The sixth edition of the Historical Dictionary of The Gambia by David Perfect is likely the most comprehensive single source on The Gambia. It significantly builds on the previous edition, which came out in 2016. The additions in the sixth edition reflect The Gambia’s important democratic transition of 2016/17, when long-term authoritarian leader President Yahya Jammeh was voted out of office. This transition not only ushered in new political leaders, it also marked an opportunity to reexplore the past. Jammeh’s repressive regime, which lasted from 1994 to 2017, hid and manipulated information about many important and tragic events in the country’s recent history. The new edition captures much of the newly released information that has come with the political opening and the public debates it spurred around issues such as constitutional change and justice. The work also captures the growth in analysis on various aspects of the country that has come with more freedom of expression and access to information. For example, the latest edition includes new and expanded bibliographic sections on refugees/migration, climate change, human rights, transitional justice, and civil society, among others. These timely issues are complemented by a wide range of other most historic and cultural topics.

The book is an impressive collection that demonstrates Perfect’s eye for details and expansive knowledge of The Gambia. Perfect has been studying The Gambia since the 1980s and authored the last two editions of the Historical Dictionary of The Gambia (along with Arnold Hughes, for the fourth edition). He has also co-authored a book on the political history of The Gambia and written numerous academic articles related to the country. At over 700 pages, it is worth understanding the structure of the Historical Dictionary of The Gambia so as not to get lost in this expansive work. The book starts with a chronology, which involves a year-by-year entry from the early 1800s onwards and entries for key years before then. It then moves on to an introduction section (1–26). This part of the book is a series of concise summaries of historic and political events as well as economic and development issues across time. This introduction is useful as a quick summary of key events and themes, especially for those new to the study of the country. The bulk of the book (27–597) comes in the form of alphabetised entries on topics, individuals, locations, events, organisations, government policies, political parties, ethnic groups, and many more. Throughout the introduction and dictionary entries, there are words in bold that indicate they have their own entry. This is helpful in following connections between people and events and provides an easy way to find out more about a related topic.

The final part of the book is an appendix and an extensive bibliography. The appendix includes convenient charts such as election results, referendum results, and some of the census data by year. The bibliography is nearly a hundred pages and has its own table of contents as it is divided by theme. This part is a treasure trove for researchers with entries documenting academic published work, PhD theses, policy reports, travel accounts, government publications, and archival documents. The opening section also highlights the holdings of key archives and online libraries that house documents related to The Gambia.

The Historical Dictionary does not aim to develop an argument around any aspects of The Gambia and the writing is neutral and factual. Instead, the book is designed to serve as a resource to assist researchers, analysts, academics, and students. In this goal it is highly successful. Readers can use it for concise summaries, to learn more about a specific topic or as a bibliographic guide to explore other sources on a theme. Both experienced researchers and those new to studying The Gambia should make the Historical Dictionary the first stop on their projects.