This book has been a long time coming – or at least so it will seem to those who have known of Henri Medard's work on nineteenth-century Buganda over the past few years. It is the latest monograph to appear which belongs to a younger (if rapidly ageing) cohort of Uganda scholars working on the country since the early 1990s, including Mike Tuck, Holly Hanson, Shane Doyle and your reviewer. Most of the group have now seen their doctoral dissertations make the transition to book form; the publication of Medard's thesis has been eagerly anticipated by scholars of the region, and it is worth the wait. This is a big book, in both scope and objective; it is arguably the most comprehensive survey of Buganda's history since Semakula Kiwanuka's work of almost forty years ago. And no reader can be in doubt that this is precisely what Medard had in mind: it is an ambitious work, and has valid claims to being definitive, or something close to it. As it slowly gets going, this book has a corrective feel. The subject matter is, of course, pretty well-trodden ground now: the nature of the precolonial kingdom and its political make-up, its military and economic aspirations, the interjection of foreign influences. The latter were manifest in the shape, firstly, of coastal merchants, and then of European explorers, missionaries and, ultimately, the British colonial state. The story of the last quarter of the nineteenth century is the story of how the ever-adaptive and creative Ganda interacted with each of these. Medard exhaustively revisits these themes, and the depth of the research is often extraordinary: a glimpse at the bibliographical section reveals that the author has worked in a remarkable number of archives and pulled material and inspiration from an enormous range of sources, some well-known, others obscure. Likewise, the footnotes are often remarkable for the fact that they provide numerous sources in support of the smallest of points. Such referencing is almost excessive to this reviewer's taste, but no matter: the coverage is meticulous, and the visual aids to what is often dense prose are most welcome. In particular, the maps are excellent, presenting new data with wonderful clarity, and those on pp. 120–5 deserve particular mention, depicting communication and commerce in the most vivid manner. Students and academicians alike will find these extremely useful. Much germane data are also presented in appendices at the end of the book. While Buganda is at the centre of the study, light is shed on the surrounding region, and the study has much to say by way of comparison and contrast with neighbouring kingdoms. This is in fact one of the most compelling and original aspects of Medard's thesis: he argues in effect that Buganda can only be truly understood by examining the kingdom in its regional setting and by understanding the states and societies which surround it.

Readers having some acquaintance with the region might wonder what else is particularly novel about the argument; much of what is offered here modifies only slightly some now well-established theses. But this seems not to matter overly, so genuinely authoritative does the text feel. Criticism might be made of the book's length: at over 600 pages it is far too long, and it can be heavy-going for even the most avid student of Buganda. This is a book which would have benefited from the intervention of a more vigorous editor; certainly a British publisher would have blanched upon the arrival of such a manuscript on their desk. But, on the other hand, perhaps Medard is to be envied for having the time to produce such a magnus opus. Freed of the burden of Research Assessment Exercises and the hegemony of the market, perhaps more UK-based scholars could write books like this. That said, it is to be hoped that the author might consider producing, at some point in the future, a rather shorter version of this thesis in English, thus enabling a non-French-reading audience to gain access to what is an outstanding effort of interpretative synthesis. A major contribution to Ganda historiography, and indeed that of East Africa more broadly, Medard's book is essential reading for historians of both, and its appearance at last is most welcome.