captives.
