South Africa

Africa is the cradle of mankind, and the first traces of modern man come from South Africa. From earliest times, the country has experienced waves of inward migration, and the turmoil and wars that accompany them. In this superb study, R.W. Johnson artfully traces the history of South Africa from the earliest inhabitation of the region to the present day. The author also delivers frank and devastating judgments, both on the apartheid years and on the first 10 years of government of the new African National Congress elite. For, as he notes, this is a country that still awaits a government that will govern the whole. R.W. Johnson is an Emeritus Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. He is the South Africa Correspondent to the London Sunday Times.