A History of South Africa: From Past to Present

This extensive history of South Africa was written by some of the country's most prominent historians such as Hermann Giliomee, Jan Visagie, David Scher and Fransjohan Pretorius. Its broad scope includes South Africa's pre-colonial history, slavery, Afrikaner nationalism, an environmental history and an analysis of a post-apartheid South Africa.

Chapters included are:

The Anglo-Boer War - Fransjohan Pretorius
The establishment of apartheid, 1948-1966 - David Scher
Apartheid: A different view- Hermann Giliomee
The democratic puberty, 2004-2011 - Jan-Jan Joubert

Two chapters are about the struggle against the Afrikaner and focus on the black resistance movement. The author said in a recent interview: 'We did not try and justify apartheid, but one has to know what it was all about'. Prof Hermann Giliomee also poses the question in his chapter: 'Was apartheid all bad?'
The author emphasises that the book is an effort to understand people's behaviour in the history of this country.