Book · 2014
The Fortunes of Africa
by Martin Meredith
Five thousand years of African history, from the Nile pharaohs to the colonial scramble, told as a single continuous story.
What does Reddit think of The Fortunes of Africa?
With only 7 total mentions across Reddit's history communities, The Fortunes of Africa sits at the quiet end of the tracking data. Six of those mentions come from r/history — mostly in curated reading lists where Martin Meredith's name appears alongside regional picks for North Africa and the Sahel, reliably, without much argument. The one r/AskHistorians appearance (↑800) is more telling: it's buried in a thread about the Black Death's demographic toll on North Africa, cited as context rather than center stage. That's the pattern here. Readers don't argue about this book; they list it. Three unique commenters over seven years, 5 mentions in 2021 and 2 in 2022, sentiment flatlined at neutral throughout. That's not a knock. Books that get listed without friction in r/history's recommendation threads have usually earned their shelf space — nobody's bothering to post a five-paragraph takedown of a 700-page African history survey.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · African continental history
- · colonialism and its aftermath
- · North African civilizations
- · Saharan trade and empires
- · sub-Saharan kingdoms
- · European scramble for Africa
- · post-independence politics
Common praise
- + r/history regulars drop it into curated regional reading lists without needing to justify the pick.
- + Covers five millennia in a single volume without collapsing into surface-level survey territory, which is why it keeps appearing in threads asking for a single-book Africa overview.
- + The North Africa sections hold up under r/AskHistorians scrutiny — it appeared in a high-upvote thread on Black Death demographics and wasn't challenged.
Common criticism
- − Seven mentions in seven years of tracking means the book generates almost no Reddit discussion of its own — readers recommend it, but no one's pulling specific arguments out of it.
- − Three unique commenters is a thin signal: it's hard to call this a consensus recommendation when that few people have cited it across all tracked subs.
- − The flat sentiment across both r/history and r/AskHistorians suggests neither enthusiasm nor discontent — a book that inspires no strong reaction either way.
Who it's for
You want one book that runs from pharaonic Egypt to post-colonial coups without requiring a specialist reading list to make sense of it. If you've already read something like Basil Davidson and want a more current single-volume synthesis, this is the logical next shelf acquisition. Casual dippers who want a chapter on one region and then stop will find the structure accommodating. Academic historians in adjacent fields — European or Middle Eastern history, say — who keep hitting the edges of their knowledge on African contexts will get practical mileage out of it. If Reddit's r/history reading lists carry any weight with you as a vetting mechanism, the fact that this book shows up in them repeatedly without controversy is a reasonable endorsement.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for The Fortunes of Africa?
Top-upvoted quotes across the subreddits where this book is mentioned. Click through to read the full thread.
“I can only speak to one part of your question: North Africa was actually hit extremely hard by the Black Death and did not recover until modern times. For example: Egypt, which historically was one of the largest regions of the Mediterranean World, experienced such sharp declines that it took until …
“Hello everyone. I compiled a list of all the books I strongly recommended, and organized them by region/topic. Hope you guys find it useful! Afghanistan: *Afghanistan* by Jonatahn A. Lee. The books provides a great overview of Afghanistan's rich history from the 15th century to the modern day. Int…
“Just thought of sharing my highly recommended reading list! Afghanistan: [Afghanistan: A History From 1260 to the Present]( A History from 1260 to the Present ) by Jonatahn A. Lee. The books prov…
Convinced? Pick up The Fortunes of Africa
Readers also mention
Books that share discussion threads with The Fortunes of Africa — counted from the comments, not curated.
The Fate of Africa
Martin Meredith
Martin Meredith's 5,000-year history of Africa, from ancient wealth to postcolonial collapse, told as a single relentless reckoning.
Arabs: A 3,000-Year History of Peoples, Tribes and Empires
Tim Mackintosh-Smith
A philologist traces Arab identity from pre-Islamic inscriptions through modern nation-states, arguing the word 'Arab' has meant something different in every century.
A Fistful of Shells: West Africa from the Rise of the Slave Trade to the Age of Revolution
Toby Green
A ground-up history of West Africa before the Atlantic slave trade, told through politics, commerce, and the cowrie shells that wired it all together.
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Dee Brown
Dee Brown tells the conquest of the American West through the testimonies of the people who lost it, tribe by tribe, treaty by treaty.
A History of the Arab Peoples
Albert Hourani
Albert Hourani traces Arab civilization from the Prophet's era to the 1980s, asking how a shared language and faith became — and stayed — a civilization.
Carthage Must Be Destroyed
Richard Miles
A historian reconstructs Carthage from the wreckage Rome left behind, tracing a civilization known almost entirely through its enemies' accounts.
The Fortunes of Africa — frequently asked
What does Reddit actually say about The Fortunes of Africa?+
Not much, directly. The book collected 7 mentions across r/history and r/AskHistorians over seven years, from 3 unique commenters. Most appearances are in compiled reading lists on r/history rather than focused discussions. The one r/AskHistorians mention came in a ↑800 thread about North African demographics — cited as supporting context, not debated. Sentiment is neutral throughout. The takeaway: recommended without controversy, rarely discussed.
Is The Fortunes of Africa a good starting point for African history on Reddit's recommendation lists?+
Depends on what you mean by 'starting point.' It appears in r/history reading lists consistently, which is a reasonable signal. But with only 7 total mentions and 3 unique commenters, it hasn't generated the kind of sustained discussion that would let you triangulate where it fits against competing titles. If you want a book that Reddit has stress-tested, this one hasn't been — it's been listed, not argued about.
Does The Fortunes of Africa come up in r/AskHistorians?+
Once, in the tracked data. A ↑800 comment in a thread about the Black Death's impact on North Africa cited it as relevant context. That's a single data point from 2021, but r/AskHistorians has higher sourcing standards than most subs — showing up there at all, even tangentially, is a reasonable credibility signal for the North Africa coverage specifically.
How does The Fortunes of Africa compare to other Africa history books on Reddit?+
The data doesn't support a direct comparison — we only have 7 mentions total and no threads where it's weighed against competing titles. What the data does show is that it lands in r/history reading lists alongside strong regional picks for Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Central Asia, which suggests compilers treat it as the reliable continent-level choice rather than a niche pick.