When the Toubabo (Europeans) imposed themselves permanently on Africans in the late 19th century, their intrusion upset the order of things. And even after they physically left decades later, the effects of their intrusion remain notable in most areas of African life, not the least of which is in native peoples' attitude and how they relate to each other. When Africans took over their own affairs, some things didn't change at all, and though some changed somewhat, many others have become even more confusing. The Memoir of Mamadi Jankoba is a story told from the perspective of an old and barely-literate African man who lived through the daily indignities of European colonialism, and got drafted and sent to fight a strange people in a war, and for a cause he knows nothing about. Cognizant of the injustice and fraud of colonialism, he became active in the struggle to get rid of the unjust system and those locals he considered its enablers to install the type of native leadership he thought would be sensitive to the plight of people like him. Only to be disappointed in those native leaders. Despite everything, Old Mamadi remains faithful to his people's ways - beliefs, history, and culture. The story is set in Bakau, a town overlooking the Atlantic in The Gambia. The book is inspired by actual persons and events. The story is written in fictional novel format for drama and entertainment. It takes us back to what was: - a synopsis of a people's way of life, belief system, and history; what makes them tick; their hopes and fears; growing up in their typical traditional village environment; coming of age; working under colonial rule; discovering and experiencing ethnic differences, prejudice, and misunderstandings that sometimes emanate from such. Mamadi Jankoba elaborates in his peculiar way on his experience as one who was used and dumped by selfish politicians, the effect of the Inferiority Complex he noticed about those politicians, and how what started with great promise ended in a fiasco. Not to mention the even more deleterious consequences of that reality. The novel starts with Old Jankoba talking about his observation of events in the immediate, then he takes us back with him to recall his experiences from childhood and earlier life. Through Old Mamadi, we learn the history of both his people and country before and after colonialism. We are able to see life and politics from the perspective of an observant self-described Little (unimportant) Person. However, the novel also unveils the not-so-subtle internal conflict and self-contradiction that Mamadi Jankoba himself unwittingly struggles with in his life: he wants to be wholly African nationalist, yet he flirts with cultural nationalism whenever circumstances seem confounding; he sees the country as one and the same but disowns some people and things when their behavior contravene his cultural beliefs; he decries the specter of unscrupulousness prevalent in contemporary society, yet sees no fault in accepting gifts from people he suspects to be part of that problem.