In the early part of the eighteenth century, Jaabe So's ancestors founded a farm on the left bank of the Senegal river. Twenty years ago, Jaabe So set up an independent farmers' association based among a group of towns along that river. Since then, he and Adrian Adams have spent much of their lives struggling to defend the existence of that association against a state development corporation lavishly funded by development aid. This is a narrative of that struggle, placed in the context of three centuries of Senegalese history. This extraordinary book will be an invaluable reference for those who believe that Africans may yet redeem a future free from the false promises of development, by drawing upon an inherited past.