South Africa Books

This large format book provides a fascinating glimpse into mid 19th C South Africa through numerous black and white photographs.

South Africa is a beatiful breathtaking land that is filled with great wealth of minerals covered by green rolling grassland. Although, it is filled with wonderful sight and rich fortune, it is also a the theatre of war, between the whites and the blacks for many centuries. Problems like racial discrimanation forced the country to lose over millions of people, innocent or not, during the years of conflicts. It became a system where the strong rises while the weak goes down. It became the home of many couregeous men who fought, not for their own life but for others who wanted equality. The book South Africa, the troubled land, is a history of events of the country's past, written by Elaine Pascoe. It was good to read and was extremely a great contribution to the literature world.

This is a reprint of the 1880 edition of this classic reference work on the Zulu War of 1879. After a brief overview of the course of the campaign itself, the book presents a photo and a detailed biography of all 62 British Army & Navy officers who lost their lives. This is followed by a massive reference section which lists the war services of every unit that served in the war, plus a list of all officers with notes on their war services. London 1995 r/p ed, Greenhill, 8 x 10 3/4, semi-glossy paper, 39l pp, prof., illus, index.

Southern African Dispatches provides insight into Woods professional persona and illuminates the time period prior to and immediately after Steve Biko's death in South Africa. A good quick read that's worth the time.

A wellwritten boook specific to the south African environment.

Brilliant photographs of lures, the fish it catches. Such a must have!

The cover, showing a skeletal horseman in British Army uniform shadowed by vultures, decisively grabs the reader's attention. The book will hold it even more when s/he begins reading. "The South African War" is now the best general work on its subject, deftly summarizing twenty years of research since Thomas Pakenham's "The Boer War."

Bill Nasson made a strong contribution with his earlier "Abraham Esau's War," detailing how Black South Africans in the Cape Colony embraced the ideals of British liberal democracy, and fought and died for them. This book expands on that solid base, covering the whole war in a 300-page text, but omitting nothing of importance. It has four main virtues: balance, concision, comprehensiveness and humanity. Humanity is apparent in Nasson's scrupulous fairness to all three peoples (Afrikaners, Blacks, British) trapped in the horrors of the war, though he does criticize civilian and military leaders whose misguided ambition helped start and prolong it. It is balanced and comprehensive in covering all facets of the struggle, including economic origins, political dimensions, the experiences of soldiers and civilians alike, and the aftermath of peace. As a synthesis, it has less primary documentation than a monograph like "Esau," but Nasson's intimate knowledge of South Africa and the relevant archives is clear throughout.

If there is a (minor) weakness, it lies in the succinct nature of the text: there is no room for a detailed military narrative. For this, Pakenham is still helpful, though it is itself incomplete in coverage of Africans' roles, the main achievement of recent scholarship. On this crucial subject Nasson is more enlightening, though other works are useful such as P. Warwick, "Black People and the South African War." Also highly recommended is a diary (with various editions and titles) from the siege of Mafeking by Sol Plaatje, an early nationalist and writer who helped found the African National Congress in 1912. "South African War" succeeds as a sound analysis of a struggle which presaged many of the problems of both modern southern Africa and modern war. One of Nasson's main conclusions, that the war's primary victims were Blacks both during and after the fighting, is borne out by most major writers; see e.g. J. Krikler, "Revolution From Above, Rebellion From Below." It is skillfully written and conveys all the drama, and trauma, of an oft-mythologized but vicious conflict.

If you want to know about South African wine and how it is made, then this is THE book.

I read this book as part of a class I took in the globalization of southern Africa. Overall I would suggest this book to anyone interested in the subject. It's high points include Love's synthesis of the liberation struggles of South Africa, Mozambique, and Angola -- stories which can easily become overly confusing when clarity and accuracy is lacking in their telling. Love's analysis, however, becomes somewhat unengaging by the end of the book, so additional texts may be useful as she discusses economic globalization, as Love is unable to avoid the shallow rhetoric of the pro-free market economist (however, she is able to raise successful criticisms of the one-size-fits-all policies of the IMF).

I was rushed to find a book for a colleague who was leaving and who had always asked for my recommendation for THE quintessential book on africa. From what I saw in Amazon's synopsis, I figured i couldn't go wrong with a photographic journal of the land, as pictures tell a thousand words.
There are some spectacular photographs in this book, which convey the rich heritage of flora and fauna in this region of Africa. Its a good coffee table book, and is also good for people who have been to Africa and need a display memoir of photos of scenes that you saw but couldn't capture yourself.I was tickled pink to find pictures of places I had seen and I had even been to, like the spice merchant in Durban ,S.A who displayed varying ranges of chilli powder ending in "Mother-In-Law exterminator" as his most potent, or the multi colored changing stalls on Cape Town's beaches.
Don't buy this book if you are looking for an in-depth analysis of the countries economies, and the present conditions and way of life of the ethnic people. The author devotes a few pages to a brief history of the countries, and stays away from making any socio-political comments or opinions. The book tells its story in pictures, and concentrates at times in depth on wildlife rather than landscape.
I like the book, and i think I'm going to get a copy for myself! As for my colleague, i hope this convinces her to take the plunge and head for a safari in one of the most pristine corners of the world.

The setting for this book is Cape Town in the 1970's where races are still divided with buses and benches clearly marked as "whites only" and racial demarcation is very much a fact of life. Ruby and Rose are orphaned sisters who are being brought up in a convent following the death of their mother. Their only other relatives are the family of their mother's sister, Olive, an overbearing, selfish woman who allows them to visit her just once a month for lunch and where she belittles them from sheer spite and nastiness. Ruby, the elder, is the more level headed of the two and when she leaves the convent to work, finds a place where Rose can eventually join her. Rose marries young when she quickly finds a kind man to look after her but Ruby educates herslf with correspondence courses until she achieves a diploma in business practices and gets a good job with a large fish cannery. An extremely reserved young woman, she is overwhelmed when she catches the eye of a wealthy man with whom she continues a love affair for many years but who leaves her finacially secure. It's a plaintive love story...love between sisters and a somwhat tentative love for a man, but a sad one also as poor Ruby never seems to achieve happiness.