The World of the Swahili: An African Mercantile Civilization

"The World of the Swahili" by anthropology professor John Middleton is a very detailed description of Swahili culture. The book covers the basic anthropology subjects: courtship and marriage, family, politics, land tenure, home ownership, and so on. The Swahili culture is complex and somewhat difficult to define; there has never really been a Swahili nation-state, and many of the people who live in Swahili cities are not recognized as Swahili. Middleton writes from his own long experience of East Africa (he is the author of several books) as well as bibliographic research. This text is aimed at the reader with some experience in anthropology or East Africa.