This book is an alarmingly biased view of White settler society in 1970s Rhodesia, during the time of the bush war. I have read it a couple of times since it first came out, and I can honestly say that its only saving grace is the evocative images and "atmosphere" conjured up by the author. But Caute writes in such a shockingly condescending, hateful, even racist way about the Rhodesians, that one simply can't rely on his account. His portrait of Robert Cecil is particularly misleading. The author seems to relish the innumerable stories of innocent white men, women, and children being butchered and mutililated by the black Marxist terrorists. It is primarily for this reason that I cannot recommend this book to anyone.

David Caute's "Under the Skin: The Death of White Rhodesia" is a difficult book to pin down. On the one hand, it is an exhaustive account of the most grim years of the Rhodesian war (1976-1980), and does a masterful job of chronicling white Rhodesia's violent, chaotic last days. The "feel" one gets from the book is go gripping and vivid that one's first inclination is to recommend this book as the definitive account of "the death of white Rhodesia."

Despite this great strength, however, "Under the Skin" is crippled by a terrible flaw: Caute's decidedly one-sided views and blatant distaste for Rhodesia's whites. He provides laundry-lists of whites killed by African guerillas with the non-chalance of someone who believes the whites got what they deserved; at one particularly ludicous point he refers to a white Rhodesian politician as "Herr" Hilary Squires. As a piece of journalism, then, "Under the Skin" is atrocious -- Caute makes no attempt to be the least bit impartial, and that undermines the credibility of his entire narrative.

So why the four stars? This rating is based on the assumption that most people who come across this book have a strong interest in / knowledge of southern Africa and can therefore cut through Caute's personal agenda to appreciate his otherwise deft handling of 1970s Rhodesia. If you are a newcomer to the subject, be warned: this is not an even-handed account, and you may do better elsewhere for starters.

Very vivid account of the War for Independence. A must read!

Ballen proves himself an able photographer, however by focusing on the freaks and degenerates in my own country, he tends to skew reality substantially, and his book serves only to re-inforce often damaging stereotypical views.

The American photographer Roger Ballen has spent his time in South Africa taking pictures of the rural life as it is. Transvaal, the vast area in Nothern South Africa, is known for its isolation. Here and there some farms had been erected throughout the centuries and the white inhabitants live their lives gently there in clan-like familial structures for many, many years and generations. They hardly meet other people than their own relatives and co-workers, farmers and the shop-owner and his wife. Going to church on Sundays is the great social event of the week. This isolation has changed these Afrikaners - an originally Dutch white tribe planted in South Africa over three centuries ago - into what they are now. A tough, proud, peasant-like people who are of vital importance to the South African economy, but who now also battle with impoverishment. Intermarriages and inbreeding (not deliberately, however) occur much more in these people's communities than for instance in the United States and Europe. Once originated from a limited number of Dutch, French and German families from 17th-century Europe, some of these Afrikaners are slowly but surely degenerating. Their lives seem pointless and tedious according to the book, which on the other hand can't be denied fully. Because of in-breeding the average IQ is lower than elsewhere amongst the Afrikaners. Roger Ballen knew that and with the somewhat rebellious intention of unmasking the formerly dominant and 'righteous' white tribe as a degenerating crowd with an IQ that's dropping, he selected the most conspicuous examples of degeneration and impoverishment within the community of the Poor Whites in the most callous parts of the Transvaal. Unfortunately, making it seem as if these people are representable for the Transvaal white community, Roger Ballen will mislead many readers/viewers with this photo-book. One could make a similar shocking book about rural life in Texas, but one will have to search some more intensively. Nevertheless, Platteland is a ! very confronting book with very interesting and recognisable features, in case you have been to Transvaal and have absorbed the atmosphere of the white farming community there.

The book shows what happens when a system fails and forgets to support the former superior working class in South Africa after Apartheid. The country now (6 years after)still carries the legacy burden. A history book. Maybe it will be reprinted.

Some of the absolute worst, most pretentious, emptiest, and most ultimately worthless drivel I have ever read. Jorge Luis Borges, regardless of all the idolatry that's been heaped upon him, had a surprising number of misses, and maybe nothing much to say. But I'll grant that he had a few high spots. Not this guy. Very derivative and disappointing stuff...I'll go elsewhere for literary thrills.

This slim volume contains two superficially discreet narratives. Coetzee is once again brilliant. His form here is slightly experimental, and the prose does not display quite the crystalline exactitude found in "Disgrace", "Waiting for the Barbarians", "Age of Iron", or "The Life and Times of Michael K". Here he works in a softer vein, more like "Foe" or "In the Heart of the Country".

The content is classic Coetzee. Unflinching. Sometimes his clarity and realism lead me towards existential despair. But to emerge from any of his works is to emerge stronger, emboldened by the power of the brutally honest and righteous.

This book might be about passion and compassion. It is definitely an examination of human psychology, specifically how it is formed, informed, reformed, and deformed by fascistic social/political structures.

"Dusklands" is a fascinating read. It illuminates another facet (or two) of the human condition. It is deceptively quick light reading. Subtly profound while intellectually massive, it is a delicate jackhammer. It is so good, and so right, that it is out of print. Do what it takes to find a copy.

This is a fascinating topic and some useful data is provided, but that is all. Surprisingly, this book was given quite an appropriate review in the journal, Ethnomusicology. Its style is an example of what is wrong with academic writing today. Unfortunately, the publishing establishment tends not to notice that such books are intentionally written so as to be inpenetrable to readers. Academics write this way to avoid criticism. Since nobody can tell what exactly they mean, nobody can challenge them or prove them wrong on any points. Some readers feign complete understanding of such books in order not to seem ignorant. Presses should not exascerbate the problem further by printing such things.

In what he describes as a "topography of global culture," Erlmann attempts to discet the global fictions of modern statehood, national identity, history, subjectivity, the arts etc. showing how they are not representations of fixed realities, or one sided determinations but rather processes that take form and develop through what he calls the global imagination, "the means by which people shift the contexts of their knowledge and endow phenomena with significance beyond their immediate realm of personal experience." The book examines how cross cultural interaction between different senses of modernity over the past 100 years have shaped the constitutive categories of race, class and gender. The book ultimately argues that the cultural topography of a "world that is now truly one" is based on the interdependency of people the world over. Erlmann explores the workings of this global imagination through two examples of interaction between South Africa, England, and the United States. The first of these is a tour of two African chiors in the 1890s, and the second is the work of Ladysmith Black Mambazo after 1986. Erlmann does not attempt a historical or narrative continuity between or within the two examples, but rather examines aspects of each as texts within their specific political and historical context. The author gets at the complexities of each example from many angles, examining the significance of biography, dance, composition, politics, religion etc. The diversity of focus makes the book read somewhat like a collection of articles, but Earlmann speaks authoritatively on every page. The value I find in the book is how assumptions of race, identity and authenticity (among others) are examined in context of global interaction and change with a result that is much more vialbe than many essentialist ideas of the colonial encounter and African/ African American music. Erlmann also gives emphasis to agency, a focus that is denied in too many other works in contemporary theory. The book is written for the academic audience, but should find wide interest outside of Antropology and Ethnomusicology.

Inspired by a trip to Capetown, I picked up "Robben Island" (the place where Nelson Mandela and countless other prisoners were interned for years) in the airport on my way out of South Africa. The jacket convinced me that the book would be a detailed history and a captivating read. Detailed it is; captivating it is most certainly not. If you want to get a true feeling of the island, read the words of people who inhabited it - the prisoners, the islanders, even the guards - not those of a journalistic reporter.

On a visit to Robben Island, Cape Town we bought this book ahead of time. Although I had heard rave reviews of it on radio in South Africa and seen excellent newpaper and magazine reviews,I still thought it would be a dour summary of the history of this important site. However, I was thrilled by the evocative writing. The telling of stories in every chapter, whether we are being taken by a marine archaeologist working in Table Bay to the depths of the ocean to examine the incredible findings in this near perfect martime archaeological site, to the wonderful love story of Wilton and Irene Mkwayi who were the first people allowed to be married at the prison in teh 20th century - the couple were in their sixties, he was jailed with Nelson Mandela and she died not long after. The stories of the natural environment, the flora and fauna added richness to our explorations while on the Island. We could almost hear the myths and legends of the place and the seas ring to us as we stood on the beach and felt wind gust about us. My grandfather was in the Navy during the Second World War and I felt I could understand some of his experiences from the chapter on that time. The chapters on Robben Island as a prison, particularly a political prison gave me a whole new insight into this Island and the people who have risen to greatness despite being on it. I have since bought this book for others who have loved it and cannot recommend it too highly. J Myburgh.

I was forced to give it only 1 star because I couldn't get past page 30!
I really heard good things about it, but still.
If anyone can tell me something intresting about it...

McClure writes a prequel to his Trompie Kramer/Mickey Zondi series that haunts the emotions as it satisfies the curiosity. McClure has said in an interview that he identifies with Zondi, although he "didn't realize it until someone told him." Here we see into Zondi's past at mission school as well as how both he and Kramer met their mates, Miriam and the Widow Fourie. I found the predictions of their deaths by the piestess of the Song Dog spine chilling and touching at the same time.

This book shows absolutely no understanding of South Africa's history and economic institutions. In particular, Williams conveniently ignores the role capitalists played in constructing the racist institutions in South Africa in his attempt to portray apartheid as anti-capitalist. One of the most biased interpretations of South African history in existence (rivaled only by the work of W. H. Hutt). Recommended only for conservatives who don't want their view of reality cluttered with actual facts.

The publisher's representative is correct is asserting that William's main objective is to defend capitalism against the charge that "apartheid is a result of capitalism". Unfortunately, the remainder of the commentary on William's book is both dishonest and scurrilous. The commentator employs many of the classic intellectual defenses used by members of left when confronted with the sad and sorry result of over 100 years of collectivist thought and action. The "perfectly competitive market" straw man, the "state capitalism" chimera, the ever useful "fascist" label for right-wing Socialists, and the spurious claim that government is the only avenue for political and economic advancement for oppressed groups are disingenuous weapons in the arsenal of a Collectivist movement forced to confront the real-world results of their theorizing i.e. Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Stalin's Russia, Mao's China, Pol Pot's Cambodia, and Mengitsu's Ethiopia.

Williams does not take liberties in defining capitalism and socialism. He uses standards defined in most economic textbooks i.e. the greater the amount of governmental interference in an economy, the more socialist the economy. His ideas are not preconceived, nor does he attempt to downplay the impact of a vicious and immoral racist society on the perpetrators and victims. He does argue persuasively that apartheid without extensive government controls in the economic and political life of South Africa is untenable. Apartheid existed because a Socialist economy allowed the instigators to diffuse the costs of racism among the general population, white, black, and colored. In an open market without government subsidies and supports, racist employers are forced to absorb the risks and costs associated with their preferences (higher wages paid to eligible workers, fewer potential clients, and a loss of information from market distortions). In South Africa a large majority of the Boer population was able to enjoy exercising their racist proclivities as a result of extensive subsidies from a Socialist state. The commentator bemoans the institutional controls erected by the apartheid regime, including closed national and international markets, disenfranchisement, and the failure to adequately develop human capital. The publisher's representative will find absolutely nothing in the writings of Williams, Freidman, Sowell, Becker, Hayek, or Von Mises supporting the type of regime created by the Boers in South Africa.

There is no such animal as State Capitalism. It is an invention of socialists who are unable to explain why their ideas, wherever applied, result in totalitarianism. Perfectly competitive markets have never existed. Most young economic students learn this fact early in their careers. Fascism, when used by leftists to describe odious governments, is an empty epithet. All so-called fascist states have economic systems that are indistinguishable from their left-wing variants.

I picked up this book because I'm planning a long trip to West Africa and need a good travel guide. I found Jon Haggins' book to be VERY informative on preparations to West Africa and other places, but not on the actual destinations.

This book is excellent for tour groups and for people who strictly want to stick with the tourist sites. However, since I'm traveling off the beaten path and doing the "backpacker" thing, I'm afraid I have to find another travel guide since there's no help in that area.

I must say that the travels the author has done to South America, South Pacific, and Africa have encouraged me to do more traveling to exotic places.

Le May has produced a work about the Boer Afrikaners that is neigther very good nor very bad. It could better be called "A political history of the Afrikaners", as there is strong emphasis on politics in the XXth century. And this emphasis is mostly on power politics in the realm of the Nasionale Party. It is informative and relatively objective in this limited sense. Therefor 3 stars.

My 10-year old daughter was reading this book for school. She brought to my attention that the book contained explicit sexual descriptions and profanity. To my shock the irresponsible publisher (Penguin Putnam/Puffin books) has recommended this book for ages 10 and older. I am thankful that I have a daughter that is more prudent and responsible than the publishers who ask us to trust them.

I am 13 and I read this book on my own time. I thought it wasn't really bad but it was really slow and really boring at some parts. The overall story is good. But it takes forever for them to tell you what the storyline is I would say that this is a good book if you want to hear a story about racism.

The publisher recommends this book for ages 10 and up. I would agree that a mature and articulate 10 year could read this book. Sacks's protagonist begins as a self absorbed child, but emerges as a more aware and politically conscious teenager. Some readers may believe it to be sexually explicit, however, I would contend that the book artfully opens up a dialogue for pre teens and emerging teenagers about peer pressure, their presence in this world, and their obligation as a global citizen.