Prestel publishes the most extensive and authoritative range of coffee-table titles about African art.

In the West, hairstyle choices range from the purely functional to the complex fashion statement. In the African continent their significance is far greater. Hair can be an indicator of age, authority, social status, and religious affiliation, as well as part of a long tradition of aesthetic adornment or a strictly contemporary style statement. In some cultures hair itself is used as a potent substance with supernatural power.