Africa: A Biography of the Continent

Drawing on the latest research in archaeology, anthropology, ecology, and history, John Reader tells the full story of Africa from the very beginning of time. Africa is the cradle of human evolution, the birthplace of modern Homo sapiens, and the continent on which our most fundamental cultural practices were first developed. Reader weaves together an astonishing breadth of knowledge — from the geology of the Rift Valley and the first stone tools to the trans-Saharan slave trade and the independence movements of the 20th century — into an absorbing narrative history. Essential reading for any African and anyone who wants to understand the world’s oldest inhabited continent.