South Africa Books

If you want to just 'get away' for a while, and wonder where's a great spot, perfect to clear out your head, to breath lovely fresh air, swim, eat delicious food, and not always need to pay luxurious prices (although there are such choices), then here's a superb selection from which you can begin to make your choices. This time, should you take off to Tuscany, or Greece, or the desert in Jordan, to Thailand, or to an island off the coast of Africa? A lot of the best places all over the world, for yoga, for pilates, or tai chi or ayurveda, even where to go for a cleansing detox are here. Beautifully written. Informative (without the greatest index but it's not a big problem). And if your friends hadn't recommended a perfect place for you, now you'll be able to recommend at least one perfect place for them to go to. Once in a while it's also possible it could cost you less than ten dollars a day, yes, (if our dollar doesn't continue dropping in value quicker than it's been doing). This lady already checked out where you can go -- and then she wrote the book she wished she herself had before her departures. Buy it. Then, have a great trip.

Academic accounts of regional conflicts are often dry and tedious reads. Dr. van Hartesveldt's retelling of the history of this conflict is engaging and accessible. He gives life to the stories of the men who fought in this bitter struggle and provides an understanding of the importance of the Boer war in the greater story of the rise and fall of the British empire. An enjoyable and enlightening read.

This book by Capt Willem Steenkamp is an excellent way to begin the journey of discovery about the SADF's involvement in Angola. Not only is Capt Steenkamp a journalist, but he is a member of the Cape Town Highlanders and "He was there" as a serving soldier. Excellent book! Buy it !

Though Freed is a five-star novelist through and through, this novel is by far my favorite. It has the lean necessity of cruelty and violent thoughts and angry passion that has shaped the best of Nadine Gordimer's work set in South Africa. Though it might help to have read Freed's previous novel "Home Ground" (equally brilliant, if a little lighter and funnier), one can read this as is and be spellbound. (As for the cover . . . search for the original hardback.)

I was with Peter Johnson on a recent trip to South Africa. He is a remarkable man and an outstanding photographer. He has done so much for the economy of South Africa and is so savvy to the opportunites and plight of these people. The topic of the Bushmen and its documentation will astound you. The photography leaves you with the feeling of the dust on their feet and the soul piercing look in their eyes.

All too often the Bushmen (otherwise known as the San) have been portrayed in school textbooks and in the minds of the general public as "living fossils" whose ways of life have remained the same throughout the ages. Associate-Professor Smith et al. demolish the myth and present a vivid picture of Bushmen social and economic dynamics down through the ages, as well as the interaction with incoming cultural groupings and the effects thereof. Anyone who is interested in the remarkable history, both past and contemporary, of the Bushmen will find this book an invaluable addition to their library.

Simply Stunning photography and the text is very interesting. A delightful depiction of Africa!

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In this book, Ben Temkin outlines the life and times of one of the finest statesmen and visionary leaders ever produced in Africa, Prince Mangosutho Buthelezi.
He highlights Buthelezi's youth and his 50 years of political involvement, which has always been intimately tied up with the development of the Zulu nation, including his defiance of the Apartheid government from 1956, when as a young chief he confronted Apartheid architect, Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd, and his ceaseless struggles for the rights of the Zulu people, and Black South Africans as a whole.
He details the role of the Apartheid government, and later of the Marxist ANC to destroy Buthelezi
Much has been written about Buthelezi, but little has been fair. Much of it clouded with politically correct bigotry and invective, by those who prefer to blindly accept the worldview of Nelson Mandela's Revolutionary African National Congress, who where involved in a propaganda war against Buthelezi and his Inkatha Movement, since 1979. This was because Buthelezi refused to endorse the ANC's strategy of `armed struggle' against White minority rule in South Africa, and to become a surrogate to the ANC's Revolutionary Leninist hegemony - Buthelezi had always vigorously opposed Apartheid and preferred peaceful methods of opposing it. He also wanted Apartheid to be replaced by a pluralist federal democracy, rather than the centralized Revolutionary one party state, favoured by the ANC.
The ANC hate campaign escalated into violence from the mid-1980's by the ANC and it's surrogates, who where responsible for the murder of over 10 000 Inkatha supporters.
. The author also highlights the hypocrisy of the leftwing establishment in South Africa in endorsing the ANC's unjust campaign against not only Buthelezi, but also the hundreds of thousands of Zulu's in Inkatha.
We learn for example how Marxist clerics, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Reverend Allan Boesak, pressured d Coretta Scott King, the widow of Dr Martin Luther, to cancel a meeting with Buthelezi.

Buthelezi has always been consistent in opposing all inhumane political systems in South Africa , from apartheid to the ANC's terror war against Black political opponents.

He has been lauded universally in the 1970's while betrayed by many in the late 1980's and 1990's who wished to help the ANC build a totalitarian state.
The book also talks about his career as Minister of Home Affairs in the post-Apartheid, ANC led government, where he has remained a voice of reason and conscience.

This is by far one of the best, if not the best, work that I have ever read on the subject of the Zulu War. This book gives you a true insiders view to this terrible and costly war. You can feel the pain of the hot sun at Rourke's Drift, and almost hear the chant of the fierce and proud Zulu warriors at Isandlwana. There are period pictures and historical battle facts that add to the enjoyment. A great book. A must read for the serious British Military researcher