Introduction -- Preface to the new edition -- Portrait of a continent -- Collison of past and present -- The men at the top -- The ghost of Idi Amin -- Coups and countercoups -- The colonial heritage -- From Lisbon with love -- Shadow from abroad -- Separate roads for two neighbors -- Culture shock -- Some of the news that is fit to print -- Survival of the fittest -- Sylis and Cedis -- Nigeria: the future is now -- Alone against the world -- Summing up and looking ahead -- Epilogue: Africa reconsidered -- A statistical profile -- Acknowledgments.