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Union, which Hart reports as being the largest union, representing about 85 per cent of Ghana’s drivers), and the ruling PNDC party could not shield commercial drivers from the deregulation and privatization required by World Bank/IMF policy. Indeed, Hart suggests that commercial driving degenerated into a tool for survival in the 1980s, and became an occupation of refuge and last resort, not a path to prosperity. Hart further suggests that this trajectory continues to this day due to persistently high rates of unemployment and limited access to education. Yet Hart may be overstating her argument: certainly, for many of the boys and young men I have interviewed in research focusing on mobility over the last two decades in Ghana, including in urban areas, commercial driving is still seen as a very desirable occupation. There are some occupations of last resort in the West African transport sector for both genders, but these are most commonly centred around head-porterage, on-loading and off-loading of vehicles, and (for males only) the manual operation of push-trucks and handcarts in market areas. From the standpoint of many young men in poor communities, where employment prospects are so limited, driving is still perceived as far preferable to the alternatives. The book draws on substantial archival research, some telling photographs, and an impressive set of in-depth interviews, especially with older men from Accra and Kumasi who are able to reflect on their driving experiences over many decades. Historical and anthropological literature is referenced extensively, although I was surprised to find no reference to Grieco et al.’s 1996 study of transport, travel and trade in Accra, which has much detail regarding women’s experiences of informal public transport and thus provides some complementary perspectives. Transport rarely sits at the centre of texts about sub-Saharan Africa in the twentyfirst century, despite its crucial place in the past and future of the continent. There is much here for readers across a wide range of disciplines to learn and enjoy.