Ed Elizabeth Hodgkin & Michael Wolfers (Haan, 11.95)

Thomas Hodgkin, born in 1910 into Britain's intellectual aristocracy, found himself in Africa almost by accident, having been sent by Oxford University's department of extra-mural studies to set up classes in West Africa. One of the amazing band of high-powered tutors who emerged via the Workers' Educational Association, he gradually became drawn into Africa's political re-awakening after centuries of colonialism. His letters, most written to his Nobel Prize-winning wife Dorothy at their Boars Hill home, give a vivid picture of a continent undergoing radical change, including portraits of young activists such as Nkrumah and Azikiwe, who later rose to power.