Douglas H. Johnson: Formerly Assistant Director for Archives in the Regional Ministry of Culture and Information, Juba, the Sudan; author of several articles on Sudanese history. David M. Anderson: Lecturer in History at Birkbeck College, University of London; co-editor of the Journal of African History, and coeditor with R. Grove of Conservation in Africa: People, Policies and Practice (1987).

• Preface -- Note on Transcription -- Introduction: Ecology and society in northeast African history -- Archaeological and Historical Perspectives -- Human adaptation and long-term climatic change in northeast Africa: an archaeological perspective -- The great drought and famine of 1888–92 in northeast Africa -- Emutai: crisis and response in Maasailand 1883–1902 -- Case Studies -- Primary export crop production and the origins of the ecological crisis in Kordofan: the case of Dar Hamar -- Cultivation as a long-term strategy of survival: the Berti of Darfur -- Traders, farmers and pastoralists: economic adaptations and environmental problems in the southern Nuba Mountains of the Sudan -- Adaptation to floods in the Jonglei area of the Sudan: an historical analysis -- Prelude to disaster: the case of Karamoja -- Pastoralist migration and colonial policy: a case study from northern Kenya -- Cultivating pastoralists: ecology and economy among the Il Chamus of Baringo, 1840–19801 -- Looking for a cool place: the Mursi, 1890s–1980s -- History, drought and reproduction: dynamics of society and ecology in northeast Ethiopia