Comprehensive political analysis, the first on Cameroon in English for 10 years. Aimed at academics and policy studies readers, covering developments from the 1960s to the present and recent conflicts over democratization. B/w illus, maps, notes, bib, index, 283pp, USA. WESTVIEW, 0813338956

A survey of politics, language issues, economics, and health. Various authors give an overview of the current situation in their country. In French, BNS, 180pp, FRANCE. L'HARMATTAN, 2747507262

A discussion of Cameroon's post colonial attempt to democratise its political system and develop its relatively well endowed economy for the benefit for all Cameroonians. However, the persistence of autocratic rule in the face of popular demand for political change and government mismanagement of the economy raise serious concerns about the future of a Cameroon at peace with itself and neighbours. These essays look at the balance between Anglophone and Francophone regions, the politicisation of non political issues such as football and music and economic development in a multiethnic state. Index, bib, notes, 238pp, USA. UNIVERSITY PRESS OF AMERICA, 0761825916

Max Esser was an adventurous young merchant banker, a Rhinelander, who became the first managing director of the largest German plantation company in the Cameroon. This book gives a vivid account of the antecedents and early stages as experienced and described by Esser. 2 maps, 26 illus, bib, index, xx, 204pp, USA. BERGHAHN BOOKS, 1571813101

Livelihood in the Mandara Mountain Region in North Cameroon. Study of a people who took to the security of the mountains to escape violent neighbours and who eke out a difficult living on terraced fields. B/w illus, maps, tables, notes, bib, French summary, 258pp, NETHERLANDS. AFRICAN STUDIES CENTRE LEIDEN.

An ethnography concentrating on the fiscal relationship between the state and its citizens. The author looks in particular at the civil disobedience movement that arose in Cameroon beginning in 1990 and examines this conflict as a `productive moment'. Roitman shows that while highly organised gang based banditry can challenge state authority, it rarely undermines state power. Index, refs, notes, xvi, 233pp, USA. PRINCETON U P, 0691118701

An account of a chapter of Cameroonian history which attempts to elucidate the links between France and Africa and their impact on each other. BNS, 231pp, NIGERIA. FOURTH DIMENSION PUBLISHING CO.LTD, 9781560045

The young people of the Cameroon Grassfields have been subject to a long history of violence and political marginalization. For centuries, the main victims of the slave trade, they became prime targets for forced labour campaigns under a series of colonial rulers. Today's youth remain at the bottom of the fiercely hierarchical and polarized societies of the Grassfields, and it is their response to centuries of exploitation that Argenti explores. Beginning his study with a political analysis of youth in the Grassfields from the eighteenth century to the present, he pays special attention to the repeated violent revolts staged by young victims of political oppression. He then combines this history with extensive ethnographic fieldwork in the Oku chiefdom, discovering that the spectre of past violence lives on in the masked dance performances that have earned intense devotion from today's youth. Argenti contends that by evoking the imagery of past cataclysmic events, these masquerades allow young Oku men and women to address the inequities they face in their relations with elders and state authorities today. Index, bib, notes, b/w illus, 362pp, USA. CHICAGO U P.

A study of the Bakweri people of Mount Cameroon, an active volcano a few degrees north of the Equator. The Bakweri have had an eventful history which has brought them into contact, not only with other West African peoples, but with merchants, missionaries, soldiers and administrators from Portugal, Holland, England, Jamaica, Sweden, Germany and more recently France. This book brings together the writings of a distinguished social anthropologist on the subject.380pp, UK. BERGHAHN BOOKS, 1571810447

A selection of essays analysing the Biya regime and opposition politics in Cameroon. The contributors also provide critical insights into peace, social justice and democratic transition. Index, refs, xxiii, 563pp, USA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS, 1592211798

The first publication in English of the full text of Dr. Levi's 1905 defense speech that resulted in the remarkable acquittal for fraud of a German colonial subject, 'Crown Prince' Mpundu Akwa. This document calls into question Germany's colonial enterprise and offers insights into questions of race and power at the turn of the century. Notes, bib, vii, 137pp, GERMANY. LIT VERLAG, 3825873544

A study of the politics of belonging discussing the sterility of modern nation building rhetoric in postcolonial Africa. The authors look in particular at the Anglophone community of Cameroon and their claims to rights and entitlements. 230pp, NETHERLANDS. EJ. BRILL

A volume of thorough empirical research which aims to understand why European and Western planning models used so ubiquitously in post-colonial Africa despite an alarming rate of failure. The focus is on sub Saharan countries and Cameroon in particular, the only country to have been colonised by three different European powers. BNS, 324pp, UK. ASHGATE PUBLISHERS, 0754633462

Paperback edition now available: during the 1880s two Swedes were living on the upper slopes of the Cameroon mountain. Very little is known about their activities, but one of them, Knutson, wrote a long memoir of his time in Cameroon (1883-1895) which is published here for the first time. The volume also includes contempo-rary correspondence, legal opinions, and early translated texts. BNS. ca.350pp. 5 maps, illus, bib, index. USA. BERGHAHN BOOKS, 157181311X