assassination of King Shaka, The

By (author): John Laband. John Laband examines the 1828 assassination of Zulu king Shaka by his half-brothers, drawing on oral tradition, colonial records and written accounts to reconstruct the military campaigns and internal politics that turned Shaka's rule into a perceived threat to the kingdom itself. The book weighs multiple explanations for why his half-brothers killed him and traces the assassination's lasting significance for Zulu society and its continuing echoes in South African historical memory.