Combining the approaches of social anthropology and history, Smith provides a fascinating account of this kingdom's complex political and administrative organization from medieval times to the threshold of Nigerian independence.

The book relies on written sources in Arabic, Hausa, and English, but it is supplemented by in-depth interviews with Fulani rulers and councilors who were intimately familiar with the organization of the Muslim emirate of Kano before the British arrived in 1903. In the final chapter, Smith continues his analytical inquiry, begun in his earlier books into the processes of change in political units.