Embodied Engineering: gendered labor, food security, and taste in twentieth century Mali by Laura Ann Twagira Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2021. Pp. 344. $64.00 (hbk).

a culture of meritocracy but the constitution ‘must expunge its “federal character” clauses’ (). In addition to political restructuring, Nigeria also needs economic restructuring where the excessive reliance on oil is reduced. The economy needs diversifying in such a way that the agricultural sector is accorded some importance, as it was before the discovery of oil. The book is well researched, superbly structured and written in a very simple language. However, some of the chapter introductions are rather long and this affects the flow of the discussion. In Chapter , for example,  pages (–) are devoted to the introduction. Similarly, Chapter  has  pages (–) of introduction. Some editorial issues were also observed in the book such as ‘not only is the executive list overloaded’ (), while ‘executive’ there should be ‘exclusive’. Except for those minor concerns, Understanding Modern Nigeria surely presents a critical analysis of the inherent contradictions in post-colonial Nigeria and will make an interesting read for experts on Nigeria and non-experts alike.