SOUTHERN AFRICA

“’The story,” the Bushman prisoner said, “is like the wind. It comes from a far-of place and we feel it.” ~Laurens van der Post

NONFICTION

Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela, 1994 — From political activist to prisoner, then president and Nobel Prize winner, Mandela’s story is a journey of modern Africa. Here, it is in his own words.

Tomorrow Is Another Country: The Inside Story of South Africa’s Negotiated Revolution, Alistair Sparks, 1995 — As a journalist at South Africa’s preeminent newspaper, Sparks bore witness to the end of Apartheid and wrote this fascinating account of the government’s dealings with Nelson Mandela. It reads like a spy novel but is based entirely on real events.

Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, Alexandra Fuller, 2001 — An incredibly moving memoir about growing up in Rhodesia in the 1970s, marked by nasty tensions between white settlers and native Africans.

Nine Hills to Nambonkaha: Two Years in the Heart of an African Village, Sarah Erdman, 2003 — A moving memoir by a Peace Corps. Volunteer who was sent to a small village in the Cote d’Ivoire. In observing everything from the ancient rituals of sorcerers to AIDs affliction, she reveals the tensions and problems of modern Africa.

FICTION

A Story Like the Wind, Laurens van der Post, 1972 — A boy comes of age on the edge of the Kalahari Desert.

Blood Kin, Ceridwen Dovey, 2008 — Dovey, a current graduate student in social anthropology at New York University, had originally wanted to film a documentary on South African president Thabo Mbeki through the lens of his chef, barber and portraitist. Instead, she wrote a fable about an overthrown president whose chef, barber and portraitist are held hostage by the new ruler.

Cry the Beloved Country, Alan Paton, 1948 — This classic novel about racial injustice in South Africa is as moving today as when it was first published and instantly became a best-seller.

Disgrace, J.M. Coetzee, 1999 — This novel, which won the 1999 Booker Prize, is a subtle exploration of South Africa post-Apartheid and all of its new complexities by the Cape Town born Nobel Prize winner now living in Australia.