The Masque of Africa: Glimpses of African Belief

Like all of V. S. Naipaul’s “travel” books, The Masque of Africa encompasses a much larger narrative and purpose: to judge the effects of belief (in indigenous animisms, the foreign religions of Christianity and Islam, the cults of leaders and mythical history) upon the progress of civilization.From V. S. Naipaul: “For my travel books I travel on a theme....