What a sad, sad story is that told by Professor Fyle in his introduction to this historical dictionary on Sierra Leone! In contrast to the generally placid regimes of the early ethnic states and trading companies, followed by the idealism of the relatively successful resettlement communities of freed slaves and “re‐captives” (from captured slave ships), the twentieth century seems to have been a disaster. From the damage done by the imperialist “scramble for Africa” to the civil wars of the 1990s, it is a depressing story. The first edition of this work was authored by Cyril Foray and published in 1977. Given the turbulent history of the country since then, a new edition has been long overdue.
From the religious leader and herbalist, Abayomi‐Cole, John Augustus (1848‐1943), to Zimmi, a town in the chiefdom of the Pujehum District in southern Sierra Leone, we have informative accounts of significant leaders, events, political parties and movements, ethnic groups, and related political, economic and social aspects. There is copious cross‐referencing.
A chronology of events takes the reader from pre‐fifteenth century to April 14th 2003, the start of the sittings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (but did nothing happen for the next three years? Given the 2006 publication date, the temporal gap is excessive). The Bibliography is impressive, with 46 pages of books, reports and articles mainly dating from 1970 onwards and including current newspapers and their editor's addresses. The bibliography alone is worth the purchase for specialist libraries covering Africana. There are three appendices: Governors of Sierra Leone 1792‐1971; Heads of State 1961 to date; [Current] Chiefdoms and Paramount Chiefs.
I spotted some slip‐ups: Mandingo mistakenly comes after Mannah‐Kpaka in the alphabetical sequence, and I think 1789, not 1879, is the correct date for the first burning down of the Granville Town in the self‐governing Province of Freedom (p. xxxiii). There are three outline maps (general, rivers, and administrative divisions), the first of which is virtually unusable. On the selection of entries, I would have liked to see an entry for Paramount Chiefs, since there are so many of them (149 current chiefs are listed in the appendix), and some of the early adventurers who are mentioned in the Introduction but not in the Dictionary section proper. In should be noted, however, that Professor Fyle deliberately focuses on the post‐1970 years. (Maybe libraries that specialise in African affairs should retain the 1977 edition; I have not been able to compare the two).
In the Series Editor's Foreword, Jon Woronoff comments that “Much of this historical review of the country will be complicated and inexplicable to outsiders. Indeed, many Sierra Leoneans cannot grasp what has happened either. The causes and explanation – at least some of them – only become clearer with a rather long view”. “Complicated”, certainly, the plethora of political parties alone is a veritable alphabetical spaghetti (e.g. DICORWAF, ECOMOG, OBBA), but compiler C. Magbaily Fyle, Professor of African American Studies and African Studies departments at Ohio State University and one time dean of the arts faculty at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, gives a clear account of matters in his excellent 24‐page introduction.
This work is 99th in the Scarecrow Press Historical Dictionaries of Africa, a series much featured in Reference Reviews. Although I initially had reservations about the series, of how staccato and episodic history seems to be in the dictionary approach, there is a need to find information on individual people, places, events and themes. The difficulty, I suppose, is in the nature of this selection, even in the intrinsic impossibility of doing so without violence to context. Indeed, I'm finding it difficult to do one for my own locality; how much more difficult to do one for an entire country, especially one with fitful documentation and a confused sequence of events! In favour of the dictionary approach though, I must admit that alighting on entries at random led me, unconsciously, deeper into the country's history. The Dress Reform Society, for example, at first sight trivial, had serious implications for Africanisation; the Sierra Leone Railway “became the single most important conduit for the movement of Western goods and ideas from the capital”; and the numerous biographies, such as that for Alimany Sori Sesay, who battled for 13 years so his people could “get rest (from) transportation by head”, are vivid and inspirational. Professor Fyle has done an excellent job and we are indebted to him for both simplifying and deepening our understanding of the country. This book is essential stock for any library with an interest in African studies.
