South Africa Books

This personal account of African nationhood strikes a lot nerves and leaves the reader with a lot to think about on a number of levels. Put together it provides a real roller-coaster ride of emotions and insights. The book builds up beautifully in the first chapters, providing the reader with a love for Africa - full of warmth, humour and joy. The author's level-headed account of British rule and the radicalisation of white politics juxtapositioned with the black struggle for independence is fabulous. By portraying the feelings of both sides at the time and without demonising either side, it argues a strong case for tolerance, understanding and humanity on a rock bed of libertarian values. The subsequent chapters describing the gradual changes of Zambia's UNIP government are thrilling as one gradually gets caught in the middle between one's loyalty for Kaunda's original Humanism and the realisation that the regime was not what it was supposed to be.

At the end, when it has all gone so horribly wrong, the reader is left with an understanding for how it went wrong. Uniquely, it is that understanding which may provide the reader with a respect for Africa and a feeling that for Africa there can indeed be a prosperous future in waiting. The book is a personal story of ideology versus reality, but it is also powerful background reading for any person about to move to or work with Africa.

Day in the Sun for Africa's Hard-Nosed Entrepreneurs

The New Times
BOOK REVIEW
February 11, 2007
By Mwiti Marete
Kigali, Rwanda

David Fick's "Africa: Continent of Economic Opportunity" reads like a "Who is Who" list of hard-nosed African entrepreneurs who have fished in life's dustbins and weathered the elements with astounding results.

The 512-page volume is based on his belief that the second largest continent has immense potential that only waits to be tapped, and his confidence in her citizens' creativity, resilience and industry.

"While many write off Africa as the continent of despair, other enterprising individuals and organisations have recognized the huge, untapped potential of Africa and are actively pursuing business ventures across the continent," says the book.

The book features brief descriptions of these successful entrepreneurs and their ongoing enterprises in Africa. Each story captures the spirit behind these successes and highlights how they are not only creating countless job opportunities in 53 African countries but also bringing immeasurable improvement to the quality of life in African communities

Recognising the African entrepreneurs who are making dreams come true - albeit the hard way - Fick says he wrote the book to create awareness on the obstacles and successes of entrepreneurship in Africa, "to tell the story of people and their communities that are successful in developing Africa".

"By sounding out African entrepreneurs about the visions they harbour of their continent, I have tried to present the successes and the philosophies of these entrepreneurs, and also the philosophies of the economists, educators and political readers who are interested in developing Africa to its full potential for the benefit of Africans and the world," Fick writes.

And he is optimistic.

"'Old' Africa is well known for its many challenges," writes Fick. "In a 'new' Africa, the continent's challenges will be addressed and overcome with new strategies, new approaches and new ways of doing things, in order for Africa's vast opportunities to be exploited for the benefit of its entire people."

Besides calling for the developed world to come to Africa's aid, he prescribes regional cooperation as the cure for the continent's many woes.

"A successful AU will empower all of Africa, not merely the strong countries," Fick observes, and predicts: "Africa's abundant resources will then benefit the health, education and wellbeing of all Africans." He concludes with an array of proposals on how to make life on the continent brighter - aptly called "Africa's Future"............................................

What "Africa: Continent of Economic Opportunity" offers is a rich menu of information - and inspiration - for readers across the divide: policy makers, practising and potential entrepreneurs, scholars, and leisure seekers. Simply put, it is Africa's newest package for global consumption.

For the optimistic, it reinforces their resolve to make Africa a better place for all; for the pessimist, it is a jolting disproval of the old, misplaced depiction of Africa as "the Dark Continent".

And few can be as authoritative on the issues addressed in this book as David S. Fick, a graduate of Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania who has spent his entire business career as an entrepreneur in Kansas and has travelled widely, including to Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia. He has visited Africa's other 50 countries via research by means of the Internet and e-mail correspondence, corresponding with entrepreneurs in all the 53 countries and asking for their corrections and improvements to their rough draft text.

Add this to the rich bibliography of speeches by international opinion leaders and reports by credible international bodies and the Media.

And true to his confessed passion for a vibrant economic environment in Africa, Fick has published with an African firm, and his distributors are selected from local booksellers, according to an earlier e-mail interview with this writer. Again, the book is not a money-making venture: the author has donated his entire royalties to charity. To cap it all, the cover illustration is derived from the artwork "Africa Connections", a batik by Nuwa Nnyanzi from Uganda.

"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!