Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2021 -

Thornton (Boston Univ.), one of the world's foremost authorities on the precolonial history of what is now Angola, the western and southern portions of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and parts of northwestern Zambia, offers a paradigmatic distillation of much of his life's work in this accessible and important book. The region and the peoples that he examines--from the mouths of the Congo and Kunene Rivers in the west to the shores of Lakes Mweru and Bangweulu in the east, across the middle of Africa--are little known beyond early missionary and Portuguese written accounts. Thornton combines this documentation with what can be reliably extracted from the oral histories of the area's peoples. The result is a compelling, if subjunctively framed, valuable amalgam of description and conjecture. The result should be considered definitive and synoptic. Moreover, because Thornton is at ease combining textual critiques with oral accounts, he establishes a model for the treatment of precolonial historiography for the continent as a whole. That means that serious researchers should read the footnotes (where evidence is assessed smartly) as assiduously as the main text.Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers through faculty.

France's Wars in Chad is a must-read book for anyone seeking to understand the complexities of Chadian politics as well as French influence in Africa from the 1960s until the present. Using French diplomatic and military records, Powell (Lancaster Univ., UK) artfully outlines the very complicated motivations and actions of French policy makers and varied Chadian, Libyan, and US stakeholders. Powell's close reading of the documentary record undermines simplistic ideas of an unchanging French effort to dominate its former colonies. Rather than directing events in Chad, French military commanders and diplomats usually found themselves scrambling to keep up with rapid changes in the country. Powell further extends his analysis to examine the 1979 French removal of Jean-Bedel Bokassa, the former French ally who ruled the Central African Republic. Rather than accept the dubious French justification of Bokassa's atrocious human rights record as the reason for the intervention, Powell notes how Bokassa turned to Libyan aid, infuriating French officials. While ordinary Chadians' actions and motivations rarely come to the surface (other than as victims of Chad's prolonged wars), this is the best study of Chadian politics in English in several decades.Summing Up: Essential. General readers, advanced undergraduates through faculty, and professionals.

Rare indeed is the author who can tell an engaging and instructive story from so many vantage points. Ghanaian by birth, Amoako has made African development the core of his work for several decades. With a doctorate in economics from UC Berkeley, he rose to senior positions at the World Bank and headed up the UN Economic Commission for Africa during a decade of reform before founding the African Center for Economic Transformation in Ghana, where he currently serves as president, to carry his vision forward. His narrative succeeds superbly as memoir, policy analysis, and advocacy platform for sustainable African development through inspired political leadership and good governance. Moving effortlessly between personalities, policies, programs, and institutional perturbations, Amoako uses autobiography to relate the larger story of international development. His account is personal and offers critical but measured assessments of the people and agencies concerned. It makes understandable the complexities and conundrums of Africa's past and future development trajectory. Development practitioners, educators, and upper-level students will benefit greatly from this insider's analysis, which belongs on the shelves of college and larger public libraries, particularly in collections supporting African studies, international development, and world affairs programs.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels.