South Africa Books

This is Witton's "Scapegoats of Empire: The True Story of Breaker Morant's Bushveldt Carbineers" under a new title. Witton was the third Carbineer alongside Morant and Hancock who were prosecuted for murder in the midst of the war.

"What we are arguing is not that democracy is the inevitable outcome of successful capitalist development, but that such development is a necessary prerequisite of democracy..... We are also saying that authoritative regimes rarely meet the conditions under which business can optimally flourish." In the book, Business and Democracy, Cohabitation or Contradiction?, edited by Ann Bernstein and Peter L. Berger, this statement is well proven: business and democracy do not work to promote one another. Rather, the externalities/pressures of one are a benefit to the other. The editors pull numerous short articles together to support their thesis and then use examples of several developing or transitioning countries in the last half century. In the short term, business can thrive in an authoritative regime but will inevitably lead to "Crony Capitalism". However, eventually pressures for reform and independence will weaken the state ruling institution. In contrast, democracies have continued to be successful when a free market system was already established. The editors have made an excellent case for the cohabitation of Business and Democracy. Business Associations and the thickening of civil society are in the best interests of democracy and visa versa. It allows for a reduced size of government, eliminates excessive taxes that discourage investment, and creates stability. Government still has control with the ability to take power away from the association, but the alternative would be a large expensive government and "Crony Capitalism." It is in the best interest of all society for government and business to work together. The increase of civil liberties and the standard of living are the externalities we all gain from the cohabitation of Business and Democracy.
This book is a must read for those who wish to better understand the role of business and the development of the third world. I would also recommend this book to anyone who wishes to discourage a capitalist system.

Weschler is a brilliant and amazing storyteller. I had followed his work closely in the New Yorker and other publications. Written like a novel, this book is a fascinating true-life look at three totalitarian regimes through the eyes of exiles who fought dictators in their own ways. The juxtoposition of the threee unrelated experiences provides some interesting insights into what totalitarianism is at its root and how it affects the people who live under its governance.

Let's face it - Cape Dutch is an obscure architectural style, but I have grown to love it, as have many enthusiasts around the world. I have only been able to locate 2 contemporary books about the topic - this one and Historic Houses of South Africa (also with photos by Alain Proust). The difference between them is that in "Other old favorites" there are few interior pictures and little detail about interiors apart from the standard elements (voorkamer, agterkamer). This may be a deficit for fools like me interested in building a Cape Dutch house. This book is more like an index - chock full of houses I have not even been able to uncover through Internet searches. This is helpful for students or historians (or to expose fools like me to the full scope of this vernacular). This book addresses broader historical issues and goes further back in history than "Historic Houses" possibly because it addresses more properties. None of the entries is very long, but each provides the reader with insight enough to search related sources of history if interested. It is a good primer in this way. Definitely a worthwhile purchase for architecture or history enthusiasts.

Very colourful,many pictures, good maps of Cape Town. Excellent charts. A lot of content set out in a totally unboring way. If you find this guide boring then you are simply not interested in Cape Town. However, if you are interested in Cape Town then you will find out how usefull this book actually is, unless you are planning to live there. This is clearly a tourist guide.

In this novel, the second published in his Trompie Kramer/Mickey Zondi series, Kramer and Zondi solve another murder case in Trekkersburg, South Africa. The novel's strength lies in the development of not only the two detectives, but also of the minor characters. The relationship between Kramer, a white South African and Zondi, his Zulu partner, which because of the political situation, neither man can openly acknowledge, is sensitively drawn.

McClure ranks right up there with Colin Dexter.

Vanessa Watson offers an in-depth examination of the challenges of planning inclusively in the post-apartheid city. She critically examines how market forces have reinforced the spatial legacies of apartheid, and in many ways worsened the divisions in the city. An good look at the politics of South Africa following the political transition.

The contributors of thie anthology apply ideas in men's studies to Southern Africa. Principly, they ask how do black men and white men formulate their sense of manhood in post-apartheid South Africa. The book is divided into parts on fatherhood, performing masculinity, sexuality, and male tools. The entries are diverse covering topics such as surfing, quasi-Nazi activities, gun abuse, HIV/AIDS, police officers, etc.

Through reading this book, I learned a lot about South Africa, especially over the last decade. The book is scholarly without being inpenetrable. The articles are relatively short if one excludes reading the footnotes.

Before I read this book, I read Lindsay's anthology on modern African masculinities. In that text, the contributors worked to show how men's studies ideas could not be transplanted to the Continent. However, in this book, men's studies gurus were cited, followed, and praised. Thus, it's little surprise that those leading figures (namely, Connell and Kimmel) contributed an afterword or spoke at the pre-book symposium.

The majority of the articles discussed black African masculinities. This is not surprising giving the racial make-up of the region. Still, the articles on white African masculinities should be of special interest to those in the burgeoning field of critical white studies. Only half of one chapter discussed what the South Africans called "coloureds" (what we would call "biracial" in the United States). Even the editor himself apologizes for his lack of material on South Asian men in that region.

Though the title states Southern Africa, only two chapters and the introduction discuss dynamics outside of South Africa. Only one contributor had an African name. Though each was clearly anti-racist, most contributors were whites who had access to black interview subjects. Forgive this essentialist examination; I just think readers should know this text is not about "subjects within" for the most part.

Halberstam and Sedgwick in the US have been critical of how masculinity studies have often failed to look at whow women can be masculine. This book has one chapter addressing that concern. I especially love how gay-inclusive this book is. Much men's studies may as well be called "straight men's studies." For example, the author of "Iron John" states from the start that his book will not touch gayness. Here, not only is homosexuality not dropped out of the masculinity equation, the specific dynamics of male-on-male relations in that region are detailed. Constructionists amony gay studies scholars should find this text highly useful. I think any bigot who would dismiss gayness as "unAfrican" will be especially challenged by this book.

I wish this book had at least chapter on pro-feminist men in Southern Africa. Though innocently done, this book makes black men look like savage, misogynist, tyrants and white men like defeated, racist, crybabies. There is also little discussion of men addressing matters in multiracial settings and with uniting efforts.

This book is of great interest to anyone who is interested in the history and current trends of suburbia in all of the top 4 English-speaking nations (i.e. the U.S., the U.K., Canada, and Australia).

I was especially interested in the one chapter about post-war suburban development in Australia, because I am interested in how Australia's suburbia compares with that of North America (the U.S. and Canada). This is the first book I have found so far that has detalied information on the history and current trends of Australia's suburbia. From what I have read in this book, it doesn't sound as if Australia's suburbia is very different from that of Canada.

I was a little surprised by the fact that the one chapter about Australia's post-war suburbia doesn't give any explanation for why the suburbs of Australia's major cities are served by more extensive networks of commuter rail service than the suburbs of comparably sized Canadian cities. I would never know that from what I read in this book, but I happen to know that from other sources. Knowing from this book that Australia's suburbs are just as spread out as those of Canada, I am surprised that they have more extensive networks of commuter rail service! I know that European cities have more extensive networks of commuter rail service (than Canada) too, but they are also more densely populated and less spread out than those of Canada or Australia.

This book is a handy and clearly-written overview of corporate governance law in South Africa. Unfortunately, its scope is quite narrow. It opens with an interesting discussion of corporate governance in the global economy, but much of what follows is little more than a summary of sections of the Companies Act and the 2002 King Report, with a particular focus on directors' responsibilities. The book ends with a plea for ethical investment strategies, which the author believes will maximize corporate financial performance in the long-run.

Lawyers and law students will find the book unsatisfying, since it doesn't analyze case law or delve into legal details. Economists and general readers won't be interested, either, since the book has little empirical discussion of how South African companies are actually governed or how this affects the national economy (there are sidebars on corporate scandals such as Leisurenet, but these are little more than newspaper excerpts). Bottomline: non-lawyer company officers who want a short reference work will find value in this book, but other readers needn't bother.

That's too bad, since the topic is important. South Africa has a long history of corporate misconduct, especially under apartheid. As the author notes, good corporate governance can make it easier for companies to raise capital and contribute to social well-being. A book that fostered wider understanding of these issues and proposed practical reforms would benefit all African countries -- but this one doesn't really do the job.