Book of the Month March 2008

Thabo Mbeki the dream deferred © 2007/ Mark Gevisser

What happens to a dream deferred?

This question, from one of President Thabo Mbeki's favourite poems by Langston Hughes, provides the thread for this magisterial new biography. In the long shadow of Nelson Mandela, Mbeki has attempted to forge an identity for himself as the symbol of modern Africa. And yet, as he prepares to leave office in 2009, his legacy remains intensely contested.
This book is both a work of deep scholarship and a gripping, highly readable story. By tracing the path of Mbeki's life, it sheds new light on his political personality and provides unprecedented insight into the dramtatic role he has played in South African history.
Mark Gevisser brings to life the voices and places that have made Thabo Mbeki - the frontier of the Eastern Cape; "Swinging Britain" and neo-Stalinist Moscow in the sixties; the frought world of African exile, of fatherhood and family. He tells the story of South Africa's black elite over a turbulent century - from "black Englishmen" to revolutionaries to heads of state - and Mbeki's own transition from doctrinaire communism to economic liberalism. He comes to grips with the current political turmoil bu examining the history of a man who has caried, on his shoulders, the collective burden of a country seeking to realise a dream too long deferred.
MARK GEVISSER has been working on Thabo Mbeki: the Dream Deferred since 1999. He was born in Johannesburg in 1964 and educated at Yale. His journalism has appeared in dozens of publications in South Africa and abroad; his celebrated Mail & Guardian political profiles were collected in Portraits of Power: Profiles in a Changing South Africa. Recently he has also been working as a documentary film maker, a museum exhibition designer, heritage consultant television scriptwriter. He lives in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

Source: Thabo Mbeki the dream deferred©2007/Mark Gevisser

Book of the Month February 2008

Field Guide to the Animals of the Greater Kruger Park /Christo Joubert, Ulrich Oberprieler & Burger Cillié

The Greater Kruger Park is not only Big Five coutnry; it is home to thousands of plant and animal species, each a link in a delicate ecological web.
The Park is situated in the Lowveld, a wide coastal plain of fairly dry savanna. The mosaic of habitats created by the various soil types and larger rivers disecting the Park supports a myriad of organisms, both large and small.
The purpose of this book is to introduce the richness of animal life to the Park's visitors. All the common, readily seen species are thus described here in an unique, user-friendly way which combines text, photographs and easily recognised symbols.
This book allows you to experience 68 mammal species, 215 birds, 17 reptiles and 8 amphibians. Enjoy!

Something about the authors:

Christo Joubert, a keen wildlife photographer, is practicing environmental management in the platinum industry. He is also involved in youth environmental education programmes and is co-author of a field guide to the animals of Pilanesberg.

Ulrich Oberprieler, a well-known ornithologist and wildlife photographer, has co-authored four bird and mammal guides with Burger and Christo. He is presently education manager at the National Zoological Gardens and is widely recognised for his superb wildlife courses.

Burger Cillié is a well-known wildlife photographer and the author of various field guides to the mammals of Southern Africa. He has co-authored three bird guides with Ulrich, and a book on the animals of Pilanesberg with both Ulrich and Christo.

Source: Field Guide to the Animals of the Greater Kruger Park ©2007 / Christo Joubert, Ulrich Oberprieler & Burger Cillié