Diamonds, Gold, and War
The British, the Boers, and the Making of South Africa
September 2008
Trade Paperback · 592 Pages
$19.95 U.S. · $25.00 CAN · €14.99 E.U.
ISBN 9781586486419
PublicAffairs
Trade Paperback · 592 Pages
$19.95 U.S. · $25.00 CAN · €14.99 E.U.
ISBN 9781586486419
PublicAffairs
Description
Southern Africa was once regarded as a worthless jumble of British colonies, Boer republics, and African chiefdoms, a troublesome region of little interest to the outside world. But then prospectors chanced upon the world’s richest deposits of diamonds and gold, setting off a titanic struggle between the British and the Boers for control of the land. The result was the costliest, bloodiest, and most humiliating war that Britain had waged in nearly a century, and the devastation of the Boer republics. The New Yorker calls this magisterial account of those years “[an] astute history…. Meredith expertly shows how the exigencies of the diamond (and then gold) rush laid the foundation for apartheid.”
About the Author
Martin Meredith is a journalist, biographer, and historian who has written extensively on Africa and its recent history. His previous books include Mugabe and The Fate of Africa. He lives near Oxford, England.