African States and Rulers (3rd edition)

African States and Rulers, first published in 1989, is now in its third edition. It brings together more than 11,000 entries (per the publisher's marketing flyer) on states and their rulers, dating from around 5000 BCE to 2005. This is a very commendable undertaking, trying to cover such a wide historical sweep and compress thousands of years of a continent's history in a single volume.

The main section of the book – “The States and Rulers” – is preceded by a brief, two‐page overview of the continent's geopolitical history, and followed by a chronology, three appendices (The Modern Countries...