'Africa and the Indian Ocean World from Early Times to Circa 1900 is a path-breaking work that integrates Africa into the history of the Indian Ocean world (IOW) in innovative and unusual ways. In its sweep, it offers us one of the most compelling narratives of environmental and social dynamics that underpinned the making of a macro-region and of Africa's dynamic relationship with it. In its methodology, it makes full use of environmental history to define and delineate the articulation of the IOW. Moreover, in its analytical focus, it alters conventional understandings of the history of the IOW, too often seen in terms of South Asian centrality or of European hegemony. The volume effectively interrogates existing modes of periodization, excavates the nitty-gritty of human-environmental interactions in the region and takes a fresh look at phenomena such as slavery and colonisation from a predominantly African perspective.' Lakshmi Subramaniam, Institute of Advanced Studies, Nantes