The Dead Will Arise: Nongqawuse and the Great Xhosa Cattle-Killing Movement of 1856-7

The story of Nongqawuse, a young girl whose prophecy in 1856 of the regeneration of the living and the resurrection of the dead caused 100,000 Xhosa to kill their cattle, destroy their crops and slowly starve to death, is one of the most extraordinary in history, and has defied explanation over 130 years. The author draws on private letters, spy reports, oral traditions and obscure Xhosa texts to explain the motivations behind both the prophesy and the slaughter. North America: Indiana U Press; South Africa: Jonathan Ball