Between the end of the nineteenth century and the eve of World War II, Africans displaced by colonial rule aggrandized the attainments of American blacks, creating an African american myth that played an important role in their religious, political and social life. This myth, while existing in direct contradiction to the intense discrimination faced by black people in the United States, provided Africans with an inspirational model upon which to improve their lives.

"Africans on African-Americans" traces the development of the African American myth and the way in which the Liberal Movement in South Africa looked to America for a formula for racial harmony that eluded their troubled country. While highlighting the strength of the African american myth, Gershoni also demonstrates that everywhere the myth had adherents it also had opponents, who insisted that the solution to Africa's ills lay in African culture and African peoples.

On April 12, 1980, a group of soldiers led by Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe executed a bloody coup that put an end to the Americo-Liberian minority regime in Liberia, transforming Africa's first republic into a military dictatorship. In Liberia under Samuel Doe, 1980-1985: The Politics of Personal Rule, Yekutiel Gershoni examines the evolution and effects of Samuel K. Doe's reign in Liberia. Gershoni shows Doe's path to absolute power, corruption, and dictatorship and the economic crises and political turmoil that ensued, even after his murder in 1990. Liberia under Samuel Doe also examines the role of the United States as Liberia's closest ally, detailing how Doe managed to attract American diplomatic and military support due to U.S. interests in the Cold War. Through in-depth research, primary sources, and interviews with diplomats, politicians, and activists, Gershoni carefully details the timeline of Doe's rise to power and the lasting effects of his dictatorial legacy.

Between the end of the nineteenth century and the outbreak of World War 2, Africans displaced by colonial rule created an African-American myth - a myth which aggrandized the life and attainments of African Americans despite full knowledge of the discrimination to which they were subjected. The myth provided Africans in all parts of the continent with much needed succour and underpinned various religious, educational, political and social models based on the experience of African Americans whereby Africans sought to better their own lives.