Why polygamy in Africa sometimes made sense

Walter Trobisch was a missionary from Germany to Africa. When he arrived at one of his missions, he learned that the women often preferred polygamy because the work of women in the group was very hard, and with polygamy, there were more hands to do the work. They lived on a subsistence level. Also, because of frequent warfare between neighboring communities, there was often a shortage of men, and thus many women would never find a husband unless the men practiced polygamy. If a man divorced his wife, she would be destitute. Even though the Christian faith promotes monogamy, Trobisch preferred to encourage people not to divorce their younger wives because of the havoc it would create for everyone concerned. Instead, he encouraged people who married in the future to be monogamous. This book takes an example from the community, and lets him tell his story, by way of illustration of why Trobisch chose not to assert that polygamous men should divorce their "extra" wives in the name of Christianity. It is a very readable and enjoyable book, and gives tremendous insight into the fact that we must not run roughshod over local cultures in the process of spreading the Gospel. This is just one of many delightful books which Trobisch has written. It is too bad these are out of print, because they are well worth reading.