![]() ![]() ![]() Overall, however, the varied non-whites-Hottentots, Xhosa, Zulu, Coloured-get relatively little space here, with the prime focus on the Europeans. Daniel Nxumalo, non-violent black activist, will be tried for high treason. ![]() He begins with a glimpse of prehistoric Bushmen crossing the desert (going south) in search of water, but then he quickly introduces the first of his central dynasties: in the 1450s, black youth Nxumalo is inspired by white gold-traders, treks north to the rich city of Zimbabwe, and witnesses its tragic abandonment 350 years (and 300 pages) later, his descendant plays Brutus to the Caesar of mad, mother-obsessed Zulu king Shaka (who unifies the tribes via constant bloody warfare) and in the 1970s, Prof. Is this 900-page South Africa saga much more spotty and ill-shaped than Chesapeake and Centennial-or does it just seem so because we can't automatically fill in the gaps of history ourselves this time? In any case, Michener is using his familiar approach here: tracing a region's history through a few families, with a not-always-congenial mix of soap opera, celebrity cameos, and textbook lessons. ![]()
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