I have seldom read a book which introduced me to so many new things - to so many fresh topics and to so much new research by scholars, many of them young, as well as by established figures such as John Thornton and Robin Law. I found this book almost a course in African Studies in itself. - Terence Ranger in AFRICAN AFFAIRS The editors provide an excellent introduction which outlines the entire history of African urbanism in eight tightly-written pages, explains the rationale of the book in the context of the state of the art, and places the seventeen studies included here into their broader academic context. - Anthony Lemon in ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW . will definitely be on my undergraduate African History reading list. - David Dorward in ARAS.