African history: from a European to an African point of view

Basil Davidson's book Old Africa Rediscovered (I 959) was the first major survey of African history before the arrival of the Europeans. Shortly before her death in 1962 Karen Blixen wrote in her preface to the Danish edition: 'A wonderful book. I have waited for it and longed for it since I first and before the First World War set foot on African soil.' It had strengthened, her conviction that the artist - not the politician, the scientist or the businessman - must be the best intermediary between Africa and Europe,