... a fascinating study of Africa's legal, political and economic modernity ... a rich enquiry into the ways in which the constant re-interpretation of history is crucial to a definition of what constitutes ownership of land. And since the issues of land tenure and entitlement are at the heart of the relationship between wealth and power, in Africa as elsewhere, this discussion casts a revealing light on the relevance of tradition to modernization of the continent. It also brings to the fore the vexed subject of continued significance of customary authority, especially local chiefs, within a political framework that has no constitutionally relevant place for them.

- Patrick Chabal, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS