Narrative non-fiction

AFRICA

Tore Linné Eriksen

No continent has been populated by humans as long as Africa has, and in this book we are taken on an exciting journey, stretching from the first hunter-gatherers to the present day. The author presents up-to-date knowledge and new perspectives, highlighting Africa's contribution to our shared global history. The book is richly complemented with pictures and maps, and is aimed at both students and wider audiences. “It shouldn’t be possible to tell the history of Africa from the first humans to the present day in one book. But that is exactly what Tore Linné Eriksen has done. I believe that everyone who is, in their own way, interested in this enormous continent will find great joy delving into Africa. In addition to everything else the book has to offer, we also find an updated and extensive bibliography where the author refers to a great number of books, not least written by African authors.”Jon Magne Lund, Vårt Land (Norway)Norwegian writes about Africa in a lively and insightful way“Eriksen has now collected his impressive knowledge in his book Africa: A Complete History […] It deserves to have many readers in Denmark as well.”Klaus Winkel, globalnyt.dk (Denmark)“With an extremely successful intertwining of stories, Tore Linné Eriksen criticises dystopian portrayals of Africa […] Africa is changing and this is therefore all the more reason to read about Africa’s past and present once again – like Tore Linné Eriksen has done in this wonderful, wide-spanning book intended for the general interested reader.”Bjørn Enge Bertelsen, Klassekampen (Norway)“Africa: A Complete History is a truly glorious book to have lying out. It mustn’t be placed in an office bookshelf, but by the sofa, where grandchildren disturb the peace during calm Sunday dinners by asking questions and demanding attention: The book is a door-opener, with its many short, thematic stories which can inspire us to dig deeper […]”John Y. Jones, Ny Tid (Norway)“[The book] is extremely reader friendly. The language is simple, and the text is rich with well-titled sub-chapters and insightful figures and tables. The publisher has allowed space for pictures of art and photographs of its political development to be used richly. Africa: A Complete History is simply a beautiful, colourful book which has the potential to interest a lot of people.”Randi Rønning Balsvik, nordnorskdebatt.no (Norway)“Tore Linné Eriksen’s history of Africa is a triumph of a book […] When compressing a million years of history between two covers, in a book of scarcely 400 (large) pages, there is a danger of resorting to listing things. But Eriksen also has time for explanations and detours, to reports of individual people, cultural movements and reflections on the subject of history. Eriksen truly does paint a rich and complex picture of Africa […] deserves to remain a go-to piece of writing for many years.”Andreas Viestad, Morgenbladet (Norway)Brilliant textbook about the history of Africa“[…] Linné Eriksen argues well and convincingly for his approach to how the history of Africa can be written. In the introduction “Is it possible to write the history of Africa”, he is by far reviewing his own book. The author does not fall into old Marxist rhetoric on economic profit and neo-liberalism as the most important explanation for the lack of development. In addition, he contributes to giving nuances to the points of view of both Afro-optimists and Afro-pessimists. […] This book should be compulsory for everyone who is studying, is interested in, or is travelling to Africa.”Terje Vigtel, Bistandsaktuelt (Norway)“A superb “complete history” which depicts Africa’s variation in vegetation, culture and politics – richly illustrated with maps and diagrams. […] It is difficult to do the book justice in a short review, so let me say right away that this book is written for a general readership, and that it is extremely good. This “complete history” is told through a shrewd combination of geographic, historic, linguistic, biologic, social, economic and political perspectives, with rich content and a good flow.”Kjetil Vikene, Forskerforum 1/2020 (Norway)“Tore Linné Eriksen argues in an informal and not-at-all polemical way that there are few reasons to still be Eurocentrics. We all come from Africa anyway. […] With pictures, text boxes and pie charts, Africa does unavoidably have a certain textbook-characteristic, but in that case the book is at the top of its genre. Every caption is thought-out, and it isn’t bad to be shown how small a share of the cake an African farmer gets for a thirty-kroner cup of coffee in London (14 øre). […] With his book, Tore Linné Eriksen has proven that it is entirely possible for a general reader to find a shortcut into everything they didn’t know they wanted to know about Africa.”Knut Hoem, nrk.no (Norway)