South Africa Books

The killing of Prime Minister Verwoerd of South Africa in 1966 was considered a blow against white supremacy. In fact, it was the work of a crazed assassin who was acting on his own notions.
The assassin Tsafendas was a half breed of Greek/black descent who was torn apart between both races. His illegimacy was also a source of tension in his life. Both factors contributed to stress on his mind and the result was the killing of the Prime Minister of South Africa.
This was a little known event in the rest of the world but traumatic in South Africa. Tsafendas by thrusting his knife into Verwoerd demonstrated his hatred of a system that hurt him.
Tsafendas was a lunatic, but his action showed the resistance of some to white supremacy. The book is a short but good read about a little known event.

Demetrios Tsafendas' life was one of rejection, depression, yearning, and mental illness. Try as he might, he could not fit in. Nor could he get acceptance for his bi-racial heritage. The author, Henk Van Woerden, writes a succinct biography of the man who murdered Hendrik Verwoerd, the "architect of apartheid". He peppers his story with his own perceptions of the South African policies that destroyed communities in order to segregate the races. South Africa's policies, however, of separating the black and white races (among other races and ethnicities), left those of mixed heritage with nowhere to go - not accepted by either race. Tsafendas lived in this nowhere land.

A really beautiful book that makes you feel sorry for the assassin and for the country of South Africa.

Henk van Woerden describes the life of Demitrios Tsafendas who killed the South-Afrcan prime minister Verwoerd in 1966. Demitrios was born in Mozambique from a Greek father and a black mother, a fact that haunted him for the rest of his life: there was no place where people really accepted him en his existence was a series of deportations (Mocambique, South Afrika, USA, Greece, Portugal) and rejections (by his father, his stepmother, his stepbrothers and -sisters and a potential wife. No wonder that this would make a human crazy. In the end he destroys the roots of evil by killing the face of apartheid.

In between all this we can read the writers own experiences during a number of visits (1989-1998) to South Africa, the country where he lived from age 9 to 21. There is no reason to celebrate: a torn country full of violence.

As an amateur grower of Cape Bulbs I can say that this book has brought me more joy than any other on my book shelves. The 500 pages are crammed with detailed text on every bulb found in the Cape region right up to the Sundays River and the quality of the color photography is outstanding. Of course anyone who recognises the three authors names will not be surprised at the quality of this publication.

Each genus is given an overview and then all the species falling into the region is detailed, usually with a photograph. That is a total of 1 200 species - about 75% of them unique to the region!

The flora of South Africa is a stunning example of bio-diversity in the world. Due to a large variety of habitats many plant families have developed a wide range of species, a lot of them endemic to this region. While botanical enthusiasts worldwide focus on succulent and caudiciform plants the unbelievably rich geophytic flora of the Cape (including the orchids) is not fully discovered for cultivation yet.

The Color Encylopedia of Cape Bulbs is a wonderful approach to overcome this situation. The authors present essential information about everything concerning this topic. Their book provides a general survey of the physical and biological features of the habitats. The topics cultivation and gardening are included as well. The information given is concise and precise and a very helpful background for botanists and cultivators, too. A glossary, a key to the species, a table of synonyms and a suppliers list at the end of the book finish the bulk of basic information.

The encyclopedic part of the book offers detailed descriptions of a wide range of bulbous plants of different monocot families. It is built up following an alphabetical order of the genera which allows to quickly find a species without expert knowledge about botanical taxonomy. Specified information about habitat and cultivation is given in the genus description.The species descriptions include all necessary items and are accompanied by wonderful photographs of many of these impressingly beautiful plants. It is astonishing to see what a variety of different looking species some genera have produced, for instance Gladiolus and Moraea from the Iridaceae family.

In summary, I highly recommend this book for botanists, for travellers to the Cape region with botanical interests and for gardeners as well. When I opened the encyclopedia for the first time I was fascinated for hours. The species descriptions and pictures alone are worth the prize of this book, in my opinion! Along with Karsten Wodrich's books about the South African orchids, the Encyclopedia of Cape Bulbs gives an impression of the geophytic plant treasures this region offers to all enthusiasts. And, last but not least, these books are an indispensable help to successfully cultivate them.

An excellent reference book on cape bulbs. A wealth of photo's and information. Aspects of the book are on the technical side for a layman. But worth having.Highly recomended.

this book gives a chilling discription of south africa not so long ago.

Post-thunderstorm, the peach trees are denuded of their ripe fruit, the ground under them littered with mush. In this segregated black township in 1980s South Africa, 13-year-old Tihelo sits alone in the overheated air, half of her body in sun, half in shade.

"It didn't feel like one of those dangerous afternoons we were constantly anticipating, the kind where policemen in their obnoxious and invasive green vans roamed the streets . . . then left with a few victims."

But the stillness leaves her missing the familiar cacophony, "weddings, parties, street fights, street games, or riots. Silence was chilling."

Light and shade, heat and chill, consoling chaos and ominous calm. Kagiso Lesego Molope fills the first paragraphs of her debut novel with the tension of opposites. Her narrator lives between poles, in constant and exhausting anticipation of "death or celebration." In a land torn by volatile perceptions of light and dark, Tihelo has the burden of being not only Black, the capital B showing official designation, but lighter-skinned than her neighbours. "Even in my house everyone looked more like each other than they looked like me." Growing up, she quickly learned that questions about her pale skin only offended and shamed her mother.

One day, as she's playing in the yard, her friend Tshepo asks if she knows how to make a petrol bomb. He proceeds to scrounge a beer bottle and a rag from the street trash, and before her eyes constructs a molotov cocktail, lamenting the lack of gas to fuel it. Not long after, he's taking part in riots with older boys and coming home covered in bruises.

As Tihelo enters high school, she loses her best friend, Thato, to a new "multiracial" Catholic school. Thato's new classmates quickly instill contempt for her origins, which rubs off on Tihelo; envy and shame fester inside her, turning slowly to motivating anger as friends begin to raise her political consciousness.

Returning one night from her cleaning job in a white district, Tihelo's mother is detained and beaten by police. It's a turning point. Once aghast at the idea, Tihelo finds herself working for the student wing of the African National Congress. Her duties include driving underage in borrowed cars, cruising remote roads to pick up the battered bodies of the missing. And then things get worse.

Molope's scenes of police brutality and its human cost are almost cinematic in clarity. Tihelo's unembellished and dispassionate voice completely convinces as that of a young woman whose memory of torment and violation must be recounted with dry precision or not at all. The lack of emotion on the surface of this writing only better exposes its harrowing depths.

Molope first makes her reader see and understand, then in the wake of seeing, feel the enormity of apartheid's atrocity, and grieve.

Molope's book is about a young girl living in apartheid South Africa in the 1980s. Having not read about/experienced the height of the circumstances before, I found this book to be quite moving in its depiction of the brutality incurred by blacks due to the socio-political conditions of the country. The protagonist, Tihelo, is forced to grow up quickly, due to her peers' increasing desire for freedom from oppression, which amplifies a "normal" coming of age story. Molope does not shy away from the violence of the struggle, and uses it to bring attention to the strength of Tihelo, who comes to represent the hardships of an entire race. I recommend this book highly!

I ordered this book knowing my six year old daughter would love it. Having lived in South Africa for 20 years and now living in Australia, a black person voting in South Africa meant a great thing to our elders. I wanted to share a bit of joy with my daughter and she enjoyed the book. It is a spiritiual book for both young and old to relish.

Thembi's great-grandmother, Gogo decides that the 1994 election allowing black South Africans voting rights is too important to miss. Gogo is the township's oldest resident and Thembi is one of the youngest. With help from a wealthy neighbor, Gogo is able to go to the polling place to cast her vote, accompanied by Thembi and her parents. The Day Gogo Went to Vote is the winner of the Simon Wiesenthal Center Children's Book Award and clearly displays the themes of equality of people, dignity, and social justice. The excellent illustrations portray the beautiful relationship between Thembi and Gogo as well as the impact this 1994 election had on black South African's.

The sub-title of this new children's picture book says it all. Everybody in South Africa remembers those astonishing days when the unbelievable happened and all South Africans went to vote. Today, when you go to a former township or homeland and ask anybody, "How was it when you voted?" you'll get a wonderful story about getting up early, walking a long, long way and then waiting, waiting, waiting. Outsiders are amazed at the patience and dignity of the often vast crowds waiting at polling stations in places like Soweto. But the people who sat or stood for most of the day with blankets and food, with their children or old parents, will tell you they could have waited peacefully for much longer. After all, they'd already waited all their lives! In The Day Gogo Went to Vote, this momentous time is seen through the eyes of little Thembi whose hundred-year-old great-grandmother, "Gogo", takes care of her every day while her parents are at work. Thembi's questions are answered in a way that explains election procedures to young readers but for Thembi the real impact of voting day was that Gogo was going out! Gogo had never "left the yard', even to go to church, since the long ago day when she had been humiliated and shouted at by a man at the pensions office. When the day comes, Thembi experiences one extraordinary event after another. Wearing their best clothes, she and Gogo ride in a rich store-owner's "Benz", a machine makes Gogo's hands look blue, press cameras flash, her parents cry and no-one remembers to send her to bed that night when friends and family feast and toyi-toyi through the night. Elinor Batezat Sisulu, a social worker in Cape Town, worked at a polling booth in April, 1994. Her book is a welcome addition to small but growing number of books about South African children. Bio of reviewer: Pam Sacks is owner of the Cheshire Cat book store for children in Washington, D.C. and reviewed the book in June 1996 for JULUKA Newsletter (301) 652-5754.

Gilbert Ryle's philosophical pamphlet "Dilemmas" is enlightening, but somewhat perplexing. The grandiloquent claims on the back cover draw you in and start you reading, but by the eleventh page I found myself with an almighty headache! Congratulations to the authour on attempting to simplify such a complex subject (namely Determinism), but it is a task which I feel is well nigh impossible! One day I will attempt to read it cover to cover. In the meantime, I will grapple with my own views on a Newtonian universe

Philosophy has spent the better part of its history spinning its wheels with little traction in answering some of the most perplexing and provocate issues about life. Then came Wittengenstein and the only person Wittgenstein believed truly understood his work, Gilbert Ryle (Elizabeth Anscombe should also be considered, but only Ryle is mentioned by name.) Ryle's most successful and enduring book is "Concept of Mind," which does much if not all of debunking nearly all philosophy from Descartes to date with wit, style, and grace. "Dilemmas" is a different sort of book, and in my opinion, the more enjoyable of the two. First, it's considerably shorter. Second, it goes to the heart of dilemmas that have perplexed agile and senile minds for centuries. It takes into consideration about five seemingly irresolvable problems and demonstrates how these dilemmas are neither a dilemma nor even challenging dilemmas.

It what is clearly one of the best books on "deconstructing" problems that are artificial and mind games, and demonstrating how using language in its ordinary, not extraordinary, ways, Ryle shows how many philosophical problems are nothing of the sort. They are problems of language, not true problems of substance. Anyone who asks a stupid question will get a stupid answer, but Ryle goes beyond this platitude. He takes several very perplexing issues that have haunted philosophy from its nascent stages and debunks them through the use of "ordinary language." No linguistic acrobatics of the existentialist ilk, no grand metaphysics of the Scholastic ilk, no analytical positivism according to the Austrian ilk -- all of which have lead nowhere, but, instead, a refreshing reexamination of the dilemmas themselves, and clear-headed, simply examined, ordinary explanation of things in an ordinary way.

This ingenious little book is not a tome of how the world looks, but is what philosophers call "techne", or "art," of how to dissolve problems that do not exist. Ryle doesn't ask and answer every question posed since the beginning of the world; rather, he takes a few isolated, but well-worked problems, and artfully and clearly shows how these "problems" aren't problems at all. They are confusions originating in linguistic abuse. Using five examples, he assumes that the reader can take with him the technique and apply it to other irrestible problems that really don't exist at all. Not that every philosophical question is a chimera in linguistic clothing, but that a substantial bulk of them are just that. In an entertaining, amusing, and charming way, Ryle uses his "techne" on five such irrestible problems and shows how they are solved. He leaves it to the reader to go from there.

There are a great many good books about ordinary language philosophy, but few match the stature and eloquence of Ryle's "Dilemmas." J. L. Austin appears confused and convulated compared to Ryle, whose technique is what we learn, and in the process bring fresh insight to old problems that aren't all that problematic after all.

In this short (129 pages) book, Ryle applies his idea of the Category Mistake to 7 thought-problems:

1) Fatalism: If I sneezed this morning, then was it true 1000 years ago that I would sneeze this morning?
2) Achilles and the Tortoise: The famous Zeno paradox where Achilles can never quite catch up, because the tortoise had a head start.
3) Pleasure: I can have an acute, throbbing pain behind my eyeballs, but can I have an acute, throbbing pleasure there?
4) The World of Science and the Everyday World: Which (if either) do we mean when we speak of "the real world"?
5) Technical and Untechnical Concepts: If the Queen of Hearts acts as part of a Royal Flush when I play Poker, then is it the same card when I use it as a trump in Bridge?
6) Perception: Sometimes I see words on a page, but other times I can also see spelling errors in the words. Which perception is more real?
7) Formal and Informal Logic: Mathematics is more consistent and precise than philosophy, so we want philosophy to be more like mathematics ... right?

Gilbert Ryle was the greatest at showing how our use of language affects our thinking. I can recommend this book to people who have never read him before because of the book's brevity and because of its colorful range of subjects.

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(~.~)
Work & Family @ BellaOnline.com
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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.