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Obafemi Awolowo (1909-87) is best known for his role in Nigerian national politics. Author of the influential book Path to Nigerian Freedom (1947), founder of the Action Group (AG) political party, first premier of the Western Region, and a credible - if ultimately unsuccessful - candidate for the Nigerian presidency on several occasions until his retirement from politics in 1983, Awolowo was a towering presence in national politics for close to four decades. As one of the leading Nigerian nationalists, alongside his political rivals Nnamdi Azikiwe and Amadu Bello, Awolowo would be a worthy subject for a new political biography. Insa Nolte's new book offers something different: while it does also offer an insightful analysis of Awolowo's political ideology and national political activities, it primarily discusses his role in the local politics of his native Remo (in southwest Nigeria, close to Lagos) and his support of grassroots political mobilisation, as well as the extent to which Awolowo himself was shaped by the specific forms of joint decision-making and popular participation that had historically emerged in Remo. Thanks to this focus, not only on Awolowo's 'local politics' but particularly on how one of Nigeria's leading politicians was produced by a particular, locally established way of doing politics, the insights offered in this book will be of interest to a broad field of scholars...