Title: Wonders of the African World
Review: I learned more sub-Saharan African history reading this book than I have learned in all my previous 37 years. It focuses on architecture, but briefly discusses the cultures that built these jewels. The book could have used tighter editing in my opinion, since his discussions of this tribe's war on that tribe and then subsequent overthrow by the other tribe gets confusing. Can't tell the players apart without a crib sheet, since they often got no more mention than that. A minor quibble, though, since Gates brings us photographs and descriptions of places we've never heard of before, and gives us his on the spot impressions, which are likely what our impressions would be should we ever hop on a dhow to get there. An excellent contribution to the amateur historian's bookshelf.
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