JAN CHRISTIAN SMUTS: A Biography

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 13, 1952

Smuts was one of the great world figures of our times, a man of tremendous scope of ability and interest. A brilliant lawyer, a politician in the best sense of the word, a general, a statesman, an educator on the world scene. He guided his people and country through the Boer War to its place in the world scene. He worked as peace maker and instigator of world peace movements. He was a philosopher and a writer, an agriculturist, a naturalist, an omnivorous reader. While he was guiding his country at home and contributing to world politics aborad, he was the subject in South Africa of vicious personal attack by members of Herzog's (now Malan's) Nationalist Party. Out of all this vitally important and often dramatic material, his son has managed to produce a rather dull biography, and- to the average American reader not versed in South Africa's complex history- a confusing one. He fails to create the charming, warm human being he claims his father to have been. But for many, the heart of the text will tie in the short chapter on racial problems and Smuts' comments on them. The shadowy figure of Dr. Malan, too, stimulates curiosity and interest. All in all, a disappointment.

Pub Date: Nov. 13, 1952

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1952

Categories: NONFICTION