In Africa Dances Gorer takes the reader on an odyssey across West Africa, in the company of Feral Benga, one of the great black ballet stars of 1930s Paris. It is a devastating critique of colonial rule, which is shown to be destroying African society just as effectively as Christian missionaries undermine indigenous morality. Africa Dances captures the rich physical and psychological detail of African village life from food and architecture to dance and magic. Gorer witnesses men diving for three-quarters of an hour without coming up for breath, witch-doctors conjuring thunderstorms out of clear blue skies, and chameleon fetishists whose skin changes from a dirty white to almost black. This is a place where if you believe, you can.

He has made one of the most singular journeys of modern times, and he has given us a book which opens a window on a world that most of us hardly realise exists ...There are no reservations in this astonishing book. Sex, religion, politics the place of fetish and magic, wrestling, dancing and marriage ... A book I could not put down from the first page to the last. Daily Telegraph