Product Description

Three men trek to the remote African interior in search of a lost friend - and reach, at the end of a perilous journey, an unknown land cut off from the world, where terrible dangers threaten anyone who ventures near the spectacular diamond mines of King Solomon...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #215032 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

About the Author
Sir Henry Rider Haggard (1856-1925) was a prolific English writer, who published colorful novels set in unknown regions and lost kingdoms of Africa, or some other corner of the world: Iceland, Constantinople, Mexico, Ancient Egypt. Haggard's best-known work is the romantic adventure tale KING SOLOMON'S MINES (1885), which was inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson' s famous Treasure Island. Giles Foden was born in Warwickshire in 1967. His family moved to Malawi in 1972 where he was brought up. His first novel, the acclaimed The Last King of Scotland (1998), is set during Idi Amin's rule of Uganda in the 1970s and won the Whitbread First Novel Award; his second novel, Ladysmith (1999), is set during the Anglo-Boer War in 1899; Zanzibar (2002), is set in East Africa and explores the events surrounding the bombings of American embassies in 1998. A new book, The Battle for Lake Tanganyika, was published in 2004.

Customer Reviews

A great yarn...
One of the great action adventure stories of any age, Haggard flexes all of his creative musles to weave a spellbinding tale in 'King Solomon's Mines'. Leading us into the wilds of unexplored Africa, even the modern reader is confronted with a world few of us in the West will have expereinced - and probably never will. Haggard mixes all of the ingredients here: romance, battle scenes, a bit of magic and treasure. What more could you want?

Well, in truth as the years have gone by there are those that have levelled the charge of racism at Haggard. Okay, so he tneds to use the term 'negro' and 'native'. But he is a man of the Victorian era. Can we expet anything else? In my opinion I feel that Haggard treats his African characters with respect and dignity and should be hailed for that given the colonial atomposhere he was writing in.

That aside this novel is great fun and I would recommend it for all boys and those men (of which I inlude myself) who have yet to grow up!

They don't write 'em like this anymore...
We face an interesting dilemma in the twenty-first century when deciding what to do with novels like this. Even thirty years ago things were clearer; King Solomon's Mines was a classic adventure story which every self-respecting boy with even half an imagination had to read. Now we worry greatly about the novel's racist and misogynistic language and attitudes. There is no doubt that Rider Haggard, like most of his European Victorian contemporaries, thought that black people were fundamentally inferior to white people and that women were more of a nuisance that anything else. Having said that, compared to many other late-19th century writers, his views on race, if not gender, are surprisingly enlightened. The principal black character, Umbopa/Ignosi is, in Rider Haggard's eyes, at least as worthy as any white character and the author clearly had a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for many aspects of the behavious and culture of the black people with whom he came into contact. For example he strongly advances the idea that the locals have a much healthier attitude towards money and riches than their white counterparts who value material wealth above all else. Ultimately though, Rider Haggard clearly supports the view that European cultures had a duty to `civilise' others which effectively meant imposing much of their laws, structures and social mores.

It is a shame that these issues have resulted in the book's profile being lowered generally because first and foremost it is a ripping good adventure story which does much to advance and develop the 'Quest' genre. The trials and tribulations experienced by the protagonists are expertly written and two passagesin particular, the great battle and the escape from the mines, stand out as superbly constructed pieces of drama. Despite the controversial elements I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good adventure and who wants to know more about the genre. If you are aware that there are some controversial elements which require attention and thought and are prepared to work through them for yourself, you can't help but be swept along with the heroes as they journey across the desert and deep into King Solomon's mines.