Customer Reviews

The Washing of the Spears

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I was very disappointed with this book. I thought it was on Shaka and he is only a chapter or so. If you want a history of the Zulu nation, you would probably enjoy this book.

It's a topical year for South Africa and this is the best long-view history of SA I've read. As Europeans settled the Cape, Shaka had established the Zulu Nation as the dominant power along the South East side of the continent. Absolutely fascinating account of the European colonization of South Africa from the early Dutch immigrants through the British acquisition of control and the eventual souring of relationships and betrayal of the Zulus by the British. The book is rich with both socio-political history of both Zulu and European. Eventually the British deceitfully forced Cetshwayo into an unwarranted war and it's the accounts of the so-called Zulu Wars that are most stirring (and, by the way, reminiscent of the American so-called Indian-Wars).

So, watch the World Cup, support your team then when the smoke has cleared, read this book.