South Africa Books

I have attempted to write a review of this book several times, but failed as I find myself gripped with the same conflicting emotions that Malan so succintly portrays in the book.

Having been born and brought up very close to the Msinga Valley (the subject of the closing chapter of My Traitor's Heart) in the heart of Kwa Zulu Natal, many of the names and people are known to me. Some of those people are the heroes of the book, others are the villains. I mention this only in so much as I can verify sufficient of the authenticity of Malan's very personal, cathartic journey.

Many others have written a synopsis of Malan's book. If you want to know about the story line - there are many reviews to be read. However, for me the review is a personal experience. Malan's catharsis is paralleled by my own! No other book I've read is as descriptive of the madness that is Africa. A madness that you both love and hate at the same time. A madness that drives you away and yet draws you in simultaneously. And finally a madness that drives you to the edge of reason, yet (as the story of Creina Alcock unfolds) drives you to the reason for being.

No matter where you start on the political spectrum (extreme left, extreme right or somewhere in the middle), you find yourself driven to the other end of the scale and back again, on a roller coaster of emotion. For Malan, his beginning point is 'extreme left'. His end point, is, I suspect, 'disallusioned'.

I recommend this book as an extremely well written, witty, sad, mad book. If you want to understand Africa (insofar as anyone can 'understand' Africa), this is the book to read.

But reader beware - it is a deeply disturbing, very graphic read!

White liberal draft-dodger hard at work. He's a good writer and the book's a painful look into the heart of a white liberal. My admiration goes rather to those who fought to defend their country.... but it's an insight into the tortured soul of a typical liberal wooftah. Why people put themselves thru all this inner torment I have no idea - have a beer and get over it, bloke! If you'd just done your time in the armed forces like pretty much every other south african had to do instead of taking the chicken run, you wouldn;t be going thru all this turmoil.

How does one explain the intricacies of Apartheid-era South Africa, from the political turmoil to the constant tribal warring? Primitive thought? Anger spurred by poverty and hunger? Ancient beliefs conflicting with modernity? Racism? There is no one simple answer, and this book does an incredible job of elucidating this. It is harrowing, horrific, and incredibly sad, but it is all real and should be read by all. The story of an incredibly violent and hopeless place told through the eyes of Rian Malan, a descendant of one of the first founders of Apartheid thought, as he retells his life story and searches his soul for an answer, travelling from white affluence to the slums, from America to the soul-crushing gold mines, from the base of a dwindling black political movement to the outermost reaches of the arid rural kwaZulu, meeting whites consumed by intense racial hate and those who tried to love so hard that it destroyed their lives, and telling their life stories along with his, to create an incredibly rich and horrifying mosaic.

When I read this book ten plus years ago it blew me away, both as political and narrative non-fiction, and as excellent writing. Malan's voice and humanity perfectly tell an important story. The second reading was as good, if not better.

Before a recent visit to S. Africa, this book was recommended as an introduction to the political climate in S. Africa, especially after Apartheid. This very personal account told by Rian Malan, whose ancestors were directly responsible for the formation of the Apartheid society, traces his teenage rebellion against Apartheid, his career as a liberal newspaper reporter and his ultimate rejection of the violence that the new government has spawned. Be prepared for graphic descriptions of violence committed by both whites and blacks.

A good introduction to the complicated history of S. Africa and leaves the reader with questions regarding the future of that sad country.

This book really surprised me since it differed a bit from other Michener works. I have never learned so much and enjoyed a book at this level in my life. The next runner-up would have to the "The Source". The Covenant is amazing!

Michener's true epics are always worth the time to read. "The Covenant" is no exception. Michener's take on South Africa and its history is an honest attempt to give some perspective on one of the more complex histories that this history teacher has encountered.

The book starts out strong (my edition was the two-volume hardback). The first volume was vintage Michener, but the second one dragged. Perhaps it was because the subject matter became more and more depressing. With the final 200 pages or so being about Apartheid, it's hard to find something to cheer about.

In a way, Michener's book seems incomplete - he hints that Apartheid could no longer stand - he gives a prediction that it would end by about the year 2000. Turns out, he was just about right, but the book feels like it does not have a proper ending.

If you are pondering a Michener book and have not read them all (personally, I only have one more to go) than I recommend skipping this one and coming back to it later.

This book really gives you a perspective on the history of South Africa and it's race related problems which has plagued the country since its very beginning. It gives you a real understanding about the Boer people and what they had to go through to forge a nation out of a barren, but beautiful land. Starts out at the first landing of Dutch Settlers and follows a couple families history until the 1960's.

It also details the earliest recorded history of the Zulu people and their greatest leader Shaka Zulu who made the Zulus into a people to be feared, it goes through the history of "the Coloreds" (which are a mixture of White and Black), it continues on through the Boer War between the British and the Boers and it spells out how Aparthied (Literally the two words Apart-ness in Afrikaans) was started and implimented and why it came to be in the first place.

I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful book. Africa is a country I never knew much about. It opened my eyes to the struggles faced by both Black and White and the struggle for supremacy. Once I read the book, I had a much better understanding of what was going on over there.
I recently purchased another copy for my doctor who is from South Africa. He mentioned that he loves to read about South Africa. I asked if he'd read any Michener's books and he hadn't. I had a hard time finding the book though, because most of his books on locations are named by that location. A little persistence and I got it.

Prior to reading this novel, I was a fan of historical fiction, but had never read a Michener novel. After I finished it, I developed an enormous respect for the man and his writing. This book does not deserve to be classified with the other historical fiction I've read.

That being said, this was also the first in-depth look at South African culture and history that I had experienced. I was in grade school when Apartheid ended officially, so I barely remember hearing about it as it happened. it was incredibly educational without being a textbook. Especially helpful was that Michener not only followed one family, but only one branch of the family. He does make brief references to family branches left behind, but only in a reasonable context and does not try to backtrack into their histories.

The family trees at the end were incredibly helpful. I found myself going back to them repeatedly.

All in all, definitely worth the time investment!

La extrema derecha toma el poder en Sudafrica y lanza una guerra racial que debasta al pais. Sudafrica invade Namibia, la cual es defendida por las fuerzas cubanas acantonadas en Angola. Con ayuda de la URSS, Cuba contrataca desde varios frentes. Las fuerzas enfrentadas utilizan sus arsenales de destruccion masiva: bombas nucleares y gas nervioso. Una fuerza anfibia anglonorteamericana desembarca en Sudafrica. Boers, anglosajones, cubanos y nativos se enfrentan a lo ancho y largo del pais.

"Voragina" es una obra de Larry Bond, al estilo de "Fenix Rojo", "Caldera" y "Tormenta Roja".

Bond is much better than Clancy. I just cannot tear myself from any book that Bond has written. A true author of modern realism in today's world.

From Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising collaborator and best selling novelist in his own right, in his first novel Red Phoenix, we are treated to Larry Bond's second masterpiece in military/political thriller fiction in Vortex. Larry Bond once again proves his research capability in his studies of all of the cultures of South Africa and their strengths and differences. He has once again, melded his research, his fluent and poignant writing style into a classical work of fiction. In Vortex, he has essentially taken almost every conceivable aspect of a world crisis situation and crafted it into this masterpiece.

Where Tom Clancy draws all of the accolades and acclaim, Larry Bond continually produces superb military/political thrillers that are of the same caliber and in the case of Vortex, much larger in scope and overall detail.

If you're a Tom Clancy, Harold Coyle, Dale Brown, Stephen Coonts, or one of the many other fine military/political thriller author's fans, you would do well to pick up on Larry Bond and his superior work.

The premise:

Taking into consideration that this novel was written in the late 80's and early 90's, Larry Bond absorbed the headline news of the time to craft a conceivable real world situation where the boiling point of South Africa could've turned into the very Vortex, of the title, and brought the entire worlds attention to its internal struggles. There could've been no more apropos title for this novel than "Vortex." Vortex as defined in the Webster's dictionary (A situation regarded as drawing into its center all that surrounds it.)

Essentially, Vortex is the story of one man's twisted desires to bring total apartheid to its maximum fruition in Karl Vorster. Through chance and his own machinations, he effectively seizes control of the South African government and begins to bring to realization his perverted dreams of total apartheid and the destruction of his opponents or anyone else who gets in his way. Given South Africa's mineral wealth and that strategic importance to both Western and Eastern powers, this quickly draws their collective attentions.

What follows is a tour de force of flurried action, suspense and outstanding military fiction, which brings many players to the table to include; the United States, Britain, Israel, Russia, Cuba and Libya. Hence the title of "Vortex." Where these many players are all drawn to South Africa and its mineral wealth. {ssintrepid}

A competent but dry effort that dragged through the 2nd half. A real lack of intensity and action compared to Bonds Red Phoenix.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the end of the U.S.-Soviet confrontation created both a problem and a challenge to "future war" novelists: how do you create believable scenarios in which America and her allies fight against possible real-world enemies? After all, with the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the scaling back of U.S. forces in Europe, a Red Storm Rising-class World War III novel was obsolete. But at the same time, the military-fiction genre was still very viable...as long as writers came up with credible adversaries to cause havoc in the world.

Vortex, Larry Bond and Patrick Larkin's second collaborative effort, is set in early 1990s South Africa before the white minority relinquished its death-grip on power. It paints a dark scenario of a desperate Boer-dominated government using its military and police to destabilize neighboring "black" African nations and fight a Marxist-leaning African National Congress and its armed guerrillas.

Vortex starts out, as many techno-thrillers often do, with a seemingly isolated event. In the prologue, a team of South African Army commandos and a black ANC turncoat execute a raid on an ANC safe house/headquarters in Gawamba, Zimbabwe. Led by Capt. Rolf Bekker, the South African commandos wipe out an ANC guerrilla cell and capture a safe full of documents (which they photograph and leave apparently undiscovered), then return to their base without serious loss.

In Bond's alternate history, years of sanctions and diplomatic isolation have failed to end apartheid and white rule of the Union of South Africa. Instead, the Boers (descendants of South Africa's original Dutch settlers) who dominate the government have become more repressive and paranoid. For their part, the ANC's leaders have grown weary of waiting for the West to press for change by peaceful means, and Marxist hard-liners have come up with a campaign code named Broken Covenant. Its goal: to win by force what years of negotiations and international condemnation have not...the end of white rule and the establishment of a black-dominated government. And by the end of the novel, South Africa's internal strife becomes a conflict pitting Anglo-American forces against various opponents, including Cuban Army units sent by Fidel Castro.

Bond's depiction of a war in South Africa now seems a bit of a stretch, but given that he was a former naval intelligence officer (and designer of the Harpoon war game), perhaps his research into apartheid-era South African affairs gave him insights that most of his readers didn't have. At times the depiction of the South African "bad guys" reminds one of Hitler's Third Reich, especially when Bond and Larkin write about the more die-hard racist government ministers; Karl Vorster, a South African Hitler-like figure and Marius van der Heijden, deputy minister of Law and Order, who seems to have studied under Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler, so extreme are his racist views. But as in many World War II novels, there are "good" South Africans who, when push comes to shove, find the courage to rise against the injustices that they have previously defended.

Of course, it helps to have a little mix of romance, youthful rebellion and a healthy dose of American firepower, and as in Red Phoenix, American weaponry and military units play a huge role in Vortex's plot. In some ways, it's formulaic and the reader knows things will have a rosy ending, but in other ways Vortex is fascinating. Readers will be surprised to know how puritanical the Boer society was (a friend of mine who visited South Africa in the late '70s said Playboy-style magazines were not sold there) and how tense relations used to be between the Dutch- and English-descended whites. The officers with English surnames are often distrusted by their Boer counterparts and are often more critical of apartheid than is healthy for their careers. But just as there are "good Germans" in WWII fact and fiction, there are also "good Boers" who join forces with American and British troops to end the bloody conflict that threatens to end their country's very existence.

This book is terrible. People will tell you that its spiritual or beautifully written but its not. imagine some telling you what a scratch looked like for 10 minutes. By a scratch i mean a banana shaped scratch on a bike. Couldn't the author just say the scratch looked like a banana instead of making it into a whole chapter. this book could be about 50 pages or less but the author drags everything out to a point where i wanted to die.

Poetic, prophetic, profound writing and an insight into the culture of Afica that could only be experienced by being there or reading this book.

This book is reviewed well by the many that have written before me here. I would just like to add that this is one of the best books I have read and was a favorite of my sons when I read it to them. This is one of the rare books that both adults and children could enjoy.

I lived in Botswana while I was in the Peace Corps in a location not far from where this story was set. Van Der Post describes the bush with amazing detail and fills in the spirit of the place and the essence of life under the African sky. He has a rare talent of deeply knowing the land and the people with the ability to craft an absorbing tale.

This is one of my favorite novels of all-time, together with its sequel A Far-Off Place. It's a moving story, beautifully written, and full of the wisdom that I do not myself possess -- but wish I did. I loved it when I first read it in my youth, and I love it still as my years advance. It's a great book.

this story is nothing like the wind. this book could be good if he cut out more of the details and and wrote more about what is actually happening he has to detail it so much teach chapter could be 12-16 pages long.

When I first read Washing of the Spears many years ago I was enthralled with the way in which it was written, I couldn't put it down. I loaned it to a friend but he never returned it, so it was 'lost'. I have now bought another copy and am, again, reading it and finding it is having the same effect. The book gives an insight into the manner in which the tribes were run. They had their own culture, their own system of punishments - which were accepted for whichever wrong had been done. In a way this was their form of civilisation until we encouraged our way of life onto them in an attempt to reform them. I'm afraid I take their side and feel we were the perpetrators of wrongdoing in their country, and had we left them to their own devices they would have 'survived' for a much longer period of time, and perhaps slowly considered and accepted our form of civilisation. Who can really say what was the right way and wrong way of life? It is a history book that I consider is written in an understandable and interesting way.

A timeless work and for many people the definitive. Suggested by some to be out of date, but jeez - it is just so good to read. Many other excellent texts dealing with the topic, but if you only want one, make it this one.

This is the "gold standard" for histories on the Zulu nation and its' wars. The writing is excellent, easy to read and very informative. Excellent research allows the author to document facts. This is the place to start and might be the book that you want to read as a review after your studies are completed.

This is the classical and ironically still the best history of the Zulus ever written, authorative and not dated after all these years. The Zulus were a tribe of Bantu speakers who immigrated sometime in the 1500-1600s from what is today Tanzania and Mozambique into modern SOuth Africa. THere they came up against the Xhosas, Swazis and Sotho as well as other tribes. The Zulu were something of the Romans of Africa, inventing a new fighting style that led them to crush other tribes. In fact the period of Zulu hegemony is known as the 'crushing' to this day. As the Zulus expanded in the mid 1800s they came upon the Dutch speaking Afrikaaners who were fleeing British rule at the Cape and war resulted. LAter in 1879 when the Zulus had been pushed and hemmed into eastern south Africa they defeated a number of British columns until finally being overwhelmed. Their hereditary chiefs run the tribe to this day and Chief Buthelezi, who ran Zululand until 1994 and led the Inkatha Freedom Party in SOuth Africa since, penned an introduction. This is a book from the Zulu point of view but nevertheless a brilliant account proving that the 'racism of orientalism' is a complete fabrication. The British loved and admired the Zulus.

Seth J. Frantzman

I first bought this book in the early 70s and found it both a fascinating read and a "ripping yarn". I am on my fourth edition of this book (the others have been borrowed and not returned or worn out on campaign). The book gives an excellent history of the "people of heaven" written before the era of political correctness that characterises much of the modern work on this emotional subject. Contrary to much popular opinion it is not a one sided book, British and colonial officers and officials are critiscised when necessary and I do not believe anyone can take offense at the "noble savage" depiction of the Zulus. The book covers the origins of the Zulu nation from the very start up until the defeat at Ulundi and the political consequences thereafter.
The battles are described in some detail and still set my heart racing whether they are describing inter tribal wars or those between the Zulus and their British or Boer enemies, the defeat (or victory depending upon your point of view) at Isandlwana is a particularly exciting read. One reviewer has said "if you only buy one book, this should be it" I agree entirely, it is without doubt the most interesting and entertaining book I have ever read (about 20 times) and would strongly recommend it to anyone with an interest in history, colonial or otherwise

Neo-platonic philosophy, traveler's tales, the expository structure of letters from imaginary places, and some mighty compelling principle characters are somewhat let down by a narrative that visits many interesting places, but ultimately doesn't do very much. This is a book of observations and inaction. Still, brilliant for its treatment of the Platonic "Goods" and the world of play pieces.

Can't say I understand it all, but it's a book you'll love to discuss with others. And that's a high recommendation, isn't it?

... to get through all the discussions of The Chess Garden. This book exists in layers of story and levels of meaning like nearly no other book I have read. Mr. Hansen's prose is lucid, calm, and surprising; you sink into his narrative and follow along in what amounts to an elderly man's love letter to his wife, his way of helping her and their community after a period of loss and grief, and ultimately his way of both being useful and saying goodbye. Our book club, which has met for 10 years now, found much to wonder at and discuss in this book. Like another reviewer here, we read it because it was pressed on us -- "you have to read this book!," -- and in the dozens of books we have read since, only a very few come near to The Chess Garden in grace, meaning, and readability. It's not a fast read -- but it offers gentle and amazing rewards. It is dense. And it is worth it.

I get annoyed when commentators who haven't seen the movie nor read the book weigh in, and so herein I risk causing such annoyance, but I read enough of "The Chess Garden" to be totally flummoxed by its myriad problems. I stopped halfway through when I realized that the story line was incoherent and contradictory. Poor editing of the narrative arc marred what promised to be an interesting tale. For example, on page 78 (Riverhead Trade Paperback, Nov 1996), we learn that "all twelve of the letters ... were composed in South Africa," presumably after the Doctor finally left the Antipodes. But many of the letters are written in what reads like current time: Dr. U continually tells Sonja what he will do tomorrow, as if he was writing the letters from the island while the events were happening, not later in South Africa. "But I will let you know as I learn more," he closes one letter (p. 77), as if he hadn't already learned all there was to learn, because he had already left the island! This perspective permeates all the letters. Suspension of disbelief is necessary so that we can enjoy magical realism in a story, but illogical composition undermines this process.

Also, I could not get past the problem that the letters contain dialogue, and often dialect, which are two totally unbelievable elements of letter-writing. Would someone really take the time to compose another person's words in dialect, as Dr. U. does with, say, Diggery Priest? (And whatever became of this character??)

I finally began to give up during the sixth letter, the one about Pelagia, and into the seventh. Chapter 11 opens by announcing that the "second half" of the seventh letter was "read four days after the first." These lines immediately follow the end of a chapter devoted to the SIXTH, not the first half of the seventh, letter. It didn't make any sense (nor did the puzzle leaves).

In another distracting error, the author writes that Gustav and Sonja met at a church fair in Groningen (p. 107). Yet pages 126-27 relate how Gustav met Sonja in the village of Ijislt. This error combined with the other noted problems rendered the narrative quite incoherent and rather untrustworthy in my view.

Others have noted the brilliance of this novel. I wanted to agree but ultimately found its strengths deeply buried beneath these terribly distracting road blocks. I may seem to be nitpicking an otherwise good tale, but the problems were endemic and prevented me from enjoying the work, which isn't to say someone else cannot enjoy it very much by perhaps reading it less carefully. But, the letters were simply unbelievable in how they presented dialogue and action. Their characterization of having been composed in South Africa rang as false. And there were too many other narrative inconsistencies that thwarted the telling of a good story. It read like a penultimate draft, one that could have used a little more time to pull it all together.

Having thoroughly enjoyed Hansen's novel "The Monsters of St. Helena," I am quite disappointed to have been so disappointed by the "The Chess Garden."

As most of the other reviewers have noted, this novel is amazing. It combines the best of mainstream literary fiction with the best of surreal fantasy. Readers of both types of fiction will love this book. I am somewhat perplexed by Cox's comments. The fact is, when we read a book we suspend our disbelief--we don't eradicate it. So the fantasy sequences, no matter what their origin, should still be evocative and powerful to most readers. In fact, their origin makes them all the more powerful to me, as does the allegorical content. This is one of the few books to both uplift me and to make me cry (in a non-sentimental, non-manipulative way).

Towards the end of Brooks Hansen's The Chess Garden, there is a conversation between the novel's hero-cum-narrator, Dr. Gustav Uyterhoeven, and a visitor to his garden in Dayton, Ohio. The visitor has spent months visiting alleged psychics, and the doctor explains to him that he does this out of a desire to find God. Although the visitor believes himself to be an atheist, he is standing outside the doors of the church, listening to the prayers going on inside and wishing he could feel that faith.

Reading the reviews of The Chess Garden, I find myself in a similar situation. All but one of the reviewers (who include Jeff VanderMeer, one of my favorite authors of modern fantasy) refer to the novel in ecstatic terms, almost as if it were a spiritual experience, whereas all I see is a rather dull, overlong, magical-realist allegory with delusions of profundity.

Partly this is my fault, as I read too much of The Chess Garden expecting a fantasy. Although a significant portion of the novel - the titular letters of Dr. Uyterhoeven - takes place in an imaginary land called The Antipodes, populated entirely by game pieces, this imaginary land is thin and unconvincing. From the moment of its introduction, allegory alarms starting going off in my head, and indeed, The Antipodes have no need for logic, consistency, character arcs, a coherent history, or any other attribute that would make the land stand up off the page. Why should it? The letters exist solely to illustrate the doctor's muddled philosophical ideas. Which is where we come to my own fault, because there are plenty of readers for whom allegory is the best kind of fantasy, and certainly there are thin, unconvincing and even allegorical fantasy worlds that nevertheless manage to draw the reader in (Narnia is a good example), but I am not usually one of those readers, and Hansen's Antipodes is not one of those worlds. I shouldn't have expected Hansen to write a convincing world, and perhaps I should have put the book down once I realized that his world wasn't drawing me in, but I told myself that I could read the novel as magical realism, and see what ideas Hansen had to sell.

Sadly, I was never able to discern those ideas. The parts of The Chess Garden that tell the story of Dr. Uyterhoeven's own life are overlong and tedious. Too many pages are taken up with obscure philosophical discussions, the importance of which is never sufficiently explained. Why does it matter that Uyterhoeven is a quasi-mystic surrounded by rationalists, if his final conclusions are the same as theirs? Invariably, when reading these passages, my eyes would glaze over and I would find myself counting pages until the end of the chapter.

When I closed the book, I found that it had left no residue in me. I was even uncertain about writing a review, as I felt I had nothing to say. I have no idea what Hansen was trying to do with The Chess Garden, and I can only regret the time I wasted trying to find out.

Pakenham's "The Boer War" is one of the best and certainly one of the most thorough works on the war against the Afrikaner peoples of South Africa. This book is both well-researched and well written and, although it is tempting to take exception against this particular colonial war--because it was against "fellow" whites--it must be remembered that the British, scarcely 100 years before, waged war against fellow whites in America.

The difference was that the Americans proved victorious partially because the English were not prepared to go to the extremes they did in South Africa. Ultimately, the English had more troops in South Africa than the Africaners had total population--men, women and children. They also resorted to measures never used against the Americans, namely concentration camps to imprison civilians. Consequently, Great Britain proved victorious but it was a pyrrhic victory, indeed.

There are major similarities and dissimularities between the Boer War and the American Civil War. In both cases the "rebel" forces initially were victorious against larger, better supplied armies. Also, in both cases, the rebels were eventually defeated in open battle. Here the similarities end. Lee, when surrounded at Appomatox, had the option of "going on commando." He refused, reckoning that the damage--both physical and moral--would be worse than surrender. The Boers, given the same option, opted for guerilla warfare. The result was death, devastation and hatred lasting to the present day.

In both cases--Southern and Afrikaner--defeat resulted in extreme measures against black populations. In the South, Jim Crow and the Klan were the unfortunate result. In South Africa, apartheid was the result. In the case of the South, northern domination eventually forced complete desegregation. In the case of South Africa, world opinion and sanctions, resulted in a takeover by the ANC and...it is now totally irrelevant as to whether the English or Afrikaners proved victorious. They are all in the position of potentially losing everything.

Ron Braithwaite author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Conquest of Mexico

This is simply a fantastic and very readable book. The down side is that it is about another bloody and useless war. This war set the stage for the the 20th-century wars to come. The Boer War was the first time concentration camps were used, and the US simultaneously used the idea in their Spanish-American War in the Philippines. We have much to learn from Thomas Pakenham's book, including how the special interests (neocons in the case of the Iraq War) propagandize for war and how wars, in general, have nothing to do with national security, but rather with plunder for the corporatocracy. Here is a taste for those of you who just don't get how horrible war is: "The farms were burnt, the stock looted, the women and children concentrated in camps along the railway lines. Between twenty thousand and twenty-eight thousand Boer civilians died of epidemics in these "concentration camps". This same story continues today, only now in Iraq. Will the masses ever cease getting duped by their criminal states???

Atr the outset, it should be noted that this book could be usefully supplemented by reading COMMANDO by Deneys Reitz - A Boer journal ,of the Boer War.
Much of the horror of 20th century warfare - trench warfare, concentration camps, shooting or otherwise mistreating prisoners - was carried out in the Boer war. Some readers, and I am a general reader not an historian, will have been aware of elements of the Boer War such as the shooting of prisoners by Lt "Breaker Morant" which was and is something of a cause celebre in Australia retold in books, plays and a fine contemporary film. But the one feeling I have after reading this fine book by Mr Pakenham is a far greater sympathy for the Boers and a much better appreciation of the contribution and sacrifice that black Africans made in what was touted as a "white man's" war. In fact it was a black man's war too with c100,000 black riflemen seeing duty, and fighting in effect for the right to vote. Mr Pakenham provides evidence to suggest that the successful survival by the British at the siege of Mafeking was made possible by the sacrifice of black Africans.
Item: 3500 horses perished in one day in one cavalry charge.
Item: 400,000 horses, mules, donkeys died in total
Item: Lord Kitchener invented the concentration camp using a Spanish model re Cubans
Item: The British military and politicians did not care about the thousands of women and children in concentration camps and as the result of disgusting conditions many many died as a result.
Item: It was not superior marksmanship or courage that won, but the application of the knowledge that defence was superior to attack with the new, smokeless, high velocity, weapons.
The book is very well written, with a reliance on much primary source material, especially diaries and letters of the major British protagonists
including Sir Alfred Milner, High Commissioner for South Africa and Lt Governor of Cape Colony who is revealed in his own words as a thoroughly despicable character. The reader also gets a very real feeling for the exigencies of the landscape, the boredom of routine for the military, the clash of battle where the stones on the ground or the mud on the banks of a river become as frighteningly real as the whizz and splat of dum dum bullets. Clearly the writer has experienced the landscape firsthand. The reader also gets a very real picture of the characters involved, their weaknesses and strengths, including some ordinary and very likeable soldiers or "Tommy's".
The likely causes and consequences of the war are made clear to the reader. The usual suspects - imperial supremacy of the British; greed for gold, diamonds; denial of franchise; nationalism - are covered and a re-evaluation of the protaganists undertaken. It is a fair and balanced re-assessment of the task faced by General Sir Redvers Buller and his inability to overcome it whilst appreciating his intelligent appraisal of the situation he found himself in. On the other hand it reveals Lord Kitchener as arrogant and hard working but overrated and over-compensated for his role. The book also emphasises the CRITICAL role of transport and supply.
We are still living with the consequences of it today but one redeeming reality is that democracy and a free press are likely to inhibit a repetition. What was that? Guantanomo Bay? Oil? Imperialism? Franchise? Prisons?

Pakenham's work remains a standard in the history of the Boer War, not only for its scope, but for its clarity and readability. He certainly covers the gamut of the war, but those interested in the causes and precursors to the war would be better served with a different work, as those details are lost in his description of military aspects.

As I suggest for many works of this scope and quality, if there is one book you must read on the Second South Africa War, make it this one.

Exposing the origins of the war as basically blatant attempt by jingoistic imperialists like Milner, in Britain, in league with Cecil Rhodes and his (...)cronies, to grab power (and gold, and diamond) in South Africa. It must be said that the Boers were not exactly victims in the war, prior to that they had inflicted much sufferings on the Blacks and were now getting their just desserts for past sins.


The British Army also came out of this war with a sullied reputation for sexual depravity (Lord kitchener, Baden Powell, Douglas Haig), inept generalship. plunder, pillage, indiscrminate and wanton destruction of life and property, as well as pioneering the use of concentration camps for Boer women and children, who were deliberatedly left out in the cold to rot, and die from hunger, disease and assorted inhumane treatments.

What is amazing was that the Boers were totally reconciled with their imperial masters and co-colonists in one generation, and would enlist en masse in fighting for the rotten British Empire in the Great War. Apparently, the deal was struck that high sounding Victorian Britain would look the other way on the mistreatment and apartheid policies in South Africa, provided the Boers pay fealty to their London masters after the peace.

The Boer War, in essence, was a war fought between 2 unscrupulous, greedy races over the spoils, both material and human, of Africa.

Another novel in Wilbur Smith's Courtneys of Africa series of stories. Here he tells the tale of two Courtney brothers, Sean and Garrick. They are non identical twins, and one day, decide to play with firearms. Garrick becomes a poster child for why adults should keep their guns away from children.

He is shot, and has to have his leg removed as a consequence. This colors the brothers relationship, even with their women, for a long time, and through various African historical events.

I lived in Africa when I stumbled accross this book. Since then I have read every book ever published by Mr Smith. It's the kinda stuff that you could read over and over.

I know live in the south east USA and I am amazed that a lot of people here did not know about Wilbur Smith. So I am on a "Quest" for want of a better word to spread his work around . All my friends and co-workers love his writing. Although a big Steven King and Dean Koontz fan , Wilbur Smith writes more English -English which has a lot more passion than his US counterparts.

Other books I strongly recommend for new fans.

The Sunbird is easily his 2nd best novel and River God is a close 3rd.

But that's just my opinion. I hope you find out for yourself and enjoy the ride .

Brendan

I have been always A Wilbur Smith, I used to think River God is his best in the Egyptian series. Now I think When the Lion feeds is the best of all. Best suspense and historic writer read easily!

I found this book in a second-hand book shop several years ago, ratty and falling apart, I absolutely devoured it! I am so glad it is being re-released, this is a true gem!

This was the first novel that captured the hearts of many, thought provoking and deep in both mystery and action, Wilbur offers provoking thoughts and a view to the past, once again not all of his writings are fictional in whole; there is a breath of reality invoked in each passage and chapter. It's a fictional work, with a tender side to fact.

I now have all his works, most I have read in the past, only a few have I missed. 26 large volumes, gives hours of great reading, only three books are short. A readers dream come true.

The last book, 'The Triumph of the Sun' is still waiting to be read, I prefer paperbacks; on this occasion I chose to accept the hard cover, rather than wait.

Such an Author, a grand epitaph of a great writer, indeed. Few will feel cheated by the many works he has created, though for some the confusion of where to start can be daunting. Almost all Wilburs works can be read as seperate works of Art, but, it it's far better to start at the beginning and much more rewarding.

This was a book I bought on recommendation from a reading list. It was well illustrated, but definately not a "happy" type book. It doesn't teach as much as it illustrates, and it was too far removed from my kindergartner's level of understanding int he story line. Maybe for older kids? I just thought it was OK.

My three year old son gets as much joy out of this classic story as I did as a child (according to my mother). He identifies with the little boy as well as with the giant - and he asks for it over and over - the enclosed CD allows me to read to him or to let this be independent play as I need to.

Got this book from a used book store when our kid was 2 years old. It's had a magical effect on her even today, a year later. She has imitated the Abiyoyo character, begs me to make up Abiyoyo stories, tells me he's her friend, etc. We've read it at least 200 times. The monster is a real, significant presence in our daughter's life.

Perhaps because its phrasing comes from a song, the lines are memorable. Our child has memorized whole pages, and "sings" along when we read it to her. There's not a single word that can be deleted, it's that finely edited.

Definitely in the top 10 in our library.

The book was received in a timely manner. It took about a week for me to receive it after placing my order. The book was in new condition. I would definitely order from this seller again.

Illustarations excellent..story in the book and on dvd are a favortie of my grandchildren...must confess, even though I am 67, I enjoyed it too.

Antjie Krog is a South African writer and poet who covered the South African Truth and Reconciliation commission hearings. She wrote this book about the experience, from the particular point of view of a South African of Afrikaner background.

I found this book both difficult to read, and difficult to put down. Krog chooses extremely compelling stories to highlight, and the impact is visceral. She asks some very smart and difficult questions about what truth and reconciliation can possibly mean in a country burdened with such a history. The Country of My Skull does an excellent job in providing possible answers to these hard questions, while acknowledging that she may not be the person to either have an opinion or have an answer. She seems to continually ask who are judges and who are victims, given the situation.

While I liked that she shared her own experience of the Commission honestly, there were times when I felt that the focus on her personal life weakened the book. Made it overly poetic, somehow. When she discusses the Death Fugue of Celan, she makes the point that there are some subjects that poetry cannot and perhaps should not touch. I sympathize with the desire to use that kind of precise and metaphoric language, but it increases the distance.

This seems to me an important book. Four and a half stars.

A. Krog writes an amazing piece revolving around the events pertinent to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the emergence of the African National Congress in the politics of South Africa. Graphic descriptions of militant and counterinsurgent armed activity in the apartheid government, and first person testimony to the TRC of human rights violations from many parties. Krog's recollections are necessarily emotionally derived and sometimes difficult for this reason to follow analytically, particularly to one not immersed in South African history and cultures. Extensive use of indigenous languages with helpful translations and a glossary of common local parlance included, which makes the reading much more interpretable. The book is written assuming the reader is familiar with the political events immediately prior to the institution of the TRC and the dissolution of apartheid politics. An excellent piece for any world history or political science student.

A great book, telling a part of a nation's history, that must never been forgotten

Antjie Krog writes with a poet's power of observation both with inner feelings as well as to witness the outer complexities of people's pain and truth. Whose truth, which truth, and at what time? The Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings which she followed along with many other reporters, becomes a focal point for the process of hearing these complexities as well as offering the possibilityes for healing in a country struggling to understand the tensions between global change and the bonds of tribal and cultural loyalties and traditions. Krog offers us a chance to participate in this as well as to reflect on our own healing processes and sort out the complexities of many truths we live with.

As a British engineer living in South Africa for 15 years I obviously lived on another planet compared to this lady. Maybe because I worked in black townships and saw things as an outside observer I was not burdened by self loathing and idealistic fantasy that make up much of this work. Sure bad things happen in old wars in Africa or new ones like Iraq, but I can't help feeling that we have been here before. Atrocities happened in Rhodesia but despite the false dawn and liberal accolades that welcomed Mugabe in the same way them as they welcomed Mandela now, we ended up with worse country not a better one. I think that when we all look back on this period in years to come and unburdened by the current plague of political correctness that blights our times, we will realise that those who should ask for forgiveness are the liberal media elites who destroyed South Africa and the hopes of all its people both black and white.