Africa - A Modern History

Previous owners bookplate in front.

In 1945, only four African countries were independent; by 1963, 30 former colonies created the Organization of African Unity. Despite formidable problems, the 1960s were a time of optimism as Africans enjoyed their new independence and prepared to tackle their political and economic problems in their own way. By the 1990s, however, dictatorship by strongmen, corruption, civil wars, genocide, widespread poverty, and the interventions and manipulations of Africa by Western powers had relegated Africa to the position of an aid `basket-case', the world's poorest and least-developed continent... Arnold brings a lifetime's thought and experience to these momentous years, and asks if 21st century Africa can promote its own recovery and renaissance...