Not simply an updating, it stands alone as a completely new, exceedingly informative, reliable source for historical, political, and cultural coverage of Africa's last remaining kingdom...beautifully written introduction that is the best summary of Swaziland available anywhere...comprises incredibly detailed yet fascinating descriptions of all things Swazi...Highly recommended for graduate students, faculty, and scholars of Africa and all library reference collections.
CHOICE
...a significant and challenging compilation....It represents an improvement on the first edition, by J.J. Grotpeter....Booth has expanded the work to cover even the reign of Mswati III, the present monarch and to include aspects of economic development not covered by Grotpeter....has entries for most of the important events, places, people and animal species—an achievement which lessens the burden upon new researchers on Swaziland.
African History
For the second edition, Scarecrow Press recruited the eminent Swaziland historian Alan Booth. In three decades of sustained research on the country, Booth has acquired a thorough knowledge of the sweep of Swaziland's colonial history and a masterful grasp of the sources available for writing it….Based on the most recent scholarship and his own research, this essay sets an excellent contextual tone for what follows....Many of the individual thematic entries are rich mini essays in themselves, successfully conveying the latest findings or thoughts on a particular issue....the numerous biographical entries are consistently fascinating and valuable....the indispensable reference tool for the research community in Swaziland and the next generation of outside scholars, who will find guidance, comfort, and a sink-full of research ideas.
International Journal of African Historical Studies
...a welcome addition to the general microstudies of the region. It will serve as a useful tool for researchers and general readers, and it provides a current inventory of the people, events, and issues that are important for understanding the hisoriography of Swaziland.
Africa Today
Its greatest value lies in the fact that a much larger than usual proportion of entries are long enough to say something useful. Almost every important figure in Swaziland's history is covered and cross-referencing in unusually adequate...can actually be recommended as a place to become oriented to Swazi history.
American Reference Books Annual