Books About South Africa

I know that my blog makes for some fascinating reading, but, should you need something to fill the lonely days between posts, here is the rundown of a few books I’ve read about South Africa. Most have apartheid as a major theme; even though apartheid is over, its effects still linger, and its shadow over modern South African history still long and dark enough to make understanding apartheid important to understanding where South Africa is now, and where it will go from here.

A History of South Africa, by Leonard Thompson: This book covers the length and breadth of recorded South African history, from before colonization by Europeans to post-apartheid. And yet it’s only 300 pages! As such, it can be a little confusing, packed with unelaborated-upon references to events and people that make a lot more sense if you’re already acquainted with South African history.

Kaffir Boy, by Mark Mathabane: Mathabane is a journalist who emigrated to America to attend college and wrote this book, about his childhood experiences, while the apartheid regime still reigned. He lived in Alexandra, a black township that is part of Jo’burg, and chronicles the atrocities that he, his family, and his neighbors were subjected to by the ruling white minority and how he eventually escaped it.

My Traitor’s Heat, by Rian Malan: An incredible soul-searching account of apartheid from a liberal Afrikaner’s perspective, this could be read almost as a companion piece to Kaffir Boy. Malan is also a journalist who emigrates to America, though he returns to South Africa to write this book; it explores not only the atrocities of apartheid, but also the hypocrisy of white liberals, the complexities of various contemporary political movements in South Africa, and his own life and family history. This book, too, was written before the end of apartheid.

Cry, The Beloved Country, by Alan Paton: Maybe the classic novel of apartheid South Africa. It’s about a black man who travels from the country into the city looking for a family remember and then returning—it’s not the plot which is important, though certainly each event is telling, but instead the description of life, hardship, and love, revealed in dozens of narrative moments, as it exists for the characters.

Long Walk to Freedom, by Nelson Mandela: His autobiography, much of which was written while he was imprisoned at Robben Island. A moving portrait that also illuminates a lot of what was going on behind the scenes during the growth of the ANC and why apartheid fell when it did. A very enjoyable read.