"Quality leadership is a scarce commodity hence the high price that society must pay for it". Jeggan C. Senghor
'Many Africans born in the post- Cold War period... may easily forget about who "made and shaped" the history of Africa in yesteryears.'
-P. Anyang' Nyong'o.
Profiles of Gambian Political Leaders in the Decolonisation Era provides an insightful and educational account into the achievements, flaws and lives of four key Gambian leaders; the book is an exploration of how their influence transcends their own lifetimes and informs crucial aspects of The Gambia today.
Spanning a history of over one hundred years, from the 1870s to the 1990s, the biographies follow the decolonisation process and presents portraits of four political leaders, namely, Samuel J. Forster, Edward F. Small, John C. Faye, and Pierre S. Njie, together with commentaries in the preface, the introduction, and the postscript. For each, involvement in the politics of the day is fundamental and, therefore, extensively discussed, particularly the contributions to the creation and management of political parties and organisations, formal and non-formal relationships between parties and, most important, relationships with the colonial order and its agents.
In each of the four cases the narrative goes beyond the purely political and examines in some detail the personal, social, and roles played in other walks of life in which the individual was involved. The end result is a more total picture of the man seen through his inputs to the process of defining and implementing the national political agenda.
The book is edited by Jeggan C. Senghor, and has contributions from Assan Sarr, David Perfect and Hassoum Ceesay, and is supported by an introduction by Baba G. Jallow. These highly regarded specialists engage and comment upon each political figure in a concise way, demonstrating a masterful knowledge of their respective fields.
This edited collection would be suitable for any reader or scholar familiar with the works of these writers, interested in these fascinating political individuals or in African colonial and postcolonial studies.
