An African History of Africa |
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18 June 2026 - Erlenbach
I picked up Zeinab Badawi's An African History of Africa in the airport on the way to Bucharest last month. Badawi is a British journalist, although she was born in Africa and grew up in England speaking Arabic at home. The flow and organization of the book is well organized and covers many national stories and myths of pre-colonial Africa that I was not aware of, from Kush to Kongo. And when Badawi is talking about her roots in Sudan or places she visited it provides a welcome connection to the reader. For the most part Badawi's account is balanced, but she can get a bit too excited about some far-fetched ideas. Like it stretches her credulity when in the second chapter he claims no slaves were involved in building the Egyptian pyramids. And her repeated claims that enslavement by Europeans was somehow worse than enslavement by Arabs. The Arabs castrated the men, which is why there are not large numbers of African decendents in those countries today. Badawi also discusses modern African monarchs with a very British awe of royality that I found quite off-putting. Quibbling aside, it's definitely worth a read though.
