<p>This highly accessible translation of the classic story of Sundiata, a real king who ruled the empire of Mali just south of the Sahara desert from 1235-55, engages readers while introducing African culture and oral tradition used in Africa. </p><p>Historian D. T. Niane received this version of the Sundiata epic from Djeli</p><p>(griot) Mamoudou Kouyate. It has been twice translated, from Malinke (or</p><p>Mandingo) into French, and then into English. The result is a prose novel, with explanatory endnotes.</p><p>This Revised Edition includes additional material that enhances the story and helps readers better understand the context in which this popular story is set: Background information (geography, religion, society and politics); Oral Tradition, Pronunciation, and Spelling; and a Who's Who of Characters / Glossary of Places.</p><p>Fascinating and accessible to all, this is an epic story which should rank with the Iliad and the Odyssey as one of the world's great adventure stories