ABSTRACT
A further problem, that makes the telling of Africa’s story so difficult, is the huge and diverse body of published literature to which the researcher and writer must give attention. Not only is it spread across a bewildering array of disciplines but it is so enormous that no single person can ever hope to read it all. In addition, there are very few libraries worldwide that can be said to hold a really comprehensive collection of it. As if all that was not enough, there is also the stranglehold of language to be considered. Relevant publications can be in a variety of languages, usually those of former colonial powers. Material in English or French is the most common but there is also Portuguese, Italian and German, not to mention other European languages
from time to time. Add to these the sources that are in Arabic, Swahili or other African languages and it is apparent that any one person attempting to write about the whole of human history in the whole of Africa is either very courageous or very foolish. The usual solution has been to produce large books containing chapters by many different authors, each one of whom is a specialist in the field that she or he has written about. The result is often very impressive scholarship but difficult reading, a particular problem being the contrasting ideas and writing styles that such books often contain. Furthermore, books of that sort are usually very expensive and because of their specialist character attract only a limited readership. People should not need a university degree to be able to understand an account of their own heritage.
