Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant
Review: ...The authors of the Africana must be appaulled. Never before have I encountered so much material concering Africans, Afro-Latinos, Afro-Americans, and other Blacks in the Diaspora. This book should be bought by all people of African descent and shared with their families. This encyclodepia is a true treasure.
Rating:
Summary: An impressive, comprehensive "Black Britannica" reference.
Review: Africana is an outstanding volume presented in a cardboard slipcase and providing a weighty encyclopedia documenting the African and Afro-American experience. Africana is an impressive single-volume 'black Britannica' which fills over 2,000 pages with facts and details: it's the first to cover the entire history of Africans and the Diaspora around the world and is a highly recommended library reference.
Rating: 
Summary: Obafemi Awolowo
Review: Africana is one of the best things that happened to Africans all over the World.I did not regret buying this Encyclopedia.
As a Nigerian I belive Chief Obafemi Awolowo was on of the Greatest Nigerian and one of the Greatest African that ever lived based on his acheivement in the struggle for independence in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.
His acheivement in the Positive Development of Nigeria Politically, Economically & Socially -Education & Health- is incomparably to any other Nigerian Leader that ever lived and his lagacy still lives on in Nigeria.
This Great Leader and Son of Africa was omitted in this Good book . This does not do JUSTICE to AWOLOWO in particuler and AFRICA in general.
Thank you.Babatunde Sekoni
Rating:
Summary: EDUCATIONAL AND INSPIRING
Review: As a child growing up in the 1970s, the extent of my history class -- as relating to Black History -- was this: Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King. Lecture time on the Middle Passage, the Harlem Renaissance or the contributions of Pushkin never happened. Instead, our foundation was rooted in Columbus, the Roaring 20s and Robert Frost. This is why "Africana" is important! In this compendium, Gates and Appiah provide Americans, of all backgrounds, the education of what has been essentially invisible in our educational, social and politcal systems. Each day, I make it a point to learn something new from "Africana." I LOVE that I'm learning about Pauline Hopkins, Paris, the Haitian Revoultion, the giraffe and that Jamaica is more than a vacation escape for my overworked self. I also think it's cool that Quincy Jones's middle name is Delight. I have purchased this book for an inmate and wonder how an earlier knowledge of cultural history could have dictated a different path. Finally, I plan to bestow "Africana" as an heirloom, to a 6 month old cousin during my upcoming family reunion. I hope others consider this too.
Rating:
Summary: Spectacular!
Review: As a reference librarian, I have been waiting for this book for a long time. And this is one of the best reference sources on Africa that I have ever seen. Maybe even THE best. Africana is as comprehensive and scholarly a source on African history and culture, from ancient times to the present and on both sides of the Atlantic, as I guess is possible in one volume. And it is a wonderful source of biographical information on Africans and African-Americans, something reference librarians know can sometimes be hard to find. If your library doesn't have this book, strongly urge them to get it.
Rating:
Summary: A MUST for everyone who appreciates history, not HIS-story
Review: Finally, our beloved ancestor W.E.B.DuBois can rest in peace, for his dream has been realized. Over 2100 pages of text, maps, illustrations and photographs explicitly tell the world of the culture, diversity, heroes and heroines, and just plain folk who make up the African diaspora. I purchased the book, selfishly, for myself at first. But, upon receiving it, and glancing through it's many pages, I realized that this huge, 10-lb. encylopedia (yes, that's the proper word for it) will become an heirloom in this family. So, I dedicated it to my children, and signed it, "Love Dad". Anyone who purchases it should do the same, for our future generations. Furthermore, Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the chief editors of this bible of information need to be commended for their vision and their work in putting this all together...for us all. Thank you, gentlemen.
Rating:
Summary: A MUST for everyone who appreciates history, not HIS-story
Review: Finally, our beloved ancestor W.E.B.DuBois can rest in peace, for his dream has been realized. Over 2100 pages of text, maps, illustrations and photographs explicitly tell the world of the culture, diversity, heroes and heroines, and just plain folk who make up the African diaspora. I purchased the book, selfishly, for myself at first. But, upon receiving it, and glancing through it's many pages, I realized that this huge, 10-lb. encylopedia (yes, that's the proper word for it) will become an heirloom in this family. So, I dedicated it to my children, and signed it, "Love Dad". Anyone who purchases it should do the same, for our future generations. Furthermore, Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the chief editors of this bible of information need to be commended for their vision and their work in putting this all together...for us all. Thank you, gentlemen.
Rating:
Summary: The white guy liked it :)
Review: I am a history major and currently taking a course in the history of Africa. Recently I used this book when doing research on a particular topic. After several hours in the university library, I can safely say that this is the highest quality reference work dealing with African history (and black humanity in general) currently in print. Well done!
Rating:
Summary: A Debater's Tool
Review: I find myself online engaged in debates about African-Americans and Africa that only scholars on the topic can participate in. Now, with this Encyclopedia, it's not only good reading for knowledge and scholastic research, but also for validating facts. Now I'm ready for some good 'ol debatin'! Another thing worth mentioning is that for each article there are regional references: African, African-American, South American, etc. and at the end of each article are references to other relevant readings in the book. When "The Century" was released last year, I was waiting for a "Black Century" so to speak. I had NO CLUE that this Encyclopedia was on the way! The photographs dispel myths of what "Black" looks like. The essays are captivating. The intro is interresting reading. It parallels DuBois' struggle to bring this book about in his day and Gates' efforts to do the same in our day! I only wish that, if this is not an exact replica of the Encarta Africana CD-ROM in book form, it comes out on CD-ROM so that I can read it away from home & share it with others.
Rating: 
Summary: Ok book on African historty but still biased
Review: I liked the book,but it did have many faults to and left much information out abotu the truth and reality of Africa people. I would recommend this book to any one starting out on the path ot learning about African people and African cultures,as well as the dispora. I am not the biggest fan of Henery Louis Gates considering his documentary made also left out much information and was very disrespectful to African people. I know many people feel Gates as a negro saxon. Gates may have his faults,but it seems there are hints of Afrocenttrism in his book. I am glad Gates talks about the black peole of Russia that not very many people know about the mysterious black people of the caucaous mountains. I don't like however how Gates twists the theroies about Ancient Egypt by making Cheikh Anta Diop look less creditable. The other thing about the blacks of the caucaous mountains, the russian goverment has relocated from.
They are the possible link to the ancient egyptains also people known as the colchians.
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