Book Review: Africa: So Rough a Wind
| Author | K. A. MacKirdy |
| Date | 01 December 1964 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206401900437 |
| Published date | 01 December 1964 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
590
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
With
the
publication
of
this
book,
Dr.
Sklar,
who
is
now
a
lecturer
in
Politics
at
the
University
of
Ibadan,
has
emerged
as
one
of
the
fore-
most
American
authorities
on
Nigeria.
In
the
course of his
investiga-
tions
in
the
field
during
1957-58,
he
had
unusual
opportunities
to study
political
developments
at
close
hand;
it
is
unlikely
that
any
successor
will
be
equally
privileged.
As
a
result
of
the extraordinarily
intimate
relations
Sklar
established
with
many
leading
figures
in
all
parties,
he
was
accorded
access
to
invaluable
party
files
which
in
many
cases
no
longer
exist.
This
is
particularly
true
of
the
Action
Group
whose
organization,
the
best
in
the
country,
has
since been
almost
completely
disrupted.
Sklar
was
also
permitted to
attend
a
number
of
private
and
even
secret
party
meetings and
to
report
his
observations
in
his
book.
On
the other
hand,
he
did
not
at
the
time
of
writing
have
the
benefit
of
the
massive
evidence
uncovered
during
the
Coker
Commission
hearings
and
the
treasonous felony
trials.
This
information
would
have
reinforced
some
of
his
conclusions
and tempered
others-and
no
doubt
lengthened
his
already
exhaustive footnotes.
Only
in
relation
to
the
North
are
there
obvious
gaps
in
his knowledge
and,
for
this
reason,
his
treatment
of
the
situation
there
is
less
authoritative.
The
book
is in
three
parts.
The
first
traces
the rise
of
political
parties
up
to
the
formation
of
the
Federation
in
1954;
and,
apart
from
a
good
deal of
fresh
detail,
covers
fairly
familiar
ground.
The
second
is
a
series
of
revealing
case
studies
of
"power
and
conflict"
within
each
of
the
major
parties.
The
third
is
a
perceptive
analysis
of
the
political and
social
structure
of
Nigeria.
His
conclusions
here,
based
on
detailed empirical investigation
into
the
social
basis
of
the
party-
power
system,
are
his
most significant
contribution.
Briefly,
he
con-
siders
that
the
Nigerian
party
system
is
the
focus
of
the interests
of
a
new
and
rising
middle class based
on occupation,
education,
income
and
property.
Although
this
pseudo-Marxist
interpretation
will
not
go
unchallenged,
even
Sklar's
critics will
acknowledge
their
immense
debt
of
gratitude to
him
for
this
monumental
work
of
scholarship.
Carleton
University
DOUGLAS
G.
ANGLIN
So
ROUGH
A
WIND.
The Kenya Memoirs of
Sir
Michael
Blundell.
1964.
(London:
Weidenfeld
&
Nicolson.
Toronto: Ryerson
Press.
340pp.
$9.25)
To
the
European settlers
of
Kenya
the
winds
of
change have,
in-
deed,
been
rough.
That
community
has
become
one of
the
few
minority
groups
which
it
is
still
fashionable
for
British
and
North
American
academics
and liberals
to
condemn
en
masse.
That the
settlers
have
been
ordinary
humans
reacting
in
their
several
ways
to
perplexing
and
rapidly
changing
domestic
and
international
situations
is
demon-
strated
in
Sir
Michael
Blundell's
apologia
for
his
public
career.
The
limitations inherent
in
memoirs
are
present
in
this
book,
but
so
are
the
insights.
Forst.....
as
a
sptae
lan
for
the
Kenyan
settlers
Blundell
dealt with
Colonial
Secretaries and
other
politicians
of
both
major
British parties.
He
observes:
"The
Labour
Party
have
an
emotional
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