He has published numerous books, including Key Events in African History: A Reference Guide, Nationalism and African Intellectuals, and many edited books including Tradition and Change in Africa and African Writers and Readers. He is the co-editor of the Journal of African Economic History, Series Editor of Rochester Studies in African History and the Diaspora, and the Series Editor of the Culture and Customs of Africa by Greenwood Press.

For his singular and distinguished contribution to the study of Africa, his students and colleagues have presented him with three Festschriften – two edited by Adebayo Oyebade, The Transformation of Nigeria: Essays in Honor of Toyin Falola, and The Foundations of Nigeria: Essays in Honor of Toyin Falola, and one edited by Akin Ogundiran, Pre-Colonial Nigeria: Essays in Honor of Toyin Falola. His award-winning memoir, A Mouth Sweeter than Salt: An African Memoir is published by the University of Michigan Press.