Empires in the sun : the struggle for the mastery of Africa / Lawrence James.

By:

James, Lawrence, 1943-

Publisher: New York : Pegasus Books, 2017Copyright date: Â©2017Edition: First Pegasus Books hardcover editionDescription: xvii, 391 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 24 cmContent type:

text
still image
cartographic image

Media type:

unmediated

Carrier type:

volume

ISBN:

9781681774633
1681774631

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

960/.23 23

LOC classification:

DT31 .J37 2017

Contents:

Part one: 1830-1881 -- Mission civilisatrice: Europe and Africa in 1830 -- Ê»Sold just like chickensÊ: slavery and the slave trade -- Ê»Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands to GodÊ: missionaries -- White Man's countries I: Razzia: the conquest of Algeria -- White Man's countries II: Ê»I am a chief and masterÊ: South Africa -- Ê»Un vaste plan d'occupationÊ: exploitation and exploration -- Part two: 1882-1918 -- Ê»Bring on a fightÊ: regime change in Egypt and the Sudan 1882-1889 -- Ê»Will and forceÊ: partition 1882-1914 -- Ê»It'll all be pink soonÊ: the struggle for southern Africa 1882-1914 -- Ê»If you strike, strike hardÊ: pacification 1885-1914 -- Ê»White savagesÊ: hearts of darkness -- Ê»We go where we are ledÊ: missions and their enemies -- Ê»Toxic is the gift of ChristiansÊ: Islam and empires -- Ê»Palm trees, enormous flowers, Negroes, animals and adventuresÊ: the impact of Africa on Europe -- Ê»The honour of the ruling raceÊ: racial attitudes, sexual encounters and Africa's future -- Ê»Lloyd GeorgeÊ, Ê»KitchenerÊ, Ê»SamboÊ and Ê»CoolieÊ: Africa at war 1914-1918 -- Part three: 1919-1945 -- Ê»Contagious excitementÊ: the rise of nationalism -- Ê»Force to the uttermostÊ: more wars 1919-1939 -- Ê»Unable to stand aloneÊ: Africa on the eve of war -- Ê»Wait and seeÊ: Italian disasters and French traumas 1940-1945 -- Ê»Black tarantulasÊ: Africans at war -- Part four: 1945-1990 -- Ê»Can Russians speak Swahili?Ê: nationalist agitation and Cold War phantoms in British Africa 1945-1957 -- Ê»Comrade Nasser, don't worry!Ê: Egypt and the Cold War 1945-1980 -- A Ê»horde of ratsÊ: the Algerian War and its memories -- Ê»Insatiable greedÊ: decolonisation and the Cold War -- Ê»MaelstromÊ: the Congo and Rhodesia -- Ê»They have left us in the lurchÊ: the last days of White Africa.

Summary: In this compelling history of the men and ideas that radically changed the course of world history, Lawrence James investigates and analyzes how, within a hundred years, Europeans persuaded and coerced Africa into becoming a subordinate part of the modern world. His narrative is laced with the experiences of participants and onlookers and introduces the men and women who, for better or worse, stamped their wills on Africa. The continent was a magnet for the high-minded, the philanthropic, the unscrupulous and the insane. Visionary pro-consuls rubbed shoulders with missionaries, explorers, soldiers, adventurers, engineers, big-game hunters, entrepreneurs and physicians. Between 1830 and 1945, Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, Italy and the United States exported their languages, laws, culture, religions, scientific and technical knowledge and economic systems to Africa. The colonial powers imposed administrations designed to bring stability and peace to a continent that seemed to lack both. The justification for occupation was emancipation from slavery - and the common assumption that late nineteenth-century Europe was the summit of civilization. By 1945 a transformed continent was preparing to take charge of its own affairs, a process of decolonization that took a mere twenty or so years. There remained areas where European influence was limited (Liberia, Abyssinia) - through inertia and a desire for a quiet time, Africa's new masters left much undisturbed. This magnificent history also pauses to ask: what did not happen and why?

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Shelving location	Call number	Copy number	Status	Date due	Barcode
Book	NMC Library	Stacks	DT31 .J37 2017 (Browse shelf(Opens below))	1	Available		33039001424257

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Previous						No cover image available		Next
Previous	DT30.5 .B47 2001 The graves are not yet full : race, tribe and power in the heart of Africa /	DT30.5 .D37 1992 The Black man's burden : Africa and the curse of the nation-state /	DT30.5 .R675 2020 Things come together : Africans achieving greatness in the twenty-first century /	DT31 .J37 2017 Empires in the sun : the struggle for the mastery of Africa /	DT31 .P3194 2021 The Pan-African pantheon : prophets, poets, and philosophers /	DT33 .F313 1965 The wretched of the earth.	DT61 .A6313 1997 Egypt in the age of the pyramids /	Next

Includes bibliographical references (pages 346-364) and index.

In this compelling history of the men and ideas that radically changed the course of world history, Lawrence James investigates and analyzes how, within a hundred years, Europeans persuaded and coerced Africa into becoming a subordinate part of the modern world. His narrative is laced with the experiences of participants and onlookers and introduces the men and women who, for better or worse, stamped their wills on Africa. The continent was a magnet for the high-minded, the philanthropic, the unscrupulous and the insane. Visionary pro-consuls rubbed shoulders with missionaries, explorers, soldiers, adventurers, engineers, big-game hunters, entrepreneurs and physicians. Between 1830 and 1945, Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, Italy and the United States exported their languages, laws, culture, religions, scientific and technical knowledge and economic systems to Africa. The colonial powers imposed administrations designed to bring stability and peace to a continent that seemed to lack both. The justification for occupation was emancipation from slavery - and the common assumption that late nineteenth-century Europe was the summit of civilization. By 1945 a transformed continent was preparing to take charge of its own affairs, a process of decolonization that took a mere twenty or so years. There remained areas where European influence was limited (Liberia, Abyssinia) - through inertia and a desire for a quiet time, Africa's new masters left much undisturbed. This magnificent history also pauses to ask: what did not happen and why?

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