Faloyin is a smart, often scathingly funny writer ... While much of the history of Western involvement in Africa is sordid and depressing, Africa Is Not a Country is not. It brims with the sort of outrage that speaks of hope, of change. Faloyin points to the younger generation of Africans: educated, business-savvy, united by Afrobeat and Nollywood, moving toward a leaderless revolution ... Throughout, the continent of Africa—home to 1.4 billion people in 54 countries where more than 2,000 languages are spoken—comes alive as a diverse, creative and complicated place.

... a stereotype Faloyin is bent on examining and demolishing, a task he carries out with verve ... It’s a well-worn path ... But I enjoyed learning about the debate among the Black Panther actors over which accent the inhabitants of the mythical Wakanda should adopt. Faloyin’s critique of museums in North America and Europe, which find endless excuses not to return looted artifacts to Africa, many of which are not even on display, also won me over ... And it’s impossible not to relish a book that boasts an entire section on jollof rice ... But while Faloyin excels at articulating the complaint, he has little to offer as a remedy to a problem rooted in a centuries-old global power imbalance. Fairness dictates, too, a recognition that intellectual laziness is hardly the white man’s exclusive preserve. People in Africa are just as prone to perpetuating sweeping stereotypes: about those in other parts of the continent, and also about life in the West, whose inhabitants are assumed to be universally prosperous and upper-class ... The difference, of course, is that while an African’s failure to perceive a Westerner’s 'complex identity' has little impact on the latter’s daily existence, the Westerner’s assumption that Africa is all lions and spear-brandishing Maasai helps keep the aspirations of 1.4 billion people squashed.

The chief flaw of the book is exactly the one it’s titled for: that Africa is not a country and one manuscript can never be anything but superficial when criss-crossing a continent. Though it comes to 351 pages, covering so much ground means Faloyin inevitably falls into the same holes – of failing to provide context – that he is criticising...Faloyin is aware of this, beginning with disclaimers, including that he is not 'generically African', he’s Nigerian, and the book reflects his viewpoint as such. His writing is at its strongest when he describes either his relatives, or Lagos – Nigeria’s economic capital and the city of his birth ... The history sections feel rushed ... It is easy to point out that this book tries to cover too much ground, but how many texts written by western writers throughout history have done the same? ... a necessary book that deserves its place in the canon as essential reading for anyone seeking an introduction to this vast continent – as well as the rest of us, who need to be regularly challenged on what we think we know about Africa and the damage done by that.

With clarity and incisive wit, journalist Faloyin explores the origins of the 54 countries of Africa and invites readers to look beyond the stereotypes that remain at the forefront of the rest of the world’s portrayals of the continent ... A chapter dedicated to Lagos is a moving, vibrant love letter to a city and its people, while a lyrical analysis of the 'Jollof Wars' will leave readers laughing and daydreaming of the 'sweet, spicy, triumphantly orange and irrationally delicious rice dish' that every West African country claims to make best. The seven parts of Africa Is Not a Country are a forceful rebuttal of erased histories and simplified imagery as well as a celebration of a continent already living in its dynamic future.

... spirited ... Flashes of joy and humor enliven the proceedings. The result is an exuberant and informative introduction to one of the world’s most diverse continents.

A trenchant study demolishes stereotypes about Africans as a product of colonial history ... stern and vibrant ... A well-researched, cleareyed deconstruction of highly flawed conventional wisdom about Africa.