"A stunning work of popular history-the story of how a crop transformed the history of slavery. Author Jori Lewis reveals how demand for peanut oil in Europe ensured that slavery in Africa would persist well into the twentieth century, long after the European powers had officially banned it in...

Between 1960 and 2020, the population of West Africa will have increased fivefold, even with the most optimistic assumptions of increased contraceptive use. This unprecedented demographic explosion is accompanied by another major change: Exposure to the world economy, that began after World War...