South Africa Books

Sydney Sheldon, emotionally retarded and mentally challenged creator of "Gilligan's Island" and "I Dream of Jeannie", writes. It's grammatically correct writing, but this is the only compliment I can give it.

Sydney writes in a flat, unentertaining way... as though he expects his readers to be struggling with English, like an 8 year old forced to read this at school. If you want startlingly well-written prose, read Shakespeare, Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, Dirk Gently series, "Last Chance to See"), or Mark Twain (Letters from the Earth, Tom Sawyer, et cetera).

Sydney's characters are as flat, unlikeable and unbelievable as a 4 year old's superhero comic book, used as toilet paper and then unfolded to be read again. Imagine that twin daughters are *polite coughing* evil and good, in the extreme...yet their family is completely unaware of this, for decades. Imagine a wealthy playboy who goes around raping, beating, and sodomizing wealthy women... but goes unjailed, unnoticed, and undisciplined. Having difficulty imagining this? Blame Sydney, who thinks you've got the intelligence of the average preschooler.

Sydney's plots are as unbelievable as a 1950s cigarette ad claiming "not a cough in a carload". In this particular book (small spoiler alert), imagine how you'd feel after reading near the beginning that a white man and a black man in 1800s South Africa could be fairly good friends, without a hint of racism. Now break with reality again, and imagine that two people without tools could pick up enough diamonds on a beach (yep...diamons, lying around on a beach?!) in a few hours could collect enough wealth to compete against--and topple-- a millionaire who has 40 guys searching that SAME beach every day, all day, for years.

Notice that above and below this book review are 11 pages of shills and clacquers, using !!!exclamation points!!!, CAPITAL LETTERS, catchy lines line "Sheldon is the master of the game", and all giving this crappity book 10/10 stars. Clearly, Amazon has not done enough to keep out the marketing weenies who are posing as real, unbiased readers as they try to sell this steaming heap of rotting firewood to an unsuspecting audience.

BE WARNED: this book is junk. Total, boring, unbelievable, twisted, shallow junk. You will regret any time spent with it, unless it's bought at a garage sale and used to prop up a wobbly table.

first time i listen to a book by sidney sheldon and i think he is the best book that i ever read i am going to pay more of his books i hope that i am not going to be disappointed , you see some writer thy do write one good story but all wt come after it is garbage. pls if any one have recommendation for the next book pls advise.its not every profound book but it is very entertaining.and breathtaking, you going to love it .

"Master of the Game" is a 1982 novel by Sidney Sheldon, a man responsible for bringing you both lackluster television shows like "I Dream of Jeannie" and guilty-pleasure novels like "The Other Side of Midnight." I will say this for Sheldon. He knows how to keep you reading. The two novels I have read by the man (the aforementioned book and the one for which this review is being written) are entertaining reads. That being said, they are also silly, far-fetched and not particularly intellectual. Thus, if you are thinking about reading this book, you should ask yourself what it is you want exactly from the experience.

The story begins in 1883 where we meet the young and ambitious Jamie McGregor on his way to Africa to make his fortune in diamonds. Jamie eventually makes it rich, but not without consequences. He eventually has a daughter named Kate who takes over the business her father started. Kate marries into the company and makes running it the primary focus of her life. Her son, Tony Blackwell, is less enchanted with the business world and wishes to be a painter. Kate, however, needs someone to take over the business before she dies. Tony eventually has twin daughters, Eve and Alexandra. The two look exactly the same, but are actually as different as night and day.

Of course, there is much more to this story than the brief description I've offered here. The way the story unfolds will mostly keep you interested enough to keep turning the pages, even if there are a number of very predictable plot twists. The book is not without its faults. The book really seems to lack a narrative theme that holds throughout the entire story. It is supposed to be a family saga in which Kate Blackwell is at the heart of the story. However, that central character isn't even introduced until 159 pages into the book. What comes before her birth is the story of how her father made his fortune, which can be interesting, but really isn't particularly relevant to Kate's quest to make her company ever-richer and more powerful.

The rest of the book holds together a little better, as it all has to do with Kate trying to run the lives of people in her family. Still, when it comes down to it, this book is just a series of events over a few generations rather than an epic tale with a point to make. You could probably start from the section labelled BOOK TWO and only a few references here and there wouldn't make sense.

I've also heard it said that Sheldon likes to write stories about strong women. I found that interesting because while many of the female characters in this story are strong, most of them don't fare particularly well. Kate is strong, but also ruthless and not at all concerned with what someone else might want for their life. Margaret is a doormat, who allows Jamie to treat her like a punching bag. Alexandra is naive, and doesn't catch on when someone tries to kill her multiple times. Eve simply isn't human at all.

Of course, not everybody cares if what they are reading has a real point. Some people just read a novel to escape, and on that level, this book is more successul. If you are just looking to pass some time without turning on the television, this story should keep you occupied. I did find the ending a little anti-climactic, but I don't feel like reading the book was a waste by any means. I'd suggest starting with "The Other Side of Midnight", which had similar flaws, but was slightly better overall.

EXCELLENT !!!

WHO NEEDS TELLY WHEN YOU CAN SIT BACK AND LISTEN TO A GOOD BOOK.

Sidney Sheldon is the master of the game capturing romance, twisting plots, greed, intrigue, and a furthering menu of exciting characters. This is my most favorite Sidney Sheldon read. I thought Sands of Time would be at the top of the list, but now just finished reading Master of the Game. IMO this is the best he's done. You will not be disappointed. This one is a page turner. Another classic for my library.

I'm stumped. This memoir is considered a classic, yet there are platoons of unsung memoirs out of Africa that are far superior. Granted,Mathabane wrote this when he was barely out of high school. But still. The writing is laborious and, worse, many of the scenes, particularly those from his very early childhood, feel embellished. A different shade of James Frey? That said, the book gives a sobering, stark picture of Apartheid-era township life in all its horrors and occasional joys.

I really enjoyed reading about this mans triumph to overcome the odds and to follow destiny (getting to America).

KAFFIR BOY is a must read for anyone interested in what life was like for a young boy coming of age in Apartheid South Africa. Mark Mathabane describes in vivid detail the horror of poverty and brutality which was a way of life for black children and families living in the squalor city of Alexandria near Johannesburg, the affluent suburb in South Africa. His account is heartbreaking. Yet, Mark was able to do the unthinkable. He was able to escape (thanks to the support of men like Stan Smith), and lived to write about his horrifying experiences. KAFFIR BOY is interesting and important because Mark Mathabane writes in a style as if he is talking directly to the reader, thereby allowing the reader to fully understand what it was like coping with the cruelty and injustice of apartheid.

I thought that parts of the book could have been penned more concisely. Also, it was difficult at times to understand the character of Mark's mother and father. Yet, Mark Mathabane's powerful and profound account/message of life in Apartheid South Africa far outweighs the minor flaws of this book. I highly recommend this book.

Stark and poignant, Mark Mathabane shares his autobiography of life under South African apartheid until the miracle of his escape to the United States in Kaffir Boy (Free Press, 350 pages). Mr. Mathabane's story is told in three parts. The first, The Road to Alexandra, offers a description of the appalling squalor and violence found in a black ghetto under fourth-class citizen status. How children learn to survive, let alone attempt to carry on any type of hopeful existence, defies any common understanding of humanity and pulls at the reader's heartstrings. The challenges, frustrations, and sacrifices that confronted Mr. Mathabane and his family are documented throughout the second section, Passport to Knowledge, where education, religion, and tribal affiliations swirl as possible solutions to combat the Influx Control Law and other forms of white-minority separatist rule. Passport to Freedom, the third section, narrates Mr. Mathabane's discovery of tennis and the difficulties of making dreams come true.

Despite the repetition of incidents and the infusion of seemingly inconsequential moments, Mr. Mathabane's autobiography is readable and moving. It is hard to imagine anyone living through the impoverished conditions he describes. Confrontations with his tribal father, local gangs, missionaries, and white authorities suggest hope of a better future is nothing short of a lottery ticket. The most effective sections of the text share Mr. Mathabane's inner turmoil in deciding his place as a black South African and an agent of change. The tumultuous history of apartheid is drawn with an effective narrative voice as violent uprisings and responses are juxtaposed with tender sacrifices and determination. With the assistance of liberal whites, Mr. Mathabane turned hard work and good fortune into a plane ticket to freedom. Kaffir Boy joins Cry Freedom and Master Harold & the Boys as yet another powerful depiction of South African life.

I picked up this book after watching the movie "Tsotsi". I was looking for a book about apartheid in South Africa and stumbled upon this one. And I am so glad I did. The author has done a great job in detailing his childhood and the struggle he and his family went through. Half-way through the book I found it extremely depressing and decided to stop. Later that night I realized that people have courage to actually go through and I can't even complete reading the book? People in Africa still go through horrifying experiences...Yes, it was a depressing read but a definite MUST. An absolute eye opener...

The novels of Laurens van der Post were based in the deeper reality of the African bush of the times of his writings. From the very beginning this film is untrue of his novels. Lonnie from the books, was a young boy-man who was a hunter of the first order, but based in the honor of code of the bush and its ways. Lonnie was never in the bush without his gun. In the movie the character does not have a rifle. Without Lonnie's own bush prowess, they, including the bushman would not have survived the ordeal of the African political factions and conditions of the forced initiations into manhood that he was faced with. Lonnie was a classical hero in every sense of the word and was never a twittering kid type as portrayed in the move. In van der Post's books Lonnie was forced to kill men to survive. Childen of a young age will like this film... its fairy tale, not reality. Those who respect the profound depth of van der Post's writing will be betrayed by this film.

Reese Witherspoon rocked in this movies as a young teen in Africa standing up for her family's values for the preservation of the magestic elephant. All in the name of greed the poachers killing these magnificent animals just for their ivory tusks. This movie made me laugh,get angry and cry.

This film is interesting and somewhat effective as a piece of cinema. That said, its story is so far removed from van der Post's indiosyncratic novels (upon which the film is ostensibly based) as to be almost unrecognizable. Only one connection to the two novels remains: both the film and the books are set in Africa. Beyond that, just about every other element of the books' narratives has been changed, usually so that the film follows some shallow Hollywood plotline, but at the expense of van der Post's encyclopedic knowledge and love of Bushman life and culture. As a result, the film is watchable, but its destruction of the novels is almost as complete as the razing of Hunters Drift by poachers in the film version.

This is such a heartwarming movie, great for the whole family, yet a love story for all us girls!

I remembered watching this movie a long time ago as a kid, which is why I decided to buy it, so many years later.

Long story short, the movie is just as good as I remembered it to be. While the story is cliche at times, and simplistic in some ways, the character interactions is what makes this film shine.

It also gives you a glimpse of a young Reese Whiterspoon, and you can clearly see her developing talent.

Much of the story seems trite to a 21st century reader because its major plot points have been copied so many times in modern movies and books. For example, I was groaning when the main characters realized they could impress their captors by predicting the sky would grow dark -- i.e., solar eclipse would occur, and they had an almanac to tell them when. How many times has this trick been used? Regardless, the book is a great read, and one has to give credit to Haggard for creating so many enduring concepts. It's fast-paced and very hard to put down.

An interesting side note is how harsh Haggard (via the characters) was in his treatment of black Africans as well as animals, but I suppose that was commonplace for the era when the book was written. For example, the characters don't have any qualms about slaughtering any elephant for its ivory, and they treat the locals as clearly inferior, using terms for them that today would be extremely offensive in southern Africa.

King Solomon's Mines is a story of a man's search for his brother, and told from the point of view the famous hero and hunter, Allan Quatermain.

He is the man they turn to for help, and become is solid and steadfast companions. The search for the Mines, the battles, the evil witch woman and the African setting are all excellent.

King Solomon's Mines is a straight forward adventure story. Two friends enlist the services of a crusty guide and a strong minded native to tramp across Africa in search for a missing brother, a brother who in turn was lost while searching for one of the greatest treasures known to legend (see title). To do so they must cross the desert, climb the mountains, confront an evil witch, and fight an epic battle.
It's a quick read and a pleasant one. Only one bit goes down sour, a bit of racism residual from the time period. While one of the lead characters, Umbopa, is a strong, intelligent African man, an interracial love story is cut short by death, followed by the observation that white and black cannot marry anymore than day and night. Not exactly the most enlightened point of view.
I love the writing and the story. If you could cut out that paragraph all would be well and this at least a four star book . . . but I suppose that would be revising history and literature, and so the book stands, or falls, as it is.

My review here isn't about the book, rather this edition. Like most reviewers here, the book is fantastic--a thrilling yarn of a story. This edition--The Modern Library, have done a wonderful job updating this classic. The footnotes are very edifying and the introduction helps to contextualize the novel. Well done editors! This is the edition one should use in your book club or in class for students.

King Solomon's Mines is one of the best adventures ever penned. Even the Victorian-English-speak dialogue adds to the realism. A lost brother, a great treasure, an exiled black king, a pitched battle, heroes, death, a vast and dangerous wilderness, a doomed love, strong friendships, one of the strangest and most evil villainesses in all of literature, and echoes of antiquity -- what more could you want? You could want literary excellence, wonderful pace, and a slight element of the occult. Well, Haggard provides those as well. The films VERY loosely based upon this great tale are horrible. This is a dream. Go read it. Unfold Da Silvestre's fragile treasure map and take the unforgettable journey that is King Solomon's Mines.

Peter Godwin recounts his early childhood in such personal terms that you will regress along with him. You'll feel the pangs of growing up in a boarding school, of his awakening to his social status and that of the blacks that worked for his family - of the colonized Africans who became Zimbabweans. His transformation into young adult foreign journalist with a Rhodesian's perspective takes you inside the revolution that formed Zimbabwe, and likely you will be left with the need for resolution that still plagues Zimbabwe today. Read this book - you'll enjoy and learn from it.

Peter Godwin has written a very interesting and informative book. His descriptions of Zimbabwe as a child before and after the Mugabe government are enthralling and informative for those who do not know what was going on in Africa during the mid-20th. century. He writes with sympathy for both sides. This book made me want to read more on the on-going struggle in Zimbabwe to become a cohesive country, despite its' history.
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While traveling on an overland safari, I ran out of books to read. (Although I brought plenty, as an English teacher, I was devouring them as we drove through the African countryside.) Fortunately, one of the French girls in the back of the truck had just finished a book and was willing to lend it to me. She said that Mukiwa was captivating and that I wouldn't be able to put it down, and she was right. Having already visited Zimbabwe several times, I was fascinated to learn more about the white experience there, especially since I had recently read Catherine Buckle's African Tears, which also describes the current land invasions. Because many tourists don't delve deeper into Zimbabwe than a quick jaunt to Victoria Falls, Godwin's memoir is an important read. Godwin describes the reality of living in a country as tumultuous as it is beautiful. The reader can't help but gain a love of the country himself and come to understand why Godwin would risk his life in returning. Fortunately, I was able to experience a glimpse of the beauty of the country myself while visiting some of their game parks. It was on one of these drives in Hwange that I first fell in love with Africa and can understand why Godwin's parents would risk their lives by choosing to remain. I enjoyed the book so much that I purchased the sequel When a Crocodile Eats the Sun at the Johannesburg Airport. I follow the news in Africa online every day--especially the news of Zimbabwe and South Africa, and cannot express how much I value the insight that Godwin provides in both of these books. I also developed a fondness and empathy for his family as they endure the turbulent times that face Zimbabwe. Despite the many problems that face the continent, I am looking forward to my eighth trip. I have been discussing Godwin's book with my honors students and told them that I plan to read his other three--Wild at Heart, The Three of Us, and Rhodesians Never Die--before I leave.

All Peter Godwin's book, this one,and When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, are fabulous, easy to read, and so informative!

Our choice for April was especially meaningful to one of our members who had lived in Africa for over 12 years as a missionary. She was aghast at the author's mother leaving him while she did her medical duties and this was cause for a great discussion both of Africa and the decisions parents, especially mothers, so often have to make. We all thought the beginning chapters were the very best writing, just made us feel as the author had felt growing up. Especially powerful were his writing about wanting to live where it wasn't so dangerous for little boys! Lots of grief in this story, but lots of love, too.

I first heard Janet two years ago during a NPR segment. Her words were so inspiring that I was determined to read the book. I procrastinated reading the book and just finished it this week. It was heartbreaking to go onto her website to find out that she'd left her incarnation as Janet last year. How I wish I could tell her how she gave many of my feelings and experiences words.

This book is great for young women (and us older ones) who grow up feeling outside of the norm in their communities. She chronicles education, self-sabotage, and painful moments with honesty.

From someone who had a paralel early and educational life, I understand all of Ms. McDonald's self-doubts and search for identity. It's wonderful to read of her triumph over her worst enemy, herself. Her achievements and adventure abroad are truly inspiring.

I gave the book 4 rather than 5 stars because the writing style is sometimes hard to get around. But it was only a minor distraction from the potency of her words.

This book in now on my shelf of inspirational books along with "When the Spirits Dance Mambo" by Marta Moreno Vega.

This is a wonderful true story about a woman overcoming obstacles in her life, some self-created and others caused by issues of class, race and gender.


Parents often sabotage their children's lives, even with the best of intentions. McDonald's otherwise supportive and loving parents refused to give her money for subway fare so that she could keep an appointment with a school that promised to get her life back on track and prepare her for college. Had she not jumped the subway turnstile that day, we probably wouldn't be reading her autobiography.

Or conversely, how life can so easily end up going the other way. If she'd been stopped by NY's transit police, she could have been arrested, never made it to the interview, and ended up living a life of crime. Without that school interview, and the two years of college prep that followed, she would have never had any of the positive opportunities in life that were later opened up to her.

Few books I have read in my life compare to this incredible story of triumph in the face of adversity. I could not put the book down. Ms. McDonald's conveys her rise from the projects of New York to the dorms of Vassar to the salons of Paris with openness and humor. She bravely uses excerpts from her journal to convey some of the most harrowing times. A gifted writer, we can only hope the sequel will appear soon.

Great novel...older students can get a real look at life. Things could be worst for some of today's students, but this novel should make them see that. You can still do great things in life when you are dealt a no so great hand.

I must say I am a fan of Janet Mc Donald's books. The first book that I read that had me in stitches was "Spellbound." After reading that one I was inclined to find any others she wrote. I purchased a total three and one of them being "Project Girl." I was pleased with the beginning of the book because she was able to take me into her world as a project girl. She was also able to express the ambiance and love she experienced in her family as a child with her readers. She however lost me from there on. I must say her redundant mentioning of how smart she is wore on my last nerve. I wanted to put the book away and forget about finishing it, but made myself after all I paid for it. I just wish the book could have lived up to its name and relied less on proving superfluous points to her readers. I am still a fan of the author; after all she is only human.

I have attempted to write a review of this book several times, but failed as I find myself gripped with the same conflicting emotions that Malan so succintly portrays in the book.

Having been born and brought up very close to the Msinga Valley (the subject of the closing chapter of My Traitor's Heart) in the heart of Kwa Zulu Natal, many of the names and people are known to me. Some of those people are the heroes of the book, others are the villains. I mention this only in so much as I can verify sufficient of the authenticity of Malan's very personal, cathartic journey.

Many others have written a synopsis of Malan's book. If you want to know about the story line - there are many reviews to be read. However, for me the review is a personal experience. Malan's catharsis is paralleled by my own! No other book I've read is as descriptive of the madness that is Africa. A madness that you both love and hate at the same time. A madness that drives you away and yet draws you in simultaneously. And finally a madness that drives you to the edge of reason, yet (as the story of Creina Alcock unfolds) drives you to the reason for being.

No matter where you start on the political spectrum (extreme left, extreme right or somewhere in the middle), you find yourself driven to the other end of the scale and back again, on a roller coaster of emotion. For Malan, his beginning point is 'extreme left'. His end point, is, I suspect, 'disallusioned'.

I recommend this book as an extremely well written, witty, sad, mad book. If you want to understand Africa (insofar as anyone can 'understand' Africa), this is the book to read.

But reader beware - it is a deeply disturbing, very graphic read!

White liberal draft-dodger hard at work. He's a good writer and the book's a painful look into the heart of a white liberal. My admiration goes rather to those who fought to defend their country.... but it's an insight into the tortured soul of a typical liberal wooftah. Why people put themselves thru all this inner torment I have no idea - have a beer and get over it, bloke! If you'd just done your time in the armed forces like pretty much every other south african had to do instead of taking the chicken run, you wouldn;t be going thru all this turmoil.

How does one explain the intricacies of Apartheid-era South Africa, from the political turmoil to the constant tribal warring? Primitive thought? Anger spurred by poverty and hunger? Ancient beliefs conflicting with modernity? Racism? There is no one simple answer, and this book does an incredible job of elucidating this. It is harrowing, horrific, and incredibly sad, but it is all real and should be read by all. The story of an incredibly violent and hopeless place told through the eyes of Rian Malan, a descendant of one of the first founders of Apartheid thought, as he retells his life story and searches his soul for an answer, travelling from white affluence to the slums, from America to the soul-crushing gold mines, from the base of a dwindling black political movement to the outermost reaches of the arid rural kwaZulu, meeting whites consumed by intense racial hate and those who tried to love so hard that it destroyed their lives, and telling their life stories along with his, to create an incredibly rich and horrifying mosaic.

When I read this book ten plus years ago it blew me away, both as political and narrative non-fiction, and as excellent writing. Malan's voice and humanity perfectly tell an important story. The second reading was as good, if not better.

Before a recent visit to S. Africa, this book was recommended as an introduction to the political climate in S. Africa, especially after Apartheid. This very personal account told by Rian Malan, whose ancestors were directly responsible for the formation of the Apartheid society, traces his teenage rebellion against Apartheid, his career as a liberal newspaper reporter and his ultimate rejection of the violence that the new government has spawned. Be prepared for graphic descriptions of violence committed by both whites and blacks.

A good introduction to the complicated history of S. Africa and leaves the reader with questions regarding the future of that sad country.

The covenant by James Michener is an exceptional historical novel. The general subject matter is the history of South Africa. The theme of the book is an attempt to capture the spirit of South Africa and describe how separate group development (Apartheid) came about. The thesis of the book is about missed opportunity and how misunderstanding, cultural differences and conditioning, fear and need for identity resulted in racial tension. The book described perfectly the irony of the country, namely that on ground level black and white teamed up, lived, worked and fought together but were unable to cross the racial divide of boss and worker. White and black came to understand each other well but were not able to meet philosophically, spiritually and ideologically. The book follow an Afrikaner family (Van Doorn) and a black family (Nxumalo) through the history of South Africa and describe how they meet-up, live and work together but end up in different groups fighting each other and the ideologies each one represent. As an Afrikaner this book resonated with me because if you change the surname van Doorn to my family name it could just as well have been a novel about my own family. The first of my family arrived in Africa in 1713 only 61 years after the first white settlement was started by the Dutch. My family were involved in everything described in the book from the Dutch English wars, Xhosa wars, the great trek, Blood River, the founding of the various South African provinces, the Anglo Boer war and the construction of the republic of South Africa. You'll find my family as founding members of the Dutch reformed church as well as closely involved with Paul Kruger and the Boer republics and with the National party and the white governments of PW Botha and FW de Klerk. As an outsider Michener were able to capture the soul and spirit of the Afrikaner something which I doubt he would be able to do when I started to read the book. His facts are historically accurate and the way he were able to describe the different stages of Afrikaner consciousness development is to be applauded. What the book did is that it allowed me to look at myself and my people from the outside and in that sense it was an almost enlightening experience. If you are an outsider and want to understand South Africa and its people this is an excellent book to read. If you are a South African and you want to understand your own history and philosophy this is a book that you won't be able to put down. The historical time line and facts are accurate and the use of the Afrikaans language and phrases in the text are not only technically but also culturally correct.

The type of books that J. Michener writes are what I have referred to as Faction. Although the characters are fictitious, the events actually occurred. In the Covenant, the history of the southern part of the African Continent are well documented. As a History teacher, I have encouraged many of my students to read MIchener because of the visual imagery that he creates, the character development, as well as the chronology of the story line. My students will remember this type of historical presentation rather than the text book approach to history. MIchener allows me to cross curriculums, history, geography, reading and writing with my students, and present the material in a refreshing and thought provoking manor.
When the books were originally published I bought the paper back edition, however as I have grown older and I want to complete my library, I have recently purchased these Hardback editions. My children have also enjoyed Michener's style. They have traveled to many parts of the world and Michener has provided some insight as to the present day conditions that exist in many of those countries. Several hours of discussion have transpired as a result of their reading of these books. The books are timeless.

This book really surprised me since it differed a bit from other Michener works. I have never learned so much and enjoyed a book at this level in my life. The next runner-up would have to the "The Source". The Covenant is amazing!

Michener's true epics are always worth the time to read. "The Covenant" is no exception. Michener's take on South Africa and its history is an honest attempt to give some perspective on one of the more complex histories that this history teacher has encountered.

The book starts out strong (my edition was the two-volume hardback). The first volume was vintage Michener, but the second one dragged. Perhaps it was because the subject matter became more and more depressing. With the final 200 pages or so being about Apartheid, it's hard to find something to cheer about.

In a way, Michener's book seems incomplete - he hints that Apartheid could no longer stand - he gives a prediction that it would end by about the year 2000. Turns out, he was just about right, but the book feels like it does not have a proper ending.

If you are pondering a Michener book and have not read them all (personally, I only have one more to go) than I recommend skipping this one and coming back to it later.

This book really gives you a perspective on the history of South Africa and it's race related problems which has plagued the country since its very beginning. It gives you a real understanding about the Boer people and what they had to go through to forge a nation out of a barren, but beautiful land. Starts out at the first landing of Dutch Settlers and follows a couple families history until the 1960's.

It also details the earliest recorded history of the Zulu people and their greatest leader Shaka Zulu who made the Zulus into a people to be feared, it goes through the history of "the Coloreds" (which are a mixture of White and Black), it continues on through the Boer War between the British and the Boers and it spells out how Aparthied (Literally the two words Apart-ness in Afrikaans) was started and implimented and why it came to be in the first place.

La extrema derecha toma el poder en Sudafrica y lanza una guerra racial que debasta al pais. Sudafrica invade Namibia, la cual es defendida por las fuerzas cubanas acantonadas en Angola. Con ayuda de la URSS, Cuba contrataca desde varios frentes. Las fuerzas enfrentadas utilizan sus arsenales de destruccion masiva: bombas nucleares y gas nervioso. Una fuerza anfibia anglonorteamericana desembarca en Sudafrica. Boers, anglosajones, cubanos y nativos se enfrentan a lo ancho y largo del pais.

"Voragina" es una obra de Larry Bond, al estilo de "Fenix Rojo", "Caldera" y "Tormenta Roja".

Bond is much better than Clancy. I just cannot tear myself from any book that Bond has written. A true author of modern realism in today's world.

From Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising collaborator and best selling novelist in his own right, in his first novel Red Phoenix, we are treated to Larry Bond's second masterpiece in military/political thriller fiction in Vortex. Larry Bond once again proves his research capability in his studies of all of the cultures of South Africa and their strengths and differences. He has once again, melded his research, his fluent and poignant writing style into a classical work of fiction. In Vortex, he has essentially taken almost every conceivable aspect of a world crisis situation and crafted it into this masterpiece.

Where Tom Clancy draws all of the accolades and acclaim, Larry Bond continually produces superb military/political thrillers that are of the same caliber and in the case of Vortex, much larger in scope and overall detail.

If you're a Tom Clancy, Harold Coyle, Dale Brown, Stephen Coonts, or one of the many other fine military/political thriller author's fans, you would do well to pick up on Larry Bond and his superior work.

The premise:

Taking into consideration that this novel was written in the late 80's and early 90's, Larry Bond absorbed the headline news of the time to craft a conceivable real world situation where the boiling point of South Africa could've turned into the very Vortex, of the title, and brought the entire worlds attention to its internal struggles. There could've been no more apropos title for this novel than "Vortex." Vortex as defined in the Webster's dictionary (A situation regarded as drawing into its center all that surrounds it.)

Essentially, Vortex is the story of one man's twisted desires to bring total apartheid to its maximum fruition in Karl Vorster. Through chance and his own machinations, he effectively seizes control of the South African government and begins to bring to realization his perverted dreams of total apartheid and the destruction of his opponents or anyone else who gets in his way. Given South Africa's mineral wealth and that strategic importance to both Western and Eastern powers, this quickly draws their collective attentions.

What follows is a tour de force of flurried action, suspense and outstanding military fiction, which brings many players to the table to include; the United States, Britain, Israel, Russia, Cuba and Libya. Hence the title of "Vortex." Where these many players are all drawn to South Africa and its mineral wealth. {ssintrepid}

A competent but dry effort that dragged through the 2nd half. A real lack of intensity and action compared to Bonds Red Phoenix.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the end of the U.S.-Soviet confrontation created both a problem and a challenge to "future war" novelists: how do you create believable scenarios in which America and her allies fight against possible real-world enemies? After all, with the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the scaling back of U.S. forces in Europe, a Red Storm Rising-class World War III novel was obsolete. But at the same time, the military-fiction genre was still very viable...as long as writers came up with credible adversaries to cause havoc in the world.

Vortex, Larry Bond and Patrick Larkin's second collaborative effort, is set in early 1990s South Africa before the white minority relinquished its death-grip on power. It paints a dark scenario of a desperate Boer-dominated government using its military and police to destabilize neighboring "black" African nations and fight a Marxist-leaning African National Congress and its armed guerrillas.

Vortex starts out, as many techno-thrillers often do, with a seemingly isolated event. In the prologue, a team of South African Army commandos and a black ANC turncoat execute a raid on an ANC safe house/headquarters in Gawamba, Zimbabwe. Led by Capt. Rolf Bekker, the South African commandos wipe out an ANC guerrilla cell and capture a safe full of documents (which they photograph and leave apparently undiscovered), then return to their base without serious loss.

In Bond's alternate history, years of sanctions and diplomatic isolation have failed to end apartheid and white rule of the Union of South Africa. Instead, the Boers (descendants of South Africa's original Dutch settlers) who dominate the government have become more repressive and paranoid. For their part, the ANC's leaders have grown weary of waiting for the West to press for change by peaceful means, and Marxist hard-liners have come up with a campaign code named Broken Covenant. Its goal: to win by force what years of negotiations and international condemnation have not...the end of white rule and the establishment of a black-dominated government. And by the end of the novel, South Africa's internal strife becomes a conflict pitting Anglo-American forces against various opponents, including Cuban Army units sent by Fidel Castro.

Bond's depiction of a war in South Africa now seems a bit of a stretch, but given that he was a former naval intelligence officer (and designer of the Harpoon war game), perhaps his research into apartheid-era South African affairs gave him insights that most of his readers didn't have. At times the depiction of the South African "bad guys" reminds one of Hitler's Third Reich, especially when Bond and Larkin write about the more die-hard racist government ministers; Karl Vorster, a South African Hitler-like figure and Marius van der Heijden, deputy minister of Law and Order, who seems to have studied under Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler, so extreme are his racist views. But as in many World War II novels, there are "good" South Africans who, when push comes to shove, find the courage to rise against the injustices that they have previously defended.

Of course, it helps to have a little mix of romance, youthful rebellion and a healthy dose of American firepower, and as in Red Phoenix, American weaponry and military units play a huge role in Vortex's plot. In some ways, it's formulaic and the reader knows things will have a rosy ending, but in other ways Vortex is fascinating. Readers will be surprised to know how puritanical the Boer society was (a friend of mine who visited South Africa in the late '70s said Playboy-style magazines were not sold there) and how tense relations used to be between the Dutch- and English-descended whites. The officers with English surnames are often distrusted by their Boer counterparts and are often more critical of apartheid than is healthy for their careers. But just as there are "good Germans" in WWII fact and fiction, there are also "good Boers" who join forces with American and British troops to end the bloody conflict that threatens to end their country's very existence.

This book is terrible. People will tell you that its spiritual or beautifully written but its not. imagine some telling you what a scratch looked like for 10 minutes. By a scratch i mean a banana shaped scratch on a bike. Couldn't the author just say the scratch looked like a banana instead of making it into a whole chapter. this book could be about 50 pages or less but the author drags everything out to a point where i wanted to die.

Poetic, prophetic, profound writing and an insight into the culture of Afica that could only be experienced by being there or reading this book.

This book is reviewed well by the many that have written before me here. I would just like to add that this is one of the best books I have read and was a favorite of my sons when I read it to them. This is one of the rare books that both adults and children could enjoy.

I lived in Botswana while I was in the Peace Corps in a location not far from where this story was set. Van Der Post describes the bush with amazing detail and fills in the spirit of the place and the essence of life under the African sky. He has a rare talent of deeply knowing the land and the people with the ability to craft an absorbing tale.

This is one of my favorite novels of all-time, together with its sequel A Far-Off Place. It's a moving story, beautifully written, and full of the wisdom that I do not myself possess -- but wish I did. I loved it when I first read it in my youth, and I love it still as my years advance. It's a great book.

this story is nothing like the wind. this book could be good if he cut out more of the details and and wrote more about what is actually happening he has to detail it so much teach chapter could be 12-16 pages long.