This fascinating analysis of post-colonial Africa takes the lid off the steaming cauldron of African politics, examining its links to British-based socialist and Marxist ideologies, and the tribalism and talking-shop governance that characterise many African states today. The book also redresses the balance, unwrapping raw history from the politically correct clothing it has recently been given.

While Britain, the USA and the former USSR all come under the cosh, the author singles out British exploitation and clumsy power handovers in Rhodesia as particularly catastrophic. The LSE also gets...