This book brings together interesting perspectives on the socio-economic history of Nigeria: livestock management, railway historiography, coal industry, tourism industry, pre-colonial trade, family firms, political restructuring and other germane issues. All these are deftly analysed to expose not only continuities with the past but also points of departure and twenty-first century novelties. This will remain a major contribution to the literature on Nigeria’s economic history for a long time.

Olufunke Adeboye, University of Lagos

In this captivating volume, its editors and erudite scholars, Tokunbo Ayoola and Ayodeji Olukoju, have produced a compendium impressively researched, beautifully written, and rich in information on pertinent issues on twentieth century Nigeria’s socio-political and economic history. This book, with contributions from leading scholars, is a stunningly provocative and revelatory intellectual work, one that will compel students, scholars, and policymakers, to reassess the Nigerian experience in the last century towards a better understanding of the contemporary state.

Adebayo Oyebade, Tennessee State University

What has emerged in this volume is a veritable and seamless intellectual contribution by an intergenerational array of scholars who have explored, in new, integrated, and original ways, the history and development of Africa’s most populous country. One of the most outstanding features of the book is its contribution to the historiography and political economy of the Nigerian state and society. What distinguishes the book from earlier works is the recording of watershed moments in Nigerian history from the pre-colonial through the colonial, to the contemporary period. This clear exposition has been accomplished with knowledgeable and exemplary thoroughness. The considerable scholarship and interpretative ideas offered by the authors will go a long way in educating the reading public on the intricacies of nation-building and human relations. This is a volume that will prove to be one of the mainstays of the economic and social history of West Africa.

Olutayo C. Adesina, University of Ibadan