This book is provocative and timely. Its argument is that the political cultures of African precolonial polities—their modes of governance and decision-making, their democratic sensibilities—retain relevance today. Framed by a smart introduction about theories of the African state and the role that Atlantic slavery and European colonialism played in re-shaping and hijacking African polities, the book’s chapters offer thick descriptions of legendary ethnicities—Kongo (Angola), Fang (Gabon/Cameroon), Benin (Benin), Akan (Ghana), Kru (Liberia), Oromo (Ethiopia), Ovambo (Namibia)—that tantalizingly demonstrate the resilience of tradition and provide models of a way forward.