Book excerpt: Despite the recent growth of research on social problems facing the people of sub-Saharan Africa, there remains a critical lack of conceptual, epistemological, and empirical research and documentation. This sophisticated new book attempts to fill that gap by synthesizing, interpreting, and extending the existing literature on conditions that constitute serious impediments to socio-economic development in Africa. It provides an original and up-to-date survey of key problems ranging from poverty and inequality to violence and crime. The contributors, all of whom have lived or worked in Africa, show how social problems emerge, how they are defined, and how various actors attempt to deal with them. This timely book provides a much needed analysis of the major issues and debates regarding the dynamics of social problems in the African context. Social Problems in Africa is broken into four parts. The first introduces readers to the nature of social problems in general and provides a framework for analyzing and understanding social problems in an African context. Part II, on culture, human rights and democracy, examines these crucial aspects of social problems in Africa, as well as issues such as language and colonialism. Part III focuses on poverty and inequality, while conflict and violence is the focus of Part IV. Together, the chapters in this volume provide the most comprehensive and systematic approach to the issues available, bringing much-needed attention to the problems in Africa from the perspective of scholars who have lived and worked there.