African Dominion
A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa

I feel like the author switched on the thesaurus plugin and replaced all normal words and phrases with those of unnecessary complexity. Case in point- "...demographic atrophy was precipitous..." Come on! Just say the population declined rapidly! The author tirelessly tries to prove how medieval sourc......more

This book was absolutely incredible. It’s basically the story of the real Wakanda. It is an excellent narrative, a great work of political economy, and also a remarkable work of scholarship drawing on many diverse sources and incorporating some of them with remarkable rigor. The narrative covers med......more

Really enjoyable read, at some points can get a bit bogged down with dates and names which can be hard to follow, however the wealth of knowledge provided is simply amazing. The story of Sunjata and Mansa Musa had me on the edge of my seat and the timeline of Songhay is expertly crafted. Very import......more

A history of empire in medieval West Africa, this book covers Gao, Ghana, Mali, and Songhay - with most of the book focusing on Mali and Songhay. The book reviews both written and early sources and covers issues of gender, slavery, and race. Gomez shows how Mali under Mansa Musa became a globally re......more

In African Dominion, author Michael Gomez takes on the colossal task of seeking to highlight a history of a region and collection of peoples—during a transitory period of human history—by relying on sources that are as explicitly political as they are incomplete. Nevertheless, Gomez puts forth a val......more