James Smoot Coleman was the leading theorist of his time in African political studies. His work fused liberal-democratic idealism and scientific realism. These essays represent the evolution of his thought from deep insight into African nationalism to a refined theory of modernization. The collection is an indispensable contribution to the intellectual history of comparative African politics, essential to scholars and others who grapple with problems in African development.

James Smoot Coleman was Professor of Political Science and founding director of the African Studies Center at the University of California, Los Angeles. Following his death in 1985, the center was renamed in Coleman's honor. Richard L. Sklar is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"The essays combine theoretical and empirical rigor in tackling the puzzle of why nationalism succeeded in expelling the colonial empires but failed to promote the economic and political development of the new states."—Choice

"Coleman personified American liberal democratic idealism and scholarly realism in the study of Africa. . . . For Sklar, Coleman stands as the supreme cultured, cosmopolitan, and scientific Homo Americanus who became Homo universalis. These essays are a fine and fitting testimony to such a judgment."—African Affairs