South Africa Books

Maduma is a young South African accused of using witchcraft to kill his mother - his act falls under the local police's special 'Occult-related Crimes Unit' and his friend, author Ashforth, helps him search for a solution. Spiritual and social issues blend in a fascinating biographical and cultural coverage.

The complexity and problems in the lives of South Africans in the newly minted post-apartheid state are richly interpreted in Madumo, both by westerners like Adam Ashforth and Africans he has known in Soweto. Witchcraft is taken up by both westerners and South Africans as an active encapsulation of these struggles, and the relevance of witchcraft to a modern life and a modern future is debated.
As Ashforth says, "Despite the dawning of democracy, people were still suffering. Yet the task of interpreting the meaning of misfortune was becoming more complex." (9)

Madumo describes the conflict of a modern man trying to honor his ancestors: "the problem with us that we Africans, when life picks up and things are going smooth for us, we normally forget about our ancestors. Because we are trying to follow western culture." (24). The youth are ignorant of tradition, especially in an era of rural exodus, and a plethora of dangerously creative witchdoctors reflects this. The elder members of the society are still expected to govern and judge the plans of youth, however: one witchdoctor, Dr. Zonki, reflects that in the normal course of events, but especially with regards to witchcraft, Madumo must "approach the elders of [his] family and do this in the proper way" (199). This shows a more resilient side of ancestor worship, and witchcraftýs role in preserving tradition, however shabbily.

The recent "deluge of witchcraft" (98-99) points out just how people use bewitchment to come to grips with living in a new South Africa. As a tool, it not only reinforces gender roles and traditional life, it has proven capable of innovation and has been profitable for many. It has also survived the secularism of the new South Africa; Dr. Zonki himself mixed potions for the fighting Inkatha in the hostel of Soweto, and yet has no trouble because of this past in the new pluralistic state. A space for the interpretation of social and physical ills, as attributable to malevolent forces outside of ones control, has survived the fall of apartheid as well.
"For all the talk of ubuntu, or ýAfrican humanismý by the new African elite, on the streets of Soweto the practice of everyday life was tending ever more towards the dog-eat-dog"(232).

The new era puts blacks in conflict over housing and electricity, which are no longer free as a concession of the apartheid government against violence. The difficulty of everyday pursuits is reflected in the "university-thing" comments of Madumoýs relatives, who are impatient with his pursuit of his new opportunities. These sentiments might be echoed by any working family struggling with a devalued Rand and the expensive prospect of academics (17). The rise in witchings and witch doctors is also related to the emergence of AIDS, which is sweeping the country.

Ashford notes that "none of the dispositions of professionals writing about Africa seemed to make much sense" (244). While I might agree with him, I want to hear more about how he sees the western tradition, which itself is based upon histories of occultism and itself has religions grounded in the invisible and the transubstantiated, as reflecting possible egress from the problems facing these South Africans. Should we come down upon "folk wisdom" which anchors witchcraft, or should we subscribe a movement towards the "folk wisdom" of Western modernity (245) which supports secularism and "enlightenment"? Ashforth gives us a detailed and localized view of witchcraft as an institution and inescapable fact of South African life, but the modern era and its changes are probably having an increasingly positive and liberalizing effect upon this tradition.

Although this is perhaps equally as much memoir of Ashforth as it is social history of Sowetan bewitchment,
the book is fairly straightforward, and the writing is succinct and modest. We may find ourselves wondering just how useful this book is, however, as something beyond candid reportage. Can we really understand what motivates the ongoing crisis of identity in Africa? Ashforth is right at least in that we should, because the implications of African demise will affect us all in coming years, from AIDS to terrorism. It is also worth considering, as this book does, what tradition can really do for people.

Although he is now a professor in the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, Adam Ashforth has spent much of the past ten years in Soweto, living there full time until the elections of 1994, and then going back for three months each year. He has friends there, so he goes to South Africa for his vacations. _Madumo: A Man Bewitched_ (University of Chicago Press) tells the story of one such friend, and the extraordinary lengths toward which friendship goes. It is a warm, generally happy book blending memoir, reportage, and sociology. It is steeped in witchcraft. Madumo, a friend from Ashforth's first stay in Soweto, has been thrown out of his house because a prophet of the Zion Christian Church told Madumo's younger brother that Madumo had used witchcraft to murder their mother, and Madumo had been thrown out of the family home.

Much of the book has to do with the counter-witchcraft Ashforth helps Madumo hire, through a medicine man named Mr. Zondi. Madumo has to be washed with herbs and earth from Madumo's mother's grave. There is a ritual cutting of Madumo's hands and legs, with mercury rubbed into the cuts. A white hen is slaughtered in a pre-feast to assure the ancestors of goodwill and more to come. Other herbs induce vomiting, the sort of purgative that has been favored in folk medicine for centuries, but which makes Madumo seriously ill. Ashforth tells a surgeon friend about what Madumo is going through, and the surgeon explains the danger. The vomiting can cause dehydration, kidney failure, and bleeding from the esophagus. Ashforth seriously worries if he had been too simple-minded in endorsing the Zondi cure.

The treatments bring improvement for Madumo. The improvement can't promise him a new place in his family, or within the South African economy, however; the strange daily life and business ways of the Sowetan community are a constant theme in this unique memoir. The main theme is, of course, the pervasive belief in witchcraft, and Ashforth explains how as a form of belief in the supernatural it takes its place with other religious ideas as a way of trying to make sense of the world. Ashforth is often asked if he believes in witchcraft, and he resoundingly doesn't. But he also knows that there are no arguments persuasive enough to make believers think that Madumo's treatment is placebo any more than those who pray can be convinced that prayer is not a real interaction with the divine. Trying to argue Madumo out of his beliefs would have availed Ashforth nothing, while paying for the treatment did give his friend a new life. Thus the materialist harnessed counter-witchcraft to help a bewitched friend, and brought results.

Before all the infrastructure was there for tourists, true pioneers like Wolhuter explored and enjoyed the region dangerously. This book which I once owned and read a few times around the age of 10-16 has till today, 40-years later, marked places and incidences that I will never forget. This book is part of my life and love of Africa!

One of the few books written by a dying breed of man. The information held within proved to be interesting reading, even though it seemed to lack a final point. It provides an interesting outlook from one of the Kruger's first gamerangers of what life was like back then and of animal interactions. As a field guide I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in the origins of one of the world's greatest national parks or an interest in animals.

Not since reading Three Against The Wilderness or Crusoe of Lonesome Lake have I found such a great, true, adventure story. Correction - I have never before come across such a great story.

Make no mistake about it, this is one of those books that, if you are fortunate enough to find stuck in some far flung second hand bookstore, you will devour every word.

Wolhuter matter-of-factly explains his life from about age 10 when his adventures began in a South Africa that was every bit as wild as the American West, but with the added dangers of lions, hyenas and other dangerous beasts.

Those of you expecting to read something derogatory about the natives though will be sadly disappointed. Wolhuter, in fact, obviuously was not blinded by prejudice for he was not fooled by rumors of uprisings that turned out to be false. Fortunately, though, Wolhuter spends no time discussing the natives and far less discussing the politics of the time that led to the Boer War and so forth. Indeed, although he did fight for the British side, one imagines through his narrative, that he could almost as easily fought for the Boer side, such is his empathy for friends and his antipathy for politics.

I found his investigation of the scene following a lion kill of a native woman and her child to be riveting - surpassed only by his account of his own harrowing escape from death by two lions.

Memories of a Game Ranger is a must read. Hollywood will discover this story soon and make it into a blockbuster, perhaps starring Kevin Costner or Harrison Ford.

In My Chindren! My Africa!, Fugard tells the story of a white South African girl who becomes involved in debates with a black South African boy and his teacher, but as the racial tension increases, tragedy becomes inevetable. Fugard tells a powerful story which not only addresses the racially charged South Africa he is from, but race relations and the need to realize the differences between people of race are only skin deep.

Here is a painful play about the hope of a country and it's people falling by the wayside under the mad rush of anger and rage and frustration.

There are only three characters here: Mr. M, a black teacher in Brakwater, called "the location," the black town outside the white town of Camdeboo. Thami, also black, is a leading young student, and protege of Mr. M. And Isabel, a white girl Thami's age, who befriends both of them after an interschool debate.

Together the three of them agree to prepare for a competition which may represent the best and brightest of a new generation of South Africans. One that is marked by a union between blacks and whites, in the spirit of education, knowledge and words. Such is the hope. But the hope ultimately gives way to the heart wrenching evil of apartheid as it cuts the three apart. Mr. M and Thami diverge about how to fight apartheid and Isabel struggles as her new friendships crack, and spirits wane.

Painful. Spiritually uplifting, then crushing. Eye opening.

My Children! My Africa! was the first book I've read ever to make me cry--so much towards the end that I had to put it down. It is the touching tale of a white South African girl who befriends a black South African boy and his teacher, amidst a time of strong racial tension. Their teacher helps them to learn that even though others may be at war, they still have the chance to pave the road to a new, better Africa. Fugard's best play ever!

Within its set limits, this is an excellent book. Potter's major focus is the Imperial system of government and how it changed over the period covered in this book. Potter starts with the Imperial system at the end of the reign of Marcus Aurelius, the termination of a period of remarkable stability with a series of successful transitions between Emperors. Under Marcus Aurelius and his predecessors, the Emperor functioned as the fulcrum of a system in which governence was exercised partly by the Imperial court, partly by the Senatorial class through institutions inherited from the Roman Republic, partly by a bureaucracy staffed by the Roman equestrian order, and partly through the Army. The Emperor mediated through these different systems and balanced local/regional needs against Imperial needs. The ranks of the Senatorial and equestrian orders were socially permeable with provincial families making their up the social ladder into important positions. Potter shows the Empire at this point to be somewhat backward looking with intellectual life driven by work of important thinkers from prior generations and important institutions, like the Army, maintaining the structures established decades, if not centuries earlier. After Marcus Aurelius, a number of stresses emerged that drove major changes in governence. The Persian empire was reinvigorated by the Sasanids, 'barbarian' invaders from Europe became more of a problem, and chronic succession problems produced political instability. The imperial succession is marked by a series of incompetent (Commodus), underage, or arguably insane (Caracalla, Elagabalus) Emperors. Succession crises produced frequent civil wars. Over time, the role of the Imperial court expanded with a reduction in the importance of the traditional forms of governance and efforts to more closely govern the provinces. While the Emperor remained the linchpin of the system, Potter argues that towards the end of this period, the court bureacracy had become capable of manipulating Emperors. Certainly, the Army had become something of an arbiter of political fortunes well before the fall of the western Roman Empire. Potter implies that the shift to a more centralized form of government dominated by the court was responsible for some of the difficulties of the Empire. I'm not sure this is convincing. From Potter's account, it seems to me that the difficulties in producing peaceful successions seem more important and the other changes Potter describes might be secondary to the stresses an unstable Imperial system experienced.
Potter does very well in describing another major process in this period, the rise of Christianity as the official state religion. His discussion of religion in general is quite good and his description of how Christianity became the state creed is excellent. In some respects, the emergence of a single, somewhat exclusive state religion is of a piece with the centralizing tendencies of the later Roman state.
I think Potter does less well with demography and economic history, which are hardly mentioned, though I am sure there is not much real data on these topics. Still, what is mentioned is intriguing and would have been worth additional exploration. Towards the end of this period, there were persistent difficulties in recruitment for the Army. Troops were drawn often from 'barbarian' groups. Why? Was this due to population shortfalls in the Empire? This is not really addressed.
This book is written very well though there is an irritating tendency to use some post-modernist jargon like employing the word narrative in the sense of betokening a world view or sense of identity. Recommended strongly.

When Edward Gibbons wrote his monumental work, "The Decline and Fall of the Rome Empire", the "fall" Gibbons was referring to was that of Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1453 CE. In his view the Roman Empire until that fall was undergoing an evolution (some would say devolution) into something vary different from the Empire of Caesar Augustus. David S. Potter, the author of this current excellent history does not take such a long term view, but argues quite effectively that the Roman Empire evolved dramatically following the reigns of Commodus (180-192 CE) and L. Septimius Severus (193-211 CE). Potter uses considerable analytic skill supported by excellent documentation to trace how the catastrophic 3rd Century forced the Empire to redesign its governmental and military systems to deal with radically altered domestic and international situations. Potter maintains that as a result Roman hegemony declined or disappeared in many regions, but that the Empire continued to be a viable force through the 4th Century and into the 5th Century.

It seems to this reviewer, at least, that although this is an outstanding history, Potter may not be entirely accurate in his depiction of Roman power through the 5th Century. An alternative view would be that the Western Half of the Empire gradually ceased to function effectively over the course of the period covered by this book and the structural reforms initiated by Diocletian and continued by Constantine were really institutional band-aids that in the end fell off, at least in the West. Such alternative views are possible because Potter not only documents his arguments, but where practical provides the reader with actual contemporary quotes. This allows the reader to draw his or her own conclusions using this superbly organized book as a base.

Potter's book approaches late antiquity not as a tale of inevitable decline, but as a vibrant, living society. Its thinkers, its scandals and its changes are documented here in fascinating detail. For one such as I, whose learning about the ancient world ground to a halt with the death of Augustus, it is a most interesting read, that truly made the Romans come alive.

I don`t recall ever reading any book in which I have experienced so many different emotions, tears of sadness for both individuals, the humor which brought tears of enjoyment and fascination to my eyes, moments of anguish when I found myself biting my lip wondering what the following pages would bring.
I love the style in which the book is written and printed - short chapters, broken up into easy to focus upon segments, so one never lost the gist of what was actually happening

When recently I read Bearnard O'Riain's Running to Stand Still, I could not but notice the concord between Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes and Richard Llewellyn's How Green Was my Valley.

With amazing honesty and courage, Bearnard O'Riain in his autobiography, Running to Stand Still, acknowledges and describes how he abused his wife - and his difficult path to a healthy, loving relationship. This book takes the reader through the whole gamut of feelings, from anger to admiration. Defensive and insecure when challenged by a woman, O'Riain grows to see how much his behaviour hurts both himself and the woman he loves. The writer is a person for whom one feels both anger and empathy. But the book is not only about abusive relationships. It is also the story of this young impressionable Irishman who chooses to join the IRA through pure romantic idealism. It is both hugely funny and enthralling. I found it difficult to put this book down.

This book is for the reader who wants the challange of a book that makes you think and come up with conclusions. It is not a cookie-cutter walk in the park novel, but rather one that makes you ask questions and ponder the story. I made my book-reading friends read this so we could share our opinions which were quite different.
This is an original, carefully researched, true slave narrative and is now among my favorite books. Share it with someone who can appreciate its deepth.

I'm probably biased in favor of this book, so don't take my word for it. Take People Magazine's. Caroline Leavitt gave it 4 stars, and described it as a "breathtaking novel," "gorgeous and tragic," and written in "rich, lyrical prose." Kirkus reviews gave it a starred review. And so did the Library Journal. The great South African writer, Antjie Krog, says that Yvette Christiansë invented a new language for the book. But it's accessible, and even compulsive reading.
As for my own estimation, Unconfessed is a deliriously beautiful work, one that manages to make the main character, Sila van den Kaap, at once pitiable and admirable. Abused by history and its mendacious masters, she is fierce but also vulnerable, terrifying in her capacity for rage and surprising in her capacity for love, humor and even laughter. This is great literature, and also a great read.

"No mother wants to know that her generations are condemned to the life she despises."" - Sila from Unconfessed

Unconfessed is the story of Sila, a slave who is sentenced to fourteen years of hard labor at South Africa's infamous Robben Island for murder of her son, Baro. Sila, captured as a youth from neighboring Mozambique, has borne a life of hardships. Freedom, promised to Sila and her children upon the death of her mistress, is swindled from her by the destruction of the will by the mistress's financially inept son. She and her children are sold back into bondage to settle gambling debts. She lands at the farm of a sadistic cruel master whose fetish is boxing/slapping slaves about the head, so fiercely that Sila becomes deaf in one ear from the beatings. When six-year old Baro embarrasses the master and his wife in front of their future in-laws by innocently implying that the master is his father, he is beaten unmercifully as an adult would be in such a manner that even the guests are appalled at the master's punishment. After the guests leave, more beatings ensue in the following days for Sila and her son. By the fourth day, Sila realizes that Baro, covered in bruises and suffering from broken bones, will never perform well enough or respond quick enough to ever please their owners. Knowing that he will be the constant target of their owner's anger and eventually will be sold away to a life of bondage, she frees her son from his earthly torment by putting a knife to his throat.

The story is told in Sila's voice via alternating memories from her childhood, servitude, trial, and prison experiences. The book's title refers to her never confessing to the crime, but cites one word (heartsore) as the rationale for her actions. Borrowing the theme from Toni Morrison's Beloved, Christianse authors a fictional tale based on proven facts. She created a character that seemed as if she could have actually existed at some point in time. She wrote the story with such convincing ken that Sila's story seems rooted in authenticity - no doubt she worked hard under extreme conditions, was repeatedly raped and sexually abused all her life, and suffered unimaginable mental stress and utmost heartbreak with the death and sale of her children.

On a personal note, I deducted a point for a couple of drawbacks. There seemed to be too many repetitive passages that did nothing to enhance or advance the established plot. Sila's soul is angry and tortured, however her extended inner monologues to express those emotions were quite numerous. The lyrical and somewhat poetic dialogues with her deceased children to calm her spirit and justify her actions were a bit protracted and sometimes read as abstract ramblings. However, I really enjoyed the history lessons contained within the book. The author cleverly folds in the inhumane conditions of Robben Island, the Dutch reaction to British anti-slavery laws, and the resistance of the indigenous Xhosa people against the Dutch. This is a notable read for historical (literary) fiction fans.

Reviewed by Phyllis
APOOO BookClub
Nubian Circle Book Club

This is fascinating. This very important topic could have made for boring reading, but the author (who obviously knows the subject thoroughly and first hand) has made it quite interesting. This book will never be outdated, as it covers past events that bring to mind so many things that are going on today and, unfortunately, will be tomorrow as well. (I wonder when a truth commission will be set up for Iraq.) Authoritative yet simply worded, the book is for anyone and everyone who cares anything about the world outside the box.

The publisher has been lazy and inconsiderate in failing to post adequate information about this superb book. It is without question the single most important reference, covering the theory, the history, the practice, and future of truth commissions. It is comprehensive, clear, easy to read, and superbly documented.

This book has special meaning for me, at the #1 Amazon reviewer for non-fiction about global issues and national security and prosperity issues, because on the basis of real-life experience and reinforced by the 600+ books I have reviewed in just the past four years, I have become convinced that the US public must demand two Truth & Reconciliation Commissions if we are to reach the next century in any kind of good order: one must focus on the ills that America has bestowed on the world through its Cold War years (see Derek Leebaert, The Fifty-Year Wound: How America's Cold War Victory Has Shaped Our World as well as--among many others--Chalmers Johnson, The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (The American Empire Project), its support of 44+ dictators world-wide (see Ambassador Mark Palmer's Breaking the Real Axis of Evil: How to Oust the World's Last Dictators by 2025), and our predatory immoral capitalism (Cf. Perkins Confessions of an Economic Hit Man' Greider The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy and Prestowitz, Rogue Nation: American Unilateralism and the Failure of Good Intentions.

EDIT of 11 Dec 07: There are *so* many other books I have reviewed that could be listed here. The sad thing is that in 8 years Bush-Cheney, with the total abdication of Congress and the media, have led an apathetic nation into ruin.

We also need an internal Truth & Reconciliation Commission that could usefully start with the treasonous, treacherous, immoral, and disgraceful failure of local, state, and federal government in the preparation for and response to Hurricane Katrina, and go backwards from there to explore not only our abuse of minorities, but our abuse of the working poor (see Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America David Shipler, The Working Poor: Invisible in America and then go from there to the pernicious deliberate looting of the Commonwealth by a combination of military-industrial, pharmaceutical, and energy special interests; corrupt Congressmen, and a Wall Street that thrives on laundering drug money and picking the pockets of the middle class (Cf . Michael Ruppert, Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil)

Most interesting to me, although not mentioned in this book, if one Goggles for truth and reconciliation USA one discoveres the Greensboro North Carolina Truth and Reconciliation endeavor, to explore past human rights abuses through slavery and related themes. This is a proven process that is clearly relevant to all countries, and especially to the 900-lb gorilla called America. The growing gap between rich and poor is the moral equivalent of global genocide and ecocide. If the rich wish to see their future generations survive, they had better start thinking about this important alternative to popular justice.

It is in this very American context that we can conclude that not only is this book at least as important to every American as it is to the rest of the world, but that the 9-11 Commission was a cover-up, a farce, that failed to engage the people, failed to discover all that could be known, and failed to hold anyone accountable.

I am most impressed by the diligence, scope, and coherence of this book. This is an extraordinary examination, based on global travel, deep research, and penetrating personal insight that is graceful and low-key, into the role of truth commissions, the great difficulties that accompany the creation and maintenance of such commissions, and the long-term implications of a successful outcome.

On page 23, after discussing the new emerging field of "transitional justice" the author declares that it "is certain that more countries will be turning to official truth-seeking in the coming years." As we review books like Jonathan Schell's The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the People and Why They Hate Us: September 11, 2001...and Justice For Non and many others, two things are clear: 1) the dictators are not long for this world--I give them twelve years at the most; and 2) it is not just "dictatorships" that need commissions, but also those democracies that are fraudulent, among which I would include the United States of America (see my review of Jimmy Carter's new book, and the books recommended there, including Peter Peterson's Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It).

The author is to be commended for blending a reference work that concisely and clearly covers the 21 existing truth commissions at the time of the first writing as well as the 12 emergent between the hard copy and the new soft copy, and that brings out the reasons, the lessons, the benefits, and the costs. The most important benefit is mentioned on page 135, in which the author discusses the importance of honoring the past and overcoming what some call the conspiracy of silence. I would refer readers to Robert Parry's Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & 'Project Truth' as well as Larry Beinhart, Fog Facts: Searching for Truth in the Land of Spin, and of course the recent classic, Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq. The list goes on.

The book has a practical side as well, identifying key factors in whether a truth commission will succeed or fail, chief among which is whether they get an adequate staff and budget, and whether there is a good process of engaging the public in defining the goals and the process.

The appendices and the index are quite professional, and overall this is a world-class reference work of enormous value to the possibilities of using transitional justice to achieve sustainable peace around the world.

Priscilla Hayner is, very likely, the world's most expert writer on 'truth commissions'. This book is a follow-up on the article '15 Truth Commissions', published in the Human Rights Quarterly, which was the first systematic review of the issue up to the mid-1990s. This book deals with dozens of examples up to 1999. Hayner describes how truth commissions are being established.How they operate under very different mandates, e.g. on presidential order, by parliamentary decision, under U.N. auspices, or as a judicial commission of enquiry. How some commissions deal with a large pattern of abuses, such as in Soutth Africa, and others have been concerned with selected violations only, such as the 'disappearances' which were the subject matter of the Argentine commission. How these commissions report, or do not report, on their findings. How commissions are concerned with, or show less than the necessary concern for, the victims. Much of Hayners observations are based on interviews with those directly involved in these commissions. The book has a couple of very useful appendices, where one can compare the mandate, membership, dates, operations, findings, and other characteristics. A few points of criticism are due too. Hayner's book may be the first of its scope, but it is not really, contrary to what is said in the Introduction, the first on the subject. A more serious point is that Hayner deals with these commissions rather as a standard concept. In fact, the commissions have shown wide divergencies and quite a few, if not the majority, may after all be considered less than an outright success. Hayner's optimism about future commissions may be somewhat misleading. It seems at present not at all sure that there is a sound future for truth commissions, the more so as the issue of national and international trials for those responsible has gained prominence in recent years.

This richly illustrated book is a fascinating look at the various traditional black cultures in South Africa. The photographer spent time with different tribal peoples, experiencing their day-to-day lives. His magnificent photographs allow us a glimpse into these vanishing worlds as they adapt to modern, urban influences. For travellers interested in meeting people and armchair anthropologists, this is an indispensable read.

This review applies equally to three of Peter Magubane's very similar books, "Vanishing Cultures of South Africa," published in 1998, "African Renaissance" published two years later in 2002 and "Ceremonies," published in 2003.

These books are almost unconscionably similar, with many photos in the second book either outright recycled from the first book or pictures taken in the same photo-shoots as the ones in the first book--sometimes of the very same people, in photos apparently shot moments apart. The first book is organized by tribe, while the latter is organized by categories such as dress, rites, arts, homesteads, etc. Nevertheless the books are largely the same, covering the same material, same people, with the same or similar pictures.

One can get the impression somebody just wanted to make a fast buck. In fact, a third book by Magubane, published a year later and titled "Ceremonies" seems to be almost entirely reprints from both of the prior books--with no warning to the prospective purchaser! There exist still more books by this guy, but these are the only three I bought, so I don't know exactly how thin he spreads his work. As for these three, I should have bought only one of them (if any), and will return at least "Ceremonies."

As for their content, you have to be aware that these pictures, taken in well-developed South Africa, depict tribal lifestyles and rituals that hark back to the past--remaining only in a modern context of revival and preservation of the old traditional ways. People dress up for them, in other words. You'll see costumes that look neat and clean and store-bought, and some evidence of modernity in the background (buildings, shirts and ties). You'd buy one of these books to see how the modern culture chooses to embrace some form of ritual (cultural heritage) from the past in the hope of informing today's culture in positive ways.

If you want to see and learn about African tribal cultures that still exists today as they have for hundreds of years (the "dressing up" is still every-day attire), then you must look elsewhere (such as, for example, the amazing books on Ethiopia's Omo Valley, by Silvester, Giansanti, Beckwith & Fisher, etc.).

Three stars might be too many for these works that are a repeated rehashing of previous works, almost identical, apparrently just to make another buck off unsuspecting customers. Shame.

When this book was first published, here in South Africa its promotion was good. I decided this was my type of book, so I went shopping. None of the bookshops that I usually use had it and so I placed an order at a couple of the stores (explaining I also had another order somewhere else.

It really was worth waiting for, the photography is outstanding. There is also enough information for people who do not live in Africa - just to wet their taste buds

South Africa has had plenty of problems in the past but when I see a book like this, I am very honoured as I know these tribes, they are colourful and very proud.

see time-europe issue dated june 12 for a review i've written already

"War of Words" is the story of a courageous reporter and a brave newspaper in apartheid-era South Africa. After joining the Rand Daily Mail in 1958, author Benjamin Pogrund broadened the newspaper's coverage of "African affairs," reporting on facets of black South African life given short shrift by most "mainstream" newspapers.

It was no easy task to report the news while constrained by numerous, ever-expanding, secrecy laws. While the South Africa portrayed in this book was no Soviet Union - English-language newspapers, the Rand Daily Mail in particular, were able to criticize apartheid in the strongest terms - the expanding web of press restrictions prevented journalists from fully informing the public of what it needed to know. Perhaps the most interesting section of the book is the description of the Mail's attempt to report on horrifying conditions in South Africa's prisons, reportage which caused Pogrund to face criminal charges for violation of the Prisons Act. This type of reporting (and editing, by Laurence Gandar) took guts.

Although the book does not emphasize the personal life of the author, one nugget seemed to encapsulate what it must have been like to live in the South Africa of that time: Pogrund refers to having had to overcome "the nervous habit of glancing over our shoulders - the hallmark of South Africans . . ." Other books have also alluded to the strange atmosphere of a society where no one knows who is working for which security agency - and the Mail was apparently infiltrated with various spies. On that note, one of the most fascinating characters to make an appearance here is Hendrik van den Bergh, head of the Bureau for State Security (BOSS), which apparently had microphones in the Mail's offices. (van den Bergh also appears in "Rivonia's Children," the outstanding book about the sabotage trial in which Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in prison, and is the star of "Inside BOSS, South Africa's Secret Service." Both are also worth reading and will give different perspectives on the same era.)

I have only two minor criticism of this book. First, Pogrund's evident shock at the "Muldergate" information scandal jars. Was it really such a surprise that a government which controlled the radio network would also seek surreptitiously to own a newspaper? To this American reader, Muldergate comes across as minor league. To be fair, however, the scandal was significant enough at the time to take down the Vorster government.

Second, Pogrund sometimes tells us more than we needed to know about feuds between Saan (South African Associated Newspapers) management and the Mail editorial staff. Yet, because this is a history of the Mail as much as the memoirs of Pogrund, some of that "inside baseball" was necessary - and the background did help to explain the machinations behind Saan's decision to close the Mail in 1985. The closure of the Mail, possibly as the result of a television channel deal by Saan with then-President P.W. Botha, left Pogrund "drained of energy and spirit."

This book is an unfailingly honest story of a brave journalist. Despite the criticisms above, I believe the book has earned 5 stars as a comprehensive, readable account of journalism under and against apartheid. I highly recommend it.

When the author began his career as a young reporter in the 1950s, the Rand Daily Mail was emerging as South Africa's leading newspaper. As the "African affairs reporter" he brought the words of black leaders like Robert Sobukwe & Nelson Mandela to the country & to the world.

If you've ever wondered about the history of South Africa & how apartheid grew; who were its villains & who its heroes you must pick up a copy of War of Words for it is also about the life & death of a newspaper, of freedom of speech as well as a memoir of minute increments of courage & endless years of determined resignation.

If you've ever wondered what living under unbridled racism was like read this book. It is strong stuff, rather like watching a sandstorm heading toward you, smothering out the light, turning everyone crazy until it too passes & there's a chance at a better tomorrow.

A fascinating, well-written & informative memoir from inside the belly of the beast as seen by one reporter who kept himself close to the fire.

The Afrikaner nation in South Africa is the most often maligned, least studied people on Earth. Most Westerners hear the name and go into thought free reaction mode. "They're bad, I want to know nothing." This is a great disservice to the Afrikaners and the various other nations who live with them. To hear Peter Jenninngs, Tom Brokaw, et al talk it would seem that the Afrikaners sprung fully formed as haters from the bare ground one day and have been a blight ever since. Nothing is further from the truth. If any people had known the oppression and hardship that the Afrikaners endured under the British and then became magnanimous and nice afterward, I would like to see them. This book gives one an understanding of the formative events that make up the Boer character, without excusing the many evils of Apartheid. Without a thorough understanding of these many tragic events, there is no understanding of South Africa.

wonderful little book that tells the long tale of the white man in south africa and his endurance and his legacy as well as his barbarism, but mostly his culture. A very insightful book that gives a whirlwind tour through the history of the Afrikaners and their settlement as a Dutch colony to thier persectution by the English, and their war with the Zulus as they fled the British on the Great Trek. An honest portrayel that shows these people to be neither villian nor heroes but products of their circumstance of being threatened from both sides, by the imperial English and the numerious Black Africans, they became hardened and in western eyes, cruel. The book is outdated but worth the read if you can find it.

Today White farmers are being murdered in the thousands by Black Africans. White Afrikaners are being persecuted and massacred and the Black government does nothing. Not so different then what has happaned in Zimbabwe. This book tells the history of the white tribe of Africa. These people were not colonists but natives having migrated to Africa hundreds and hundreds of years ago(before the Zulu migrated to SOuth Africa). These people were forced into undue suffering under the British and suffered in the first concentration camps. THis book tells the story of Aparthied. And it helps to preserve the heritage of a unique people, living in a unique land. When we are older the whites of SOuth Africa will only be a memory, long since butchered and raped by their Black neighboors, they will suffer the fates of whites who have lived in ANgola and Zimbabwe and Uganda. The truth about the situation is that the current Black government has done little to protect the nations minority populations(Indian and White and Chinese) and they are just as intolerant, if not more so, then the whites who were in power previously.
This book is dated but it is an essential read for anyone who has been fed up with the view of S. Africa that all Whites are bad and all Blacks are noble. The truth lies in the middle and this book tells the other hald of the story.