This selection of essays comes from Africa South, a remarkable magazine which, for five years in the early days of apartheid, presented a principled but non-partisan opposition to the National Party government’s policies and practices. Africa South was unique in coupling its reportage of South Africa with attention to the rest of Africa at a time when many colonies were attaining independence from colonial rule. The essays speak to contemporary readers interested in issues beyond nationalism, in transnationalism and in globalisation, and to those interested in the historical trade and other networks which crossed both the Atlantic and the Indian oceans, holding Africa at their centre.