THE WASHING OF THE SPEARS: A History of the Rise of the Zulu Nation under Shaka and Its Fall in the Zulu War of 1879

by Donald R. Morris ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

This has everything its subtitle promises, and more: it will run to nearly 900 pages and has a long, long bibliography. While hardly the book to consult for a fast grasp of the outlines of Zulu history, it provides a sweeping, all-inclusive military, political, and personal record, and if properly indexed it will surely be very valuable to scholars. For the less dedicated reader (again, dependent on indexing and careful chapter headings), there are several sections well worth finding, especially the brightly-written romantic chapter on Louis Napoleon and how he came to die in Africa fighting for the English. The creation of a unified nation of Zulus, the quirks of Boer politics, the vacillation of the British before deciding to annex Zululand, and the mistakes made by the first colonial administration after the war was over, all in certain ways set the stage for the troubles of southern Africa as we know them in recent times, and Morris analyzes them thoroughly. He also provides a capsule guide to Zulu spelling and pronounciation, but it is a question how much that will aid the average reader in wading through a book with more than its share of names like isaNgqu, umXhapo, and Gqikazi.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1965

Categories: NONFICTION