Jonathan Ball Publishers: 173 books

An insider's blow-by-blow account of the release of Nelson Mandela and dismantling of apartheid by the ambassador who was in the midst of these events. Appointed to South Africa as Margaret Thatcher's envoy, Lord Renwick became a personal friend of Nelson Mandela, FW de Klerk and Mangosuthu Buthelezi,...

The Fifth Mrs Brink is Karina M. Szczurek's memoir of her life before, during and after her marriage to André P. Brink. Polish-born Karina was twenty-seven when she met the acclaimed writer, forty-two years her senior, and they spent a decade together. Here she chronicles their relationship, from...

“I am angry. I am furious. Because I never thought it would happen to us. Not us, the rainbow nation that defied doomsayers and suckled and nurtured a fragile democracy into life for its children. I never thought it would happen to us, this relentless decline, the flirtation with a leap over the...

I am greatly privileged to have known him and to have fallen under his spell. His long imprisonment, restriction and early death were a major tragedy for our land and the world.' - ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU on Sobukwe On 21 March 1960, Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe led a mass defiance of South Africa's pass...

Thuli Madonsela achieved in seven years as Public Protector what few accomplish in a lifetime; her legacy and contribution cannot be overstated. In her final days in office she compiled the explosive State of Capture report and, two years before that, Secure in Comfort, the report on President Jacob...

On 6 September 1966, Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd was assassinated in Parliament by a deranged parliamentary messenger. The architect of apartheid was dead, sending shockwaves throughout South Africa and the world. Today, half a century later, the effects of Verwoerd’s grand ambition linger...

Ever wondered what waffle like 'accountability', 'site of contestation' or 'The National Democratic Revolution' really means? Here, in an irreverent nutshell, is your answer. The Ranter's Guide to South Africa pinpoints and defines some of the most overused and abused words, acronyms, piffle and jargon...

Jacob Zuma is a man who walks in two worlds. As president of South Africa, he is tasked with upholding the principles that define the Constitution and embodying the values they are designed to engender. But, as an individual, a set of private impulses - ranging from his religious beliefs, to his traditional...

MARIO CESARE, after decades as warden of Olifants River Game Reserve, has his feet firmly planted in this magnificent slice of Big Five country to the west of the Kruger Park. Cesare recounts some of the hair-raising, heartbreaking and heartwarming moments: a buffalo calf reunited with its pining...

Jan Smuts: Unafraid of Greatness is a re-examination of the life and thoughts of Jan Smuts. It is intended to remind a contemporary readership of the remarkable achievements of this impressive soldier-statesman. The author, a former editor of The Star, argues that Smut's role in the creation of modern...

The Hidden Thread is a journey of revelation about the relationship between Soviet Russia and South Africa, hidden for most of its length. The story is told with insight and depth by Irina Filatova and Apollon Davidson, who have had a decades long association researching and writing on Russian and...

The interwar years were a tumultuous time in South Africa. The effects of the worldwide economic slump gave rise to a huge number of ‘poor whites’ and fed the growth of a militant and aggressive Afrikaner nationalism that often took its lead from Nazi Germany. For a great number of whites, both...

Enemy of the People is the first definitive account of Zuma’s catastrophic misrule, offering eyewitness descriptions and cogent analysis of how South Africa was brought to its knees – and how a people fought back. When Jacob Zuma took over the leadership of the ANC one muggy Polokwane evening...

The negotiated transfer of power in apartheid South Africa was the last act in the dismantling of white supremacy on the African continent. While opening a new era for the whites in Africa, it closed an earlier one that contains some of the most colourful episodes in world history. In The White Africans,...