South Africa Books

In 1986, Paul Simon's album, "Graceland" focused international attention on the music and people of South Africa. The music was not the mournful dirges of apartheid victims but rather the vibrant sounds of a cultural affirmation. Anyone interested the people and culture behind the "Graceland" sound need look no further than David Coplan's "In Township Tonight!"

Those who might shy away from an academic work, for fear of encountering dry-as-sawdust pedantic prose, will be pleasantly surprised. Coplan's writing is clear and unencumbered. Coplan provides a brief survey of the dynamics of Black South African culture in the nineteenth century. This serves a backdrop to the book's primary focus, Black music and culture in urban South Africa during the twentieth century.

Coplan's account is intersting and exciting, sad yet homorous. Through rigorous research and passion for his subject Coplan provides the reader with a compelling look at one of the most unusual societies of the twentieth century, apartheid South Africa. The reader is taken beyond the simplistic South Africa of media sound bites to a world of complex characters where music is part of life and where, in the background one hears the irrepresible peep of a penny whistle.

Uhhh, buy the book, do it, now.

From being an intelligence operative in a network of anti-apartheid armed struggle in South Africa to reflections on middle school days forming a human sign of "OFF THE PIGS!!!" to the National Guard's invasion of Berkley to launching a sustained and insightful critique of the operation of white privilege/supremacy in the academy, Frank Wilderson has written a ridiculously fly memoir that I feel incredibly grateful to have gotten my hands on.

For your own sake, please, purchase this amazing piece of writing immediately.

AN INDIAN AFFAIR: FROM RICHES TO RAJ by Archie Baron was written as a companion book to a British television historical documentary series. It is therefore clear and beautifully written for the general public. It chronicles the interaction of Great Britain with India before 1858.
My ideas about the British in India were fuzzy at best and basically informed by tales and legends from the Victorian age. This book turns all my ideas upside down. It's wonderful.
It begins with an introduction and ends with an afterword and inbetween are 9 chapters. Chapter 1 entitled Rogue Traders and Spice Girls relates the beginnings of the British East India Company. Chapter 2, Accidental Empire gives information about Clive and the beginning of military power in India to protect trade. Chapter 3, Nabobs tells of the British who lived in India and got rich off her wealth. Chapter 4, An Indian Love Affair basically gives details about Warren Hastings, a governor-general of India and William Jones, an intellectual. Both these men loved India and thought the Indian culture was on par with most any cultures and maybe exceeded those of Great Britain. Chapter 5, Going Native, is about men like Hindoo Stuart who embraced India, not just intellectually but in all ways. These are the White Mughals. Chapter 6 First Fusion informs us about the profound influence Indian culture had back home in Great Britain and about some of the Indians who visited or came to live in Great Britain. Chapter 7, First Among Equals is about the schemes and military actions between France, the Indian rulers, and Great Britain. Chapter 8, The New Rome, chronicles the events that started the beginning of the British Government as the rulers of India. Chapter 9, Brown Englishman, tells how native Indian languages and learning were thrown over for English and western culture in India and even, for good and bad, embraced by Indians.
AN INDIAN AFFAIR has gorgeous color plates and pictures interspersed throughout the chapters. It is 254 pages in length with Sources and Further Reading, Acknowledgements, and an Index. It is altogether a satisfying, beautiful reading experience.

I couldnt put this book down, it had loose connections with my family and gave a wonderful insight into that era and the strangely remote life lived by the author and his parents. A wonderful book.

Brilliantly, achingly rendered, a wonderful read. Spend some time with the Pifer family in South Africa in the 1930's and '40s. You'll come away with a love of these people and a deep affectionate knowledge of this vast and challenging country.

Inside all of us there is a compelling need to read something of our own history, something that is quaint and undiscovered. And it is here that the attraction of Innocents in Africa lies. It is a beautifully written book, about Drury Pifer's childhood growing up in Africa - the unique insight of an American family, unfettered by the conventions of British, German and Afrikaner society, trying to make their way in the world. The reader is easily transported back to Southern Africa of the 1930s and 40s, to Nigel, a dreary mining town near Johannesburg, and to the windswept desert beaches of South West Africa. It is a story of childhood memories, charmingly told, lyric sentences bringing alive a place whose history needs to be delved. But more than that, it also manages to pose the important questions of the day, in a delightfully apolitical but nevertheless pertinent manner. Most of all however, I will treasure this book because of what it records - an account of unchanging small-town life somewhere in Africa, where previously I only had my parents' oral anecdotes of their own childhood to rely on. When Pifer describes `Time in Oranjemund' as bearing `no relationship to whatever time has since become. A day then lasted a year, or a lifetime'...even I can relate. It is nostalgic. It is the poignant tale of a family's quest for a living in the mining towns of Southern Africa, based on their blind American optimism that ability will bring promotion. In Africa, the Pifer family would ultimately only find disappointment, and yet the author notes, `these would be our family's happiest few years, but how could we know that?'

I discovered the book accidentally, read it, and was delighted. I am now recommending it to everyone.

This, no nonsense book is a must have. If you are serious about working with people. about caring about the people you work with (and who work for you) you must read this book. No, you must own this book. It is the best guide to successful people management that I have ever seen. It is to the point and it works. The practical advice given and the way the book explores options assist you in understanding human dynamics. If you are unsure about whether or not you are a people person, read it anyway. It may reveal that necessary ingredient that will make you a successful team leader. I highly recommend it as a tool to develop skills and to be the best people motivator that you can possibly be!

Though fictionalized, a large portion of this novel is based on events that really happened and characters in the story are of people that actually exist(ed).

I am a South African who is featured as one of the characters in this story. Presently I am living in the USA. I offer to turn in my review, comments and opinions of the novel once I have read the American English version.

I have read the South African English version. I lived in the valley in which the story occurred. Michael Williams, author of the novel, Into the Valley, dedicated the South African version of this book to me.

I am disappointed that the American English version is out of print. Help me to acquire, even a used copy.

Thank you. John Mkhize

This is part of Thorkild Hansen's triology on the slave trade from western Africa to the colonies in Caribbean. The Kingdom of Denmark/Norway at the time where a small player but none the less Hansen's book's are painstakingly researched and the story told with a subtleness sense of dark humor. Strongly recommended, especially to Scandinavians who believe that the liberal social order of today was the norm in historical perspective.

A beautiful simple childrens' book. Jafta and the Wedding was pleasant and easy to read. This book brings to life the imagination and joys of being a child. The simplistic use of a cream backdrop and hues of brown stepped out with a persona that complimented the text. No other colors were used which made this book to me rich and authentic in its written vein. If you are open to introducing culture to children this would be good for starters. Before reading Jafta and the Wedding, talk about how we celebrate weddings,how children play in the States and contrast after reading the story. I could visualize the scenes and I felt as if I was there! A wonderful childrens' book!

Jafta's Mother is a wonderful child friendly book that captures their attention & win's their heart. It is full of warmth & expressions that help children put into words their feelings. The pictures are warm, simple & will not over stimulate your little ones. It is also put together in a very simple way that can be useful for children just starting to embark on their life long journey of reading!

I so much enjoyed the paperback that I went back to the hardback - there are quite a few differences. Either way it is a wonderful book,