The South Africa Reader: History, Culture, Politics

The World Readers

by Clifton Crais (Editor), Thomas V. McClendon (Editor)

The South Africa Reader is an extraordinarily rich guide to the history, culture, and politics of South Africa. With more than eighty absorbing selections, the Reader provides many perspectives on the country's diverse peoples, its first two decades as a democracy, and the forces that have shaped its history and continue to pose challenges to its future, particularly violence, inequality, and racial discrimination. Among the selections are folktales passed down through the centuries, statements by seventeenth-century Dutch colonists, the songs of mine workers, a widow's testimony before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and a photo essay featuring the acclaimed work of Santu Mofokeng. Cartoons, songs, and fiction are juxtaposed with iconic documents, such as "The Freedom Charter" adopted in 1955 by the African National Congress and its allies and Nelson Mandela's "Statement from the Dock" in 1964. Cacophonous voices—those of slaves and indentured workers, African chiefs and kings, presidents and revolutionaries—invite readers into ongoing debates about South Africa's past and present and what exactly it means to be South African.
 

Genres: History, South Africa, Nonfiction, Africa, Anthologies

624 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Ilana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fantastic. It's a collection of mostly first-person writings that cover the entire history of South Africa. I thought it would be dry but the format of the book kept things interesting, since each selection was only a few pages long and they were chosen to cover a wide range of perspectives throughout South Africa's history. The inclusion of photos, songs, and even recipes helped give the reader a stronger sense of the culture of South Africa throughout its history. I've already recommended this book to several people, and would heartily do so to pretty much anyone with interest in a good book, learning about history and culture generally, or South Africa in particular.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a copy of this through the Goodreads First Reads program. This is an incredibly well put together history book. I didn't know much about South Africa before I read this, but it's really fascinating. I was worried it would be a little too dry like a text book, but it really wasn't.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a wide arrange of primary sources, providing an overview of South African history. It begins with the earliest accounts available of the indigenous Khoi and San tribes of the Western Cape, and follows this through colonialism, the Great Trek, apartheid, and recent history. Although this book might not be the most interesting read for the casual reader, its a great volume for a student of South African history (and makes the perfect course text for a course on the history of the Rainbow Nation).

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of primary source materials from throughout the history of the country. Fascinating to read about key events by people looking at them as they happened, or those who were responsible for documents, speeches, etc. Ends with 2010 World Cup -- the future is still unclear...

[Tuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

caveat: this sa reader does contain a bit of recent writings up to 2010 (about world cup, and about hillbrow Welcome to Our Hillbrow: A Novel of Postapartheid South Africa ) but almost everything else is or has already been included in some older readers The Reader's Companion to South Africa but that said, if one wants to have a wide range of prehistory, 'explorer history' , colonizer times, boer war times, 20th cent times, mandela times, all in one book that is well edited, has nice bibliography, some pics, you cannot go wrong with this. but really, this barely brushes the surface of complex and vibrant area. not really addressing agriculture, wwi and wwii, libraries and schools, fish, coasts, fin bush, etc
good start though crais and duke university.

[Thomas Armstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It provided me with a good cultural background for my visit to South Africa in September, 2014. It also made a great complement to The History of South Africa book I read earlier in the year by providing original source material (e.g. the Freedom Charter, Gandhi's account of being thrown off the train in Natal, the Boer Manifesto, Zuma's rape trial, early accounts of white settlement, the assembling of apartheid, and much more). Even after I'd returned from South Africa I continued to be fascinated by the short selections (I usually turn my attention to other reading projects when I've left a country). This year I'm going to read the Peru Reader by the same publisher (Duke University Press), to prepare for my trip to Lima, Cuzco, and Machu Picchu in the spring. This book fills a void in source material w/r/t South African culture.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excerpts from this text were assigned in a class I took, and I found that the Reader was essential and uniquely helpful in understanding the politics, poverty, and (especially) the different race relations within South Africa.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent series of short pieces outline the colonial history of South Africa