Al J. Venter’s Followers (32)

Al J. Venter

Born

in Kroonstad, O.F.S., South Africa

November 25, 1938

Genre

Journalism, Military History, Politics

edit data

Albertus Johannes Venter is a South African journalist and historian who is arguably the world's foremost expert on the modern military history of Africa. He has been a war correspondent/military affairs reporter for many publications, notably serving as African and Middle East correspondent for Jane's International Defence Review. He has also worked as a documentary filmmaker, and has authored more than forty books.

He has reported on a number of Africa’s bloodiest wars, starting with the Nigerian Civil War in 1965, where he spent time covering the conflict with colleague Frederick Forsyth, who was working in Biafra for the BBC at the time.

In the 1980’s, Al J Venter also reported in Uganda while under the reign of Idi Amin. The most notable Albertus Johannes Venter is a South African journalist and historian who is arguably the world's foremost expert on the modern military history of Africa. He has been a war correspondent/military affairs reporter for many publications, notably serving as African and Middle East correspondent for Jane's International Defence Review. He has also worked as a documentary filmmaker, and has authored more than forty books.

He has reported on a number of Africa’s bloodiest wars, starting with the Nigerian Civil War in 1965, where he spent time covering the conflict with colleague Frederick Forsyth, who was working in Biafra for the BBC at the time.

In the 1980’s, Al J Venter also reported in Uganda while under the reign of Idi Amin. The most notable consequence of this assignment was an hour-long documentary titled Africa’s Killing Fields, ultimately broadcast nationwide in the United States by Public Broadcasting Service.

In-between, he cumulatively spent several years reporting on events in the Middle East, fluctuating between Israel and a beleaguered Lebanon torn by factional Islamic/Christian violence. He was with the Israeli invasion force when they entered Beirut in 1982. From there he covered hostilities in Rhodesia, the Sudan, Angola, the South African Border War, the Congo as well as Portuguese Guinea, which resulted in a book on that colonial struggle published by the Munger Africana Library of the California Institute of Technology.

In 1985 he made a one-hour documentary that commemorated the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

He also spent time in Somalia with the US Army helicopter air wing in the early 1990s, three military assignments with the mercenary group Executive Outcomes (Angola and Sierra Leone) and a Joint-STAR mission with the United States Air Force over Kosovo.

More recently, Al Venter was active in Sierra Leone with South African mercenary pilot Neall Ellis flying combat in a Russian helicopter gunship (that leaked when it rained.) That experience formed the basis of the book on mercenaries published recently and titled War Dog: Fighting Other People's Wars.

He has been twice wounded in combat, once by a Soviet anti-tank mine in Angola, an event that left him partially deaf.

Al Venter originally qualified as a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers at the Baltic Exchange in London.

(from wikipedia) ...more

Combine Editions
Al J. Venter’s books

Average rating: 3.87 · 631 ratings · 60 reviews · 56 distinct works • Similar authors

	Gunship Ace: The Wars Of Neall Ellis, Gunship Pilot And Mercenary really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 220 ratings — published 2012 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	War Dog: Fighting Other People's Wars; The Modern Mercenary in Combat 3.94 avg rating — 99 ratings — published 2003 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Portugal's Guerrilla Wars in Africa: Lisbon's Three Wars in Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea, 1961-74 3.95 avg rating — 77 ratings — published 2013 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Biafra's War 1967-1970: A Tribal Conflict in Nigeria That Left a Million Dead 3.83 avg rating — 23 ratings — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Barrel Of A Gun: A War Correspondent's Misspent Moments In Combat 4.11 avg rating — 19 ratings — published 2010 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Chopper Boys: Helicopter Warfare in Africa by Al J. Venter, Neall Ellis, Richard Wood really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 17 ratings — published 1990 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Takka Takka Bom Bom: A South African war correspondent’s story really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 15 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Iran's Nuclear Option: Tehran's Quest for the Atom Bomb 3.57 avg rating — 14 ratings — published 2005 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Allah's Bomb: The Islamic Quest for Nuclear Weapons 3.33 avg rating — 15 ratings — published 2007 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Angolan War of Liberation: Colonial–Communist Clash, 1961–1974 (Cold War, 1945–1991) 3.82 avg rating — 11 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Al J. Venter…

Series by Al J. Venter

Cold War 1945-1991 (16 books)
by

Al J. Venter

3.57 avg rating — 198 ratings

Quotes by Al J. Venter (?)

“To paraphrase an old Afrikaans idiom; it is necessary to eat a bag of salt with these people to realise the extent of their misery and suffering within touching distance of one of the wealthiest little communities to be found on any continent. For those who wish to follow in my footsteps, it’s all there for the taking but it requires moments of considerable insight, humility and understanding of the frailties of human nature. Some would call it compassion.”
― Al J. Venter, Coloured: A Profile Of Two Million South Africans

2 likes

“In spite of all of this, we have not forgotten how to laugh. Why? You don’t have to look far for the answer. It’s a defence mechanism against all the hardship and frustration we have to endure. A safety valve, if you like. The late Father Charles Simons of the Church of the Ressurection in Bonteheuwel used to say “Instead of smiling, our people must learn to say: For God’s sake stop this – it hurts.” But Father Simons was wasting his breath on the people he loved so much. He knew it was of no use. As one resident of Bonteheuwel said to him one day: “But Father, if I didn’t find time to laugh and make jokes about my lot, I would break down and cry.”
― Al J. Venter, Coloured: A Profile Of Two Million South Africans

2 likes

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Goodreads Librari...: SOLVED/COMPLETED Needs a lot of help, long list of author profiles probably/mostly needing period after middle initial	896	292	Aug 02, 2013 02:17PM
Military Professi...: Books of Interest	334	261	Aug 31, 2017 10:17PM
The History Book ...: * PORTUGAL	114	253	Jun 10, 2020 12:27PM
Military Professi...: What I'm Reading	395	275	Aug 20, 2020 04:28AM
Goodreads Librari...: Combine please	971	279	Jul 19, 2021 11:39AM
THE WORLD WAR TWO...: Post 1945 Conflicts	721	211	Aug 01, 2025 11:02PM

More…

Is this you? Let us know. If not, help out and invite Al to Goodreads.

Al J. Venter’s Followers (32)

Al J. Venter

Combine EditionsAl J. Venter’s books

Series by Al J. Venter

Topics Mentioning This Author

Combine Editions
Al J. Venter’s books