Dr. Akinwumi Ogundiran, professor of Africana Studies, Anthropology & History at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte (USA), presents a review of professor Adebanji Akintoye’s A History of the Yoruba People. Here is an excerpt:
“In 1897, the patriarch of modern Yoruba historiography, Reverend Samuel Johnson wrote the following words in the preface of his book (completed and edited by his brother, Obadiah Johnson), The History of the Yorubas (1921): “The histories of all nations present many phases and divers[e] features, which are brought out by various writers in the lines in which each is interested; the same method we hope will be pursued by writers in this country until we become possessed of a fuller history of the Yorubas” (Johnson 1921: viii).
The History of the Yoruba People was the first attempt, more than a hundred years ago, to provide a comprehensive history of the Yoruba peoples from their origins as a cultural-ethnic community to the present. It was a hugely successful volume, and it is still in print! Yet, so much has been done since then by scholars of different stripes to advance Yoruba historiography. No one has however matched Johnson’s comprehensive volume with a new history for a new age. That was until now.”
Published in the Journal of African Archaeology Vol. 10 (1) produced by Africa Magna Verlag. The full article can be found here