In the recent past, Nauka publishing house published such book series as "Stories about the Countries of the East" and "Travels in the Countries of the East", which published the impressions of Russian historians-Orientalists who visited the countries of Asia and Africa. These books were an important source of information about the peoples and cultures of the East, not only for ordinary Soviet readers, but also for their fellow Africanists and Orientalists, most of whom were unable to visit the country or region under study.

It would seem that now, when the borders are open and every year millions of Russian citizens visit the most exotic corners of the globe, the need for such essays has disappeared. But an introduction to the book by the famous Russian historian-Africanist A. S. Balezin "On Africa in search of Russia. Travel Notes of a Historian " (Moscow, IVI RAS, 2012) proves the need to revive such an undeservedly forgotten genre.

Since the first publication of the book, 8 years have passed, and even then it received the most flattering reviews. The second edition includes some new historical materials and memoirs of the author about how his path to African studies began. And, of course, it is necessary to note the design - all the illustrations are colored, of a fairly high quality and are already a valuable source of information in themselves.

What makes this book so interesting in our time? First of all, the author's close acquaintance with the history and culture of the countries he describes. And it began long before A. S. Balezin visited Africa. In 1970, he entered the Institute of Oriental Languages at Moscow State University( ISAA MSU)and studied Swahili. He first set foot on the land of the "Black" continent in 1985. Trips to Africa made the author a great observer, and his knowledge of Swahili helped him learn more about African life.

The book has 7 chapters. The first three describe the author's career as an African historian and his first trips to Africa as an interpreter for official delegations. In the fourth chapter, A. S. Balezin describes his stay in Namibia in 1991. The fifth section is dedicated to a trip to South Africa in 1995, and the sixth and seventh sections describe a trip to East Africa and Namibia in 2001. Each of these chapters contains not only memories of trips, but also historical excursions into the past, stories about outstanding or simply interesting representatives of African peoples. Here the reader will find both the life story of the leader of the Nama uprising in South-West Africa against the German colonialists, and the story of a representative of the Zanzibar sultan family - born Princess Salma, who lived most of her life in Germany under the name of Emily Ryute.

One of the main advantages of the book is that A. S. Balezin managed to create a number of lively and interesting portraits of people he met in Africa. The author was lucky enough to stay and live in the homes of white farmers in South Africa and Nambia. On the pages of the book, the reader gets acquainted with the history and lifestyle of the Scholz family of Namibian Germans, the Engelbrecht family in South Africa. A special mention should be made of the author's meeting with Mujaji V, the Rain Queen of the small Lobedu people.

What about traveling by public transport? In what other guide book can you read the details of traveling by bus on the roads of Tanzania? Moreover, all the hardships and troubles of the road are described with a great sense of humor and sincere love for the people around the author on the journey.

For the Africans themselves, meetings with the Russian professor broke many stereotypes about the white man that had developed since colonial times. The very sight of a European walking down the street caused bewilderment and surprised questions. How can a white man just walk on his own two feet and not drive a car? When traveling in East Africa by public transport, A. S. Balezin and his companions were often the only white people on the bus, which aroused genuine interest and surprise among passengers. But in such a situation, knowledge of Swahili came to the rescue, which immediately made white travelers their own among Africans.

However, the book is of interest not only because it contains a vivid account of the life of modern African countries.-

an African scholar, author of several monographs and textbooks, he reveals to the reader the rich world of African history, shows how the past is intertwined with the present. Recreating the history of entire cities and small towns on the pages of the book, combined with a description of their current state, creates a more complete picture of the subject of the story.

In the book, the reader will find several small but very interesting and informative essays on the history of the countries of East and South Africa. So, its pages describe the history of the creation of a migrant colony in South Africa and tell about who the Afrikaners are, better known in our country as Boers.

A. S. Balezin recreates the most vivid pages of the history of Namibia, Zanzibar, Uganda and Tanzania. At the same time, he cites excerpts and quotations from rare documents that he discovered during his research in the archives of African countries and their former colonial metropolises. Thus, this book will be useful for both the history student and the teacher, who will be able to learn a lot of interesting and little-known facts from it.

Having devoted several decades of his life to teaching, A. S. Balezin, of course, could not ignore the issue of setting up higher education in Africa. He has visited many universities in Eastern and Southern Africa, and is familiar with the life and working conditions of the local faculty. In many cases, as it may not seem strange to many modern readers, the comparison with Russian conditions is not always in our favor. According to A. S. Balezin, the technical equipment, working and living conditions of African teachers in a number of indicators are not only not inferior, but also superior to domestic universities. For example, at the University of Vista in South Africa, each teacher has a small separate office with everything they need. In Kenya, teachers of higher education institutions receive service apartments - with a living room, kitchen, three bedrooms, etc. In our country, the vast majority of teachers still cannot boast of such conditions.

In conclusion, I would like to note once again that the publication of such works is absolutely necessary, including in order to maintain a high level of domestic popular science and educational literature. There is no doubt that the reviewed work can serve as a model for such publications.

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