South Africa Books

Excellent review of the Post-Apartheid School challenges. The strength of the book is that it point forward to solutions to these challenges. I recommend it to all interested in education of disadvantaged youth not only in South Africa, but also beyond

When apartheid was dismantled in 1994, South Africa faced the daunting challenge of establishing a working democracy in a country long divided along rigid racial lines. Perhaps no segment of society was more deeply affected by the metamorphosis than public education.

"Elusive Equity" examines the government's attempts to provide equal opportunity to learn for all children. Through in-depth interviews, unpublished documents, and observations at dozens of schools, Edward B. Fiske and Helen F. Ladd present a balanced analysis of the process.

The authors manage to immerse the reader in a way that is both informative and moving by making use of the same reportorial and research skills that they employed so effectively in "When Schools Compete," still the definitive study of school choice in New Zealand. The result is a book that is indispensable for anyone interested in the education of disadvantaged students anywhere. Despite the obvious historical differences between South Africa and the U.S., Fiske and Ladd draw valuable lessons that are instructive for inner-city schools here.

Walt Gardner taught for twenty-eight years in the Los Angeles Unified School District and was a lecturer at the UCLA Graduate School of Education.

This eminent work develops a new way of looking at the state, this revolutionary idea, takes into account aspects of Marxism and nationalism and applies it to South Africa. A brilliant hypothesis tries to explain the history or labour in the South African Gold Fields in the first half of the 20th century, while at the same time using theory, philosophy and economic theory to view this process.

This work remains the standard in its field as a point of departure for theories about the emergence of Modern South Africa. A Highly recommended work for any specialist, historian, social theorist or anyone interested in South Africa from a more detailed standpoint.

Seth J. Frantzman

I worked for the Independent Electoral Commission as a Senior Mediator in the Eastern Cape, and remember these events. Reading through this book ten years on, it is a wonderful reminder of those heady days, and very accurate in its capturing of the mood of the time. The major players are all there, and wonderfully evocative pictures of places with names like Committee's Drift, dustbowls in the middle of nowhere, polling stations flapping in the wind.

A remarkable book testament to a remarkable period in South Africa's history.

I could barely put this book down. I bought it on Robben Island at the gift shop and read almost the entire book on the flight back to the US. It was written, as you can tell by the publishing date, in the thick of the apartheid struggle by a white man who was imprisoned and sentenced to 12 years in maximum security for distributing literature for the African National Congress. He and his friends made an incredible escape, however, and made it to safety to continue the struggle and write this book, which details how they came to be involved with the ANC, what sort of work they did and how they did it, how they got caught, what their trial was like, what their prison was like, and, ultimately, how they escaped. It is written like an excellent suspense/thriller novel, but is made infinitely better by the fact that it really happened and that his cause (to eradicate racial oppression) was so righteous. I would recommend this book highly to anyone interested in learning more of the blood-and-sweat history of apartheid South Africa, anyone who likes suspense novels about prison escapes, and especially to people interested in both.

Featuring 228 photos by Tim Hauf, "Essence Of A Land: South African And its World Heritage Sites showcases seven memorable sites of significance and beauty. Max du Preez provides an accompanying text for Hauf's superb photographic images of Vredefort Dome (the biggest known crater on earth caused by an ancient asteroid); the Cradle of Humankind (an site denoting early hominids and the development of the human species over the past 3.5 million years); the Cape Floral Kingdom; the Khahlamba/Drakensberg National Park; Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape (telling the story of the first great kingdom of back farming groups in southern Africa more than six hundred years ago); the Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park (with its sandy beaches, coastal dunes, lake systems, and wetlands); and Robben Island (perhaps the most powerful symbol of South Africa's long history of repression and resistance). Ideal for armchair travelers with an interest in seeing what the nation of South Africa has to offer, "Essence Of A Land" is especially recommended to the attention of anyone planning a business or vacation trip to this diverse and rapidly growing African nation.

Palestinians, Armenians, Albanians, Tamils, Chechens-around the world, ethnic groups fight to forge their own nation states. What is the secret of success? In this excellent book, Dr Mark Suzman, one of the few to have predicted the fall of the Afrikaner regime in South Africa, reveals the ingredients of successful ethnic nationalism.

The book rests on three case studies-Afrikaner nationalism, Irish nationalism, and Zionism. All three share a number of features. First, all were formerly under British rule. Second, all grew from a pre-existing ethnic culture based on language and religion-and a sense of discrimination coupled with a history of violent struggles against other ethnic groups. Third, all three had a significant literate class that could formulate the ideology of the nationalist movement-and strengthen the symbols and trappings of nationalism. Perhaps the most extraordinary example of this is the deliberate resurrection of Hebrew from an ancient religious language read by scholars and rabbis to a flourishing modern language spoken by millions. Fourth, all three movements were able to gather popular support through the promise of patronage and wealth once power had been seized. And finally, all were highly organised, having erected a parallel state apparatus that could be swiftly transformed into the real thing.

But alas for the nationalists of the world-and luckily for the rest of us-there is no magic bullet. As Dr Suzman emphasizes, while these features are necessary constituents of successful ethnic nationalism, they are scarcely sufficient. Factors external to the nationalist movement also matter. For example, if the regime that the nationalists are seeking to overturn or replace is strong-and seen by others in the international community to be legitimate-then the nationalists will have a much harder time winning through. For aspiring ethnic nationalists, gathering the support of the international community will ultimately be at least as important as the internal structure of the movement itself.

I have long admired Dr Suzman in secret; I am thrilled that the publication of this wonderful book allows me to make my admiration public.

This short book explains basic economic concepts (e.g., GDP, inflation, and exchange rates) and uses them to analyze current issues facing the South African economy. The writing is clear, the analysis is balanced, and the issues are put in historical context. The book would be perfect background reading for general readers wanting to make sense of economics articles in Business Day or The Financial Mail.

Exploring the Natural Wonders of So. Africa is both an invaluable guide to the country, as well as a fine souvenir of one's visit. Each chapter highlights a particular area of interest, with maps, colored illustrations, details of driving and hiking trips, whom to contact for information. It's a book one can leaf through for hours to help plan a trip. I obtained the book in So. Africa and showed it to travel industry people with whom we came into contact. They all thought it to be an exceptionally fine book.

It never entered my mind that so few could be so deperate enough to be so evil. These all seem so calculated, which is in a way more disturbing that someone who is just a psycopath.

Ms Pistorius is unbiased and very factual and I enjoyed reading her account.

Well researched.