Toby Green
British historian and author focusing on West Africa and early modern global history; known for works such as A Fistful of Shells and The Inquisition.
Books
This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.
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1. A Fistful Of Shells
West Africa from the Rise of the Slave Trade to the Age of Revolution
A sweeping history of West Africa from the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries, this work reveals vibrant states and sophisticated economies whose fortunes were profoundly shaped by Atlantic trade. It shows how shifts in global markets, the slave trade, and chronic monetary shortages—from cowries to copper—reconfigured power, fueled warfare, and produced fiscal crises and social upheaval. Drawing on archives and oral traditions, it challenges Eurocentric narratives by highlighting deep-rooted systems of governance, commerce, and culture that both predated and responded to the rise of global capitalism.
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