Season of rains : Africa in the world

Most of what is written about Africa is framed in terms that have been out of date for years. Too often it is seen as heading for either disaster or salvation; the realities are more subtle, more complicated than this binary opposition suggests. The continent has over the last century experienced the fastest population growth in the entire history of our planet. This brings pressures environmental and human, but it also changes the logic of Africa's economics. It suggests reasons for hope. Thanks to mobile phones, African retail markets are now becoming integrated; in South Africa, Nigeria and elsewhere, banking is penetrating society; foreign direct investment is higher than ever before. And Africa has 80 percent of the world's empty agricultural land, which foreigners covet. This book explains how one billion Africans are changing their continent and changing the world. The author dissects how the postcolonial legacy has been overcome, how Africans are seizing the commercial and political initiative, and why this matters. He surveys the continent today, offering the reader a guide to how money, power, religion and indigenous development will shape Africa's coming generations. [Book abstract]