Twentieth-Century South Africa

This accessible and concise introduction to South Africa's turbulent history this century is the first to emphasize the social and economic history underlying the political upheavals and the establishment and fitful dismantling of apartheid. Beinart, a leading South Africa historian, begins with the final colonial conquests of the late 19th century and ends with a prognosis for democracy and redistribution of resources in the 1990s. Along the way he considers how popular culture and politics help to explain the rise of Afrikaner and African nationalism, and looks at such key topics as patterns of violence, the significance of ethnicity, and the variety of radical politics and religious expression. Written for the student and general reader, this book will serve as a useful guide to this vital period in twentieth-century history.