The dark kingdoms: The impact of white civilization on three great African monarchies

The subtitle of this work is "the impact of white civilization on three great African monarchies". The author states that many African kingdoms succumbed to the pressure of a new civilization and new technology. Some tried to adapt to the new ways, others retreated or fought against them. It mattered little which tactic they adopted. Most African kingdoms disappeared under the onslaught of European colonialism. A few survived, but always as puppets or anachronisms living at the mercy of a colonial power. Scholefield's aim is to tell the story of three such kingdoms---the old kingdom of Congo, Dahomey, and Lesotho---widely separated geographically, but sharing similar struggles. He does so on the basis of English language sources only.South African-born author of seven novels by 1974, Alan Scholefield comes to comparative history with a gift for story-telling and capturing interesting details. THE DARK KINGDOMS is certainly well-written and will keep your attention. Whether or not it is professional history is another question. I would say that this volume is excellent for whetting one's appetite for a knowledge of African history, for getting students interested in various questions in the field, and as a starting point for further readings. However, the author does not stick to his topic, often wandering into byways and circumlocutions that are fascinating, but produce no ammunition for his stated aim of describing the impact of Europe on Africa. The tendency is most acute in the section on Dahomey, where Richard Burton, his life and activities in Africa take over from the matter at hand. I felt that Scholefield really does not say what impact Europe had on Dahomey, other than a kind of postscript in which he tells how the French finally took over, while his chapter was entirely on the English ! The chapter on Lesotho and its relations with English, Afrikaaners, and other African peoples is best, perhaps because the story is most familiar to the author. In addition, too much time may have been spent detailing lurid episodes of cannibalism, ritual murder, the slave trade, tribal wars, etc. This always draws in readers, true, but is it necessary for a serious history ? In conclusion, I cannot say THE DARK KINGDOMS is bad. There are interesting illustrations and three decent maps. The author attempted to be fair in his portraits, he wrote interestingly, and I enjoyed the book. Is it good history ? Did he write what he said he was going to write ? These questions made me hesitate to give it four stars, but I do so on the basis of readability.