Book Reviews

A revelatory exposé, Blood Will Flow, examines a devastating terror attack in one of the world’s most remote places. In addition, it exposes the global greed that allowed it to happen. On March 24, 2021, ISIS fighters attacked the small coastal town of Palma in northern Mozambique. Men, equipment and fuel that could have supported a rescue sat just minutes away in one of the world’s largest natural-gas fields.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Exiles and The Dry comes a captivating new novel, Last One Out, set in a modern ghost town. Carralon Ridge, once a vibrant village in rural New South Wales, has become a shell of its former self. Its houses and buildings were bought up and left to rot by the mining company operating at its borders. As a result, the setting of Last One Out reflects a place in steady decline.

Dogtag Memories is a raw, darkly humorous memoir that follows one conscript’s chaotic journey through South Africa’s military machine during the border war. Drafted into the Defence Force in 1977 as a carefree seventeen-year-old, Jon Goetzsche saw his tranquil schooldays abruptly replaced by the brutal regimentation of army life. What began as naïve indifference soon spiralled into a struggle against authority, misfortune and the absurdities of war.

In MOAR!, de Villiers Basson shifts her focus to burnout, exhaustion, and the quiet emptiness many high achievers experience. The author challenges traditional wellbeing programmes. These programmes often treat symptoms rather than root causes. As a result, the book encourages readers to stop doing more. Instead, it invites them to transform from the inside out.

In ROAR!, de Villiers Basson tackles the silent damage caused by bullying. This includes bullying in the workplace, online and in everyday life. The book empowers readers to recognise toxic behaviour early. It also helps them understand the dynamics between the bully, the victim and the broader culture.

A new scholarly volume, Reappraising the Life and Legacy of Jan C Smuts, offers a fresh and wide-ranging examination of one of South Africa’s most influential and controversial historical figures, Jan C. Smuts. Moreover, the book positions Smuts within both national and global historical debates.

Bloke of All Ages offers refreshing new insights into the works of one of South Africa’s most important literary, intellectual and artistic figures, William Bloke Modisane. Moreover, it highlights the resilience of his work. The book situates his intellectual and cultural contribution within the historical context of South African creative arts.

A study of anti-Blackness and white supremacy across four continents demonstrates a critical argument. Colorblindness is neither new nor a subtype of racist ideology. Instead, it operates as a constitutive technology of racism. In this context, Colorblind Tools: Global Technologies of Racial Power frames colorblindness as central to the reproduction of racial domination.

Southern Imagining questions and reshapes influential northern imaginative norms. The book examines how tales of mythical southern lands shaped global perceptions of these worlds. It also explores the environmental consequences of these imaginings. In doing so, Southern Imagining invites readers to inhabit the globe differently.

Land remains one of the most emotive and symbolically powerful issues in Africa. ‘New’ Settler or ‘Old’ Tenant? confronts this reality directly. In rural contexts, the collision of history, class, race, gender, time and space complicates efforts to overcome economic inequality. As a result, structural tensions continue to shape rural economies and social relations.