A groundbreaking book that puts early and medieval West Africa on the map of global history Pick up almost any book on early and medieval world history and empire, and where do you find West Africa? On the periphery. This pioneering book tells a different story. Interweaving political and social history and drawing on a rich array of sources, Michael Gomez unveils a new vision of how categories of ethnicity, race, gender, and caste emerged in Africa and in global history. Focusing on the Savannah and Sahel region, Gomez traces how Islam's growth in West Africa, along with intensifying commerce that included slaves, resulted in a series of political experiments unique to the region, culminating in the rise of empire. A radically new account of the importance of early Africa in global history, African Dominion will be the standard work on the subject for years to come.

Missy… no longer alone, unleashed and unfettered! She’s stuck with a Meddling Monk, in a TARDIS that won’t fly without both pilots. It’s a partnership neither one wants – the Monk thinks Missy wants him dead. Whereas, Missy thinks the Monk is annoying. And wants him dead. The two Time Lords must learn to live together, or die trying… 3.1 Body and Soulless by James Goss. Stuck with a co-pilot, Missy has taken extreme measures. After all, she only needs the Monk’s brain to fly his TARDIS. But when Missy and the bodiless Monk end up on different sides of a planetary war, they may need one another to survive… 3.2 War Seed by Johnny Candon. Missy takes the Monk to Earth to make a point – she can be nice if she wants. In fact, she can save the planet! While the Monk tries to charm the corporate sharks, Missy makes them a better offer. To supply the ultimate warrior, created in the ultimate war… 3.3 Two Monks, One Mistress by James Kettle. On the trail of some weapons-grade plutonium, Missy and the Monk visit Renaissance Italy and the house of an elderly Borgia. But someone else is en route to the Tuscan villa with designs on the old man’s treasures. Someone the Monk will soon know very well… Cast: Michelle Gomez (Missy), Rufus Hound (The Meddling Monk), Gemma Whelan (The Meddling Nun), Sheena Bhattessa (Francesca), Samuel Collings (The Seed), Anjella MacKintosh (Soldier 2/VAD Soldier/Medic), Glen McCready (Kalvor Commander/Aztec Priest), Lynsey Murrell (Anastasia Temple), Tania Rodrigues (Prime), James Smillie (Alfredo), John Telfer (Richard Temple), Ashley Zhangazha (Gasher). Other parts played by members of the cast.

Missy - alone, unleashed and unfettered. What does she get up to when the Doctor isn't around? 2.1 The Lumiat by Lisa McMullin. Missy is glorying in the chaos, hoping that a certain someone might turn up. What she doesn’t expect is an entirely different do-gooder spoiling her plans and teaching her life lessons. Because, whoever she is, the Lumiat knows far more about Missy than anyone should…2.2 Brimstone and Terror by Roy Gill. Missy wants an army, a brigade of willing youngsters, trained to serve. So she takes a teaching post at a remote Scottish boarding school. But one of these boys knows Missy of old. And when Oliver Davis summons his sister for help, Lucy brings an ally from London. One Mr Strax… 2.3 Treason and Plot by Gemma Arrowsmith. The Gunpowder Ploy. It’s a favourite of time travellers. If Missy’s going to hitch a ride, that’s the place to cause trouble. Especially if trouble makes a really big bang. The only person in her way, trying to keep history on track, is a rookie Time Agent. But Rita Cooper wanted excitement… 2.4 Too Many Masters by John Dorney.The Monk has captured Missy. And he will have his revenge… But the Ogrons are also looking to settle an old debt. And when they call it in, they find themselves with too many Time Lords on their hands. The Master owes then big – and the Ogrons know who the Master is. Don’t they? CAST: Michelle Gomez (Missy/Matis), Rufus Hound (The Meddling Monk), Gina McKee (The Lumiat), Dan Starkey (Strax), Ajjaz Awad (Lydia), John Banks (Radolf/Lieutenant Grappa/Feyza), Oliver Clement (Oliver Davis), Ben Fox (Robert Catesby), Helen Goldwyn (Empress Maule), Christopher Hatherall (Guy Fawkes), Alex Hope (Lawrence McAllister), Matthew Jacobs-Morgan (Bertram/Manilaius), Bonnie Kingston (Lucy Davis), Glen McCready (Burnsbright/Librarian/Ogron 2), Cameron Percival (Rowan Fairley), Philip Pope (Rita’s Boss/William/Baron Worthing), Dan Starkey (Strax/Mr Strackie/Mr Cosmo), Ony Uhiara (Rita Cooper), Eve Webster (Keeza/Captain Rosecco/Han), Robert Whitelock (Grolk/Ogrons/Servant). Other parts played by members of the cast.

The past, the present, and the future conspire against the Doctor as he fights to defeat the only creature ever to strike fear into the hearts of a Time Lord - the Ravenous. 4.1 Whisper by Matt Fitton. Seeking respite after their battle with the Ravenous and hoping to find a quiet place where the Eleven can recuperate, the TARDIS crew visit the Still Foundation. But all they find is a small band of survivors under siege from a terrifying predator. A predator that hunts by sound. 4.2 Planet of Dust by Matt Fitton. On the parched world of Parrak, the Master holds sway. But he is exhausted and desperate, and his final hope for survival lies somewhere beneath the desert. When the TARDIS arrives, alliances will be made and trust will be broken – and feuding Time Lords will discover the Ravenous never, ever give up. 4.3 and 4.4 Day of the Master by John Dorney. The Doctor investigates a mystery in the vortex, Liv follows the trail of their enemy, and Helen searches for a god. Everywhere they go there is a Master or Mistress, but is the Doctor’s oldest enemy there to hinder him, or to help? With the TARDIS crew scattered and lost, only a miracle can save the universe. And for that to happen someone is going to have to die. CAST: Paul McGann (The Doctor), Nicola Walker (Liv Chenka), Hattie Morahan (Helen Sinclair), Mark Bonnar (The Eleven), Geoffrey Beevers (The Master), Michelle Gomez (Missy), Derek Jacobi (The Master), Eric Roberts (The Master), George Asprey (Ravenous), Susie Emmett (Ravenous), Eben Figueiredo (Leet), Chris Jarman (Kyphus), Clifford Samuel (Kinner), Natalie Simpson (Vonn), Ony Uhiara (Ronica), Robert Whitelock (Artron/Cadrin).

Scattered through time and space, many women have crossed paths with the Doctor – friends, foes, and figures from history – and there can be a strange chemistry when they meet… Impulsive warrior encounters celebrated scientist, as Leela and the Doctor run into Marie Curie in 1920s America. And in a quiet English village, one of the Doctor’s oldest enemies seeks out one of his most devoted companions to find an escape – and the results are explosive! 3.1 A Ghost of Alchemy by Louise Jameson. When the TARDIS lands in New York in 1921 the Doctor takes the opportunity to introduce Leela to one of the foremost women of the age - the great Marie Curie, visiting America to be celebrated for her work. But the time travellers are not the only people interested in the famous scientist. Sinister forces are gathering around her and the TARDIS crew will have to work their utmost to keep her safe on her historic journey through the United States. 3.2 Fairies at The Bottom of The Garden by Karissa Hamilton-Bannis. Young Amelia Pond is used to getting into trouble. After another fight at school, she is sent back to counselling. But her new therapist is rather unconventional… Because Missy is also in trouble. Stuck on Earth, she’s targeted one of the Doctor’s best friends to get his attention – but her timing’s off. Amy’s TARDIS encounters lie years in her past and future, but there’s something strange in her garden now. As Missy sets her sights on young Pond, the fairies may be her only hope! CAST: Louise Jameson (Leela), Michelle Gomez (Missy), Tom Baker (The Doctor), Caitlin Blackwood (Amelia Pond), Holly Jackson Walters (Marie Curie), Nicholas Farrell (Mr Browman), Abi Harris (Mrs Walters / Fortune Teller / Mother / Will O’Wisp 2), Akshay Khanna (Doctor Rushton), Harry Myers (President Harding), Susan Penhaligon (Florence Harding), Penelope Rawlins (Mrs Mattie Meloney), John Rayment (Conor), Homer Todiwala (Derek / Ride Operator / Dr Millner), Jennifer Tyler (Fran / Laura / Will O’Wisp 1, Assassin Leader). Other parts played by members of the cast.

Michelle Gomez, who last played the Doctor’s best friend and wicked enemy, Missy, in the Doctor Who television series in 2017, returns to her role in some brand new audio adventures from Big Finish Productions made in arrangements with BBC studios. 1.1 Spoonful of Mayhem by Roy Gill. In a spot of bother in Victorian London, Missy is forced to take on governess duties but she has another scheme in mind, and her charges are simply in the way. She’s going to have to teach the children some rather harsh lessons about getting what you want. And there will be tears before bedtime. 1.2 Divorced, Beheaded, Regenerated by John Dorney. Missy arrives in Tudor England, throwing the plans of another renegade Time Lord into chaos.King Henry VIII is on the throne, and aliens are stomping through the countryside. Missy just wants to be Queen. And the Monk? Once he knows who else is on the scene, he’ll be glad just to stay alive. 1.3 The Broken Clock by Nev Fountain. Tonight, on Dick Zodiac’s America’s Most Impossible Killers, Detective Joe Lynwood hunts the most impossible killer of his career. There’s a trail of bodies. Impossible bodies. And Joe has one long night to solve the case. Luckily, D.I. Missy Masters from Scotland Yard in England, London, England is here to help. 1.4 The Belly of the Beast by Jonathan Morris. Missy’s scheme nears completion. All she must do is subjugate one little planet and bend the inhabitants to her will. Not too much to ask. But slaves will keep rebelling. It’s almost as if they don’t want to unearth an ancient artefact to fulfil Missy’s plans for universal domination.She’ll have to do something about that. CAST: Michelle Gomez (Missy/Matis), Rufus Hound (The Monk), Oliver Clement (Oliver Davis), Bonnie Kingston (Lucy Davis), Simon Slater (Montague Davis / Moses Walker / Coachman), Dan Starkey (Mr. Cosmo / Park Keeper / Old Man / Sphinx), Beth Chalmers (Djinn / Housemaid), Maggie Service (Catherine Parr), Leighton Pugh (Sir Foxcroft / Gramoryan 1 / Priest), Graham Seed (Gramoryan 2 / Taverner / Squire), Kenneth Jay (Dick Zodiac), Guy Paul (Joe Lynwood), Ryan Forde Iosco (The Actor Playing Joe Lynwood), Daniel Goode (Mark /Roy), Rachel Verkuil (Frankie and The Actress Playing Missy), Abbie Andrew (Aleyna), John Scougall (Cort / Guards), Lucy Goldie (Sath / Mother), Jason Nwoga(Doctor Goodnight), Jamie Laird (Mister Bryce / Father). Other parts played by members of the cast.

From the seventeenth century into the nineteenth, thousands of Madagascar's people were brought to American ports as slaves. In Memories of Madagascar and Slavery in the Black Atlantic, Wendy Wilson-Fall shows that the descendants of these Malagasy slaves in the United States maintained an ethnic identity in ways that those from the areas more commonly feeding the Atlantic slave trade did not. Generations later, hundreds, if not thousands, of African Americans maintain strong identities as Malagasy descendants, yet the histories of Malagasy slaves, sailors, and their descendants have been little explored. Wilson-Fall examines how and why the stories that underlie this identity have been handed down through families-and what this says about broader issues of ethnicity and meaning-making for those whose family origins, if documented at all, have been willfully obscured by history. By analyzing contemporary oral histories as well as historical records and examining the conflicts between the two, Wilson-Fall carefully probes the tensions between the official and the personal, the written and the lived. She suggests that historically, the black community has been a melting pot to which generations of immigrants-enslaved and free-have been socially assigned, often in spite of their wish to retain far more complex identities. Innovative in its methodology and poetic in its articulation, this book bridges history and ethnography to take studies of diaspora, ethnicity, and identity into new territory.

From the seventeenth century into the nineteenth, thousands of Madagascar’s people were brought to American ports as slaves. In Memories of Madagascar and Slavery in the Black Atlantic, Wendy Wilson-Fall shows that the descendants of these Malagasy slaves in the United States maintained an ethnic identity in ways that those from the areas more commonly feeding the Atlantic slave trade did not. Generations later, hundreds, if not thousands, of African Americans maintain strong identities as Malagasy descendants, yet the histories of Malagasy slaves, sailors, and their descendants have been little explored. Wilson-Fall examines how and why the stories that underlie this identity have been handed down through families—and what this says about broader issues of ethnicity and meaning-making for those whose family origins, if documented at all, have been willfully obscured by history. By analyzing contemporary oral histories as well as historical records and examining the conflicts between the two, Wilson-Fall carefully probes the tensions between the official and the personal, the written and the lived. She suggests that historically, the black community has been a melting pot to which generations of immigrants—enslaved and free—have been socially assigned, often in spite of their wish to retain far more complex identities. Innovative in its methodology and poetic in its articulation, this book bridges history and ethnography to take studies of diaspora, ethnicity, and identity into new territory.

A groundbreaking history that puts early and medieval West Africa in a global context Pick up almost any book on early and medieval world history and empire, and where do you find West Africa? On the periphery. This pioneering book, the first on this period of the region's history in a generation, tells a different story. Interweaving political and social history and drawing on a rich array of sources, including Arabic manuscripts, oral histories, and recent archaeological findings, Michael Gomez unveils a new vision of how categories of ethnicity, race, gender, and caste emerged in Africa and in global history more generally. Scholars have long held that such distinctions arose during the colonial period, but Gomez shows they developed much earlier. Focusing on the Savannah and Sahel region, Gomez traces the exchange of ideas and influences with North Africa and the Central Islamic Lands by way of merchants, scholars, and pilgrims. Islam's growth in West Africa, in tandem with intensifying commerce that included slaves, resulted in a series of political experiments unique to the region, culminating in the rise of empire. A major preoccupation was the question of who could be legally enslaved, which together with other factors led to the construction of new ideas about ethnicity, race, gender, and caste--long before colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade. Telling a radically new story about early Africa in global history, African Dominion is set to be the standard work on the subject for many years to come.