The End of Colonial Rule in West Africa: Essays in Contemporary History

by John D. Hargreaves

141 pages, Unbound

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

John Desmond Hargreaves was the Burnett-Fletcher Professor of History at the University of Aberdeen.

Reviews

[Mike Bright · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a review of Western African nations and their move from the end of colonialism to independence in the first half of the 1900s. Dr. Hargreaves is clearly an expert historian and spent time in Sierra Leone teaching. There was a lot of interesting material, and he captured well the various streams and issues playing out as African countries struggled with self government. I understood most of the material, but there were regular references and implicit assumptions that I didn't get - not being a historian, and not being an expert in African history. Overall, the process of decolonialization was messy and played out differently in each country.