This is a history book with a difference. The book takes an imaginative leap to reconstruct the world of the first South African freedom fighters of the twentieth century. Here, in newspaper format as it might have been, is the story of the 'English War' told by the Boers: by officers directing their troops on the battlefields of Magersfontein, Colenso and Spioenkop; by burghers on commando; by women and children in concentration camps all in a wealth of contemporary sources and photographs. The book sets out to illuminate the changing perceptions of the Boer society on specific war issues in the widest sense of the word. Not only military confrontations are reported on, but also life on commando, the experiences of prisoners of war in camps scattered across the globe, the activities of prominent individuals such as President Paul Kruger and Emily Hobhouse, and the dismal fate of the women and children in the concentration camps.
This is a history book with a difference. The book takes an imaginative leap to reconstruct the world of the first South African freedom fighters of the twentieth century. Here, in newspaper format as it might have been, is the story of the 'English War' told by the Boers: by officers directing their troops on the battlefields of Magersfontein, Colenso and Spioenkop; by burghers on commando; by women and children in concentration camps all in a wealth of contemporary sources and photographs. The book sets out to illuminate the changing perceptions of the Boer society on specific war issues in the widest sense of the word. Not only military confrontations are reported on, but also life on commando, the experiences of prisoners of war in camps scattered across the globe, the activities of prominent individuals such as President Paul Kruger and Emily Hobhouse, and the dismal fate of the women and children in the concentration camps.
J E H Grobler is a senior lecturer in Historical and Heritage Studies at the University of Pretoria. He has wide-ranging historical interests and is the author of four books and over 200 academic articles on topics as divergent as military and political history, leisure studies, monuments and liberation theology. On the cultural terrain he is involved in youth projects and heritage preservation. He is married to Elize and they have four children.
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