Decolonization in Africa
2nd edition

By J.D. Hargreaves
May 1996
Pearson Education
ISBN: 0582249171
320 pages
$57.50 Paper original

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John Hargreaves examines how the British, French, Belgian, Spanish and Portuguese colonies in tropical Africa became independent in the postwar years, and in doing so transformed the international landscape. African demands for independence and colonial plans for reform - central to the story - are seen here in the wider context of changing international relationships.

Contents
Introduction.
1. Conditions of Tranquility in Black Africa.
2. Forces of Change in the 1930s.
3. War and the African Empires 1939 - 1945.
4. The Mobilization of African Discontents.
5. Colonial Reforms and Imperial Strategies.
6. Growing Hopes of Independence.
7. Recalculations in the 1950s.
8. The End of the Affair.
9. Retrospect, 1995.
Decolonization and Cold War: An Outline Chronology.
Bibliographical Essay.
Maps.
Index.

Features
" Reveals the complex process of decolonization and shows the widely different experiences of African states.
" Revised throughout to reflect changes in Africa itself and the international environment as well as the latest scholarship.
" New section suggests connections between the liquidation of colonial empire and the emancipation of South Africa.
" Extended Retrospect considers how the decolonization process may have affected Africa's present problems and future prospects.

Reviews
"...Laid out in clearly signposted chapters, dense with information yet enlivened with shrewd comment and the telling phrase, this is an admirable introduction to a big subject. It fulfils the object of the series by 'drawing on the latest fruits of scholarship' and itself makes a contribution to scholarship; in doing so this book deserves a readership beyond the student market for which it is primarily intended.'"
A. J Stockwell, African Affairs

"undoubtedly the best attempt yet to get to grips with this complex topic"
Richard Rathbone, English Historical Review

"This book remains quite simply the best English-language study of its subject."
Modern and contemporary France


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