The first edition of this incisive text on the problems of drought and famine facing Africa won worldwide critical acclaim. Revised with a new introduction, Lloyd Timberlake's bestselling study is invaluable reading for anyone interested in Africa.

Introduction * A Continent on the Brink * Why Famine: Is The Climate Changing? * The Backdrop to Despair: Importing Poverty - The Population 'Crises' - Health and Poverty * Misuse of Land, Misuse of Water: Overcultivation - Cash Crops Versus Food Crops - Irrigation: The Need and the Reality - The Big Dam * Overgrazing and the Nomads * Forests, Fuel and Energy - Energy and Firewood * Soil and Fish: Peasant Farmers, Peasant Fishermen: Peasants and Rainfed Food Crops - Conserving Africa for Africans - The Fisheries of Africa * Apartheid: Institutionalized Bankruptcy * Conflict, Refugees and the Environment * Aid, Development and the Future: Africa, Is there Hope? References * Further Reading