Snow has undertaken the difficult task of tracing Sino-African relations from the earliest times to the present. A paucity of information on the period prior to the voyages of the Star Fleets of the Ming dynasty eunuch Zheng He has forced the author to emphasize events from the Ming to the present. Accordingly, two thirds of the study is devoted to Sino-African relations since 1949. Snow excels in his analysis of the Peoples Republic's diplomatic adventures in Africa. Both seasoned China scholars and the general reader will find his account of the last 40 years of Sino-African relations scintillating.