The Making of Modern State & Society in Africa
BY Martin Kilson
The Making of Modern State & Society in Africa, the late Martin Kilson
addressed the modernization process and political development in African
societies. He explored the rise of emergent elites and of political parties, as well as
the rise of authoritarian African politics and the development of African autocracy.

Martin Kilson (1931-2019) was Frank G. Thomson Professor of Government at
Harvard University. His books include Transformation of the African American
Intelligentsia, 1880-2012 (2014) and a memoir, A Black Intellectual’s Odyssey:
From a Pennsylvania Mill Town to the Ivy League (2021).