Studies in History of Central Area: Volume 1. Edited by Aliyu A. Idrees and Yakubu A. Ochefu. Lagos, CSS Limited, 2002. Distributed by African Books Collective, Oxford, UK. Pp. xxiii, 768; index. $57.95/£34.95 paper. Nearly forty-five years ago, at onset of Nigeria's independence in 1960, Thomas Hodgkin published important historical anthology of writings about Nigeria.1 What calls our attention to his monumental work not so much what was included, but what was excluded. Hodgkin paid little attention to what he referred to interesting secondary themes-the histories of Tiv, Idoma, Igala, Igbira, among others and justified exclusion of Middle-Belt on grounds of shortage of space, time, and knowledge.2 Thus at onset of independence, national narratives excluded voices of other, minorities-those who where not linked to centralized state systems of central Sudan, empires of forest region, or communities that began to be influenced by trans-Atlantic trade and Christian missions. These excluded, marginalized tribes came to signify in colonial imagination savage, primitive native, and pagan (p. xxii). This collection of primary research, edited by Aliyu Idrees and Yakubu Ochefu, a recovery of voices of the other: diverse communities of central area. In his Foreword, Erim D. Erim not only sees book an to redress imbalance created by some colonial writers on of peoples of Middle Belt of Nigeria but also as a continuation of ... [the] search for proper identity of diverse peoples of Central Nigeria (p. xv). The articles in this collection are not merely corrective, nor are they obsessed with search for identity, important these issues are; papers collectively intervene in a key question: whether Nigerian is essentially inquiry into past of a conglomeration of peoples whose association with one another are entirely 'artificial,' accidental, and recent-the product of colonial period,3 whose relationships with one another were inherently conflictridden. One key thread that ties works together therefore, question of inter-group relations; Erim points out, not only cradleland of several Nigerian groups, it has today emerged watershed4 in [Nigerian] history (p. xv). The articles in book are results of individual fieldwork on area, sometimes chapters of graduate dissertation pieces. Two difficulties encountered are absence of a fluid and coherent conceptual framework and noticeably uneven quality of collected articles. The brief introduction by Idrees and Ochefu not helpful. The thirty-six chapters are divided into five parts: Origins, Political Organizations, Economy, Colonial Experience. and Inter-group Relationships. The papers in first section deal with issues of origin, migration, and environment. Patrick Dawan's paper, one of weakest, provides a geographic description of Central the necessary foundation upon which to construct history of its peoples (p. 13). While paper wanting in conceptual and analytical rigor, accompanying maps are very useful to reader unfamiliar with this region. Chapter 2 a contribution by archaeologist5 (a salutary departure from most of contributors to this volume)-Atoato Igirgi's paper based on original fieldwork; evidence garnered then used to draw inference from archaeology to shed light on of Middle Benue Valley, and to attempt assessment of comparative progress and inter-relationships of early populations of early populations of region (p. 19). Using evidence from animal and plant husbandry, terracotta art of Nok Culture, pottery, and iron working, Igirgi draws tentative conclusion that diverse peoples of Benue Valley had a cultural relationship both within and beyond region. …