Africa Works

A new book on African affairs, by the London-based Africanist Richard Dowden, received an insightful review in The Guardian. John Ryle raised the issue of the utility of the term, “Africa,” calling into question efforts to generalize about the peoples and nations of the sub-Saharan and encouraging writers, policymakers and activists to think more deeply about regional and sub-national diversity. Ryle, who edited Granta’s special issue on Africa a few years ago, concludes: “The least we can do for African countries is respect the difference between them, even when the most visible difference is a different style of misgovernment.”