Updated and revised to emphasise long-term perspectives on current issues facing the continent, the new 2 nd Edition of A History of Modern Africa recounts the full breadth of Africa's political, economic, and social history over the past two centuries. * Adopts a long-term approach to current issues, stressing the importance of nineteenth-century and deeper indigenous dynamics in explaining Africa's later twentieth-century challenges * Places a greater focus on African agency, especially during the colonial encounter * Includes more in-depth coverage of non-Anglophone Africa * Offers expanded coverage of the post-colonial era to take account of recent developments, including the conflict in Darfur and the political unrest of 2011 in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya.

Introduction: understanding the contours of Africa's past -- Western transitions: slave trade and "legitimate" commerce in Atlantic Africa -- Eastern intrusions: slaves and ivory in eastern Africa -- Southern frontiers: colony and revolution in southern Africa -- Revival and reaction: North African Islam -- Jihad: revolutions in western Africa -- The eastern crescent: the Islamic frontier in eastern Africa -- The compass and the cross -- "Whatever happens": towards the scramble -- Africans adapting: conquest and partition -- "Pax colonia": empires of soil and service -- Hard times: protest, identity, and depression -- Battles home and away: Africa in global war (again) -- The beached whale: colonial strategies in the postwar world -- Conceiving and producing nations -- Compromising conflict: routes to independence -- Unsafe foundations: challenges of independence -- Violence and the militarization of political culture -- Rectification, redemption, and reality: issues and trends in contemporary Africa.