The History of South Africa

(Hardback, 2nd edition)

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Description

South Africa's history stretches back to the beginnings of human existence. This book provides an overview to South Africa's multiple millennia of history, covering its long and often troubled past to its current status in the 21st century. A newly revised and thoroughly updated version of a popular Greenwood publication, The History of South Africa: Second Edition provides readers with readable, accessible information on the nation's prehistory, early history and colonial past, its unfortunate apartheid era, as well as new coverage of South Africa's more recent events in the 20th and 21st centuries. This work presents unique, extended coverage of South Africa's prehistory, beginning 3.5 million years ago and incorporating information gleaned from the most recent archaeological finds. The text reflects the most current historiography on African settlement and life before the arrival of Europeans, accurately describes the colonial era as a period of European hegemony and intense African resistance, and discusses in great detail the apartheid years and the events leading up to majority rule in 1994. This second edition also includes an updated timeline, new biographical sketches of notable people, and supplies recent print and electronic resources in the bibliography.

Reviews

A well-written introduction to the history of South Africa, this volume is a good basic resource for any library looking to fill a gap in this area. * Booklist *
Overall, the text is well written, easy to follow, and a good place to start for readers who have no prior knowledge of South African history. This work is recommended for most libraries, but especially high school, college, and public libraries. * ARBA *

Author Bio

Roger B. Beck, PhD, is distinguished professor of African and world history at Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL.