Books in Brief: Central Africa: The Former British States

Central Africa: The Former British States, by Lewis H. Gann (Prentice-Hall, 125 pp., $5.95; paper, $2.45). Rhodesia, Zambia and Malawi (formerly Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland) form a geographic region in the center of the southeast portion of the African continent, not in the center of the continent at all. As Dr. Gann of the Hoover Institution says, the name “British Central Africa” by which this region was known is confusing and unfortunate, but there exists no other designation if one is referring to the three now independent countries as a geographic unit—and a huge one, at that. It comes as a surprise to learn that Rhodesia is slightly smaller than California, Zambia is somewhat larger than Texas, and Malawi about the size of Pennsylvania. Dr. Gann recounts the history of this area up to the present, with its political, social and economic complexities, in a remarkably evenhanded manner. The indigenous peoples, the Moslem and Portuguese traders, the British settlers and empire builders are all presented from their own passionate viewpoints and with their complex of motives. Of particular interest are the portrayals of the indigenous powers and the variety of their techniques in dealing with the strangers in their land. Dr. Gann is dispassionate even in his account of the hot political tempers of the postcolonial era.