AFRICAN ARMS & ARMOR - Hardcover

SPRING CHRISTOPHER

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1560983175 ISBN 13: 9781560983170

Publisher: Smithsonian, 1993

Synopsis

A survey of traditional arms and armor drawing on eyewitness accounts, African oral history, and early published sources. Spring (curator, Dept. of Ethnography, British Museum) describes weapons, methods, and materials from across the continent, and discusses warfare, throwing knives, and the female warriors of the Dahomey culture. Includes some 30 color and 130 b&w photos. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

About this title

Reviews

YA-A comprehensive look at African weapons-how they were made, used, and their religious significance. Primary sources were used whenever possible. Although the chapters are organized by weapon rather than by people or geographic location, the detailed index permits searches for popular arms and armor used by many peoples. Also, a clear introductory map identifying the peoples and places discussed. The excellent, large pictures will not disappoint students, and the detailed text is quite readable. Most of the photographs are black and white (many are historical), but there are three sections of full-color plates. This book may be useful to art students as well as to those in social studies classes.
Claudia Moore, W.T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Traditional African weaponry appears to be a hot topic. Such recent continentwide surveys as Werner Fischer and Manfred Zirngibl's Afrikanische Waffen and African Shields (Prinz, 1978 and Panterra, 1992, respectively), among others, are now joined by this volume, written by a curator at the British Museum. Unlike the other surveys, which were primarily based on German museum collections, this book is derived from early published sources. Despite its title, it is not truly comprehensive because it focuses on only a few cultures in each of the major regions of Africa. It is not clear why those cultures were selected for inclusion, as the book generally lacks readily evident organizing themes to put the disparate data into perspective. Still, this informative, well-illustrated, and clearly written book can be recommended for any library with an interest in Africa and its material culture.
- Dr. Eugene C. Burt, Seattle
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Smithsonian
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1560983175
• ISBN 13: 9781560983170
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 142