H.C. Bankole-Bright and Politics in Colonial Sierra Leone 1919-1958

This substantial and thoroughly documented book is a political biography of an important figure in Sierra Leone. It is also a comment on two of the major themes of the country''s history--the relations between the Colony (Krio Society) and the protectorate (the earlier inhabitants of the territory) and more importantly the position of the imperial regime vis--vis its colonial subjects. The author a Sierra Leonean and a Krio himself skillfully examines the country''s recent history through the life of Dr. H.C. Bankole-Bright an important leader of the Krio people. The Krio descendants of the freed slaves were the elite of Sierra Leone for more than a century but ultimately they failed to master mass electoral politics during the period of decolonization leading to independence. Dr. Bankole-Bright''s failure is seen as emblematic of the disappointed hopes of the Krio as a political group in Sierra Leone. An underlying theme of the book is the misrepresentation of the Krio people in Sierra Leone historiography.