Customer Reviews

Frontiers: The Epic of South Africa's Creation and the Tragedy of the Xhosa People

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This is a riveting, tautly written, "page-turner". And thank heavens, because it clocks in at a whopping 1300 pages. But do NOT let that deter you. If Africa is of interest to you then you NEED to, you MUST, read this book. The period under study dates from the earliest explorations of South Africa (late 1400s) to the late 1800s.

Mostert's approach is sensitive and balanced - as the subtitle conveys "The Epic of South Africa's Creation and the Tragedy of the Xhosa People". It is narrative in format and the experience (and indeed the pleasure) of reading this book is not dissimilar from that of reading Shelby Foote's monumental three volume "The Civil War: A Narrative". The flyleaf describes "Frontiers" as having a "Gibbonesque sweep" and this is extremely apt.

There are good maps, though too few of them. The style is fluid and compelling. The descriptions of the landscape are wonderfully evocative. This book provides everything that one needs to understand that tragedy that unfolded in modern day South Africa. One is left yearning for the paradise that was so clearly lost.

One of the best ways for me to recommend this book to you is by excerpting a passage:

"It was a battle that fell into complete obscurity.... It was, so to speak, an event without a name, a four-hour long retreat along a wagon road, an agonizing struggle, yard by yard, mile by mile. It was a severe humiliation....which may have helped dim its historic judgement. Yet not again until Rorke's Drift some eighteen years on would the British army again fight and die in such a brave, cruel and intimate scuffle on the African veld. There were to be no medals or recognition for the infantryman of the 91st on the road between Forts Hare and Cox on 29 December 1850. But as Robert Godlonton said, there had never been anything like it in frontier war. Maqoma paid the infantrymen high tribute. Describing the battle he was to say of the 91st that `they died fighting and cursing to the last.'

The fighting was hand to hand, a brutal melee marked by the sort of acts of prompt individual heroism, and of miraculous survival that such ferocious close combat inevitably produced, a situation where every man was immediately for himself, with no certain idea of what was happening except directly in front of him, and yet with the fate of a companion often suddenly intrusive upon his own struggles."

This conveys the immediacy and the force with which Mostert writes. If you loved Pakenham's "Scramble for Africa", or Alan Moorehead's books on the Nile, you will not be disappointed.

Most books on S. Africa focus on three things: Aparthied, The Boer War or the Zulu, with Mandela being a close fourth. This book focuses on the real south Africa, the Xhosa people and the tragedy that befell them as Zulu, Boer and British invasions destroyed their way of life. An excellent study of a people and a nation and a study that shows that African tribal wars were just as destructive as the europeans.

A must read for anyone interested in Africans, Africa or colonialism and the survival of native cultures.

Seth J. Frantzman

Easily one of the most impressive books I have read. Frontiers is a book that covers broad sweeps of history and culture in a balanced and informative way. Although it is lengthy (over 1,200 pages), it captures one's interest to such a degree that one is actually left with wanting more!

A noticeable theme for me was the role and importance of individuals in shaping history. For example, Harry Smith, Governor of the Cape Colony, who had a profoundly negative influence on the Xhosa people, yet was admirable in other ways (having served in the American Colonies, Europe, and India-- perhaps one of the first sons of globalization). Similarly, the powerful influence of the London Missionary Society, and by extension, religion in general in setting the course of human events.

A must read for students of African history!

Mostert's history of South Africa was one of those rare sorts of reads that wherever you begin to try to describe it all you can come up with are superlatives that verge on exaggeration. Never before had I recognized the parallels of historical events in which eighteenth and nineteenth century European colonialists---in Africa and America---with self-professed Christian values, put to the test their noble beliefs. Such moral rectitude was in no way translated in the way each dealt with their native populations. Mostert exhaustive analysis provides an important chronicle on the effects of European colonialisn in dismantling a once proud Xhosa nation.

This one might take you a while to get through but it's well worth it. Not normally a history afficionado, I still found the 1000 or so pages easy to get through.

Provides a fascinating insight into the background for modern day South Africa, concentrating not on the Zulu but on the lesser known and more peaceful Xhosa. Interesting perspective on the Boers who don't come off near as badly as the good old Poms in this seemingly none-too-biased book.

Noel Mostert's 'Frontiers' explains the face of the new South Africa.

Having spent some time in the East Cape I came away with a keen sense of the history of the frontier wars so well described by the book.

Noel Mostert is the best voice of this exciting history.