William Beinart 20th Century South Africa (OUP, UK). A useful and concise account of South African history, with an emphasis on economic history that manages to emphasize the essential without descending into tedium. His predictions for the future seem wobbly now, but there's nothing unusual about that.
Axel-Ivar Berglund Zulu Thought Patterns and Symbolism (Hurst, UK). A sensitive and knowledgeable account of rural Zulu world views, related as they have been described to the author, with the minimum of interpretation. He does, however, set the scene well, and make thought-provoking connections between the various views expressed, whilst bending over backwards to avoid tedious judgementalism.
Philip Bonner Kings, Commoners and Concessionaries (CUP, UK). The definitive history (so far) of nineteenth-century Swaziland, by a skilled historian with a gratifying grasp of the source material and mostly reliable judgement. Its one weakness is a lack of oral historical research, though fortunately useful work has been done on this recently by the Swazi Oral History Project, based at the university there.
Emile Boonzaier, Candy Malherbe, Andy Smith and Penny Berens The Cape Herders, A History of the Khoikhoi of Southern Africa (David Philip, SA; Ohio University Press, US). A recently published and accessibly written account of the Khoikhoi people of southern Africa, successfully exploding the many prejudices and myths that surround them and exploring their way of life, their interaction with Europeans, and what remains of them today.
Jane Carruthers The Kruger National Park: A Social and Political History (University of Natal, SA). A specialist history that deals with broad issues. By examining the scientific and ideological forces that gave rise to the Kruger National Park, this fascinating book asks important questions about our notions of nature and conservation.
Rodney Davenport The Transfer of Power in South Africa (Toronto University Press, Canada). An eminent liberal historian examines reconciliation in South African society since 1990 and explains how potential obstacles have been overcome.
Stephen Gill A Short History of Lesotho (Morija, Lesotho). A thoughtful and well-informed account of Lesotho's history and the best single volume you'll find, written by the chief archivist at the Morija Museum. Gill clearly loves Lesotho and has little sympathy for its many invaders but is a little over-generous in his account of Lesotho's missionaries.
Barbara Hutton Robben Island - Symbol of Resistance (Sached Books UK; Mayibuye Books, SA). A fast, straightforward and illustrated account of Robben Island from prehistoric times to the present, with a good overview of prison conditions in the apartheid years.
Antjie Krog Country of My Skull (Jonathan Cape; Times Books). A deeply personal and gripping account of the hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission by Afrikaner SABC radio journalist and poet. Krog reveals the complexity of horrors committed by apartheid, and also paints an admiring tribute to Commission Head Desmond Tutu.
Hilda Kuper The Swazi, A South African Kingdom (Saunders College Publishing, US). A combination of anthropology and history, written in the 1960s, whose theoretical perspectives seem pretty dated now, though Kuper's observations still sound sharp. Her political insight was often astute too, though she was too fond of the Dlamini royal house to provide much of a critical perspective on them.
Ben Maclennan A Proper Degree of Terror - John Graham and the Cape's Eastern Frontier (Ravan, SA). A riveting account of the early nineteenth century in the Eastern Cape, written with the cracking narrative pace of a novel.
Candy Malherbe Men of Men (Shuter and Shooter, SA). A brief, simple and highly readable primer on the earliest inhabitants of the Cape, the Khoikhoi, who were systematically dispossessed, but have nevertheless left their mark on modern South Africa.
Hein Marais South Africa, Limits to Change (Zed Books, SA). A readable assessment of why the privileged classes remain just that, and why the new government has followed relatively conservative economic policies.
Shula Marks and Stanley Trapido (eds) The Politics of Race, Class and Nationalism in 20th Century South Africa (Longman, UK). A seminal collection of Marxist and left-leaning analyses of South African social and political trends, with an emphasis on the micro-study that stands in deliberate contrast to the sweeping liberal histories that have preceded it.
Noel Mostert Frontiers - The Epic of South Africa's Creation and the Tragedy of the Xhosa People (Pimlico, UK). An academically solid and brilliantly written history of the Xhosa of the Eastern Cape and their tragic fate in the frontier wars fought against the British.
Credo Mutwa Indaba, My Children (Payback Press; Grove Atlantic). Many of Africa's most enduring and entertaining legends, myths and stories vividly retold - and some would say reinvented - by enigmatic Zulu spiritualist Mutwa.
Dougie Oakes (ed) Illustrated History of South Africa (Reader's Digest, SA). Physically weighty, but written in a delightfully light style, this illustrated history is an essential volume on the shelves of anyone seriously interested in the democratic history of South Africa.
Thomas Pakenham The Boer War (Abacus, UK). The definitive liberal history of the Anglo-Boer War that reads grippingly like a novel, managing to maintain a panoramic sweep of events while homing in on the quirks and foibles of the individuals involved.
Jeff Peires The Dead Will Arise (Ravan, SA) and The House of Phalo (Ravan, SA). The leading historian of the Xhosa people tells in beautifully readable prose the stories of the Eastern Cape before the arrival of whites, as well as the impact of colonialism on their lives and society.
Marjorie Shostak Nisa (Earthscan, UK). A fascinating book - both bawdy and romantic - based on the life of a San woman in a hostile Kalahari environment.
Leonard Thompson A History of South Africa (Yale University Press, UK/US). Reliable and elegantly written, this is among the best introductions to its subject.
Desmond Tutu No Future Without Forgiveness (Rider Books, UK). The Truth and Reconciliation Commission as described by its chairman. There are better accounts of the hearings, but the book offers essential insight into one of South Africa's most unlikely heroes.
Laurens van der Post The Lost World of the Kalahari (Penguin, UK). The author's almost spiritual quest to find, and film, San people still existing as pure hunter-gatherers. The Heart of the Hunter (Penguin, UK) is the sequel, although it can be read on its own, dwelling on the San van der Post met and their mythology.
Nigel Worden, Elizabeth van Heyningen and Vivian Bickford-Smith Cape Town: The Making of a City (David Philip, SA). The definitive and highly readable illustrated account of the social and political development of South Africa's first city from 1620 to 1899, written by three leading historians based at the University of Cape Town. A companion volume covers the twentieth century.
