South Africa Books

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

"The Captain's Tiger: A Memoir for the Stage" is a superb play by South African writer Athol Fugard. The production history notes that the play received its American premiere in 1998. It's a lean four-character play; the author's note states that two of the characters (the Author and the Tiger) must be performed by the same actor.

The play begins with the Author recalling how, in 1952, he was a young man on a cargo steamship. His job was to be the Captain's Tiger--"a sort of glorified servant." Most of the play actually takes place during this earlier period. While serving on the ship, the Tiger begins to write a novel based on the young womanhood of his Afrikaner mother. He strikes up a friendship with the Donkeyman, a Black African man who works in the engineroom. The other key relationship is between the Tiger and Betty, the main character in his novel. She literally comes to life and has some lively exchanges with the ambitious young writer.

This is a marvelous play. It examines what it means to be an author. Fugard looks at the relationship between the author and his characters, as well as the relationships between the author and the "real" people in his life. This is a coming-of-age story, a story of a friendship that overcomes a language barrier, and is also about coming to terms with painful aspects of one's past. I have never seen this piece actually performed, but I can say that it is an excellent text for reading.

When I finished reading this book, I felt like I'd actually lived through part of the life of Ann Van Dyk. She describes in wonderful detail the incredible joys and the terrible losses that she experienced during the early years of the DeWildt Cheetah Research Centre.

As a partial accounting of her work, Ann talks about the 'discovery' of the king cheetah, the breeding requirements of cheetahs in captivity, and the heavy toll that people extract from cheetahs, both in the wild and in captivity.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in cheetahs. The story is true, but this is no dry documentary. This story will make you feel.