Virgil. Chaucer. Petrarch. These names resonate with many as cornerstones of European culture. Yet, in 'Atlas's Bones', D. Vance Smith reveals that much of what is claimed as European culture up to the Middle Ages - its great themes in literature, its sources in political thought, its religious beliefs - originated in the writings of African thinkers like Augustine, Fulgentius, and Martianus Capella, or Europeans who thought extensively about Africa. In fact, a third of Virgil's Aeneid takes place in Africa. Francis Petrarch believed his most important achievement was his epic Africa; while Geoffrey Chaucer wrote repeatedly about the figures of Scipio Africanus, actually two different men who defeated and destroyed Carthage. Smith tells the story of how Europe created a false 'medieval' version of Africa to acquire resources and power during the era of imperialism and colonialism.
