The first volume devoted to interrogating the complex relationship -- both historic and contemporary -- between the United States and West Africa.Over the last several decades, historians have conducted extensive research into contact between the United States and West Africa during the era of the transatlantic trade. Yet we still understand relatively little about more recent relations between the two areas. This multidisciplinary volume presents the most comprehensive analysis of the U.S.-West African relationship to date, filling a significant gap in the literature by examining the social, cultural, political, and economic bonds that have, in recent years, drawn these two world regions into increasingly closer contact. Beginning with examinations of factors that linked the nations during European colonial rule of Africa, and spanning to discussions of U.S. foreign policy with regard to West Africa from the Cold War through the end of the twentieth century and beyond, these essays constitute the first volume devoted to interrogating the complex relationship -- both historic and contemporary -- between the United States and West Africa. Contributors: Abdul Karim Bangura, Karen B. Bell, Peter A. Dumbuya, Kwame Essien, Andrew I. E. Ewoh, Toyin Falola, Osman Gbla, John Wess Grant, Stephen A. Harmon, Harold R. Harris, Olawale Ismail, Alusine Jalloh, Fred L. Johnson III, Stephen Kandeh, Ibrahim Kargbo, Bayo Lawal, Ayodeji Olukoju, Adebayo Oyebade, Christopher Ruane, Anita Spring, Ibrahim Sundiata, Hakeem Ibikunle Tijani, Ken Vincent, and Amanda Warnock. Alusine Jalloh is Associate Professor of History and founding director of The Africa Program at the University of Texas at Arlington. Toyin Falola is the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities and University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

Introduction - Amanda Warnock and Toyin Falola and Alusine JallohWest Africa and the United States in Historical Perspective - Adebayo Oyebade and Toyin FalolaThe U.S. Consulate and the Promotion of Trade in Sierra Leone, 1850-80 - Ibrahim KargboStranded Families: Free Colored Responses to Liberian Colonization and the Formation of Black Families in Nineteenth-Century Richmond, Virginia - John Wess Grant PhDThe Garvey Aftermath: The Fall, Rise, and Fall - Ibrahim Sundiata PhDEconomic Relations between Nigeria and the United States in the Era of British Colonial Rule, ca. 1900-1950 - Ayodeji OlukojuThe United States' Economic and Political Activities in Colonial West Africa - Hakeem I. TijaniDeveloping a "Sense of Community": U.S. Cultural Diplomacy and the Place of Africa during the Early Cold War Period, 1953-64 - Karen B. BellAfrican Americans in Ghana and Their Contributions to "Nation Building" since 1985 - Kwame EssienPerspectives on Ghanaians and African Americans - Harold R. HarrisThe Chasm Is Wide: Unspoken Antagonisms between African Americans and West Africans - Fred L. Johnson IIIDouble Consciousness and the Home-Coming of African Americans: Building Cultural Bridges in West Africa - Bayo LawalSierra Leoneans in America and Homeland Politics - Alusine JallohThe United States and West Africa: The Institutionalization of Foreign Relations in an Age of Ideological Ferment - Peter A. DumbuyaU.S. Foreign Policy toward West Africa: Democracy, Economic Development, Security - Andrew I. E. EwohU.S. Economic Assistance to West Africa - Abdul Karim BanguraThe West African Enterprise Network: Business Globalists, Interregional Trade, and U.S. Interventions - Anita SpringPoverty Alleviation in Sierra Leone and the Role of U.S. Foreign Aid: An Institutional Trap Analysis - Stephen KandehPost-Cold War U.S. Foreign Policy toward Liberia and Sierra Leone - Osman GblaThe United States and Security Management in West Africa: A Case for Cooperative Intervention - Olawale IsmailRadical Islam in the Sahel: Implications for U.S. Policy and Regional Stability - Stephen A. HarmonUndoing Oil's Curse? An Examination of the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline Project - Ken VincentU.S. Foreign Policy Agenda, 2005-9: Why West Africa Barely Features - Christopher Ruane