Darfur's Sorrow: The Forgotten History of a Humanitarian Disaster

Darfur's Sorrow is the first general history of Darfur to be published in any language. The book surveys events from before the founding of the Fur sultanate in the sixteenth century through the rise and establishment of the Fur state and its incorporation into the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan in 1916. The narrative continues with detailed coverage of the brief but all-important colonial period (1916-1956) and Darfur's history as a neglected peripheral region since independence. The political, economic, environmental, and social factors that gave rise to the current humanitarian crisis are discussed in detail, as is the course of Darfur's rebellion, its brutal suppression by the Sudanese government, and the lawless brigands known as janjawid. The second edition of the book brings the story up to date and includes an analysis of attempts to save Darfur's embattled people and to bring an end to the fighting.

M.W. Daly has received many honors and awards, including fellowships from the universities of Durham, Khartoum, and Tel Aviv, as well as residencies at Oxford, Durham, the Woodrow Wilson Center (Washington, DC), and elsewhere. He is also the recipient of the John Frederick Lewis Award of the American Philosophical Society. Daly is the author of many books and articles on the history of the modern Middle East and Northeast Africa, including Imperial Sudan: The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium, 1934-1956 (1991) and, with P. M. Holt, A History of the Sudan: From the Coming of Islam to the Present Day, now in its fifth edition. He is the general editor of The Cambridge History of Egypt and has contributed more than a hundred articles and reviews to scholarly journals.