BOOK REVIEW: Afrikaner Odyssey is a rich tale of family’s role in history
Influential Reitz Afrikaner leaders crossed paths with eminent people who shaped events in colonial SA
Afrikaner Odyssey: The Story of the Reitz Family in South Africa Martin Meredith Jonathan Ball Martin Meredith has made a career writing about African history and politics. He has written a biography of Nelson Mandela, two books about Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, an interesting and lesser-known account of elephants and several other books on African affairs. His book Diamonds, Gold and War remains an important text for understanding how the discovery of diamonds and gold in the latter of half of the 19th century helped to shape the future of modern SA. Meredith’s latest book, Afrikaner Odyssey: The Story of the Reitz Family in South Africa, moves away from the broad lens for which he is well-known and zeroes in on the role of one Afrikaner family during great political change in SA. In this relatively short, but engaging book, he offers a detailed portrait of how one family crossed paths with some of the most significant people shaping the history of the late 19th and early 20th centur...
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