James A. Michener’s masterly chronicle of South Africa is an epic tale of adventurers, scoundrels, and ministers, the best and worst of two continents who carve an empire out of a vast wilderness. From the Java-born Van Doorn family tree springs two great branches: one nurtures lush vineyards, the other settles the interior to become the first Trekboers and Afrikaners. The Nxumalos, inhabitants of a peaceful village unchanged for centuries, unite warrior tribes into the powerful Zulu nation. And the wealthy Saltwoods are missionaries and settlers who join the masses to influence the wars and politics that ravage a nation. Rivalries and passions spill across the land of The Covenant, a story of courage and heroism, love and loyalty, and cruelty and betrayal, as generations fight to forge a new world.

BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from James A. Michener's Hawaii.

Praise for The Covenant

“A prodigious endeavor . . . Nowhere else could an American reader unfamiliar with South Africa get so full an understanding of its problems in so engaging a form.”—The New York Times Book Review

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Product details

File Size: 4693 KB
Print Length: 1250 pages
Publisher: The Dial Press; Reprint edition (March 18, 2014)
Publication Date: March 18, 2014
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B00H6JHMMM
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

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Screen Reader: Supported

Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,139 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #57 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > African
- #231 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical > Military
- #365 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > War

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Nona

A perspective on the people of an interesting place

April 18, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

The covenant is another Michener tale that, like history, goes on and on and on. Like most of Michener's books, however, The Covenant gives us some insight into the people and places that make up South Africa. I am not sure if I really care about the characters in the book, but the characters carry the information about a fascinating place and when you finally finish the book, you will have painlessly absorbed more information about a fascinating and important place. If you want to get more understanding about how South Africa came to be as it is today, I recommend you read the Covenant for a historical perspective that begins to tell the tale of the various immigrant groups that today are still in the process of coming together.
I recommend it.

17 people found this helpful

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Sadie

We took a trip to South Africa and this book was invaluable!

September 24, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

My husband and I were taking a trip to South Africa and decided to ready this book together. It was amazing, all on it's own with no trip planned. But, once we got to Cape Town, everything fell into place. We knew SO much about the place, thanks to the reading of this book. We felt informed and even a connection. It guided our sightseeing in a way. Who would have thought the chapter titled "A Hedge of Bitter Almond" would take us to Kirstenbosch Gardens to see the original. It gave up a personal history with fictional characters thrown in amongst real historical figures and events. If you are going to South Africa and are a reader, I cannot recommend this book enough. We even saw rock paintings on a friends farm in Namibia and we felt connected, knowing the history. Our next destination will definitely include a Michener book, if there is one written about it. This man is an excellent author and his attention to detail is great. There were so many things we were reading and we said "This can't be real!" and we looked it up on the internet and it was...this happened over and over. You can never have too much knowledge, whether you remember it or not!

32 people found this helpful

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September 12, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

As a foreword Mr Michener always reminds us the his story is not a history, it is fiction. What he fails to tell us is that he paints a picture that allows us to understand the history which is more than a name and a date. History is emotions, reactions, fears, misconceptions and much more. Through his characters, he leads us to understand an ugly piece of history. Beautifully written and valuable as a story in itself, an eye opening portrait of a period that confused me as a youngster. Thank you.

10 people found this helpful

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Kilroy

Startling and informative

May 25, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Michener again reveals, in a novel way, to give a reader a 'ride' through a history of a land, it's people, politics and motivations of its being.
I was amazed by his research and his narrative of how South Africa is unique in history.
As a traveler to SA, I know a great deal of not only it's incredible beauty, but now, how that Covenant effected it's outcome.
The country is still dynamic as it was when he wrote it, but since reading this tome, I have come away from this informative historical fiction, with a new perspective of SA.
Regardless of your knowledge of history of SA, this is a non judgementel view of its modern day troubles and how it came about.

8 people found this helpful

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patricia nisler

A must read - Michener as you expect him

June 30, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Michener did not disappoint in this saga of South Africa, which I read prior to and during my 3 week trip to South Africa. His in-depth research and telling of the long history of this country within a fictional framework was magnificent. The families, Dutch, English and African native, woven into the narrative, with story lines for each ongoing generation of each family provided the human pathos that made the country and the culture come alive. For me this was greatly preferable to just reading a travel guide book or some dry history of the country and its peoples. The story was brought to a close before the historic end to Apartheid because of the year of the book's issue, which preceded that seminal event. The country, but 19 years old as a post-Apartheid republic, still struggles with problems exposed in Michener's telling, and our learning of the struggles via the trip's educational components, enhanced the book's brilliance for me as there was nothing outdated in the author's handling of the subject matter. I highly recommend this book. One of my co-travelers had reread it in preparation for the trip - that says a lot for a book more than 1100 pages long!

8 people found this helpful

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September 26, 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This was an incredibly interesting subject. I wanted to learn about South Africa and the settling of it BUT it is so incredibly long and detailed, to the point of minutia, that I have quit reading it at about one-third of the way through it. I will, no doubt, finish is eventually but find it too detailed to continue to the end.

It details the ships and settlers coming in to South Africa, how the native people were overrun by the superior fire power of the Dutch as well as other nationalities. It's a rich and powerful tale which is why I will eventually finish reading it. I would recommend it only if you have days and days to read. It is 1,142 pages long.

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Kunjae

An exhaustive but rewarding read

August 19, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is the second time I read this exhaustive book. I read it when the book first came out and now in 2018. How sad that the Dutch have put so much into developing this land and making it what it is and now the Blacks of South Africa are going to take the land from these pioneering family s. Some of these family s have been there since the 1600s. Once the blacks through out the white farmers they will experience the same problems that occur in the rest of Africa.

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