Rope of Sand: The Rise of the Zulu Kingdom in the Nineteenth Century, by John Laband (used)

The kingdom forged by Shaka kaSenzangakhona was once one of the most powerful and sophisticated black states in Africa. In its mere sixty years of independent existence it weathered rebellions by discontented subjects and ambitious princes, intrusions by traders, missionaries and land-hungry settlers, and a determined invasion by the Voortrekkers.

It took the British at the height of their imperial power six months and a full military campaign to bring the kingdom down. Thereafter, Zululand was broken up, consigned to bitter civil war, and eventually annexed piecemeal, its land given over to white farmers, in a poignant saga of humiliation and loss.

John Laband's magisterial account of the dramatic emergence and tragic decline of the Zulu kingdom in the nineteenth century is the culmination of fifteen years of research and fieldwork. Rope of Sand ranges comprehensively from themes such as Zulu social and political organization, through analysis of the vivid personalities and complex political maneuvering of leading Zulu and their colonial opponents, to detailed descriptions of military campaigns and battles that command the imagination.

Short as was its history as an independent state, the Zulu kingdom, with its proud traditions, lives on in the minds of the present generation as a potent expression of Zulu aspirations. To understand contested developments in KwaZulu-Natal today, it is imperative to comprehend the troubled course of Zululand as it was wrested away from its own kings and passed into the hands of colonial masters. This book provides the key.

Condition: good