Further reading prompted by WS

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Further reading prompted by WS

Postby Killraven » Mon Nov 28, 2005 6:03 pm

As 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?
Last edited by Killraven on Mon Nov 28, 2005 6:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Matbow » Mon Nov 28, 2005 6:04 pm

Nice, thanks for that!
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Postby WSI » Mon Nov 28, 2005 6:06 pm

try Doris Lessing - that's a total different view
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Postby Nefer » Tue Nov 29, 2005 12:14 pm

I learned a lot of my African history in school, but the best lesson came out of the play 'Chaka, Zulu."

Dunno who wrote it, but it's quite brilliant.

Alan Paton's "Cry the Beloved Country" is also a great read. He writes a little strangely... so no quotations when people speak, but I got used to the style very quickly.

And if you have the chops, "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela is supposed to be good. My Dad read it... I didn't!
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Postby Betty » Sun Dec 04, 2005 8:40 am

My brother was in the Kenya Police during the Mau Mau so I would love to read more about them. Sad to say that my brother has past on but I do know that he had to flee the country because of his participation.
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Postby Monsoon » Tue Dec 06, 2005 12:42 pm

You know Betty, i am pretty sure one of the books does touch on the Mau Mau, but for the life of me i cannot think which one. Could be Rage or Golden Fox but i think the timescale is wrong for that one. Perhaps one of the other members knows which book it was.
While a tiger eyed its prey and an eagle raged in a thunderous sky a river of darkness fell upon a burning sun and the wolf cried tis a time to die, thus did the angels weep as power and triumph in those golden eyes did creep.


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Postby Nefer » Tue Dec 06, 2005 3:58 pm

Rage touches on it... Happens when Sean has to leave SA for his various mis-demeanours... if one can put it that way.
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Re: Further reading prompted by WS

Postby alelopez » Sat Dec 25, 2010 8:31 am

Hi! I´ve just started my first WS novel.

I wish to recommend James Herriot, a veterinary in Yorkshire who lived in the 30´s and writes about his daily life as an animal doc. His books are so nice, so full of humanity, tender, comic and also sad. Life is that way, isn´t it?
they are really enjoyable!
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Re: Further reading prompted by WS

Postby tedd » Tue Dec 28, 2010 12:42 am

I always plump for Keith Meadows who wrote (to my knowledge) four books, two of them non-fiction) all about Africa, particularly Rhodesia/Zimbabwe - he died suddenly while working in Afghanistan in 2005/6 or thereabouts so there won't be anymore books from him, but those that are available are worth getting your hands on and enjoying. All the best for 2011
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