The World and a Very Small Place in Africa: A History of Globalization in Niumi, the Gambia, Second Edition - Softcover

"It's really splendid to see this book reemerging in its new edition: it's the best combination of local sensitivity and global awareness I know of. The historical sweep is impressive, giving a sense of several major versions of global interaction. The updating about recent globalization is particularly welcome, but in this larger historical perspective. And the book is accessible to students, another obvious plus." - Peter N. Stearns, George Mason University; "In revising and updating this work, Donald Wright has done the seemingly impossible: he has significantly improved what I have long considered the best teaching book on Africa. Extensively researched, analytic, and inter-disciplinary in approach, the book is equally suited for first-year World or African History surveys, upper level West African classes, and graduate courses on the Atlantic. Extensive interviews done in 2003 give a poignant immediacy to the book, and the photographs and maps match the text well, promoting further understanding among readers who are unfamiliar with the area." - Allen M. Howard, Rutgers University"

Focusing on Niumi, a small settlement at the mouth of the Gambia River in West Africa, Donald Wright provides a fascinating insight into the effects of globalization on a small African country, and places these events into deep historica context. Combining his own personal experiences with on-site historical research, Wright shows how rapidly changes are taking place even on a distant edge of the world economy. This new revised edition places greater emphasis on Niumi's relations with world systems and the steady change its residents have experienced as part of this process. Written in clear, accessible prose, and drawing on archival and oral traditions, The World and a Very Small Place in Africa connects world history with real people on a local level.