Diamonds, Gold, and War: The British, the Boers, and the Making of South Africa

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By: Martin Meredith
(9 customer reviews)
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EDITORIAL REVIEW

Southern Africa was once regarded as a worthless jumble of British colonies, Boer republics, and African chiefdoms, a troublesome region of little interest to the outside world. But then prospectors chanced upon the world’s richest deposits of diamonds and gold, setting off a titanic struggle between the British and the Boers for control of the land. The result was the costliest, bloodiest, and most humiliating war that Britain had waged in nearly a century, and the devastation of the Boer republics. The New Yorker calls this magisterial account of those years “[an] astute history.… Meredith expertly shows how the exigencies of the diamond (and then gold) rush laid the foundation for apartheid.”

PRODUCT DETAILS

Publisher: PublicAffairs
Pub. Date: 22nd September 2008
Catalog: Book
Media: Paperback
Number Of Pages: 592
Ean: 9781586486419
Isbn: 1586486411

ABOUT THIS BOOK

USER REVIEWS

Great Book
~ Written on Jun 22, 2009. out of users found this review helpful.

Very insightful and educational book on a subject I knew very little of. I would highly recommend it to anybody wanting to learn more about early South African history.

Great buy
~ Written on Apr 29, 2009. out of users found this review helpful.

Great book, and a great buy... I read it in a couple of days it kept me hooked.
It is very well written, and extremely interesting! I suggest anyone interested in Africa should read it.

The book mainly centers on the diamond, gold magnates such as Rhodes, Beit etc.
But it talks about the founding of Rhodesia, and South Africa.

Familiar history, fresh point of view
~ Written on Dec 16, 2008. 1 out of 1 users found this review helpful.

What illuminating reviews preceed mine! I am a South African and never before have I had the privilege of reading a more fair-minded and factual treatment of the history of my own people.It reveals South African history, its strenghts and weaknesses, with equal objectivity. The exciting and rolicking pace never lets up. Read this book, as they say in the classics.

Golden Country
~ Written on Oct 2, 2008. 2 out of 3 users found this review helpful.

If you're interested in African history, this is one good read. It can get a little dry in parts but the book receives high marks for its thoroughness, biographical detail and detailed maps. Although it covers only about 40 years of South Africa's history, much of what transpired during the late 1800's established life in South Africa for much of the next century. It's really a dual biography of Cecil Rhodes and Paul Kruger and their influence on this former out-of-the-way British colony. If you like to read about how great fortunes are made and the machinations and manuevering behind them, this "in-depth examination" of Cecil Rhodes' life is a good primer.

A Page Turning Serious History
~ Written on Jun 14, 2008. 4 out of 4 users found this review helpful.


Very few histories of this depth and detail can sustain 500+ pages and keep the reader as engaged as though s/he were reading a thriller. This book is one of them.

Some of Martin Meredith's talent is in describing the main characters. Portraits of Cecil Rhodes and Paul Kruger are masterpieces. His other talent is describing the settings for instance, the respective cultures of the settlers, the freewheeling diamond/gold rushes and the devastation of war. The marvelous descriptions sustain the reader through the dry but important financial dealings, military maneuvers, and legal complexities.

There are very few women in this book. Queen Victoria gets a few mentions, as does a female novelist, Paul Kruger's traditional wife and a stalker attracted to Rhodes. The plight of the Boar women left homeless and confined in camps is addressed, but there is nothing of the native African women. Hopefully future historians will explore the lives and roles of women in this period.

Two things about the history of South Africa are striking. One is how a very small number of people in key positions wanting war made it inevitable that many would suffer its devastating consequences. The other is the total racism of the Bible quoting Boars and the aquiescence of the British government to their racist demands. The Archbishop of Canterbury endorses what becomes the apartheid system with the salve to his conscience that the future will undo it.

This is a sorry, sorry story. It is a story of the making and execution of a completely unnecessary war and a step by step degradation of a native population.

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