Often, I'm content to read reviews and look up the author to gauge whether something like this would be worth reading. But when it comes to Africa, I'm a little nervous I might end up with something either unconsciously racist or overtly racist. Especially when it's an English man doing the writing. Not exactly a wonderful history of white people writing about African people.
It's a decent introduction to the subject of African history, though if you're looking for detail on certain specific civilizations or events, I'd suggest looking elsewhere. It's a legitimately good broad overview of the history of the continent and providing sources for further reading. It does feel a bit Eurocentric and Angocentric in its focus, but only in that the focus tends to be more on aspects traditionally more accessible to the English-speaking community. It lacks the patronizing or overtly racist attitudes that a lot of older histories have towards African subjects, and it's overall an excellent introduction to African history for someone who doesn't really have any background in it.