- Paperback: 694 pages
- Publisher: Da Capo Press; 1st Da Capo Press Ed edition (1 Aug 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0306808668
- ISBN-13: 978-0306808661
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15.4 x 4.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 260,125 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Product Description
Filled with colorful characters, dramatic battles like Isandhlwana and Rorke's Drift, and an inexorable narrative momentum, this unsurpassed history details the sixty-year existence of the world's mightiest African empire--from its brutal formation and zenith under the military genius Shaka (1787-1828), through its inevitable collision with white expansionism, to its dissolution under Cetshwayo in the Zulu War of 1879.
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IT WAS an endless land of scattered riches and infinite variety. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
IT WAS an endless land of scattered riches and infinite variety. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a truly amazing book, and the fact that some of Morris' assessments and conclusions have lost favour in the light of modern research should not deter an interested student.
I've read a lot of history books, but very few bring the past alive, or involve the reader in the way a novel might. The completeness and inevitability of the Zulu victory at Isandlhwana, for example, is probably well known to all prospective readers but even so, the account of this battle makes for a thrilling, moving read.
The epic history of the Zulu people is well documented and makes one eager to pursue further reading (Ian Knight's excellent books come well reccommended), giving a fairly rounded view of the conflict.
All in all this is a well balanced work which does not flinch from revealing the tragedy of the fait acompli wrought for the British Government by a few ambitious men in the field.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
When Donald Morris started to research a book on the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879, he realized that the story would not be complete without an account of the rise of the Zulu clan out of the Mtetwa Empire to be one of the greatest native empires Africa has ever seen. Nor would it suffice to excise the tales of the tentative but soon irresistible tide of European expansion into Natal and their fascinating introduction to and intermingling with their Zulu neighbors.
Morris deftly wields all of this and more into this well researched and highly readable book. Personalities from the brilliant, psychopathic and yet strangely pathetic Shaka to the doomed romantic naivete of Louis Napoleon come colorfully alive in the narrative. Ditto with the richly illustrated locations, from a claustrophobic hut in an isolated kraal to the grassy endless expanses of Zululand. He'll further take you from the sheer horror of the desperate fighting at Islandwana, to the tragicomic pageant at Ulundi where one Empire exterminates another, with both dressed up in their glorious finery.
This is great history writing at its best. Your taken to a previous time and place and are given a front seat to a collision of worlds. A truly magnificent work.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I enjoyed this book very much. It is extremely detailed and at the same time very lively to read. The detailed account of the Isandhlwana and Rorke's Drift battles were minute by minute accounting of soldiers, zulus, and the battle itself. The author does not judge either side, and after reading you are equally impressed with both the Zulu and English. No other book I have read goes into this much detail and this enjoybale to read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
THE book on the Zulu
I've read this book (or parts of it) many times over the past 40 years or so. It's a book that keeps me interested not just because of the detailed content, but also because of the... Read more
Published on 31 Dec 2009 by Gary Amos
Good start, falls off later
The early parts of this book, covering the reigns of Shaka andDingane, was very well-done and interesting, making a decent history. Read more
Published on 11 Aug 1999
fact vs. fiction
For those who think military history is less gripping than fiction, this book will change your mind.
Published on 25 Mar 1999
Sweeping historical review of the independent Zulu Nation.
This book delivers a great deal of information on the formation, habits, beliefs, and ultimate destruction of the Zulu nation as an independent people. Read more
Published on 16 Nov 1998
Full of historical depth and a damn good read
The scope of the book is ambitious, atempting to chronicle the history of the Zulu nation from it's rise under Shaka to it's defeat in the Anglo-Zulu war and subsequent dominance... Read more
Published on 22 Oct 1998
Excellent account of the Zulu Empire
This book is truly sprawling, interesting chronicle of the history of the Zulu nation. It spans from the rise of warrior king Shaka Zulu to the final destruction of Shaka's... Read more
Published on 25 Aug 1998
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