Description
Dr. Toynbee’s new travel book contains his impressions of visits to the United Arab Republic in 1961, to Morocco in 1962, and to Nigeria, the Sudan, Ethiopia, the United Arab Republic, and Libya in 1964. As in the case of his Central Asian journey which resulted in the volume Between Oxus and Jumna, Dr. Toynbee has again recorded his impressions in a book that combines acute observation with comment in his usual persuasive and knowledgeable manner, based always on a philosophy of tolerance and intelligent appreciation of world affairs. Between Niger and Nile touches on the question of ‘The Two Africas’ and of the rival claims of ‘Negritude’ and ‘Arabism’, which may come to play an important part in world affairs.
From the reviews
“The resemblances to Herodotus are many and striking: an insatiable curiosity, a flair for significant anecdotes and myths, a taste for detecting historical parallels and geographical symmetries… and above all an individual style which makes delightful reading. . . . Everything that Dr. Toynbee writes has a shape, corresponding (not always without a little gentle coercion) to the patterns which he detects in history and geography. … no reader can fail to profit from communing with Dr. Toynbee’s luminous and vigorous mind.” The Times Literary Supplement
“… the reader is forced to think in fresh terms about a whole range of concepts which need re-examination.”
The Guardian
Source: revers de jaquette
Preface
This book gives some impressions of visits to the United Arab Republic on 2-22 December 1961, to Morocco on 6-13 June 1962, and to Nigeria, the Sudan, Ethiopia, the United Arab Republic, and Libya from 19 February to 22 April 1964. In these three journeys, my wife and I were making our first direct acquaintance with these African countries. The book touches on the question of the rival claims of ‘Negritude’ and ‘Arabism’. This is something that may perhaps come to play an important part in world affairs. Most of the articles collected in this volume were written originally for the Observer News Service. My wife has made the index for this book, as she has for so many other books of mine.
A. J. T.
