The Colour Bar: The Triumph of Seretse Kama and His Nation [Paperback]

Susan Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 13, 2008

Sir Seretse Khama, the first President of Botswana and heir apparent to the kingship of the Bangwato people, brought independence and great prosperity to his nation after colonial rule. But for six long years from 1950, Seretse had been forced into exile in England, banned from his own country. His crime? To fall in love and marry a young, white English girl, Ruth Williams. Delving into newly released records, Susan Williams tells Seretse and Ruth's story - a shocking account of how the British Government conspired with apartheid South Africa to prevent the mixed-race royal couple returning home. But it is also an inspiring, triumphant tale of hope, courage and true love as with tenacity and great dignity Seretse and Ruth and the Bangwato people ovecome prejudice in their fight for justice.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Susan Williams is the author of many books, most recently The People's King: The True Story of the Abdication (2003), The Children of London (2001) and Ladies of Influence (2000). She grew up in Zambia and has worked in Britain, Zimbabwe and Canada. She lives in London and is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Global (February 13, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0141026138
• ISBN-13: 978-0141026138
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,103,826 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #22 in Books > History > Africa > Botswana

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The personal is political, October 13, 2008

By 

Louise S. Robbins (Madison, WI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Colour Bar: The Triumph of Seretse Kama and His Nation (Paperback)

Susan Williams' The Colour Bar tells both a love story and a political history. When Seretse Khama, the hereditary "kgosi" or king of one of the Tswana tribes of the British Protectorate of Bechuanaland, married Ruth Williams, a British woman he met while in school in England, it set off a scramble among the leaders of apartheid South Africa and of Rhodesia as well as Britain, to exile and depose him. It would be untenable to have a mixed race couple living among and influencing the people between these very racially segregated and oppressive societies. The lengths to which the British government went to exile Seretse Khama and to hide its reasons for so doing, as well as the responses of the Khamas and of the people of what would become the Republic of Botswana, makes spell-binding reading. I intended to use this for my bus commute read, but once I started it, I couldn't put it down and devoted a weekend to finishing it up. Highly recommended for history buffs or people interested in getting a very different view of an African republic. This one is at least a partial cure for U.S. tunnel vision.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A triumph of love and perseverance, January 4, 2011

By 

Eduardo Fernandez (Portoviejo, Ecuador) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Colour Bar: The Triumph of Seretse Kama and His Nation (Paperback)

"The Colour Bar" is a good book to understand the prejudices and injustices of the British and white rule in Africa. This is also a story about love, perseverance, forgiveness and not let the evil triumph over the good. The marriage of Seretse and Ruth becomes a threat to the supremacist world of white people in these territories. However, Ruth and Seretse never gave up and their love and resistance led to the success of a nation, now called Botswana. The book is extraordinarily well documented, but this characteristic turns the story boring at times. I expected more about Ruth and Seretse and less about Politics. The final chapters left me hungry for more information about the couple's life in independent Botswana.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book for anyone interested in Botswana politics and a true life love story, May 9, 2010

By 

Zachary G. Brown "madmartigan_psu" (Maun, Botswana) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Colour Bar: The Triumph of Seretse Kama and His Nation (Paperback)

This is a good book, a quick and easy read, and an insightful story of African politics in the name of colonialism. This books should give anyone who reads it a real sense of hope and confidence about the people of Botswana.