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Books 5: African History
If you wish to learn about the history of Africa from its earliest days, then John Reader's book 'Africa, a Biography' is superb. It is concerned with the whole continent from prehistoric times up until African independence in the 1960s and beyond. It is extremely well written, and gives a bird's eye view with extra detail where necessary.
The State of Africa by Martin Meredith recounts the history of Africa from the beginning of independence in the 1950s until the end of the 20th century. Actually what he does is to give a summary of the high level political history of many African countries, which, depressingly, usually consists of the story of how leaders turned into dictators and thieves, and of civil wars and coups d'état. There is no real information about the economic underpinnings of the countries during this time, or of their relations with the rest of Africa or the rest of the world.
Nonetheless, there is not a wasted sentence in the whole 600 page book, and the story is told in a straight narrative way, and is very well done. This book is recommended. Unfortunately the maps are not very well done, and an atlas close at hand helps.