This article reviews five recently published books on the history of South Sudan and the Sudan. Nicki Kindersley identifies common aims of the books including: to bind the Sudans into their geographical and intellectual context; to illuminate histories previously hidden by a common but limited research focus on Sudans’ states and wars; and to reexamine methods and sources, particularly in the search for histories beyond elites and central state politics.
Nicki Kindersley reviewed the following books:
A History of South Sudan: From Slavery to Independence
By Øystein H. Rolandsen & M.W. Daly. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016.
By Øystein H. Rolandsen & M.W. Daly. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016.
Anti-Colonial Resistance in Sudan
By Elena Vezzadini. Oxford: James Currey, 2015.
By Elena Vezzadini. Oxford: James Currey, 2015.
Darfur: Colonial violence, sultanic legacies and local politics 1916–56
By Chris Vaughan. Oxford: James Currey, 2015.
By Chris Vaughan. Oxford: James Currey, 2015.
South Sudan: A New History for a New Nation
By Douglas H. Johnson. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2016.
By Douglas H. Johnson. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2016.
Civil Uprisings in Modern Sudan
By W.J. Berridge. London: Bloomsbury, 2016.
By W.J. Berridge. London: Bloomsbury, 2016.
Breaking Sudan: The Search for Peace
By Jok Madut Jok. London: Oneworld, 2017.
By Jok Madut Jok. London: Oneworld, 2017.