Africa and World War II

This volume considers the military economic and political significance of Africa during World War II. The essays feature new research and innovative approaches to the historiography of Africa and bring to the fore issues of race gender and labor during the war topics that have not yet received much critical attention. It explores the experiences of male and female combatants peasant producers women traders missionaries and sex workers. The first section offers three introductory essays that give a continent-wide overview of how Africa sustained the Allied effort through labor and resources. The six sections that follow offer individual case studies from different parts of the continent. Contributors offer a macro and micro view of the multiple levels on which Africa''s contributions shaped the war as well as the ways in which the war affected individuals and communities and transformed Africa''s political economic and social landscape.