South Africa Books

This encyclopedia is a beautiful production---well-illustrated, with fascinating little excerpts from contemporary accounts, religious writings, etc. It is also full of fascinating information about a wide swath of religious experience. Most of the articles are very well written; they average 2-5 pages in length, so issues are reasonably well developed. But the work is rather unbalanced. It has less about African religion (whether indigenous or syncretic) than I had hoped to see, and, most notably, endless repetitive entries about very similar African-derived religions in the Americas. The same explanations of Yoruba orisha, protection of African religion by adopting outward aspects of Catholicism, etc. appeared in too many articles.

An A-to-Z encyclopedia containing some 150 entries discussing the religious movements and churches of Sub-Saharan Africa, including major indigenous religious such as those of the Zulu, Yoruba, Akan, and Nuer peoples; North America, including black churches within mainstream religions, African-American religions and churches, and associated institutions such as the Rainbow Coalition; and South America and the Caribbean, including major religions such as Rastafari, Santeria, and Vodou and the more localized Umbanda and Tambor de Mina. Also surveys African-derived religions in a number of other nations. Coverage includes the growing world-wide influence of African and African-American religions; general topics, practices, beliefs, and institutions such as music, material culture, deities, healing, slave religion, theology, and religious-based political movements. Entries are written by anthropologists, historians, religious scholars, sociologists, and others and include sometimes fuzzy but well-chosen b&w images.

Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

This encyclopedia is a good starting point for understanding the complex interrelationships among African, African American, and European religious beliefs, practices, and traditions in a global context. Recommended for all libraries. Marc Meola in The Library Journal (December 2000).

This was an excellent book which was full of previously unknown information. I was particularly surprised to find information pertaining to genetics and skin color. There is so much that most people probably never knew about this culture that is revealed.

Beautiful book, very detailed, lets you know the connection!

This book has lots of good information for doing research and other projects. An inspiring book of history.

Rebeccasreads highly recommends IN HIS OWN WORDS for those who have ever wondered how this man moved generations of people to agitate for civil rights. Settle down with this big, big book & relive the ideas that inspired us, & get a rare glimpse of the heroes from another time & another place.

Because these are public speeches, there will be repetition - relax & let the words flow over you. & while most of us won't notice it, what we read from the book in no way indicates the timbre, cadence & nuances of the spoken word, so it would have been a wonderful completion had a DVD sound recording of one or two of Nelson Mandela's speeches been included.

The extraordinary power of IN HIS OWN WORDS is in, once again, hearing legend's way of expressing himself, who, along with Mahatma Gandhi & Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is one of the most articulate, courageous, & respected men of our time. The list of people who contributed their impressions is extraordinary, & illustrates how deeply Nelson Mandela changed our lives & our world.

This is a compilation of Nelson Mandela's speeches divided into twelve categories that run a diverse classification. The topics run the gamut of historical: "Struggle" "Freedom", "Reconciliation", "Nation Building" and "Development"; social: "Education", "Culture", "Religion", "Health" and "Children"; Cross sectional: "Heroes" and "Peace". The collection provides a one source to obtain the works of a key twentieth century person, but like any of these IN HIS OWN WORDS is repetitive and at times boring. Unless needed for a school assignment, this biographical oratory is best savored over several weeks as Mr. Mandela through his words show why he remains an inspirational influential individual whose speeches provide a deep insight into the man, the legend, and an era of transition.

Harriet Klausner

IN HIS OWN WORDS is perfect reading for history buffs. There are 545 pages of speeches, addresses and statements of Nelson Mandela. When you read this collection of words by Mr. Mandela, you come away with a better understanding of this man who has dedicated his life to his belief of freedom and equality.

Nelson Mandela is a prolific writer as well as a gifted speaker. There are twelve chapters in IN HIS OWN WORDS. Because of its length, I suggest that you read this book by first reading the topics that most interest you. I started with Education, Health and Culture and was moved by Nelson Mandela's compassion and his tenacity to remain focused in his one man crusade for democracy for all people. As someone who enjoys reading about history, I read the remaining chapters over several weeks and found them to be fascinating. Very much worth reading.

Vannie(~.~)
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I had the opportunity to visit SA for a month in 1999. I knew going that I would have an informed friend to host and guide me, so I did not bring any guide books with me. However, when I returned home and had 34 rolls of film to show, I wanted a book to accompany the photos and act like its own souvenier. After looking at many titles, I settled on the Insight Guide because of its excellent balance of basic information (incl. a well-written chapter on the history), color photos (on the order of National Geographic), maps, tourist information (what to do; where to go; how to prepare; etc.), and candor about apartheid. I never regretted paying a few extra dollars more for the book because it stood head and shoulder above the competition. It's the book I would have made had I the opportunity. The mulitple authors are well-informed, and though some info might be outdated, one has to remember-- this is AFRICA!

I used this book before my trip to learn about the history, but I never used it once in South Africa. I found everyone else's Lonely Planet Guide much more helpful.

I recently purchased this book for my mother who is going to South Africa for a vacation. The book was so helpful for me two years ago, that I wanted to make sure she had it. (My copy is marked up and the seams are a bit worn!) I like the books's balanced report on the history of South Africa, and the fact that it is neither for rich travelers with no budget, nor is it for poor students. The sections on things to buy and places to go are great, with enough examples to give you choices, but not simply a laundry list of restaurants and stores. It also has good information on things like local languages and cultures.

Great book and I'd recommend it to anyone.

The Lightning Bird has remained my very favorite book of all times. It captures how very different indeed the African mind and perspective is from our Western one. Beautifully written, this book is a must on African afishionados book shelf.

Adrian Boshier set out into the semi-wilds of rural southern Africa as a teenager, with an encyclopedic knowledge of the local flora and fauna and a determination to escape from social contingency by foraging. As an escape attempt, his expedition failed - what he had learned from books proved inadequate in the field and he quickly began to starve. The generosity of Swazi strangers, who laid out food in remote places once they realized that he would not approach them for help, kept him alive. Eventually, he got to know his neighbors, and became a sort of cultural liason between archaeologists and the descendents of local ancients whose artifacts were riddles to the scientific community. Lyall Watson's slightly imaginative biography of this prodigal spirit is rich in anthropological detail and illustrated with simple but evocative sketches of some of the artifacts that Adrian's interviews with rural healers and magicians have helped to explain.

This is a vivid account of the interactions between a very unusual young Englishman, Adrian Boshier, and a culture basically unchanged since it was first described over a century ago by Livingston and Selous. It is a true story of Boshier's struggle with himself and survival in a dangerous land, and of the search, seemingly directed at times by supernatural events, that lead, before his death at age thirty-nine, to discoveries that have helped both rewrite Stone Age history and give us a poetic insight into the dignity of the Stone Age mind. It is the story of an adventure of the human spirit... of a man, magic and culture of the real Africa. I cannot remember when I have so enjoyed or felt bound to the fate of an individual more than in this beautifully written story.

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.