Ronald Segal's book /Islam's Black Slaves/ is a decent starting point, but sooner or later a reader who wants to learn more about this subject will have to consult the works of specialists who know Arabic. A well-edited collection of documents, many translated from Arabic, is John Hunwick and Eve Troutt Powell, /The African Diaspora in the Mediterranean Lands of Islam/ (Princeton, 2002). Hunwick has been instrumental in a global network of scholars, states, and NGOs who are attempting to preserve thousands of irreplaceable Arabic manuscripts in private libraries in Timbuktu. Doug Deal History/SUNY Oswego