Diamonds, Gold, and War The British, the Boers, and the Making of South Africa

Southern Africa was once regarded as a worthless jumble of British colonies, Boer republics, and African chiefdoms, a troublesome region of little interest to the outside world. But then prospectors chanced upon the world's richest deposits of diamonds and gold, setting off a titanic struggle between the British and the Boers for control of the land. The result was the costliest, bloodiest, and most humiliating war that Britain had waged in nearly a century, and the devastation of the Boer republics.The New Yorkercalls this magisterial account of those years "[an] astute history.... Meredith expertly shows how the exigencies of the diamond (and then gold) rush laid the foundation for apartheid."

Martin Meredith is a journalist, biographer, and historian who has written extensively on Africa and its recent history. His previous books include Mugabe and The Fate of Africa. He lives near Oxford, England.