Customer Reviews

War and Peace in Southern Africa: Crime, Drugs, Armies, and Trade

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First of all, it must be said that this book is not titled correctly; it is about crime and punishment, rather than war and peace. The book takes the form of eleven individual essays that were written for the World Peace Foundation. In these essays, the authors take a look a various aspects of criminal activity in southern Africa, analyzing how it has evolved since the end of the Apartheid government in South Africa, and what can and should be done about the skyrocketing crime rates that are pandemic in the entire region.

Overall, I found these essays to be highly informative - I had no idea how bad things had become in recent years. Apparently, for many nations, the road to democracy passes through crime and violence.

Now, having been written for an academic audience, these essays are rather on the dry side, so you must be prepared. But, that said, they do shed a great deal of light on a growing problem that is already spilling out of southern African and into the rest of the world. I highly recommend this book.

This book was very informative to read. It puts South Africa in a new light. The difficult transition from racial discrimination to a new governmental style can be seen in the crime rates and statistical information given. Parts of the book may be hard to understand if you never have read up on the subject before, but because of international input, many sides of the situation are looked at.

This author has also codeveloped a book about genocide and if you like this book you will like that one as well. I am a college student with a minor in history and I found that his writing style is excellent. I recommend this book, but do a little research first to get the full effect of it.