The Royal Navy and the Slavers, first published in 1969, examines not only the Royal Navy’s 60-year campaign to eradicate slavery, but also the British Government’s diplomatic pressure on other countries to discontinue the slave trade. It analyses Captain’s logs and despatches, and their evidence at trials of the men they captured, as well as looking at the messages from British ambassadors and consuls around the world.

East Africa (1971) examines the century from 1870 that saw the emergence of East Africa from an ancient isolation into the modern world. This survey pays attention to the social and economic as well as the political history of this transition, and takes pains to understand the ideas and motives of the various groups who make up the population of East Africa. It closely examines the African peoples’ struggle for economic as well as political independence from their colonisers.

Government in West Africa (1968) examines the practical working of modern government and the constitutional history of West Africa. It looks at various political thinkers and their application to the issues of civil government in West Africa; modern constitutional struggles on the continent; and problems associated with different political systems in the region.

A History of Ghana (1958) uses both European archives and considerable research among African traditional histories to examine the history of the Gold Coast and Ghana. The African histories are particularly important, as many village traditions, and more so those of larger towns, have traditions that date back hundreds of years, and whose accuracy can be tallied with those of their neighbours. Accounts from Western sources do not shy away from detailing British mistakes in government, and the resulting book is an even-handed history with much under-read research direct from African sources.

Emergent Africa (1967) expertly compresses the story of European penetration into the Africa of 1800. Its fragmentation into colonies and their emergence as independent nations into a terse, clear narrative. It describes the first European explorations, the ‘Scramble for Africa’, the world wars, the achievement of independence, and modern problems such as apartheid and one-party rule.

The World Today (1974) examines the world of the late twentieth century and its roots – the disintegration of the old world is analysed in the expansion and subsequent decline of nineteenth-century imperialism, and the attempts by the League of Nations and United Nations to bring about a new order on international cooperation.

The Royal Navy and the Slavers, first published in 1969, examines not only the Royal Navy's 60-year campaign to eradicate slavery, but also the British Government's diplomatic pressure on other countries to discontinue the slave trade. It analyses Captain's logs and despatches, and their evidence at trials of the men they captured, as well as looking at the messages from British ambassadors and consuls around the world.