Shaka’s Children: History of the Zulu People

by StephenTaylor (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1995

  $3.25

  Shaka, founder of the Zulu nation, has been portrayed as a pitiless and savage conqueror who depopulated much of southern Africa. Yet in the 1820s, British fortune-seekers who came upon the Zulu described a civilized and dignified people whose martial skills were tempered by generosity and hospitality. As expanding colonial populations entered Zuluterritory, an image grew up of the Zulu warrior as a regimented man-killing machine. Only from the ashes of Isandlwana and Rorke's drift was the Zulu resurrected as a noble savage, magnificent, particularly in defeat. This account conjures the atmosphere of the past through close adherence to contemporary oral sources. The Zulu world - its passions, intrigues and ideals, the sly white traders, the sqabbling Boers, the thunderous battles and the bright African landscape are all explored in detail.