On Roman North Africa

The author takes a really weird approach in this one, with an underlying (although rarely overt) assertion that the Arab conquest brought an end to Roman North Africa, rather than transforming it into a space where both Roman and Arab elements are prominent. I also question the extent to which we can rely on Manton due to some pseudohistorical and ahistorical assertions such as “The Hamites were the first dominant settlers to discover North Africa, beginning their occupation around 4500 BC . . .” [“Hamites” is a very clearly Biblical word referring to Africans, and the date he begins this suggest that he is coming at the subject from a Creationist perspective; in other words, Manton is hardly a reliable source on this subject]. This bizarre approach can be seen throughout the book, although there is some interesting historical material here that makes for a decent primer on Roman North Africa. That being said, as soon as a reader has some decent grounding, they should move onto something else.