Drawing on colonial archives, oral tradition, archeological discoveries, anthropologic and linguistic studies, and his thirty years of scholarship, Jean-Pierre Chretien offers a major synthesis of the history of the region, one still plagued by extremely violent wars.

Jean-Pierre Chretien is Directeur de Recherches at the Centre Nationale de Recherches Scientifique and affiliated with the Centre de Recherches Africaines at the University of Paris. Scott Straus is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of several books on Africa and violence, including The Order of Genocide: Race, Power, and War in Rwanda, and is the translator of Jean-Pierre Chretien's The Great Lakes of Africa: Two Thousand Years of History. Formerly a Nairobi-based journalist, he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his 1996 reporting on the war in Congo.

"Chretien brings three decades of scholarship and corresponding expertise to this comprehensive history..." Publishers Weekly (starred review) "A feast of information and analysis." Gail M. Gerhart Foreign Affairs "Africa enthusiasts will appreciate the maps of the Great Lakes..." Mary H. Meier Boston Globe "...anyone with an ancient interest in African affairs will benefit from this analysis." Kirkus Reviews "Chretien has undertaken the formidable task of tracing the roots of the region's violence..." John Shattuck The New York Times "A feast of information and analysis." Gail M. Gerhart Foreign Affairs "Africa enthusiasts will appreciate the maps of the Great Lakes..." Mary H. Meier Boston Globe "...anyone with an ancient interest in African affairs will benefit from this analysis." Kirkus Reviews "Chretien has undertaken the formidable task of tracing the roots of the region's violence..." John Shattuck The New York Times