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Title: Wonders of the African World by Jr. Henry Louis Gates ISBN: 0-375-40235-7 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 05 October, 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $40.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.33 (15 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: This book is beautifully illustrated and well written.
Comment: Henry Louis Gates book "Wonders of the African World is beautifully illustrated and is an excellent example of Africa's rich cultural and intellectual history. I was especially impressed with his representation of Africa's intellectual traditions. I found Dr. Gates book to be an interesting complement to "Intellectual Traditions of Pre-Colonial Africa" by Dr. Constance Hilliard, which provides an indepth investigation into these traditions (both oral and intellectual).
Rating: 4
Summary: Interesting Illustrated Introduction
Comment: "Wonders of the African World" by Henry Louis Gates is an interesting illustrated introduction to Africa, or more precisely, to ancient Nubia and modern Sudan; Ethiopia; Mali and Timbuktu; the Swahili East Coast; the historic Slave Coast and Gold Coast and modern Benin and Ghana; and South Africa and Zimbabwe. The book is a combination of personal essay, travelogue, and history. Much of the criticism of the "Wonders of the African World" TV/book production focused on Gates' sometimes goofy (to the point of insulting, think some) behavior vis-a-vis Africans; in print, Gates is more in his element and the book reads well.
This is no comprehensive history of Africa; rather, Gates explores something of interest in each of the countries he visits (the relations between ancient Nubia and Egypt, Christianity in Ethiopia; the ancient library at Timbuktu; the Eastern slave trade and African/Arab lineage of the Swahili; the Western slave trade and the Asante Kingdom; and megalithic ruins in Southern Africa). Gates writes a middle course between two opposing camps: the outmoded "Africa has no history" and the extreme "All civilization originated in Africa". Gates is no scholar of the history of Africa (and he makes this clear in the opening of the book). Readers who know little about Africa will certainly find much of interest here and will enjoy learning about Africa along with Gates. Students of African history might wonder what all the fuss is about. Everyone will admire the beautiful sepia-toned photographs by Lynn Davis. The book is filled out with well-chosen quotations from a variety of historic writers as well as vintage illustrations. Notes on sources are provided.
It is a pity that Gates did not travel in central Africa, along the Congo River. That's the part of Sub-Saharan Africa with no ancient books (like Timbuktu), no lost cities of stone (like Southern Africa and Sudan), no ancient priesthood or empire (like Ethiopia). It would heve been very interesting to see what Gates would have made of it.
A full-fledged and highly recommended history of Africa is "Africa: A Biography of the Continent" by John Reader. Also see Basil Davidson's "The Black Man's Burden: Africa and the Curse of the Nation-State", "Modern Africa: A Social and Political History", and "Africa in History: Themes and Outlines".
Rating: 1
Summary: Havard has ruined more black men than whiskey
Comment: I think Gates meant well by producing this piece,but his mind is no different from Eurocentrics who constantly degrade Africa and it's culture. I Have been on a crusade to justify Africa's existence in the broad history of the world. Gates Fails to do even this. I am a white person by the way. I recommend Gates instead of trying to displace Egypt from Africa you should look for connections. The connections between Egyptain relgion and African traditions is in there and worth a look. Dubois had said in his books constantly about the african features of ancient egypt. I heard Gates is making a documentary of Egypt,and I wonder if it will be insulting like this book and video set. Can scholars trust Gates not to be a biased eurocentric,nor a manaiac Afrocentric. I enjoyed parts of Africana,but found this book was offesive to African people and their culture. If you want to learn more about pre colonial West Africa check out Basil Davidson,a white historian of Africa,but a whole lot better choice on African history. Gates has no knowleadge of Africa either and it not an expert. He is just a pseudo anthropologist/african historian/book critic. TOny Brown also exposed his envolvment of the jewish coverup of the trans Atlantic slave trade. I shall discuss that on another post
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Title:Wonders Of The African World With Henry Louis Gates, Jr. ASIN: B00003ETPA Publisher: PBS Home Video Pub. Date: 16 November, 1999 List Price(USD): $49.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $49.98 |
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Title: African Ceremonies by Angela Carol/Fisher Beckwith ISBN: 0810942054 Publisher: Harry N. Abrams Pub. Date: 01 November, 1999 List Price(USD): $150.00 |
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