South Africa Books

I have always had a fascination with South Africa, it seems so beautiful and exotic; the Horn of Africa. This is a gorgeous book and the estates are amazing. The text is highly informative and the images just jump off the page. I love the way the Europeans take their native architecture, then comform it to the elements of Africa. Looking at these houses, it's easy to forget the injustices inflicted on the indigenous people, this breathtaking country is God willing on the way to healing, thank you Mandela.

Written by South African historian and Canadian resident Joan G. Fairweather, A Common Hunger: Land Rights in Canada and South Africa is a unique treatise comparing and contrasting indigenous people's legal battles for rights to land that are currently taking place in modern-day Canada and post-apartheid South Africa. Penned with scholarly precision and attention to detail, A Common Hunger traces treaties in both nations, respective histories of negotiation, litigation, restitution, and self-government, the quest to restore dignity, and much more. Ultimately, A Common Hunger seeks to understand and explain why land rights matter both to individuals and to collectives, outline the difficult task of nation-building in South Africa, and explore options for the future. An extensively researched, highly recommended study, with a thorough bibliography and an index.

Covering not only specifics on species,distribution and family keys, but information on the regions studied, its biogeography and a guide to collection preservation and measurment of fish specimens. This book also looks at conservation, classification, relationships between fish and man, fish biology and a bit on the geographical influences on the fishes looked at.

A fantastic guide for both the layman (amateur or general interest)and the scientificaly minded. A "Robert's Birds" of Freshwater Fishes of Southern Africa

By far the best snake identification guide on southern Africa on the market today !

I have got the first version of this book as well, it was good, but this one is really good.

First of all the book has got a normal size, a lot of these guides are small and are therefore handy to pack but difficult to use. This one has not as it is A4 size.

Photos are generally of good quality and of live animals and give you allready good identification keys.
The drawings besides the text shows you in a blink of an eye what the head of the snakes looks like,venomous or not, and if so how venomous, nocturnal/diurnal,ground or tree dwelling and size.

Text is good as well as the distribution mappes.

Conclusion ?!

Interested by southern African snakes ? Buy this book.

Going to southern Africa and need a field guide ? Buy this book.

This book illuminates the dark secrets that the ANC preferred not to make public.The facts as described in this important book clarify the extent that the ANC was dominated by the ideologically doctrinaire Communist Party, how divisive internally the ANC became in the wake of skillful South African government countermeasures, and just how far from victory the black movement for freedom was when DeKlerk, a man who has not received his due from history, decided to "un-ban" both the ANC and SACP. I would like to have seen more about the linkage between the collapse of Communism worldwide and the pressures on the South African government, but the focus of this fine book was on the ANC/SACP relationship. And that is not altogether a pleasant story, but it does help to explain why South Africa continues to suffer from internal turmoil now that the apartheid dragon has been slain.

Having lived in South Africa as an expatriot, I can tell you that this is the best book ever written for a driving tour. It is very accurate down to where he says signs are posted. We did the drive of Natal and the Cape and thoroughly enjoyed reading out loud while driving. I'm sorry to see that it is hard to find!

An essential look at constitution-making processes in South Africa, with excellent guidance for other constitutional democracies -- present and future -- on the politics of power sharing. An outstanding first book by well recognized scholar of the law and society movement and political activist during the years of apartheid.

In this fascinating book, author and Associate Professor of Political Studies at the University of Cape Town, Anthony Butler, looks at the current state of economic, social and political conditions in South Africa. With the African National Congress's assumption of power in 1994, in the wake of the nation's first non-racial election, there were many predictions, both rosy and dire about what the future held for the nation of South Africa. This book, written some ten years after the transfer of power, is an examination of the state of the nation, of how it has developed and where it is headed.

Overall, I found this to be an absolutely excellent book on the present state of South Africa. The author does a great job of explaining what is going on in South Africa in a clear and even-handed manner. If you are interested in South Africa, and how it has changed since 1994, then I would highly recommend this book to you!

This is the BEST; I say again the BEST book on the counter-insurgency efforts of the Rhodesian Security Forces (RSF) during their UDI and "Bush War" period. This book covers all the major topics and tactics. Starting with a brief background history, rolling into RSF's structure and command and control. Cover some of the methods to secure and control rural villages from terrorist incursions and intimidation, much like the techniques used in Malaya and Vietnam (hearts and minds to some extent). Discuses some of the Rhodesians methods to control their borders, from insurgent crossing and the employment of mines, which today they are still dealing with residue effects of these minefield.
This book covers the intelligence apparatus in a counter-insurgency conflict in great detail, which worked successfully in Rhodesia. In particular their use of elite units (Selous Scouts and Rhodesian Special Air Service (SAS)) coupled with their intelligence network. The Rhodesians used and mastered a technique pioneered by the British in Kenya and Malaya known as Pseudo-terrorist operations. This technique accounted for more kills then any other method used and made the Selous Scouts world famous. The coverage in this book is unsurpassed and the most detailed I've read on it. For this alone the book is worth the price. The also has excellent chapter on external operations; taking the fight to the terrorist safe-haven and eliminating the threat at the source, much like what we need to do to the Taliban operating in Afghanistan and hiding in Pakistan. This is a most read book for all military leaders and Special Operations personnel. I can not recommend more!

in the begining the twins saen and garrik are out huntind with there dogs when saen (the older and stronger of the two)see's a ramand he is intreeged he wants to steal his fathers shot gun and hunt the ram but as you will see this is a big mistake .... yes he gets the ram but thats not all .

this is a very good book but i dont think eny one under the age of 19 to 21 yes i am 14 but i have a very high i ntellectual leval it is a very good book and i incourage you to read it