Download PDF African Dominion A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa Michael Gomez 9780691196824 Books
Download As PDF : African Dominion A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa Michael Gomez 9780691196824 Books
A groundbreaking book that puts early and medieval West Africa on the map of global history
Pick up almost any book on early and medieval world history and empire, and where do you find West Africa? On the periphery. This pioneering book tells a different story. Interweaving political and social history and drawing on a rich array of sources, Michael Gomez unveils a new vision of how categories of ethnicity, race, gender, and caste emerged in Africa and in global history. Focusing on the Savannah and Sahel region, Gomez traces how Islam's growth in West Africa, along with intensifying commerce that included slaves, resulted in a series of political experiments unique to the region, culminating in the rise of empire. A radically new account of the importance of early Africa in global history, African Dominion will be the standard work on the subject for years to come.
Download PDF African Dominion A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa Michael Gomez 9780691196824 Books
"This is a very comprehensive work on medieval Africa, a topic that is seriously understudied. The author is extremely intelligent and knows what he’s talking about, perhaps too much so. This is clearly not an introductory text, as the author uses highly technical Islamic terms with little explanation, and he goes into detail on the sources he uses. The text is rather dry, so I would not recommend this for lay reading. It would probably serve better for graduate students in a course on the subject. Nevertheless, if you are serious about the subject, this is an excellent source of information."
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Tags : African Dominion A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa [Michael Gomez] on . <b>A groundbreaking book that puts early and medieval West Africa on the map of global history</b> Pick up almost any book on early and medieval world history and empire,Michael Gomez,African Dominion A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa,Princeton University Press,0691196826,West Africa,African,African history,General world history,HISTORY / Africa / West,HISTORY / Civilization,HISTORY / Europe / Medieval,HISTORY / Social History,History/Africa - General,History/Civilization,History/Europe - Medieval,History/Social History,History/World,Islamic studies,Medieval history,Non-Fiction,Oral history,Political Science/Imperialism,Religion/Islam - History,SOCIAL SCIENCE / Islamic Studies,Social cultural history,Social Science/Islamic Studies,Social Science/Slavery,UNIVERSITY PRESS,United States
African Dominion A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa Michael Gomez 9780691196824 Books Reviews :
African Dominion A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa Michael Gomez 9780691196824 Books Reviews
- This is groundbreaking work on the rise and fall of cities, states and empires straddling both the Niger and Senegal rivers, and it provides a vital understanding of the political, religious and cultural dynamics of the Sahel region generally, beginning with the emergence of urban centers like Jenne Jeno, Gao and Kanem. Best of all, it richly illustrates how West Africa, with its dense trade networks, of salt, gold and slaves, and its ambitions for exploration and power, was anything but some isolated tabula rasa in the centuries preceding the 15th century arrival of the Portuguese. It is frustratingly hard to read in patches, blending truly formidable scholarship with excessive wordiness. But for anyone interested in this era in African or indeed in global history, well worth the effort. Gomez reputation as a leading scholar of Africa and its diaspora is richly deserved. Btw, his Exchanging our Country Masks The Transformation of African Identities in the Colonial and Antebellum South, is another work of high scholarship.
- This is a very comprehensive work on medieval Africa, a topic that is seriously understudied. The author is extremely intelligent and knows what he’s talking about, perhaps too much so. This is clearly not an introductory text, as the author uses highly technical Islamic terms with little explanation, and he goes into detail on the sources he uses. The text is rather dry, so I would not recommend this for lay reading. It would probably serve better for graduate students in a course on the subject. Nevertheless, if you are serious about the subject, this is an excellent source of information.
- First of all, I can't believe that I am writing the first customer review of this absolutely outstanding work. I've just passed page 210 and it is by far one of the most thorough history texts I have ever read. I'll come back to flesh out the review when I have finished but I wanted to do the author a solid and give him a review. This has to be the most comprehensive history of West Africa ever written. The way Gomez interrogates and utilizes the source material is astounding. Extracting value from Griots, Arab travelers and domestic historians presents an extremely detailed and yet also nuanced picture of West Africa before European contact. How this is not at the top of the ratings given the recent success of Black Panther I don't understand. If looking at fictional Wakanda made you curious about historical African Empires I can't think of a better work.
