I thought this novel would be a bit boring, but it turned out to be a fascinating read and a wonderful glimpse into a woman's life in a time and place most Americans would never think about. I whole-heartedly recommend this book.

I started this book at the beginning of a long drive home from New Jersey after Thanksgiving. Seven hours later, I was amazed to see that we had arrived home. The time flew by as McCord drew me more and more deeply into Katie's life. I highly recommend this wonderful book!

The Calling of Katie Mankaya has a profoundly personal history for me. Ms. McCord, during the past twenty of the 40 years of her work's history, had read selections of her work in progress to a group of writer friends, of which both my parents were part. My mother would bring me to these "writer's meetings" where I would sit, silent, rapt, listening to voices and words and worlds fantastic and strange and tragic and joyous. Ms McCord's work is the most vivd of my memories; her words would spill across the evening's fabric, her syntax gripping, her accent hypnotising, her diction flawless. I've been waiting for this book for a long time. Much has come to pass since. South Africa is free. The writers have grown distant. My mother is gone. And, at last, the Calling of Katie Mankaya has found it's voice, it's manifestation, gathering awards and praise with effortless ease. The Calling of Katie Mankaya has fallen into place like the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle, a nexus of parts, completing the matrix that enmeshed it, or perhaps gathering that in which it radiated. Ms McCord's published work is a fifth of her orginial manuscript. Perhaps some of Ms McCord's selections of Katie's life's fragments are too personal, too esoteric for an epic, historical novel, but then again, perhaps it is this intimacy of Katie's life that makes Katie herself all the more real. It is a human story, rather than a sweeping Michenerian saga. It is towards the end of the book where Ms McCord refuses to hold back, and well, frankly, emotionally milks the moment for all it's worth. And it is this ending, as an elderly Katie looks back on her life, her loves, her losses, her regrets and triumphs, her tragedies and joys, it is here when the reader is offered a sort of mirror, in which they are allowed to view their own lives, of what was, of what is, and what could be; life in perspective, with Katie's story a frame of reference, an offering all the poignant knowing Katie's story to be true. The Calling of Katie Mankaya is an important work, especially now with a new South Africa arising from the ashes of division and hatred. But it is also an important work with regards to the timeless pathos of the human spirit, of the dying art of a mother's love, and the rarified grace of human dignity. It is an homage towards nobility on a level of everyday existence; ordinary life made anything but ordinary - rather, extraordinary. It is also an important book for that 10 year old boy who was captivated by the words that unfurled across those forgotten rooms, spilled across endless unpublished pages, who has seen the foundation on which many a personal dream were build on at last find it's place in this unyielding world we ponder through, like a book. Sorry you missed it, Mom. You would have loved it.

I first visited the Cape Verdes in 1987 while researching the ATLANTIC ISLANDS, a sailing guide covering the Azores, Madeira group, Canaries and Cape Verdes, now in its third edition. Getting information on the Cape Verdes in the English language was difficult in the extreme -- if only Aisling and Colum's excellent book had been available then! These days no sane person should visit the islands without reading it first. The Cape Verdes come as something of a culture shock after the Canaries -- this book will explain why, and help you get the most from the experience. Buy it!

This was just the sort of thing a hardened backpacker needed. It had all the useful nooks and crannies of info you need - plus the fact that it filled in a lot of the extra info you like to get about a place you're seeing. They gave a great account of the islands' history - it was really moving.

Irwin and Wilson's guide gives you all the factual information you need, and in addition succeeds in capturing the spirit of Cape Verde, with boxes on cultural and historical issues linked to each island. There is no doubt about it: This is the best guide available. If you read German, Rolf Osang's "Kapverdische Inseln" from Dumont is nearly as good and a useful supplement (especially when it comes to photos). The chapters on Cape Verde in Rough Guides' and Lonely Planet's books on West Africa are neither up-to-date nor in-depth enough if you plan to spend more than a few days in Cape Verde (which you should!).

The appendix on Crioulo language in Irwin and Wilson's book is brief but good. Don't be put off by the nasty details on horrible diseases in the section on health!

Filled with excerpts from Che's own Congo diary and replete with insights into the failures of the Cuban backed People's Liberation Army. A haunting look at some of the same failures that would befall Che and lead to his capture and execution in Bolivia. A great read!

A great and detailed account of Che's not so famous campaign in Africa. Well written; you can actually capture Che's philosophy and lifestyle.

adress:av. getulio vargas, 1351/607 - porto alegre-rs-brasil - cep; 90150-005

I heard a sermon by Father Donovan in Brevard NC a few years ago and was so inspired that I spoke to him afterwards and asked him if he had written a book...he told me about this one. This book has and continues to answer questions I have about the Christian faith. Father Donovan is a remarkable person with great insight and compassion. I would recommend this book to ANYONE who has doubts about the Christian faith and where they fit in...there is room for everyone.

This book presents a thoughtful and refreshing response to the question, "What is the nature of mission work?" Donovan made a point to strip the Gospel of its "cultural accretions from the West", and so present the Masai with a Christ free to be the God of all tribes and nations, as He was really meant to be. Donovan's mission to the Masai paints a beautiful and awe-inspiring picture of our Lord, and of the church that is His body. As an American, my picture of the Body of Christ is often, and unfortunately, very American. Ethnocentrism is a fault that all Christians must address and overcome, and this book richly illustrates one man's struggle to find and share the essence of our Faith, beneath and beyond all colours and cultures. His journey is remarkable in its depth, outstanding in its experience of the One, True God. This is inspiring and informative reading, poetically analytical, and spiritually enlightening. I strongly recommend it to a! ny Christian appreciative of the diversity of the Body, interested in the proclamation of the Good News to pagan peoples, or desiring a new understanding of the nature of the Kingdom of God.

Donovan's Christianity Rediscovered is a hallmark book all Christians should have. The real experience the missionary Donovan had while working with the Masai tribe in East Africa tells of how God acts in the world and why there is still an importance to spread the Gospel, and continue Christ's Great Commission. The book is not for the person wanting to remain prejudiced or enclosed in their own Christianity; for Christianity is universal, and God is the God of all Nations. The book is an answer to postmodern pluralism if there ever was one, and an easy, beautiful read. I recommend it to all persons, and I think it is mandatory for all Christians of all walks.

When I finished reading this book, it made me burst into tears...for such a long time, I've never read a book that was so touching and unforgettable. I love elephants so much and after reading this book. It bring me more courage to boycott those merchants who sell ivory......very impressive work and worthy of reading again and again...

I enjoyed this book very much! I learned alot about elephants and their habitat. I feel I got to know the elephants personally from the info and stories that Joyce gave on all of them. I feel this book will give a reader insight on the elephants,lives,loves and servival.

This is a well-written and wonderfully insightful glance into the lives of elephants. If you are interesting in learning more about the hidden lives of elephants this is the book. Her story was both enthralling and insightful. I salute her for her work in getting the elephant listed on the endangered list; trying to prevent the slide of elephants into possible extinction. I cried when the elephants gave her a welcoming ceremony when she returned from a long departure. Thanks. A must read for all!

Fue necesario unir los campesinos y trabajadores -los víctimas del capitalismo- para llevar a cabo la revolución democrática en el país de Sudáfrica, en contra de los mismos capitalistas. Y no sólo fue una clase capitalista en su país, sino un imperialismo que extraía ganancias de muchos países del sur y centro de su continente.

Parece irónico, pero así es el dilema del capitalismo en su fase imperialista actual. Sudáfrica era uno de los últimos ejemplos de lo que Lenín explicaba a principios del siglo XX en relación de los países sometidos al capitalismo (Imperialismo: la fase superior del capitalismo). Habiendo consumido su período revolucionario con la Guerra Civil de los Estados Unidos, de 1865 en adelante la burguesía ya no es capaz de ofrecer el liderazgo para ninguna revolución democrática en ningún rincón del mundo. Únicamente los campesinos y trabajadores pueden instalar las leyes de igualdad, con la burguesía esperando impaciente de regresar del margen para tomar el poder una vez consumidas las necesidades democráticas.

Con Nelson Mandela de frente, el Congreso Nacional Africano impuso los mínimos de igualdad, y así acabó con un imperio pequeño pero tan brutal como el de Israel hoy en día. Sudáfrica sigue capitalista, pero ya no tiene segregación para extraer súper-ganancias.

The main article in this collection, "The Coming Revolution in South Africa," by Jack Barnes, came out in the mid-1980s. The analysis presented was important as a guide to action for all those involved in the struggle to rid the world of the hated apartheid system in South Africa.

Apartheid was a system that strangled normal capitalist development. A regime that resembled fascism, it treated the mass of the workers and farmers almost as slaves. Instead of a ruling capitalist class pitted against a working class (which is to be expected as a result of normal capitalist development), the apartheid system divided society into a white caste and a non-white caste, with Blacks, the majority of the population, stripped of nearly all democratic rights. The wealthy white elite fought to preserve apartheid because it secured their control over the Black majority, and thus magnified profit rates. But this form of control created explosive social pressures.

In order to advance toward socialism, the working people in South Africa first had to destroy the apartheid structure and allow the pressures of capitalist development to emerge into the open. With the chains of apartheid broken, the masses of working people could then come to grips with a real capitalist system as such.

The 1994 election which brought the African National Congress to power culminated a process of revolutionary change that was critical to all further development in South Africa and its neighboring countries. It opened the door to a new period of class struggle, preparing the workers in South Africa to participate, on an equal footing with workers in all countries, to build a new world free of capitalist war and depression.

Though published in 1985, nine years before the victory of the African National Congress against Apartheid, the main article in this book-length magazine Jack Barnes's "The Coming Revolution in South Africa," forecasts the way forward for the democratic revolution in South Africa and shows how the roots of a future socialist revolution in South Africa flow out of that struggle. Barnes, the national secretary of the Socialist Workers Party, explains why the democratic tasks of national liberation and unification advanced by the ANC and its allies were the correct way forward for the peoples of South Africa. With examples from the policies of Lenin and the Russian Bolsheviks and the Cuba and Nicaraguan revolutions, Barnes takes on sectarians who attacked the ANC because it did not have an explicitly anticapitalist program. Along with Barnes' speech, this issue contains "The Freedom Charter"--the political program the ANC advanced in the antiapartheid struggle -- "The Future Belongs to US" a Speech by ANC leader Oliver Tambo, a speech by Fidel Castro explaining why and how Cuba supported the freedom struggle in Angola, and a summary of the then latest stages in the South African struggle by Ernest Harsch.

Commando is the first and best known of the Deneys Reitz trilogy. It autobiographically tells the story of his part in the Boer War. He started as the sixteen year old son of a prominent Boer politician and ended with him joining Jan Smutts on his raid on Port Elizabeth. This is a story of guerrilla warfare based on minimal resources, for instance they used to visit the abandoned camp sites of British Columns just to pick up ammunition that the Tommies had dropped. They then used this to attack the very soldiers who had dropped it.

However, at the end of the Boer War Reitz was unable to accept British rule and went into exile and this is where the second volume, Trekking On starts. After a disastrous effort at hauling freight by ox cart in Madagascar which nearly cost him is life, Reitz is persuaded by Smutts to return to South Africa where he regains his health and enters local politics. At the outbreak of W.W.II Reitz joins the South African Army and takes part in the putting down of the Maritz rebellion and the campaigns in East Africa. Once the Germans are defeated in Africa he travels to England and , having decided firmly which side he would prefer to be on, joins the British Army as a private. Following a chance meeting with Smutts in London he experiences a dizzying rise in rank and ends the war, after seeing much action as the Colonel of a famous Scottish regiment.

The final book in the trilogy, No Outspan, covers Reitz's life in South African politics between the wars and concludes with him as Deputy Prime Minister of South Africa sitting on an advisory panel to Winston Churchill. in London. During this time he is visited by an Englishman who returned to him the Mauser rifle he took from him when Reitz became his prisoner during the Boer War. The last time I heard this rifle is still in the possession of Reitz's son and is regularly shot by him.

The Trilogy has been published by Wolfe Publishing as a one volume set in recent years and if you see a copy for sale, grab it!

First person account by Reitz of his experiences during the Anglo-Boer War. In-depth insight of day-to-day operations during war, its warriors, and the strength and pure ruthlessness of men from a generation almost forgotten. A real life account that compares with the best of action novels. A true classic.

Deneys Reitz joined the Boer forces fighting against the English in the 1900 / 02 Boer War in South Africa. While still in his late teens he fought in the famous battles of Spionkop and Nooitgedacht and took part in the seige of Kimberley. His book is an account of the mobile "commando" war and is compelling for its humanity and the historical perspective it gives of a war in which the civilian dead matched those who died in action and a war in which guerrilla tactics were used for the first time.

This is a lively and well written book which deals with the period of civil war in Mozambique. It was completed and published just before the conclusion of a successful peace process and so provides a particularly clear and powerful view of recent history.It is based on the author's travels within country during the war period and includes extensive interviews. The people he talked and worked with emerge as very vivid and lively characters. The support of the rebels by Rhodesia and South Africa, and the reasons for that support, are well described. A must read for anyone going to work in Mz, strongly recommended for the serious traveler as well.

I bought this book before a trip to Mozambique in the summer of 2000. It was very hard to find books about the country. I ended up coming to Amazon and jsut doing a search. This was one of the books I bought sight unseen. It turned out to be the best. It was the most complete book as far as giving me a big picture of what the people had been through in recent years. The book has many anecdotes to show the typical western reader just how different life is in Mozambique. I found that the sense of poverty as well as generosity and warmth that the author communicated was verified by my own experience. It is the stories of the everyday person in the book that are so wonderful. Stories of the joy of children upon recieving a gift of a pen or the desire of young man for a pair of shoes.

The Mozambicans are amazing people. I apprciated them even more because I had read this this book. I was filled with wonder at the total complete wonderful humanity I encountered given the populations truly horrible experience of war.

Anyone who wants to know about Mozambique's recent history must read this book--not just because it's full of names, facts and dates, but because it's a stunning work of exploration and exposure by a journalist who chose to travel through a viciously dangerous countryside to try to understand the reality of a nation devastated by fear. But more than that, this is also a superb piece of writing: engrossing from beginning to end, every page packed with vivid prose and thought-provoking discussion. I read this book in Mozambique in 1992 and it made an enormous difference

Daktari is a tribute to dedicated people who make their dreams come true through hard work, a passion for helping mankind and focusing on their goals. Tom Rees, a master plastic surgeon, could have lived in the lap of luxury every day of the year but chose to help others in the developing world of Africa. His experiences in forming the Flying Doctors of East Africa, an organization that grew from three founding doctors to a full time staff of over 500 people, is fascinating. Not only did he have adventures as a doctor, but as a pilot. Intrigue, perseverance and skill helped him help Africans better their lives through surgery. He found himself in political situations and in abysmal medical equipment facilities, yet he did what he had to do to get the job done.

I have known Tom Rees, as the chairman of plastic surgery, at Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital. He is a gentleman and always functioned with courtesy and kindness. I never knew he had such moxie till I read the book. His persistence in helping deformed Africans lead a better life is admirable. His style of writing is literarily pleasing and often poetic. "Several dry excavations pockmarked the river floor, mute testimony to the futility of their efforts to find water." Descriptions of the scenery and the people, as he journeyed toward his destinations, made me feel like I was on a safari in Africa. Details of the political and moral customs and policies gave me food for thought.

I enjoyed reading the adventures of Tom Rees, learning about Africa and its people, listening to the sincere, compassionate ideas he shares with us and closing a book with a feeling of thought, knowledge, hope and the satisfaction of a good read. Good job, Tom

This is a beautifully written account of a lifetime of experiences and lessons by a gifted man whose generosity and kindness shines through with good natured humor and sophistication.

Dr. Rees has not only lived the kind of life that all of us wish that we could have lived, he has also shown his gratitude for all his good luck by giving back to the world in great measure.
The book was really interesting and inspiring.

This book is one of the best works of herpetological literature, and a must for any serious herpetoculturist or anyone with an interest in snakes. It offers detailed species description on African taxons, and is a valuable source of information. The descriptions are divided into sections for each species, including Identification, Distinguishing characteristics, Races (subspecies), Similar species, Behavior, Distribution, Habitat, Natural History, Venom, Snakebite, Case histories, and Treatment. Serious herpetoculturists will especially appreciate the detailed information provided on behavior, venom, and case histories, while interested readers will enjoy the sections on distinguishing characteristics and natural history. This book should be a part of every herp library! It is also pretty hard to find, so if you see it, grab it!

This is a very interesting and informative book. Rich in information aswell as magnificent photographs adding to the overall class of the book. A definte MUST for anyone seriously interested in snakes, especially african species.

The book is well written and very informative. The information regarding snakebites and how to address them is very good. It is a good field guide but the photographs are really too small. Also may times the photos show the head of the snake and not the whole animal. The information is top notch and it really shows the lack of documented information on african snakes. I would highly recommend it to anybody with an interest snakes