Africa Is Not a Country

An exuberant and stereotype-busting portrait of contemporary Africa in all its splendid diversity, by one of its leading new writers.

So often Africa is depicted simplistically as a uniform land of famines and safaris, poverty and strife. In this funny and insightful book, Dipo Faloyin offers a much-needed corrective. He unearths surprising truths about many African countries’ colonial heritage, traces the story of the continent’s struggles with democracy in seven dictatorships, explores lively local rivalries from the African Cup of Nations soccer tournament to the debate over which West African country makes the best jollof rice, takes on the origins and legacy of the continent’s stereotypical depiction in charity campaigns and by Hollywood, and describes the latest popular culture and youth-led political movements from across the region. By turns intimate, entertaining, and politically enlightening, Africa Is Not A Country celebrates the energy and particularity of the continent’s different cultures and communities, and treats Africa with the respect it deserves.