In 1820, a group of about 80 African Americans reversed the course of history and sailed back to Africa. They went under the banner of the American Colonization Society, a white philanthropic organization with a dual agenda: to rid America of its blacks, and to convert Africans to Christianity. The settlers staked out a beachhead; their numbers grew as more boats arrived; and after breaking free from their white overseers, they founded Liberia --- Africa’s first black republic --- in 1847. James Ciment’s ANOTHER AMERICA is the first full account of this dramatic experiment.