Recommended list of South African books

More than a Casual Contact – Jeremy Cronin

Call Me Woman – Ellen Kuzwayo

Fatima Meer – Higher than Hope
The authorized biography of Nelson Mandela

Soweto Inside Out – Edited by Adam Roberts and Joe Thloloe
(ISBN 0 143 02459 0)
Stories about Africa’s famous township

Bo-Tsotsi – The Youth Gangs of Soweto, 1935-1976 – Clive Glaser

Theatres of Struggle and the end of Apartheid – Belinda Bozzoli
http://witspress.wits.ac.za

Permanent Removal – Who removed the Cradock Four?
http://witspress.wits.ac.za

Dog eat Dog – Niq Mhlongo
The book tells the story of a young matriculant from the township who earns
himself a bursary at Wits University, and expresses the frustration and anger
carried by many black students in “white” tertiary institutions; South Africa
has finally found a young and relevant literary voice.

People who have stolen from me – David Cohen
If you steal something from someone who has stolen from you, is that crime?
Or is it justice? This is the true story of life at the end sharp end of a country at
the crossroads.

Shirley, Goodness and Mercy – Chris van Wyk
Love, laughter and family abound in a delightful childhood memoir set in
Johannesburg’s bleak and dusty townships.

The Third Prophecy – Ahmed Essop
A witty, ironic and brave look at South Africa’s political landscape – where
politics, prophecy and an aspiring Muslim president collide with unsettling
results!

Voices of the Transition: The Politics, Poetics and practices of Social Change
in South Africa – Edited by Edgar Pieterse and Frank Meintjies
Academic analyses are juxtaposed with short stories, poetry and photos to
present the past 10 years of democracy in all its complexity. Even better,
authors respond to each other’s arguments.

Pale Native – Max du Preez
Max du Preez’s autobiography is wonderful reading – eye-opening and at
times very amusing, thought-provoking and full of anecdotes from the inside
of great events that have taken place in South Africa over the last few decades;
Max du Preex is a leading journalist in our country.

Beyond the Miracle, Inside the new South Africa – Alistair Sparks
An excellent read.

God has a Dream – Desmond Tutu
In Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu’s most soul-searching book to date, he
shares the spiritual message that guided him through troubled times,
underlining how important it is that, even as we face harsh realities, we
remember hope and dreams.

Operation Vula – Conny Braam
A personal account, told with emotion and humility by the head of the antiapartheid movement in the Netherlands

The Stars Say “Tsau” – Antjie Krog
Antjie Krog’s very special reconstruction of 35 San poems from the notes of
Wilhelm Bleek and Lucy Lloyd, telling stories of mythological beings,
hunting and the spirits of animals, and singing of loss and longing for the land.
Extraordinarily powerful and evocative

Country of My Skull – Antjie Krog
Her account of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

A Change of Tongue – Antjie Krog
Traces the humour of change and the pain of belonging through the personal
narratives of individuals, families, poets, officials and politicians. Past and
future merge themselves in food, language, landscape, memories, small towns
and sewerage farms as South Africans try to find new footholds in a
democratic space.

History is the Home Address – Mongane Wally Serote
An epic poem in the form of a dialogue between lover and beloved, it is both
tragic and spiritually optimistic, reflecting on issues like oppression and the
ongoing need to understand the past

All Under Heaven – Darryl Accone
A moving account of the history of his Chinese South African family over
three generations, from the beginning of the 20th Century until the present; “a
secret history, long overdue”

Midlands – Johnny Steinberg
A thorough analysis the phenomenon of farm murders in the Midlands, KZN,
looking back as far as colonialism in South Africa

Africa in My Bones – David Cumes
His account of a medical doctor’s training in Africa to become a sangoma

Moving in Time – edited by George Hallett
A magnificent photographic account of the past 10 years of our country. This
visual record portrays some problem areas such as poverty, crime and
HIV/AIDS, but is ultimately a visual celebration of the achievements of a
nation that has managed to come together after centuries of division and
conflict.

A Human Being Died that Night – A Story of Forgiveness - Pumla GobodoMadikizela
A vivid reflection of all the gory details that happened behind South Africa’s
iron curtain in this recount of Pumla’s visits to Pretoria maximum prison
where Eugene de Kock is Ervin 212 year jai sentence after being found guilty
of gross acts of humanity.

The New Century of South African Short Stories – Selected and introduced by
Michael Chapman
Covering four periods in South Africa’s history

Disgrace – J. M. Coetzee

This Way I Salute You – Keorapetse Kgositsile
This collection consists of poems from a world-renowned and much-published
South Africa poet and pays tribute to women and men – mostly artist and
musicians – who have influenced and enriched his life.

Islands – Dan Sleigh
An unforgettable epic offering an understanding of the vast historical forces at
work in shaping the world of the 17th and early 18th centuries. Behind the
Khoi people, these “little men”, who are not allowed any choice by history,
loom the ones who apparently take the decisions, the commanders and
governors and captains and still greater, more shadowy potentates in charge of
the Dutch East India Company.

Children of Bondage – Robert Shell
A fascinating account of the significant contribution of the early slaves on the
building of the Cape Colony.

A Country Unmasked – Alex Boraine

Laugh, the Beloved Country – James Clarke and Harvey Tyson
A collection of some of South Africa’s finest humorists of the past 200 years,
including Pieter-Dirk Uys, Herman Charles Bosman, Christopher Hope and
both authors – definitely a classic read.

Women Today – A Celebration: Fifty years of South African women –
compiled by Hilary Reynolds and Nancy Richards
This book is divided into 20 interesting chapter headings such as woman and
the media, women and their sensual selves, women and business, women and
leadership (in which Graca Machel, Helen Suzman and Fatima Meer were
interviewed) etc., and it is through these themed categories that the
emancipation of women is considered – there is a strong message of hope,
vision and courage – women can be proud of all that has been achieved in
South Africa.

Of Warriors, Lovers and Prophets – Unusual Stories from South Africa’s Past
– Max du Preez
This is South Africa’s history as you’ve never seen it before: a fresh, lively,
accessible book recounting fascinating, quirky and unexpected stories about
our past. Drawing from seven years of historical research, Max du Preez has
collected the richest and most extraordinary tales that he found.
UNISA (University of South Africa) Press celebrates ten years of democracy
with a series which chronicles the multiple ways in which South Africans of
all colours and ideological persuasions have been responding, either critically
or creatively, to the numerous contradictions in the ten years of democracy.
(unisa-press@unisa.ac.za +27 12 429 3081 / 3448)

On Becoming a Democracy: Transition and transformation in South Africa
society – Chabani Mangayi

The law of commoners and kings: Narratives of a rural Transkei magistrate –
Dial Ndima

Hear Our Voices: Race, gender and the status of black South Africa women –
Reitu Mabokela

Sister Outsider: The representation of identity and difference in selected
writings by South African Indian women – Betty Govinden

Segregation and Singularity: Politics and its context among white middle-class
English-speakers in late-apartheid Johannesburg – Peter Stewart

Struggle for a City: Johannesburg 1886 – 2002: The unfolding geography of
South Africa’s premier metropolis – Keith Beavon

Voices that Reason: Theoretical perspectives – Ari Sitas

South Africa in the Global Imaginary – Leon de Kock (ed)

Making the Changes: Representations of jazz in South African literature and
reportage – Michael Titlestad

Cape Flats Details: Life and culture in the townships of Cape Town – Chris
Ledochowski

Democracy X: Marking the present and representing the past – Andries
Oliphant (ed)