For a European to write a book about Africa and freedom is an undertaking of precarious legitimacy. Europeans have a long history of exploiting Africans, and of getting Africa wrong, I have tried to avoid the latter but there is no doubt I am guilty of the former. A perfect stranger, I asked hundreds of Africans to entrust me with their stories without pay or other compensation, often in a detail that was indecent and at huge risk to themselves. These are not my stories, I borrowed them, even stole them, and I owe a deep debt to their true owners. My highest ambition is that I have done them justice…I wanted Africans to show and tell you their stories too, so you would hear what I heard and see what I saw, and that has required giving them space to do so. Africa is the biggest and most diverse continent on earth and to speak of it or its people as a monolith is a grand folly…But here’s the thing,…Given the dimensions of the place, most people in Africa, local or foreign, sensibly limit themselves to a corner or two…Africa is nearing the end of an epic quest for freedom that will revolutionize perceptions of it and change the world” (Alex Perry, 2015: The Rift A New Africa Breaks Free).