The Republic of the Sudan was long the largest country in Africa and, according to the general consensus, also one of the least successful in many ways. This was not entirely its fault since it lay along the fault line between Muslim and Christian Africa and between the Nile Valley civilizations and African Sudanic cultures. This partly explains the long and bloody warfare waged by the Southerners to achieve independence, which they did in July 2011. So this hefty book actually covers not one but two states.This fourth edition of the Historical Dictionary of the Sudan does so, first, through a lengthy and detailed chronology tracing its relatively few successes and numerous failures. The introductory essay does an admirable job of putting it all in perspective. But the most informative part is the dictionary, with now over 700 entries for this fourth edition. They deal with important personalities, politics, the economy, society, culture, religion and inevitably the civil war. There are also appendixes and an extensive bibliography.
Robert S. Kramer is Professor of History at St. Norbert College where he has taught African and Middle Eastern history since 1989. He first visited Sudan in 1986-87 and has been following it closely since then. During this time he has written numerous articles and book chapters on Islam and Muslim societies in Africa and also produced a book, Holy City on the Nile: Omdurman during the Mahdiyya. He was already a co-author of the third edition of this book.Robert A. Lobban, Jr. is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Rhode Island College, where he served as Director, Program of African and Afro-American Studies. He, too, has written extensively, including co-authoring the second and third editions.Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and was Director of General Education at Rhode Island College. Like her husband, she is an old Sudan hand, and has visited frequently and written extensively, this including co-authoring the second and third editions.
