This book has been rumoured to be in the offing for many years. The fact that it has finally appeared will be welcome news to the small band of scholars interested in the history of the Gambia over the past century. However, this particular reviewer cannot help expressing some disappointment at the final product, and not just because it stops short of covering the Jammeh years. When a book is marketed as a ‘political history’ that sends a signal to the reader that it is likely to focus on high politics. But a convincing political history tends to be one that weaves social, economic and ideological factors seamlessly into the account, while also addressing the cumulative national effects of local politics. The authors of this book have chosen to adopt a very narrow definition of politics – in effect, it means voting in national elections (and to a lesser extent in Banjul's municipal elections), although the underlying rationale for the way the study has been put together is never made explicit. Part of the reason for looking closely at elections is not merely that the Gambia maintained a system of competitive polls until the 1994 coup that unseated Dawda Jawara, but also that the data are unusually good. However, because voting patterns are not contextualized, the effect is rather disembodied. Although there is an introductory chapter entitled ‘Social and economic setting’, this is really a compendium of facts rather than providing the building blocks for a sustained analysis.

Because Gambians of the Protectorate beyond Bathurst/Banjul did not get a chance to vote until the 1950s, they are left out of consideration entirely in the early chapters. These chapters concentrate on constitutional history and the machinations of the tiny elite in Bathurst. The flavour of these chapters is vaguely reminiscent of David Kimble's A Political History of Ghana (1963), but with the difference that the latter did delve into the social issues that animated members of the coastal elite in the early part of the century. By contrast, Hughes and Perfect's account of the inner workings of Bathurst as an ‘urban fact’ and a site of political contestation is frustratingly hazy. When the analysis is later extended to take in the whole of the Gambia, one similarly struggles to isolate an explanation for what has made politics in that country tick. Ethnicity is referred to repeatedly in the text, but even this is taken as given rather than being systematically examined. The political dynamic in the countryside is hardly referred to at all, although the results in particular constituencies are specifically mentioned in the text. One phenomenon which is not commented upon, but which is very peculiarly Gambian, is that of politicians moving between constituencies. This tells us a great deal about the mobility of Gambians and the mixed character of rural communities – such hopping would be inconceivable in a country like Ghana – but unfortunately this is never explored.

In effect, the authors provide a run-down of successive elections, the parties and individuals that contested them and what the results were. They also trace the rise and fall of particular politicians who came into and fell out of favour with Jawara. It is only in the last chapters, which deal with the emergence of radical opposition to the regime and the Senegalese factor in Gambian politics in the 1980s, that we get a real feel for how politics was practised. It is a pity that this kind of analysis is not reflected in the rest of the text. As a detailed source book for Gambian elections, this would be difficult to beat. But as a history of Gambian politics, it has significant limitations.