Book Review: Africa: History of East Africa
| Date | 01 September 1966 |
| Author | Jane Banfield Haynes |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206602100348 |
| Published date | 01 September 1966 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
412
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
self-conscious
6lite,
the
development
of
some
kind
of
mass
response,
and
the
actual organization
of
a
political
party are
all
preconditions
to
those
kinds
of
pressures
on
a
colonial
administration
that
generally
power
the
move
towards
independence. The
basic
question
that
con-
fronts
an
African
regime
once
it
has
acquired
control
is
how
to
preserve
the
tenuous
contacts
the
party
has
established between
leaders and
mass
following,
particularly
when the
physical
environment
of
the
country
offers
relatively
few
exploitable
possibilities
for
dramatic
material
advantages
for
which
the
independence
regime
can
claim
credit.
Few
people will
quarrel
with
Mr.
Snyder's
conclusion
that
the
party
in
Mali,
like
that
in
most
other
African
states,
remains
largely
a
political
machine
which
may
be
able
to
neutralize
threats
to
its
own
control
but
is
not strong
enough
of
itself
to
create
a
new
society
Where
aspirations
are
high,
as
in
Mali,
this
impotence
adds
its
own
strain
to
the
situation.
In
more
pragmatic
regimes,
these
pressures
may
not
be
so
obvious
but
the
awakened
aspirations
of
those
in
the
communities
that
have
been
affected
by
economic
and
social
change
produce
their
own
pressures.
Everywhere,
there
is
an
unsettling
tendency
for
rivalries
among
6lite
groups
themselves.
The
particular
merit
of
Mr.
Snyder's
book
is
that
he
presents
his
material
so
clearly
and
that
it
is
basically
sound.
Relatively
little
of
the
material
is
original nor
does
it
add
anything
particularly
distinctive
to
our
understanding
of
nationalist
parties.
But
this
is
not
to
say
that
the
book
should
not
have an
important
place on
our
shelves,
and
par
ticularly
on
our
reading
lists.
It
is
the
kind
of
study
of
a
particular
country
that
is
needed
for
basic
understanding
of
factors
and
develop-
ments.
Moreover
its
projections
are
reasonably perceptive.
Both
the
author,
and
the
director
of
his
undergraduate
thesis,
are
to
be
con-
gratulated
on
the
work.
It
promises
well
for
future
contributions
by
Mr.
Snyder
to
African
studies.
It
also
gives
important
evidence
of
the
growing sophistication
in
African
studies
among
university
students
in
the
United
States.
Northwestern
University
GWENDOLEN
M.
CARTER
HISTORY
OF
EAST AFRICA.
Volume
II.
Edited
by
Vincent
Harlow
and
E.
M.
Chilver.
1965.
(Oxford:
Clarendon
Press.
Toronto:
Oxford
Uni-
versity
Press.
li,
766pp.
$12.75)
This
is
the
second
of
a
three
volume
history
of
East
Africa,
financed
by
the
British
Ministry
of
Overseas
Development,
and
aimed
at
East
African readers.
It
marks, therefore,
a
distinct
and
still
somewhat
novel
approach
to
the
presentation
of
colonial
history
The
present
volume,
like
its
predecessor
which
dealt
with
pre-colonial
Africa
and
early
exploration,
is
written
from
the
viewpoint
not
of
the
actors,
but
of
those
acted
upon.
As
Margery
Perham
states in
the
introduction,
Africans
are
"primarily
interested
in
what
colonial
history
has
done
to
them.
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