Kaye Whiteman was for many years editor of West Africa magazine.

AN ENGAGING AND WELL-WRITTEN CULTURAL AND LITERARY HISTORY. Lagos is one of the fastest growing cities in the world. Kaye Whiteman explores a city that has constantly re-invented itself, from the first settlement on an uninhabited island to the creation of the port in the early years of the twentieth century. Lagos is still defined by its curious network of islands and lagoons, where erosion and reclamation lead to a permanently shifting topography, but history has thrust it into the role of a burgeoning mega-city, overcoming all natures obstacles. The citys melting-pot has fertilized a unique literary and artistic flowering that is only now beginning to be appreciated by a world that has only seen slums and chaos.