Books about Africa
| Dredged through the books in our "library" - some from our university and teaching days, some more recent reads! - to put together a suggested reading list. Some heavy, some light; some serious, some hilarious; some old, some current! |  |
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HISTORY / POLITICS
South Africa : A Modern History – T. R. H. Davenport
The State of Africa - Martin Meredith (Jonathan Ball, 2005)
The Scramble for Africa – Thomas Pakenham (Jonathan Ball, 1991)
Soweto : Black Revolt, White Reaction - John Kane-Berman (Ravan, 1978)
Tomorrow is Another Country – Allister Sparks (Struik, 1994)
Beyond the Miracle - Allister Sparks (Jonathan Ball, 2003)
Cape Town in the Twentieth Century - Vivien Bickford-Smith, Elizabeth van Heyningen and Nigel Worden (David Philip, 1999)
Robert Mugabe : Power, Plunder and Tyranny in Zimbabwe - Martin Meredith (Jonathan Ball, 2002)
BIOGRAPHY / AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Out of Africa – Karen Blixen (Penguin, 1979)
Commando : A Boer Journal of the Boer War – Deneys Reitz (Faber, 1975)
The True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist - Breyten Breytenbach (Taurus, 1984)
A Passage to Africa – George Alagiah
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight – Alexandra Fuller (Picador, 2002)
Mukiwa – Peter Godwin
My Traitor’s Heart – Riaan Malan (Vintage, 1990)
The Lost World of the Kalahari – Laurens van der Post (Penguin, 1986)
Cry of the Kalahari – Mark & Delia Owens (Houghton and Mifflin, 1984)
Country of My Skull – Antjie Krog (Jonathan Cape, 1998)
The Sheltering Desert – Henno Martin (Two Books, 2002)
Pale Native – Max du Preez (Zebra Press, 2003)
The Trouble with Africa : Stories from a Safari Camp – Vic Guhrs (Penguin, 2004)
FICTION
Cry the Beloved Country – Alan Paton (Penguin Modern Classics, 1981)
Too Late the Phalarope – Alan Paton (Penguin, 1971)
The Story of an African Farm – Olive Schreiner (Penguin Classics, 1986)
The Grass is Singing – Doris Lessing (Granada, 1981)
Selected Stories – Herman Charles Bosman (Human and Rousseau, 1980)
A Dry White Season – Andre P. Brink
Burger’s Daughter – Nadine Gordimer (Penguin, 1978)
Disgrace – J. M. Coetzee (Vintage, 2000)
In the Heart of the Country – J. M. Coetzee (Ravan Press, 1977)
Power of One – Bryce Courtenay
The Beautiful Screaming of Pigs – Damon Galgut (Abacus, 1992)
The Long Journey of Poppie Nongena – Elsa Joubert (Coronet, 1980)
Like Water in Wild Places – Pamela Jooste (Black Swan, 2000)
Middlepost - Antony Sher (Sceptre, 1988)
Night Jasmine Man – David Lambkin (Viking, 2002)
The Covenant – James Mitchener (Corgi, 1981)
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency – Alexander McCall Smith (and rest of the series) (Abacus, 2007)
NATURE / WILDLIFE
Birds of Southern Africa – Kenneth Newman (Struik, 2002)
The Wildlife of Southern Africa – Vincent Carruthers (ed.) (Southern Book Publishers, 1997)
Field Guide to Mammals of Southern Africa - Chris and Tilde Stuart (Struik, 2007)
Wild Ways : Field Guide to the Behaviour of Southern African Mammals - Peter Apps (Southern Book Publishers, 1992)
Field Guide to Trees of Southern Africa - Braam and Piet Van Wyk (Struik, 1997)
Field Guide to Insects of South Africa - Mike Picker, Charles Griffiths and Alan Weaving (Struik, 2004)
A Guide to the Reptiles of Southern Africa - Graham Alexander and Johan Marais (Struik, 2007)
Safari : A Chronicle of Adventure – Bartle Bull (Penguin, 1992)
