Shaka Zulu: The Biography of the Founder of the Zulu Nation [Mass Market Paperback]

E. A. Ritter (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 014004826X | ISBN-13: 978-0140048261 | Publication Date: January 1, 1995

Shaka Zulu was founder of the Zulu nation, a born leader and a brilliant general. This remarkable king, was a contemporary of Napolean, and his achievements rivalled the Emperor's. For in the space of twelve years, he organized an immense army of skilled and disciplined warriors, conquering and pacifying a territory larger than Europe.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (January 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 014004826X
• ISBN-13: 978-0140048261
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #147,577 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Inaccurate, sensationalised and poorly-sourced., November 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Shaka Zulu: The Biography of the Founder of the Zulu Nation (Mass Market Paperback)

While Ritter's "masterpiece" is a rollicking good read, it should never have been regarded as a historical document. The content falls short of respectability in many instances, most notably with regard to its inaccuracy. Ritter includes in his book a young woman named Pampata, who he says was the great love of Shaka's life. In fact the name Pampata appears not once in the James Stuart Archives - a comprehensive record of Zulu oral accounts. Ritter ends his book with Pampata committing suicide over Shaka's corpse. Once again, there is no mention of this on record. In other instances Ritter fares just as badly. He describes the "honourable" execution of Mudli kaNkwelo after Shaka took power in 1816. One snag: Zulu oral accounts are unanimous that Mudli was killed before Shaka arrived to assume the crown. Ritter also bandies exaggerated figures around. His estimation of the dead after the battle of Gqokli has been exposed as ludicrous by modern historians. He has used so much of Alfred Bryant's work (particularly from Olden Times in Zululand and Natal)that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the two books. Sadly, too many mythical - and misleading - pictures of Shaka have been formed by this book. It deserves a place in any library - but only on the fiction shelf.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb and Magnificent, February 25, 2002

By 

Sebati (Pasadena CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shaka Zulu: The Biography of the Founder of the Zulu Nation (Mass Market Paperback)

...Do not be swayed by the opinions of some people who dismiss this story as a work of fiction... Ask any griot in Natal Zululand, and they will tell you that the source of this story to the author is well authenticated. Seganada Cube (who was killed in the 1906 Bambatha rebellion) was an 'udibi' or a little boy assigned to take care of an assigned warrior's needs, and it is safe to say that he saw and heard the great emperor himself speak. So to say this is a work of fiction is absurd. And people who suggest that are victims of propaganda. The only thing thats fiction is the mini series "Shaka Zulu", which got only one thing right - the names of the people.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Black Napoleon", August 1, 2003

By 

"martinbockshammer" (Muenster bei Dieburg Deutschland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shaka Zulu: The Biography of the Founder of the Zulu Nation (Mass Market Paperback)

For every European and American interested in Black Africa and the Bantu, Ritters "Shaka" is a "must read", full of high adventure, full of an unknown world. His affection for the Zulus is contagious, and his joy in narrating his story rubbs off on his readers.
It would be eminently unfair to expect of Ritter a strictly "historical" account of Shaka and his time: the only written records to survive are those of white traders and seamen. Oral traditions were bound to be contradictory (Zulu, by the way, held in olden times the largest vocabulary of any unwritten language!), and tales certainly grew taller in re-telling. To boot, Ritter had no access yet to records like the James Stuart Archive. But Ritter eminently succeeds in waking ones interest in this "black Napoleon" and his time, and especially in everything connected with this proud warrior tribe, their way of life, social conditions and their development.
It cannot be gainsaid that the Zulu under Shaka, like the Mongols under Jingis Khan or the French under Napoleon - though on a much smaller scale - left a trail of blood and tears; but up to the present day Shaka is spoken of with awe and venerated by his own people like Napoleon and J.K. are by theirs....