West Newbury was incorporated in 1819 after breaking away from the early settlement of Newbury, which was founded in 1635 by English livestock investors. From its very beginning, the town was a small farming community, later boasting many orchards, nurseries, and truck farms. The community was home to the last covered bridge in Essex County and can also lay claim as the birthplace of the comb industry. In 1886, a horsecar line from Haverhill opened up the community to surrounding areas. In 1897, horsecars were replaced with electric cars, the tracks of which extended to Newburyport. In the mid-1950s, the community grew with the opening of Route 95. Today, West Newbury retains its historic charm, and residents are passionate about its past.

A serial killer is loose on the streets of London, murdering apparently random members of the gentry with violent abandon. The corpses are each found with their chest cavities cracked open and their hearts removed. Charles Bainbridge, Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard, suspects an occult significance to the crimes and brings Newbury and Veronica in to investigate.

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The history of Black Africa provides a striking example of how knowledge of the past affects our understanding of the present. The study of African history has largely been conducted by Western scholars or African scholars trained in the West. In recent years, however, the lack of an indegenous historiography has been to some extent corrected. This collection of essays lays the groundwork for 'decolonization' of the history of Black Africa.