Product Description

The prize was great -- not just land, but the riches it held, in the form of diamonds and gold. What became a country called South Africa was, until 1910, a vast and untamed land where great fortunes could be made (and lost); where great battles were fought (and lost); and where great men had their reputations forged, or dashed, or sometimes both. Martin Meredith's follow-up to his magisterial The State of Africa is an equally epic new history of the making of South Africa. Covering the extraordinarily eventful four decades leading up to the establishment of the Union of South Africa in 1910, it covers some of the most iconic tales of imperial history. The Zulus at Rorke's Drift; the Jameson Raid; the diamond and gold rushes at Kimberley and Witwatersrand; the Boer wars; the titanic struggle between the arch-imperialist Cecil Rhodes and his Boer rival, Paul Kruger -- DIAMONDS, GOLD AND WAR brings all of these and more together in a stunningly coherent and compelling narrative. History, somehow, just isn't as colourful any more.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14462 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 592 pages

About the Author
Martin Meredith is a journalist, biographer and historian who has written extensively on Africa and its recent history. His previous books include In the Name of Apartheid (1988); Coming to Terms: South Africa's Search for Truth (1988); Mugabe: Power and Plunder in Zimbabwe (2002); and The State of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence (2005). He lives near Oxford.

Customer Reviews

Superb
The book covers South African history from the 1870s to 1910, a fascinating period of history involving the clash of British Imperialism, the Afrikaaner states of the Transvaal and Orange Free State, indiginous Zulu uprisings and the beginnings of the pass system. Central characters are Cecil Rhodes, Jameson, Kruger, De La Rey - and their roles in the ultimate disaster of the Anglo-Boer war.

For anyone interested in SA, late Victorian history or history generally, this is a superb book, well written and fascinating.

Diamonds Gold & War
This is a really amazing book just as long as you like either South Africa, History or war. If you have been over to South Africa as well you will love this book as then you can relate places you have been to and see what happened there back in the 18 hundreds. Amazing book and i dont do books that much but i cant put this one down. Really worth buying.

Gavin

Diamonds,Gold and War the mking of South Africa
A thought provoking book, showed both sides of the conflict, but for once the truth about Great Britains intervention and the brutal treatment of the Boer nation.