The first edition of Phyllis Martin's and Patrick O'Meara's collection under the simple title Africa appeared twenty years ago to meet the need which its editors, who teach in the African Studies Program at Indiana University, had felt for a multi-disciplinary introduction to the subject for undergraduates embarking for the first time on work relating to the continent. It has twenty-one chapters, each of which is written by an author – sometimes a pair of authors – who has lived and worked in Africa, some of whom have international reputations in their particular disciplines. These are arranged in four sections.