It would take volumes to describe the cultures of all the African tribes, but here are insights about twenty-six of them, from the Ashanti to the Zulu. Margaret Musgrove has described ceremonies, celebrations, and day-to-day customs. Some of them are shared by many peoples, others are unique, but all are fascinating.

Leo and Dianne Dillon have outdone themselves in illustrating Ashanti to Zulu. Their magnificent full-color paintings, prepared in pastels, watercolors, and acrylics, glow with warmth and drama. Their research has been exhaustive, covering the thousands of details they have shown in their paintings. In order to show as much about the different tribes as possible, in most paintings the Dillons have included a man, a woman, a child, their living quarters, an artifact, and a local animal. They have drawn these elements together with the remarkable artistic insight which has become their hallmark, capturing in their artwork the beauty and dignity of each of the twenty-six peoples described.

From the dust jacket of a later printing