Spanning four decades of active scholarship by Professor Bethwell Allan Ogot, these essays reflect the range of his concerns, from the methodology of African history with his own emphasis on oral traditions, to the need to debunk the myth of the role of the outsider as the genius behind African achievements. They also examine the need for interdisciplinary scholarship in the reconstruction of the African past, his engagement with his own people, the Kenyans, and his concerns and reflections on the pitfalls of African independence.