South Africa Books

This is a remarkable text, a translation of the memoirs of a Zulu woman who lived at the court of king Cetshwayo in the mid-19th century, then converted to Christianity after the royal household was dispersed in the war of 1879. As an account of the life of youth in the court of a chief, it makes a nice compliment to the early chapters of Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom. Highly recommended for teaching, and for anyone with an interest in a personal experience of growing up in rural Africa in a time of rapid and dramatic social change.

Julie's prized position in South African high society is threatened when her husband, a serial adulterer, receives a visit from an ex-wife who is coming to visit Nelson Mandela. With People Like Ourselves, Pamela Jooste presents a stunning survey of modern African society in South Africa and the concerns of a family shaken by scandal and change.

This is an incredible book that beats the pants off of so much of what is considered good writing. Compelling, funny, you can't put it down. There is something here for everyone.

This gripping and disturbing book is quite simply a study in perversity - not to be missed, and truly unforgettable!

Description from the book dust jacket:

Imagine that you are listening to someone tell you everything. Imagine that this person, a woman of a certain station - wellborn, monied, traveled, wearied with her labors to discover the aptest habitation for her troublesome health - may have killed someone, may have murdered someone, a schoolmate, long ago. Imagine that this woman is the kind of woman who would attach no particular importance to the business of killing someone. Imagine that she is the kind of woman who would attach no particular importance to whatever her commerce might have been with the life and death of another person. Imagine that the woman you are listening to would attach immensely more importance to the character of the light that reveals you to her than she would to the fact that it is a human being - you! - whom the light reveals to her. Imagine a person like this and you will have imagined the chillingly familiar central figure in Sheila Kohler's uniquely disturbing literary debut, a psychosexual striptease that accomplishes its exquisitely macabre theater sentence by icy sentence.

This is a Great Play book. For as much amount of money it is it is worth it. It had lots of good plays. Most of the characters are storytellers and Animals. Well Read this one. If you don't you will be missing!

I cannot say enough good things about this little pocket field guide. If you are going to Southern Africa on safari, whether hunting or photographing, you need this book. You can buy it at the airport in Johannesburg, but why wait to find out that the English versions are sold out?

All the mammals (yes all of them) are featured, one species per page. Each page contains color photos (not drawings) of each sex, plus info on habitat, markings, predators, weights, trophy specs and sign! Sorry birders, just mammals.

In addition, the various types of habitats are shown (bushveld, grassland, etc) as to location in Southern Africa, and then each habitat is sub-described in drawings (riverbeds, hillsides, etc) which feature the types of animals which may be found in each sub-habitat. Wow.

This little soft-backed volume fits in the pocket of your vest or shirt and is always there to help you identify the animals you will see.

The best of the bunch!

This powerful book presents the results of three year studies in six countries: South Africa, Malawi, Namibia, Tanzania, Senegal and Zambia. It focuses on the attrition among political leaders, depletion of skills and experience in electoral politics, constraints on participation in the electoral process by citizens, and other consequences arising from the AIDS.

Although the summary chapters have value, I found the country by country analysis most interesting. For each country the book provides an unusual insight into their political and cultural institutions.

Malawi's situation is fraught in many respects, particularly the controversies around the voter registers and the legitimacy of leadership.

Namibia faces the challenge of combating HIV/AIDS as a young nation consolidating its democratic institutions.

The AIDS debate in South Africa is almost impossible for an outsider to understand, given its fervor, the debates over electoral reforms and the impact of AIDS amongst registered voters in each of the nine provinces.

Tanzania is cursed with two governments that form a single union: Tanganyika and Zanzibar as the United Republic of Tanzania. Fighting AIDS is complicated by the disparities in infection between the largely Islamic island and the mainland. As in South Africa, it is very difficult for an outsider to understand the bipartisan political partnership in Parliament formed to fight AIDS.

In Zambia there are heated debates on compulsory testing for leaders even though there is evidence of high attrition among parliamentarians from undisclosed illnesses and the impact this might have on the country's political future.

The chapter on Senegal challenges the very concept of democratic governance with a fascinating review of cultural and historic issues.

Idasa is "an independent public interest organisation committed to promoting sustainable democracy based on active citizenship, democratic institutions, and social justice." It enjoys an excellent reputation for its integrity and objectivity in seeking these objectives. As a general reader and an occasional traveler to Africa, I found this a very useful view of Africa.

Robert C. Ross, 2008

I used this book as basis for my LLB dissertation at the National University of Lesotho(1981-82)- Topic - THE LAW AS AN INSTRUMENT OF THE DOMINANT CLASS. It was the first well researched book, I had read , written by a South African about what I call, the real history of South Africa . It is an objective account of the history of South Africa. I have not seen it on the book shelves or stores.The interesting feature is that ,information which was deliberately hidden from local readers,researchers and authors at that time, can now be brought to the fore to dispute various historical myths propagated by European Historians , that the colonisation of South Africa, and indeed of Africa, was about bringing the word of God or civilisation to this part of the world. It further exposes the fallacy that Europeans were not ,and are still not racist.Explorers like Jan Van Riebeck, who allegedly landed in the Cape of Good Hope in 1652, is recorded referring to Africans as "kaffirs" when reporting to his colonial masters about his escapades. I would recommend that this book be re-published and popularised in South Africa so that our young readers and historians could have a much more better understanding of the history of their country and be able deal with racism as we know it South Africa. It is a book that could be useful to all historians in South Africa when rewriting the history of our beloved motherland - It is a book that will give South Africans a better perspective of the Political History of the economy of the country.

This has got to be one of the most intriguing books I have ever read. If you are a World/Political History buff then this book is a must read. I would give it 10 stars out of five to this one!

An updated version of the book is now available. It contains photographs of Cape Town taken in late 1998. I live in Cape Town and I was impressed by the quality and beauty of the photographs in this book. I fell in love with Cape Town all over again. Worth looking at if you have any doubts of visiting this city.