September 2006    

History of Ghana Author: Peter S. Gocking Publisher: Greenwood Heinemann $45.00 Cloth (331 p.) ISBN: 0313318948 ISBN-13: 9780313318948 B&T         YBP Reviewed by David White, Customer Service Bibliographer The History of Ghana is in the series Greenwood Histories of the Modern Nations. It is an historical overview - the kind that every library needs as basic, general academic research material. Begun in 1998 -Greenwood has published three to six histories per year, the latest being histories of Finland, Sri Lanka, Panama, Venezuela, Indonesia and Iraq. The History of Ghana is a good representation of the series. The first section of the book covers the beginnings of pre-Colonial statehood in the area of West Africa that would become Ghana. It discusses the interactions with various European Colonial powers and the creation of the "Gold Coast" - a colonial system designed to exploit the resources of the area. Those resources included gold and slaves. The book then continues with the struggles for independence that wracked all of Western Africa in the 20th century, and the struggles and problems faced by Ghana since gaining independence from Great Britain in 1957. The book is recommended for collections in African history, but also as a valuable asset to any basic library reference collection. Published by YBP Library Services 999 Maple St., Contoocook, NH 03229 USA v: 800.258.3774   f: 603.746.5628 w: www.ybp.com   e: academia@ybp.com All rights reserved.