Summary

From precolonial times to the present, this look at South African history provides fascinating personal and historical details and raises provocative questions about the choices, mistakes, contradictions, and key themes in the development of South Africa's complex society. A broad sweep of history is detailed--from the distant past of the hunter-gatherer and African farmer societies to colonial exploration and conquest, slavery, enforced segregation, and the struggle for liberation--and enhanced by intriguing human interest narratives that includes excerpts from the memoirs of Jan van Riebeeck and the writings of Rich Mkondo, poems by Wally Serote, song lyrics by Johannes Kerkorrel and Jeremy Taylor, and statements and recollections by Nelson Mandela. Observations by 19th-century novelist Anthony Trollope, academic Mamphela Ramphela, Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer, veteran journalist Allister Sparks and celebrated South African photographer Benny Gool are also included.