The Ancient Kingdoms of Africa: The History and Legacy of the African Continent’s Most Prominent Kingdoms in Antiquity Paperback – March 29, 2018

It was a short and concise overview of African history, a subject often overlioked.

This book is excellent if one is ONLY interested in sole African country of Egypt. However, I needed information on the African kingdoms of ancient Ghana, Mali & Songhai which THIS book does not provide in spite of its title.

At best this is an overview of Ancient Egypt with some bits about the kingdoms close to them. It relies heavily on Herodotus, who wasn't exactlY always correct about what he wrote. Also called someone that Herodotus quoted, from two centuries earlier, as a primary source on Ancient Egypt.... So everything has to be taken with a grain of salt.

I saw a program on the ancient kingdoms of Africa done by an art historian and wanted to learn more. I couldn't find much as most books on the history of the African continent focus either on the colonial era or ancient Egypt. The majority of this book deals with ancient Egypt with a little about Libya, Sudan (Nubia), and Ethiopia but there is so much that is missing about other ancient kingdoms. They may not have lasted as long as the Egyptian civilization but their histories are just as fascinating as presented by the program I watched. Hopefully there will be more books written in the future by authors who will go beyond Egypt in telling about the history of the rest of ancient Africa.

Horrific photo copy that I couldn't read. Never again!