This superb essay collection impressively spans the African diaspora experience from the fifteenth century to the present day. A range of excellent and highly readable contributions examine music, history, art, and literature, among other subjects.
It is difficult to summarize the diverse topics covered here, especially since each creative, well-written essay engages the reader's interest in so many different ways. The book is structured roughly chronologically, starting with Iberian contextualization, then moving on to essays related to more developed colonial settings, and finally offering insights into recent decades of activism in Cuba and Brazil.
The first essay, by Elizabeth R. Wright, provides a close reading of the surviving chronicle of the first enslaved West Africans purposely captured and brought to Portugal in 1444, highlighting the moment when the “Iberian Black Atlantic [was] taking shape before the chronicler's eyes” as well as the impact of this account on future commentators from...
