# Please recommend a good book on 18th-century West Africa **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 28, 2001, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-book-on-18th-century-west-africa/78546 "2001-08-28T16:43:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Danimal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Danimal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danimal)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2001, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-book-on-18th-century-west-africa/78546/1 "2001-08-28T16:43:55Z")
I summon the wise and irascible **Collounsbury**! And anyone else who knows a lot about Africa. I need to read a book that will give me a good picture of what everyday life was like in the approximate vicinity of the Gold Coast around the time 1690-1720, particularly amongst the Ashanti and their neighbors. Such a book should, of course, include the impact of the slave trade, but should not be exclusively devoted to it. Narrative political history is not the main thing I’m looking for; what I really need is material on marriage, religion, education, clothing, and suchlike cultural/atmospheric background. My objective is to be able to invent plausible fictional characters who were born and raised on the Gold Coast. Many thanks to all who can recommend such a book (or combination of books) to me. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2001, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-book-on-18th-century-west-africa/78546/2 "2001-08-28T16:57:18Z")
Not that I could even pretend to be particularly helpful, Danimal, but I immediately thought of Alex Haley’s Roots. I wonder what his source materials were? The Africa section of the book was rich with detail about village life. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2001, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-book-on-18th-century-west-africa/78546/3 "2001-08-28T17:04:49Z")
Black Like Me John H. Griffin ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2001, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-book-on-18th-century-west-africa/78546/4 "2001-08-28T17:26:12Z")
While Griffin’s Black Like Me was a good book, it really won’t give you much information about the 18th century Ashanti. ---
**Author:** ![Danimal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Danimal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danimal)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2001, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-book-on-18th-century-west-africa/78546/5 "2001-08-28T21:41:07Z")
(bump) Thanks for the recommendation, **Ellen**. Haley’s ancestor Kunta Kinte was from the Gambia, a good distance from the region I’m looking for, but I’ll look at his sources and see if any of them cover an area wide enough to include the Guinea Coast. I read _Black Like Me_ many years ago. As \*_Captain Amazing_ says, it is a good book, but quite useless for my current project. Black life in America in the 1950s had about as much to do with the 18th-century Ashanti as white life at the same time had to do with the Vikings. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2001, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-book-on-18th-century-west-africa/78546/6 "2001-08-28T22:08:19Z")
**Danimal** : The only thing I have that comes close ( at least on my own shelves ) is The Fall of the Asante Empire: The Hundred-Year War for Africa’s Gold Coast by Robert B. Edgerton ( 1995, The Free Press, A Division of Simon & Schuster Inc. ). It’s essentially a military history of British/Asante relations between 1807 and 1900. But it does go into a little bit ( one of 10 chapters ) of Asante history, society, et al . Going through his bibliography yielded up a couple of possibilities: Fynn, J.K. ( 1971 ) _Asante and its Neighbors 1700-1807_. Evanston: North-Western University Press. Schildekrout, E., ed. ( 1987 ) _The Golden Stool: Studies of the Asante Center and Periphery_. Washington, D.C.: American Museum of Natural History. Their are others, but these two looked modern enough to be findable. The second one, in particular, looked like it had a couple of articles related to what you seem to be interested in. You might also try searching Amazon or other resources for keywords like “Dahomey” and the like, to get a better coverage. I don’t off the top of my head know of any _general_ histories of West Africa in that specific period. Which doesn’t mean there isn’t one. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![magdalene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@magdalene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magdalene)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2001, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-book-on-18th-century-west-africa/78546/7 "2001-08-28T22:23:56Z")
I remember reading a great novelization set in this time period - Segu or Segou is the name, had to read it for a class. It won’t give you close to what you need but might be fun and give you some further ideas for research. ---
**Author:** ![tsunamisurfer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@tsunamisurfer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsunamisurfer)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2001, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-book-on-18th-century-west-africa/78546/8 "2001-08-28T23:47:36Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Danimal \* **I summon the wise and irascible Collounsbury!** He is _irascible_ isn’t he? I like to think of Collie as the “intellectual hyena” of the Boards. Or maybe a jackal, if that pleases him more. BTW, Basil Davidson has written many excellent books about West African societies. None will disappoint. ---
**Author:** ![Danimal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Danimal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danimal)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2001, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-book-on-18th-century-west-africa/78546/9 "2001-08-29T14:14:31Z")
Thank each of you, **Magdalene** and **tsunamisurfer** and especially **Tamerlane,** who came through as he so often does. I am disappointed that I couldn’t obtain **Collounsbury** ’s opinion (his e-mail address does not appear to be publicly available, or else I would have invited him personally to the thread), but this should be enough to get me started. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2001, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-book-on-18th-century-west-africa/78546/10 "2001-08-29T14:18:54Z")
It was meant as a joke butt I’m quickly starting to see how a lot of people here prefer to pounce instead of smile. Please strike above reply. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2001, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-book-on-18th-century-west-africa/78546/11 "2001-09-02T22:00:42Z")
Sorry folks, I’m on vac for the moment and thus away from my feeding ground. Jackal I do prefer. As far as references, well, I shall have to root around in old files but generally do NOT depend on Roots for gods sake. Romantic claptrap. If you’re looking for something popular then Basil Davidson is a good choice although he is not a terribly good historian, in fact he’s a journalist with a tendency to credulity in re the more extreme claims made by the looney fringe. However he’s basically reliable and an easier read. Otherwise I would recommend the sober Cambridge series on African history as a place to start with citations galore to the real deal. Rather how I started out. Something like J. F. Ade Ajayi, \_History of West Africa \_ would prob be a good start although a little dated. Also something by Fage also\> In general post 1980 works I think will prove more useful. Hope this helps. By the way lieu, as this is a board dedicated to fighting ignorance (albeit IMHO) stupid replies tend to get jumped on. Especially ones that really don’t bring a smile at all. Stop whinging. ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2001, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-book-on-18th-century-west-africa/78546/12 "2001-09-03T00:30:38Z")
**Moderator’s note:** I’m guessing the literary types over in **Cafe Society** will salivate over this question. Movin’ it on over… TVeblen, for IMHO ---
**Author:** ![Danimal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Danimal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danimal)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-book-on-18th-century-west-africa/78546/13 "2001-09-04T18:51:27Z")
Thanks for the tip, **Collounsbury**. I’ll be taking a look at vol. 4 of the Cambridge history and at Ajayi’s book as soon as I’m done with Fynn’s book on the Asante and their neighbors. ($160 for the Cambridge volume?! I’ll definitely be doing interlibrary loan on that one!) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-good-book-on-18th-century-west-africa/78546/14 "2001-09-05T23:21:45Z")
Not at all, and if I decide to do less drinking and more rummaging I shall try to provide more citations. But I am on vac you know.