Customer Reviews

An Unpopular War

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4 star:		(3)
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An Unpopular War

This interesting book consists of a series of first-person vignettes provided by individuals who had served on the South African side in South Africa's Border Wars in the 70s and 80s. The accounts seem to be in the language and words of those who provided them, save for their translation in some instances from Afrikaans to English. As such, they are provided with no contextual supporting text, except for an appendix of slang words and their meanings. A reader coming into this material for the first time may be puzzled at times but the intention of the editor was clearly to provide an authentic `voice' to the protagonists without any comment or interpretation of her own. The individuals who provided their stories varied from army chefs to helicopter pilots to conscious objectors , and each have a story to tell, sometimes funny, sometimes poignant and sometimes macabre. For this reason the material will be of interest to a broad readership anywhere in the world. Although not an historical account of events at all (for which the reader should seek some other source, such as Wikipedia, or The Silent War by Peter Stiff) the situations and events reported appear to be accurate, and are certainly consistent with other accounts with which I am familiar. A recommended read.

This book is a collection of vivid memories of South African military conscripts or as they were referred to 'National Service Men'. This book will unfortunately become an increasingly important resource which reflects some of the thinking of the hundreds of thousands of conscripts during the period of South Africa's bush war (1970's to 1993). I say 'unfortunately' as this book has nearly as many flaws as strengths. Yet as this is one of a handful of books to emerge from this period that covers life of the conscript, it has grown in value because of the scarcity of other resources.

As the title indicates, 'An Unpopular War', this is about the experiences of conscript soldiers of the South African government during the days of Apartheid. The first major flaw is that the author only interviewed 40 to 50 ex-conscripts. As nearly every Caucasian male born in South Africa during this period was required to complete military service, every day in South Africa, you can still almost speak to as many ex-conscripts in the local shopping mall, gas station or corner store. This could have been a far more authoritative work had more people been interviewed and certainly would have gained perspective if senior officers had been interviewed.

Years ago, I remember seeing an advert in a local South African magazine, 'Fair Lady' asking for ex-conscripts to share their experiences for this book. I do hope this was not the main method of obtaining input from ex-conscripts.

In many ways this book attempts to cover a period of South African history in too superficial manner. There is no introductory chapter providing the vital historical context, and I suggest this was done as this was too difficult for the author. There is no appraisal of South African forces, their structure or who the enemy was. There is not even a map of Southern Africa indicating where the 'border' was or where the various camps and main military centres were.

Instead the author has a best seller in South Africa by simply editing what ex-conscripts have said or written to her. Ironically this is also the book's strength.

These stories are told frankly with all the local slang, swearing, expressions and thinking of the time. As an ex-conscript, I was immediately transported back in my mind to my two years service. So vivid were these descriptions that old dreams returned and scabbed memories both funny, pathetic,unpleasant and sad were reopened. Although I cannot vouch for any one of these stories, they all appear to be 100% authentic. They all carry the authentic ring of life as a 'troep'.

This main strength of this book is that it vividly captures the essence and feelings we had as conscripts during that time. All the jargon, the rivalry between English and Afrikaans speakers, the fear and loathing of non-commissioned officers, the bizarre training incidents, the 'gyppo-ing', the hysterically funny episodes and the painful ones - all in one short collection. For this it deserves 4 stars.

Note to international readers: This book is written primarily for a South African audience. Even in the sub-title of the book you have expressions that are in Afrikaans. Although the book is 100% in English, there are many expressions for which you need to refer to the glossary. Any quoted Afrikaans is translated in the text but often slang and swear words appear non-italicised so it could be a challenge at first deciphering words. (I'd suggest copying the comprehensive 10 page glossary at the back of the book for easy reference as you read.)

If you're interested in Southern African military history, this is a great book that reflects some of the anecdotal stories and thinking (and non-thinking!)of the men on the ground - at the sharp end, in the barracks, on leave, during training and once it was all over. This is the real stuff, the raw content that researchers normally sanitise.

Really enjoyed this book. It was a total trip down memory lane. Brought back many memories (both good and bad) of my time in the SADF.

This is South Africa's long-running guerrilla war as seen by many different individuals, from soldiers selected to be in the State President's Guard to conscientious objectors who spent stints in prison rather than serve in uniform. It reminded me of The Good War by Terkel in many ways, although the vignettes are often single paragraphs in many cases rather than any sort of background. Not being familiar with Afrikaans or South African military culture some of the terms were hard to follow. Overall though it is an interesting book and many of the experiences I read in this echos military experiences in the U.S. Army and elsewhere, while there are some which seem to be unique to South Africa. Not a stand-alone work by any means, it is probably best read after getting some knowledge of the guerrilla war and how it was fought.

I married a South African ten years ago and have always tried (to varying degrees) to comprehend their strong sense of community. As the years went by and I met more in-laws, I came to hear each one make mention of his "time in the service". I never served in the armed forces and the most I did was play high school football which in some ways is similar- a town's pride (in the form of young men) thrown together for gritty preparations and tests. The author could have provided a map (especially considering detailed maps of South Africa are rare) and, also, could have employed footnotes for translating the Afrikaans and military jargon. As far as providing an historical context, this is not possible as any perspective, partially or wholly, sympathetic to the Afrikaner viewpoint is simply not allowed in today's political arena. These omissions do not drain any power from this work. Men who serve- especially those who serve for a questionable cause (such as ours in Iraq)- are arguably more commendable then those who serve with pomp and glory. I recommend this read for anyone- particularly those of service age or those who have served.

Paul Suozzo