South Africa Books

"A masterly survey-vigorous in its views, rigorous in its scholarship. . . a classic . . . . This is decidedly a book with a message, but it is also an excellent book, and one that has been long needed." -Times Literary Supplement

"The most complete and satisfying account of Spanish American black history available . . . . Those of us teaching black history must thank Rout for a most valuable classroom text, and those of us working on the history of blacks in America will welcome an account that illustrates so neatly what what we know and what we do not." -American Historical Review

Dubow's book is a political history of the ANC from 1912 to 1990. It's concise, analytical, well-written, and never loses sight of the broader South African context. Although there isn't much in it that's new, it's ideal for readers who want an introduction to the freedom struggle in South Africa but don't have time to wade through a multi-hundred page tome. It's a real gem. (I'm an American diplomat stationed in South Africa.)

Moorcraft's African Nemesis represents the most reasoned approach to the difficult area of sub-saharan African decolonisation. The majority of works in this area tend to be heavily biased, dependant obviously upon the personal approach and experiences of the various authors. Very few achieve the quality of balance that is evident in African Nemesis - this work avoids the hyperbole and propaganda from both sides and presents a balanced review of the various wars and desabilisation activities carried out be the players in the region. The scope, likewise, is impressive - SWA/Namibia, Angola, Mozambique, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, South Africa, and even the independant homelands are addressed. It is only with such a broad scope that the activities of each government or organisation can be placed in context - which Moorcraft achieves better than any other author I have read. This is the book I would recommend to anyone approaching this field of study for the first time. If you have any interest in Southern African decolonisation / National Liberation, this book is the sine qua non.

Dr. Barr has continued his good work of telling the story of African Americans in Texas and placing them within the context of the state's overall history. Although this book is written for a general audience it mirrors and draws from Dr. Barr's scholarly work on African Americans in Texas and fills a vacuum on the topic. I like the book because it is accessible by numerous audiences and will lead the serious student to the most current research on the subject. If one just wants an overview, then he or she will learn about Black Texans from Esteban to Blind Lemon Jefferson and Barbara Jordan.

"At times when I recall your life from the past, pleasure comes rushing through my neural systems mainly because having been grown up in remote rural villages of Moletjie area, I know that one might loose hope of reaching the stars." That was my buddy trying to sum up my life with few words.

Poverty couldn't be the wall to boundary my potentiality, but I have built the foundation of my victory based on history. Along the thorny road to reaching my dreams, lots of salty tears escaped my ocular boundaries and I have tasted about few milliliters of them. This includes the time when the Bantu Education teachers sjamboked me to the level where I could not sit nor walk. I dropped schooling for sometimes. The life of a poor village boy was nothing but anything parallel or below zero. Indeed my history has determined my destiny. Today I'm a Fulbright Scholar.

My stomach has taken many forms during my metamorphosis stage of growth and development. From a ballooned stiff stomach - airbag like, caused by malnutrition and poverty at young age to an elastic fresh healthy one as a result of feeding from balanced diets and high nutritive value of daily intakes.

The colonizers - the Afrikaners, European gangsters and the ruthless Botha's of my country (South Africa) has planted crops on the soil of my motherland without giving it proper fertility. He harvested and emigrated with a bag full of wealth. Today the soil of our land, dry as it is, cannot even serve a mere seed of corn to germinate. Is as barren as Hannah, the wife of Elkanah in the Old testament of the Bible, but she later gave birth to a Prophet-Samuel. My motherland shall recuperate, and yesterday will never see the present day.

I consider myself as a powerful seed, the seed of power that germinated and survived the apartheid of South Africa, Corporal punishment of Bantu education system, lightning's and thunderstorms of the cold blooded witches of the village while dwelling in a clay hut and shack, all this with almost empty stomach and a condition vulnerable to diseases and poor health service.

My smiles hide my feelings and portray my feelings, because I'm a survivor of a village hatred bestowed upon underprivileged family. I'm thankful to the saccharine expressions that my parents taught me to utter to every human being including the extraterrestrials and strangers. Bantu education system of South Africa was not meant to be an education but the Afrikaner's strategy of keeping black man's kids away from streets, away from committing crime and stealing the harvest of his field.

I've grown up walking barefooted in the village streets and the wild jungle of the village looking after my grandma's goats, for that was the only wealth the family possessed. Enjoy reading my road; I shall fall and suffer no more. For I was raised by the experienced.

I was typing while listening to my memory speaks the past, I smiled, I cried, I laughed and above all, I prayed. Thanks GOD. A Fulbright Fellow I became. Blessed is the man who trusts in God.

The Author
Matshwene E. Moshia

The late Milton Trautman was a professor at the Ohio State University and the recognized authority on freshwater fish of the region.

Of course, this work holds good beyond Ohio's borders and will help you to identify fish species all over the midwest and throughout the eastern interior United States.

This is what I would call a "life work," nicely illustrated with drawings. The book is bulging with technical information and is the last word on fish identification.

As a former Ohio conservation officer and adjunct College instructor, I cannot say enough good about this fine volume. A must for eastern naturalists.

Written in the form of letters to the people in her life closest to her, these essays blaze with the intensity of life deeply felt and faith forged in the crucible of base cruelty, soaring beauty and redemption that is South Africa. Having stripped away the usual academic lingo, this theologian, who describes herself as a cultural hybrid and a feminist, takes on such subjects as cultural and racial identity, political, theological and physical domination, and the paradox of the presence of an all-powerful and compassionate God in a world riven by suffering from AIDS, misogyny, torture, injustice, hunger, and hatred. Ms. Ackermann refuses to look away from suffering or be paralyzed by her anger, or to take refuge in apathy or denial. All suffering and helplessness are held up to the example of scripture, most particularly the poetry of suffering and praise in the psalms, and in the passion of Jesus. This is a book for readers whose need is to explore the wilderness more than for those who demand comfort and certainty.

I have always been Paton's admire. His tool of words in acting against the injustices that took part in South Africa, draw me closer to his books.

Finally, someone decides to honor this unbeleagured figure. Our white captain!

I have followed Alex la Guma's fiction and this is the best critical work I have read on the author. Others tend to be too simplistic -- simply biographical or they fall into essentialist terminology. I have read them but been disappointed by them because La Guma, a political writer, a member of the ANC and a writer whose work was banned under apartheid, deserved so much more detailed consideration. It isn't enough to tell us that he wrote against apartheid but how he did so so effectively. Yousaf has written a thorough and thoughtful book. Reading it helped me to look again at novels I know and see new things and read them through new ideas. The book also helped me to see that reading people like Frantz Fanon or Mikhail Bakhtin, critics I have found difficult, can actually help you to read novels in thought-provoking ways. The bibliography is really useful too. Yousaf uses the theorists, but to effect and never lets them get in the way of the novels themselves.

This is a great introduction to La Guma for new readers and for readers like myself, it augments what we already know and advances our thinking on a neglected South African writer.

I cannot understand why Heinemann who publish La Guma's fiction should have decided to price this book so high. From experience, I would say that it would work well for students of African Literature, especially South African Studies. But it would need to be in a cheaper format, like the fiction.

Stephanie Urdang is my Mother. I would like to say that she is one of the most amazing women I have ever come across, and I'm not just saying that because I'm her daughter. I was brought up around such amazing people from all over the world who, like my parents, were very socially-conscience and wanted to make a difference in the world. My Mum is from South Africa, and she knows how apartheid and hate can affect a person- especially women. She now works at UNIFEM at the United Nations, and throughout the past year she has spent her time and energy working with many others to come up with ways to help women all over the world and spread awareness of the true meaning of being a woman. If you want to learn more about the struggles and pride-crushing situations women in Mozambique and all over the world go through every day, then do yourself a favour and buy this book. It will forever change your view on women and what women can accomplish even in the hardest of times. Thank you for your time.