Further reading prompted by WS
Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 6:03 pmAs I mentioned when I introduced myself yesterday, becoming a WS fan got me very interested in reading more about southern Africa/Africa.
Here's what I've read, and/or have accumulated to be read...
FICTION
Stuart Cloete
A major influence upon WS himself, his novels about southern Africa include Turning Wheels (about trekking Boers) and Rags Of Glory (about the Boer War). I haven't yet read the latter, but Turning Wheels was good - for one thing, you can very much see the influence SC had on WS.
Robert Ruark
I'd long heard about his classic novel Something Of Value, which centres on the 1950s Mau Mau Emergency in Kenya, and after WS I finally read it - and even now, it's still a very powerful story. I also discovered Uhuru, about Kenya's transition to independence, which is also very compelling.
John Gordon Davis
Author of Hold My Hand, I'm Dying, a 1960s bestseller about Rhodesia before and after UDI, and its 1980s sequel Seize The Reckless Wind (as well as several other bestsellers). I don't think he's as good a writer as WS, but Dying had several powerful moments and Wind was good fun. There's also The Land God Made In Anger, which mostly takes place in South Africa and Namibia; it was amusing in places, if a little dopey.
Peter Driscoll
Author of the fun 1970s thriller The Wilby Conspiracy, which was made into a film starring Michael Caine and Sidney Poitier (I haven't seen it yet). Another novel of his which I have been enjoying is the early-1990s Spearhead, which revolves around a plot to free a Nelson Mandela-style prisoner.
Tony Park
An Australian author who has recently been publishing novels about Africa (his latest is Zambesi). I've read and enjoyed his Far Horizon, about a former soldier turned tour-guide hunting a murderer through South Africa and Zimbabwe.
NON-FICTION
Alexandra Fuller
Author of the compelling Don't Let's Go To The Dogs Tonight, about her African childhood, and Scribbling The Cat, about her relationship with a veteran of the Rhodesian bush war.
Thomas Pakenham
Author of The Boer War, an exhaustive and highly-readable history of that conflict.
Penguin African Library
Some interesting titles from this 1960s-1970s series:
* The Barrel Of A Gun: Political Power In Africa And The Coup d'Etat, by Ruth First
* The Struggle For Mozambique, by Eduardo Mondlane
* Africa Handbook, edited by Colin Legum
* Rhodesia: White Racism And Imperial Response, by Martin Loney
What other authors and books about southern Africa/Africa would you also recommend?
Here's what I've read, and/or have accumulated to be read...
FICTION
Stuart Cloete
A major influence upon WS himself, his novels about southern Africa include Turning Wheels (about trekking Boers) and Rags Of Glory (about the Boer War). I haven't yet read the latter, but Turning Wheels was good - for one thing, you can very much see the influence SC had on WS.
Robert Ruark
I'd long heard about his classic novel Something Of Value, which centres on the 1950s Mau Mau Emergency in Kenya, and after WS I finally read it - and even now, it's still a very powerful story. I also discovered Uhuru, about Kenya's transition to independence, which is also very compelling.
John Gordon Davis
Author of Hold My Hand, I'm Dying, a 1960s bestseller about Rhodesia before and after UDI, and its 1980s sequel Seize The Reckless Wind (as well as several other bestsellers). I don't think he's as good a writer as WS, but Dying had several powerful moments and Wind was good fun. There's also The Land God Made In Anger, which mostly takes place in South Africa and Namibia; it was amusing in places, if a little dopey.
Peter Driscoll
Author of the fun 1970s thriller The Wilby Conspiracy, which was made into a film starring Michael Caine and Sidney Poitier (I haven't seen it yet). Another novel of his which I have been enjoying is the early-1990s Spearhead, which revolves around a plot to free a Nelson Mandela-style prisoner.
Tony Park
An Australian author who has recently been publishing novels about Africa (his latest is Zambesi). I've read and enjoyed his Far Horizon, about a former soldier turned tour-guide hunting a murderer through South Africa and Zimbabwe.
NON-FICTION
Alexandra Fuller
Author of the compelling Don't Let's Go To The Dogs Tonight, about her African childhood, and Scribbling The Cat, about her relationship with a veteran of the Rhodesian bush war.
Thomas Pakenham
Author of The Boer War, an exhaustive and highly-readable history of that conflict.
Penguin African Library
Some interesting titles from this 1960s-1970s series:
* The Barrel Of A Gun: Political Power In Africa And The Coup d'Etat, by Ruth First
* The Struggle For Mozambique, by Eduardo Mondlane
* Africa Handbook, edited by Colin Legum
* Rhodesia: White Racism And Imperial Response, by Martin Loney
What other authors and books about southern Africa/Africa would you also recommend?