BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB NEWS - SEPTEMBER 1955 - FOR OCTOBER INSIDE AFRICA

Sep 28, 2026

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Book-of-the-Month Club news for September 1955 introduces the October selection, Inside Africa by John Gunther. The report presents the work as a vast, timely overview of Africa’s political and social landscape, emphasizing its scope across nations and peoples. It highlights Gunther’s extensive travel, interviews, and the book’s blend of politics with varied subjects such as animals, diamonds, disease, and belief systems, concluding with key questions about race, colonialism, and future outcomes.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages24

Reading Time37 min

AccessFree to download

October selection

Inside Africa by John Gunther

Editorial board and publication details

Report by Clifton Fadiman

BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB NEWS SEPTEMBER 1955 0c73-图 FOR OCTOBER:INSIDE AFRICA BY JOHN GUNTHER ○CTOBER SELECTION UNTHERroHN GUNHfE F NEWEST,MOSTER REVEALS THE WHOLE OFY.WONDER,AND IT⁵POLITICAL CHARPEDMA 2e EDITORIAL BOARD:Clifion Fadiman·Gilbert Highet·Amy Loveman·John P.Marquand Copyright 1955·Book-f-the-Month Club,Inc. [Regular retail price:$6.00]PRICE TO MEMBERS:S4.2 976 Pages★Maps★ Charts "...bearing witness once more to the old observation of Pliny the Elder—‘Always something new out of Africa'" REPORT BY Clifton Fadiman OUR JUDGES regard this as the most exciting andnformative of John Gunther's famous Inside series.Byone of those Guntherian miracles of punctuality,itarrives at a time when Africa is just coming of age,when"almost the whole continent is in an uproar,"and whenAmerican curiosity about the home of uranium,Apartheid,the Mau Maus and Dr.Schweitzer is at a high pitch.It is the only book I know of that covers Africa as a whole and as it is today. This is a giant volume,commensurate with its vast subject,varied as Africa’speoples and topography,its tone varying from the somber,when the authorconsiders the racial policy of the Union of South Africa,to the slyly comic,whenhe describes Mr.Tubman and his Liberian version of Jersey City.Everything isto be found in Africa;and this report is chock-a-block with little-known fascinatingfacts.Though politics are highlighted,animals,diamonds,the tsetse fly,“medicinemurder"and witchcraft are not neglected. To prepare himself to write this 1000-page,400,000-word book,Mr.Gunther and his wife traveled 40,000 miles,visited 105 towns and interviewed 1503 people,from pygmies to emperors.They criss-crossed,using every possible means of con-veyance,one-fifth of the land surface of the globe,a continent four times the size ofthe United States—where a single minor territory,Bechuanaland,is bigger thanTexas,where Portugal's Angola represents a virtually unexploited piece of realestate one-sixth the size of our country,where 200,000,000 people speaking 700different languages are violently storming the gates of the 20th century,and wherea handful of whites,5,000,000 of them,have suddenly realized that they havea hot continent on their hands. “All that the ordinary reader needs to know about Africa will,I hope,be foundin this book,"says Mr.Gunther.His coverage is so vast,though well-proportioned,that no summary can even suggest what the reader will find here;but a briefparagraph lifted from the author will at least indicate the route he traveled andthe countries he touched,starting from the tricolor at Rabat and coming fullcircle with the tricolor at Dakar: "We begin Part I with an introductory survey,and then make progressivecontact with issues all the way from North Africa to the Mau Maus inKenya.Our first stop is Morocco,where our trip began.Welook at Frenchadministration in Algeria and Tunisia;dip briefly into the splendid,lustrous world of the Sahara;proceed then to the wastes of Libya,the youngest country in the world;inspect revolutionaryEgypt and its enormous stepchild the Anglo-EgyptianSudan;penetrate into Ethiopia and graze the edges ofRed Sea Africa;descend then into Black Africa properand sketch the outlines of British policy and rule in EastAfrica;and survey the fascinatingly varied worlds ofKenya,Tanganyika,and Uganda.Then,skipping to the Dne aspect of the rapid changes going on in Africa:only fiftyrears ago a few wooden shacks stood where these modernfice and apartment buildings now stand in Johannesburg. south,we open Part II with the Union of South Africa,with its racial tensions and stupendously dificult andperhaps insoluble problems;visit the three 'HighCommission'territories;glance at Portuguese Africabriefly;progress northward to the new Central AfricanFederation embracing the Rhodesias and Nyasaland;survey the magnificent world of the Congo and see whatthe Belgians have done there;look at French Africaagain;and emerge fina

FAQs

What book is featured as the October selection?

The October selection is Inside Africa by John Gunther.

Why is Inside Africa presented as especially significant at that time?

It is framed as a comprehensive, up-to-date coverage of Africa when the continent is “coming of age” and American interest in African political and social issues is high.

What kind of coverage does the report say the book provides beyond politics?

Besides politics, it highlights a broad range of topics including animals, diamonds, the tsetse fly, “medicine murder,” and witchcraft, presented through many fascinating facts and personalities.

Sep 28, 2026

Uploaded by kopisore