Rating: 
Summary: Definitive History of the Zulu War and much more....
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Masterpiece in its time, now sadly outdated.
Review: When this book was first published, in the middle sixties, it was worth its weight in gold. In fact, it was about the only Zulu epic which concentrated more on fact than on fiction. Regrettably, it is now sadly outdated, and unless you are an eager and dedicated Zulu scholar, it is not recommended. The book remains, however, a wealth of knowledge, and apart from a few minor errors (Morris names Mnkabi as Senzangakona's great wife and the mother of his heir, when in fact it was Bhibhi), it does not deserve to be slated out of hand. One example of Morris' attention to detail is his description of Thomas Halstead, one of the white traders who accompanied Piet Retief to Mgungundlovu, Dingane's homestead. No historian since has highlighted what the Zulus of that time knew well - Halstead was mentally deficient. For a fresher, more updated version of Zulu history, you can't go wrong with John Laband's "Rope of Sand" (otherwise known as the Rise and Fall of the Zulu Kingdom.
| 
