South Africa Books

This book is definitely the best book that I have ever read on the subject of the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902! The author of this book goes to great lengths to give the reader a feeling for the war itself, but goes far beyond just giving an account of the military side of the war. He does an excellent job of putting the war within the context of the British Victoria Era that it closes, and within the context of developments within Europe and around the world. As the war itself evolves, developments at home in England, and around the world are discussed. Plus, each battle is covered separately, being clearly delineated within its own section, with very nice maps included.

I must admit that I was somewhat afraid of this book; it was originally published in 1959, and I was afraid that it might be overly dry. However, to my surprise I found this to be a history book that is both fascinating and highly informative. Also, while some books suffer from a scarcity of maps, that is not the case with this book. Overall I found this to be an excellent book on its subject and an enjoyable read. If you are interested in the Anglo-Boer War, then you must get this book!

Rayne Kruger was born in South Africa and can trace his antecedants to the Kruger family. The book was first published in 1959 and the title is a song sung by British Troops as they left England for Cape Town or Durban to "fight the Boers".

Unlike the Krugers of old, however, Rayne Kruger has a mastery of the English language that few can better.

The combination of his wonderful ability to describe and take the reader away to another time and his considerable efforts at research and analysis has resulted in a book that propels the subject to the reader in compelling, succinct way.

When you finish reading Kruger's work, you want to read more; he awakens a thirst for knowledge and piques one's interest - the hallmark of a successful historical work.

But the triumph of this book goes well beyond the eloquence of the narrative or the presentation of fact. The triumph of this work is that it glides through pivotal facts, personalities and the politics of conflict to ultimately present the reader with an incontovertible fact: that the Boer War is relevant to our condition to-day and its lessons ring like a bell in the night...

Kruger graphically introduces us to the psyche of the end of the Victorian era. It's parralles to the American era are strikingly familiar. The British in South Africa faced their Vietnam. A short war dragged on for three years. Public pressure to end the war grew. From a jingoistic beginning came a clamour to end it all.

Kruger's subtle analysis propels the Boer War forward into this century. The relevance of the Boer War as a precursor to both the politics of imperialism and the devaluation of human life which were such prominent characteristics of life in this century is brought before the reader in quiet slow degrees as one reads on into the book.

It is a book I highly recommend not only for students of the history of that era in Southern Africa, but for all of us who want to try and understand the psychology of the tragic and barbaric century that follo! wed.

This is a truly outstanding book for South African Aloe enthusiasts of any level from beginner to expert. The authors recognized an obvious vacuum in the literature on growing, collecting, and conserving South African Aloes, and this work deftly bridges the gap between peer reviewed botanical journals and elementary field guides. The book brings together information on plant characteristics, distribution, habitat, cultivation, uses, name etymology, and endangered status. Each species description occupies 2 facing pages with textual content on the left and 1 or more excellent photos of plants in habitat on the right. The content, format, and style harmonize to make this book hard to lay down. It is well worth its modest ...price. Highly recommended.

A good book for both beginner and expert. It puts the aloes in 10 groups, from Tree Aloes to Grass Aloes with detailed desciptions of most aloes. It does not, however, have aloes from anywhere but South africa...but that is the only falt I can find with it.

This is an unbelievable documentation of the horrors of aparthaid that will leave you breathless. It is so hard to believe that this status was ongoing in South Africa up until the 1990's. I had no idea that the severe discrimination wasn't even in place until early in the 20th century. The indignities and oppressive status of blacks in South Africa during this time period, shown in pictures by Ernest Cole should be understood by blacks and whites alike. It makes much of the discrimination that occured here in the US pale by comparison. I thank God that things are improving in South Africa. I visited there in 2001 and again in 2006 and the difference in race relations had changed a great deal for the better.

South African documentary photographer Ernest Cole critically subverts the operations of the archive. Cole has the ability to officially change his racial status from black to colored, due to ambiguities in the government's methods of documenting and systematizing racial identification, in order to gain access to broader strata of society for his photographic project. Cole's black-and-white photographs depict passbook arrests, police inspections, dehumanizing conditions in the diamond mines, "white only" signage in the city--images that would have been subject to censoring.

Cole, when stopped and questioned by authorities, masqueraded his photographs as documents of youth crime rather than as records of the violence of institutional apartheid policy. In this way, Cole's negatives passed archivally. Presenting his work in the guise of documentary visual policing, Cole was able to leave South Africa with his negatives and go to the United States, where House of Bondage was published. This operation of critical camouflaging, of archival mimicry as a critical practice in the realm of photographic production, will fuel this examination of the ways in which the body is represented archivally in contemporary photography from South Africa.

Expedient is one word I can use to describe this transaction. I got the book within one week of purchase. The book was in as good a state as the seller had said it would be. Totally satisfied with the purchase.

Pumla Gobodo-Madikezela reflects on central human issues such as the nature of individual and social evil, the possibility of social reconciliation, the individual's ability to move from participation in violent evil to remorse, and the capacity to meet one another with forgiveness. As urgent at these issues are, her narrative makes compelling reading -- both her accounts of her face-to-face meetings with de Kock and her reflections on her personal story. She raises important questions. How are we to achieve reconciliation in an environment of domonization and divisiveness? Is the Nuremburg model of seeking justice for crimes against humanity actually a way of moving towards reconciliation? While she does not come to clear and definitive conclusions, her experiences and reflections raise some of the most urgent questions facing us as a human community.

After visiting Londolozi and purchasing this book there, it was wonderful to learn about the background and evolution of this very unique game reserve from the founding family. This book is a must for those planning a trip to the "bush" as well as for those fortunates that have been to Londolozi or anywhere to share space with the magnificent animals of the transvaal.

I visited Londolozi in 1997. I ordered and received the book almost a year after I returned home. It captured everything I remember from the animals and the landscape to the wonderful people themselves. I am able to pick up the book, now 2 years later, and still get the same feeling.

Very informative and excellent editorial! (Good research on graphics and pictures too!) It's definitely one of the best History publications that I ever read on SA. The best part I found about this book is its excellent chronological order way down to the earliest time before the Dutch moved-in in the early 16th century. Which is good because most of the publication I come across seems to ignore it. In add-ons, the book also comprises different points of view from not only from the old ruling class (Afrikaners) but also includes the voices of people from different ethnics. In all, it is truly a book of which contents extensive information on history; politics; social development of South Africa. And it is definitely a book for everyone SA history lovers should have!

Very informative and excellent editorial! (Good research on graphics and pictures too!) It's definitely one of the best History publications that I ever read on SA. The best part I found about this book is its excellent chronological order way down to the earliest time before the Dutch moved-in in the early 16th century. Which is good because most of the publication I come across seems to ignore it. In add-ons, the book also comprises different points of view from not only from the old ruling class (Afrikaners) but also includes the voices of people from different ethnics. In all, it is truly a book of which contents extensive information on history; politics; social development of South Africa.Anyone who are interested in SA history should have a copy at home!

A wicked good book! One of the best on African history around

Last year's winner of the Best Publication in African Studies is a very deserving choice. This book is not the average academic fare, it is actually an engaging read. This author, unlike many academicians, can truly be called a writer

Title: South Africa / edited by Johannes Haape.
Edition: New ed. / updated by Eberhard Gennrich.
Publisher: [Hong Kong] : APA Publications ; Boston, Mass. : Distributed in the U.S. by Houghton Mifflin Co., 1995.
Edition Date: 1995
Language: English
Notes: "Created and directed by Hans HoÌÆfer."
Includes index.
Physical Details: 371 p. : ill. (some col.), col. maps ; 23 cm.
Series: Insight guides ; 257
Other Authors: Haape, Johannes.
Gennrich, Eberhard.
Subjects: South Africa--Guidebooks.

Insight guides offer a rich history, political analysis and cultural insight to the countries they cover. By using locally based writers they get the insiders view of what the various camps believe in. For a discerning traveller who wants to know about the country, the people, geography, food, industry etc and for those who wish to travel independently, this is the book to read. It is not tourist guide which says stay here, eat this menu, see this statue. All that is left to the standard tourist guide writers. If you never travel to a country, you can know it through the insight guide. The South African book is no exception and is full of well written and accessible articles, giving you information that you will find invaluable if you travel to the country.

This is a wonderful songbook and is very easy to follow. I would recommend this for anyone.

Piano parts and vocals for the Alive In South Africa concert. Piano parts are fairly advanced. Includes 'Take the Limits Off,' 'You've Been a Friend,' 'He Knows My Name,' 'Alpha and Omega,' and 'Your Latter Will Be Greater.' The book also stays open very easily (nice binding for pianists.)

Sidney Allinson's books are surprises. They can start off unassumingly and build up to rip snorting sagas of ceaseless adventure. In his finest work yet, Allinson doesn't even start off slowly. Kruger's Gold grips the reader at once and the pace never slows. As I read this action tale of the struggle a century ago between South Africa's Boers, and England and her "colonials," I was repeatedly struck with the idea this would be and should be a wonderful movie. Allinson's experience as a television producer may have given him that hot-shot cameraman's "eye" or it could simply be that any good yarn so stirringly told lends itself to theatre in the best sense.

On these pages, a segment of history that was soon obscured by two ensuing, bloodier world wars leaps to life. It is really the twilight of an era, with Europeans jostling for power and position and, in this case in particular, South African gold. Allinson fills in the historical perspective while following a Canadian soldier and his colonial troops who, late in the war, have been assigned to find the legendary government cache of gold that departing Prime Minister Paul Kruger was said to have stashed before leaving in 1900 for virtual exile in Europe.

Allinson writes sympathetically of the brilliant Boer commandos fighting to retain their homeland and their way of life. His story is not overly revisionist: the Boers have seized this land from the native tribes, after all, and even the most principled among them want to keep the blacks and "coloureds" in their place, lest their vast numbers overwhelm the white settlers. Even through a more politically correct prism, we must admire the self reliance of these men whose surprise tactics and talented marksmanship enabled them to strike at the enemy, melt away into the bush, and return to attack another day. Many if not most of the men have lost wives and children to the war; yet, while they can be ruthless, they treat surrendered prisoners with a decency and respect that arouses a sense of nostalgia in the reader. Their English counterparts do as well with their own prisoners, for the most part.

The story of the concentration camps where stranded Boer families and prisoners were placed to wait out the war is not as happy a one. Allinson paints a grim picture of these horrors where women and children and some men languished in filthy conditions with poor diets and disease and death dogging every step. A few selfless medical workers do their best, but there are no facilities and their supplies are woefully inadequate. The camps were not England's finest legacy to the history texts.

The romances in the book provide a lusty and pleasing counterpoint. Even the horses get to play a heart-warming role. And throughout the book, Allinson has peppered the story with fascinating historical minutiae, such as the Boer heroine not being allowed to play ragtime music, then the rage, because it was produced by black performers.

Read this book. It is a treat.

KRUGER'S GOLD: A GRIPPING, FAST-MOVING NOVEL SET IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN BATTLEFIELD OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO

In 1902, as in 2001, guerrilla fighters were challenging the might of the pre-eminent world power. Then it was the Dutch settlers called Boers fighting Great Britain for possession of South Africa. Today, Islamic extremists attack the U.S. and its allies anywhere and everywhere. The lesson from both: small forces are potent.

This is not a dry military history book, nor does the reader miss anything if, like this reviewer, he or she comes to it more or less ignorant of the Anglo-Boer War. The author, Sidney Allinson, has written the sort of gripping, fast-moving novel that keeps you turning pages long after bedtime. The characters and their loves and hatreds, their ideals and weaknesses, failures and triumphs, would have provided the human material for a thoroughly satisfying novel even if presented in an imagined setting.

The hero is a Canadian serving with the British Army, Lieutenant Harry Lanyard. Given the choice between disgrace before a court martial and leading a particularly hazardous mission, Lanyard takes the latter. With a rag-tag troop of Colonial mounted infantry, Lanyard is ordered to recover a king's ransom in stolen gold bullion - enough money to keep the Boers fighting for goodness knows how many more years. This gold had been looted by the Boer President, Paul Kruger, hence the book's title.

And hence also, the skilful merging of the fictional characters in the foreground of the story with the meticulously researched historical events that provide the backdrop. We are introduced to the tough Boer burgher fighters who adopted the title "Commando", to be handed down through the generations as the hallmark of military excellence. We discover to our chagrin that the war also fathered the concentration camp, a term synonymous with death. Although devised initially by the British as shelter for destitute families whose homes had been torched by one side or the other in this increasingly cruel and desperate campaign, disgraceful mismanagement reduced these camps to death traps.

Meanwhile the action continues: ambush, deception, espionage, mutiny, pitched battles and encounters with snipers - and all the time a forbidden romance struggling to survive across the invisible line separating friend from foe. Lieutenant Lanyard would be a real asset in today's Special Forces, but is this enough to gain his two objectives, Kruger's Gold, and the love of his life, Beth?

Advance copies of this book have stirred great interest among students of the period, some of whom have been brought up on "official" versions of events that omit what is unpalatable about your own side. The truth is that war brings out the best and the worst in mankind and there never was an unblemished battle record. Sidney Allinson pays his respects to Boers, Brits, and Colonials, and avoids any temptation to portray the fighting in terms of good guys and bad. To assist the keen researcher, the author includes a Glossary, Casualty Statistics, and Bibliography.

The book is presented in a handsome jacket carrying a contemporary action painting showing the Royal Canadian Dragoons in close-quarter fighting against the Boers.

Maurice Tugwell, retired British Army Brigadier, Military Analyst, and Author of Herzl Street (Xlibris, 1999)