Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
|
Your cart is empty |
|||
Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > General
Once the owner of a diamond mine, a wine farm and the most expensive house in Cape Town. Former chairman of South Africa’s largest retailer, director of the Reserve Bank and the richest man in the country. As a young man, Christo Wiese cut his teeth at Pep Stores. Over the years he built a mighty business empire, which included Shoprite and a number of other enterprises. His recipe for success: an endless love for cutting deals, a fearless appetite for risk and a keen eye for a bargain. This man of great charm has never been afraid of sailing close to the wind. Over the course of 50 years these calculated risks paid off, making him one of the most successful businessmen of his generation – until he encountered the furniture group Steinhoff, and things went awry. Business journalist and writer TJ Strydom tells the story of one of South Africa’s best-known business giants in a fresh, engaging way. ‘A fabulous, sweeping adventure read – almost a thriller – that chronicles the rags to riches rise of yet another giant of Afrikaner capitalism.’ – Peter Bruce
Nolitha Fakude grew up as a shopkeeper’s daughter in the Eastern Cape, studied at the University of FortHare and then entered the workplace in 1990 as a graduate trainee at Woolworths. Subsequently, she has worked in very senior positions at some major blue-chip companies, including Woolworths, Nedbank and Sasol. She was also managing director and then president of the Black Management Forum (BMF). Over a career spanning 29 years, Nolitha spearheaded programmes that ensure the development of women and marginalised communities in the workplace and society. A passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion, she has earned a well-deserved reputation as a corporate activist. Nolitha is held in high regard within business circles and serves on numerous boards including the JSE Limited, Anglo American plc and Afrox Limited. Although Boardroom Dancing is her personal journey, it is also a lesson for South Africans committed to the transformation of boardrooms and the economy, and for women looking for role models as they climb corporate ladders and become thought-leaders Nolitha Fakude was born in Cenyu a small village in the Eastern Cape outside Stutterheim and worked her way up from the shopfloor as a Graduate Trainee at Woolworths to become one of South Africa’s most respected and successful black business women. Nolitha is a humble leader who is widely respected as a pioneer who was at the forefront of transformation strategy, both within the companies she worked for and as a leader at the Black Management Forum where she worked with business, government and unions to drive change in South Africa.
Every now and then a book comes along that is both timely and remarkable, that integrates all aspects of life; from recognising one’s roots, developing a moral grounding, building from strong family foundations to follow a chosen path to reach one’s goals, and remaining humble when it all comes to pass. Time and Chance is an account, in a variety of contrasting images, voices and experiences gained from travelling the world in pursuit of business, where LAZARUS ZIM, industrious Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) enthusiast, recounts his journey to become one of South Africa’s business leaders, with several firsts, while navigating the political minefield – disclosing descriptions of behind-the-scenes intrigue and conspiracy – and his interactions with Heads of State in South Africa and around the globe. The recounting of Zim’s extraordinary rise to success oscillates between hope, faith, ethics, and diligence as he lays bare his successes and failures, and the organic wisdom, knowledge, and wit that have framed his business acumen and moral grounding. It is a poignant reminder of a black child’s quest to fulfil his purpose in which the writer dares everyone to dream, even in the face of hopelessness.
Hermann Giliomee, pre-eminent South African historian, dissects the forces that shaped the Afrikaners into an unusual ‘maverick African’ nation. He analyses long-term forces like the powerful legal position of Afrikaner women, the expanding frontier, and the struggles about race inside the church, along with more recent political history.
THE NUMBER ONE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE, STARRING STEVE CARELL AND TIMOTHEE CHALAMET. "What had happened to my beautiful boy? To our family? What did I do wrong?" - Those are the wrenching questions that haunted every moment of David Sheff's journey through his son Nic's addiction to drugs and tentative steps toward recovery. Before Nic Sheff became addicted to crystal meth, he was a charming boy, joyous and funny, a varsity athlete and honor student adored by his two younger siblings. After meth, he was a trembling wraith who lied, stole, and lived on the streets. With haunting candour, David Sheff traces the first subtle warning signs: the denial, the 3am phone calls (is it Nic? the police? the hospital?), the attempts at rehab. His preoccupation with Nic became an addiction in itself, and the obsessive worry and stress took a tremendous toll. But as a journalist, he instinctively researched every avenue of treatment that might save his son and refused to give up on Nic. This story is a first: a teenager's addiction from the parent's point of view - a real-time chronicle of the shocking descent into substance abuse and the gradual emergence into hope. Beautiful Boy is a fiercely candid memoir that brings immediacy to the emotional rollercoaster of loving a child who seems beyond help.
Lew Geffen is destined to have an eventful life. Driven by a maverick spirit, he embarks on a wild ride of success, securing the local Sotheby’s International Realty license to become a major player in the property market. Along the way he's fired by his mother, sells Mandela's house and navigates the fallout of a murder at his company's annual convention. Lew's extraordinary life is told with candour, warmth and laced by his wicked sense of humour. Geffinitely a business memoir like no other.
In this never-before-seen memoir, Bergen-Belsen survivor Hannah Pick-Goslar shares incredibly powerful words on the final untold portrait of her childhood friend, Anne Frank. The inspiring and heartbreaking true story of two best friends torn apart and reunited against all odds. When Hannah Pick-Goslar's family fled Nazi Germany for Amsterdam, she struck up a close friendship with her next-door neighbour; precocious, outspoken and fun-loving Anne Frank. Hannah instantly warmed to happy-go-lucky Anne and for seven blissful years, the inseparable pair navigated school, boys and coming of age in Amsterdam's Rivierenbuurt neighbourhood. But in 1942, life quickly changed for the thirteen-year-old girls. The Nazi occupation of Amsterdam meant the friends were separated without warning. Hannah called on Anne, but there was no trace of her friend or her precious diary. Hannah was tormented over the fate of Anne, wondering if, by some stroke of fortune she had escaped danger and was alive and well elsewhere. It wasn't until Hannah reached her darkest point, imprisoned with her family in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, that she had an astonishing chance reunion with Anne. Desperate to save her friend who was weak and struggling to survive, Hannah risked everything to toss packages filled with food and clothes over a barbed-wire fence. Hannah only learned of Anne's death after her liberation, when Otto Frank came to visit her in hospital. From that day, Otto became a second father to Hannah, making sure that she was always looked after. In this groundbreaking memoir, Hannah Pick-Goslar shares an intimate portrait of Anne Frank, the young Jewish diarist who has captured the hearts of millions of readers around the world.
The self-righteous, headstrong lawyering mother has a new and greater challenge. No longer seeking the approval of her successful mother, one of South Africa’s first women judges, Niki is out to find that elusive concept of the ‘work/life’ balance and some real, sustainable solutions. Her journey takes her deep into feminist philosophies as she struggles to understand the unfolding media-driven drama of the Oscar Pistorius trial while researching issues of ethics in the legal profession. But in between life and children, Niki is also determined to navigate her own way around the new world of print and publishing and connect with her own identity as a writer. How is she going to survive all this? Something In Between is a light-hearted non-fiction narrative about real issues in a changing world: issues of parenting and the legal profession, tertiary institutions and marriage institutions; issues about the old feminist debate and why it’s still unresolved and some lessons learnt about the world of books and book publishing. A memoir of her last three years and all of it absolutely true.
In The Eight Zulu Kings, well-respected and widely published historian John Laband examines the reigns of the eight Zulu kings from 1816 to the present. Starting with King Shaka, the renowned founder of the Zulu kingdom, he charts the lives of the kings Dingane, Mpande, Cetshwayo, Dinuzulu, Solomon and Cyprian, to today’s King Goodwill Zwelithini whose role is little more than ceremonial. In the course of this investigation Laband places the Zulu monarchy in the context of African kingship and tracks and analyses the trajectory of the Zulu kings from independent and powerful pre-colonial African rulers to largely powerless traditionalist figures in post-apartheid South Africa.
In January 2003, the Berest family receive a mysterious, unsigned postcard. On one side was an image of the Opéra Garnier; on the other, the names of their relatives who were killed in Auschwitz: Ephraïm, Emma, Noémie and Jacques. Years later, Anne sought to find the truth behind this postcard. She journeys 100 years into the past, tracing the lives of her ancestors from their flight from Russia following the revolution, their journey to Latvia, Palestine, and Paris, the war and its aftermath. What emerges is a thrilling and sweeping tale based on true events that shatters her certainties about her family, her country, and herself. At once a gripping investigation into family secrets, a poignant tale of mothers and daughters, and an enthralling portrait of 20th-century Parisian intellectual and artistic life, The Postcard tells the story of a family devastated by the Holocaust and yet somehow restored by love and the power of storytelling.
200 women from a variety of backgrounds are asked the same five questions. Their answers are inspiring human stories of success and courage, love and pain, redemption and generosity. From well-known activists, artists, and innovators to everyday women whose lives are no less exceptional for that, each woman shares her unique replies to questions like “What really matters to you?” and “What would you change in the world if you could?” Interviewees include US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, actor and human rights activist Alfre Woodard, and Nobel laureate Jodi Williams, along with those who are making a difference behind the scenes around the world, such as Marion Wright Edelman, head of the Children’s Defense Fund. Each interview is accompanied by a photographic portrait, resulting in a volume that is compelling in word and image — and global in its scope and resonance. This landmark book is published to coincide with an immersive travelling exhibition and an interactive website, building on this remarkable, ever-evolving project. With responses ranging from uplifting to heartbreaking, these women offer gifts of empowerment and strength inviting us to bring positive change at a time when so many are fighting for basic freedom and equality. Local interviewees include Graça Machel, Caster Semenya, Zelda la Grange, Mpho Tutu van Furth, Hlubi Mboya, Sahm Venter, Joanne Fedler, Ingrid le Roux, Gillian Slovo and Zoleka Mandela, among others. A minimum of 10% of the project’s revenue will be distributed to organisations devoted to protecting and advancing the rights of women. Each interviewee can nominate an organisation (or themselves if they are in financial need) to receive their portion of the charitable pool or they can select the principal charitable partner, the Graça Machel Trust.
Considered by many to be the iconic French memoirist's defining work, The Years is a narrative of the period 1941 to 2006 told through the lens of memory, impressions past and present, cultural habits, language, photos, books, songs, radio, television, advertising and news headlines. Annie Ernaux invents a form that is subjective and impersonal, private and communal, and a new genre - the collective autobiography - in order to capture the passing of time. At the confluence of autofiction and sociology, The Years is 'a Remembrance of Things Past for our age of media domination and consumerism' (New York Times), a monumental account of twentieth-century French history as refracted through the life of one woman.
Nadia Kamies has written a profound and moving meditation on what it meant to grow up ‘coloured’ in South Africa under apartheid. The photographs from family albums that gave rise to this project not only represent the aspirations of the families and community about whom Kamies is writing, but are also repositories of memories weighted equally with joy and sorrow. Kamies mines these images for their secrets, showing them to be a record of the past and a promise of what the future might be.
African Bank is focused on reclaiming the heritage of South Africa through key marketing and strategic consumer moments, and to accomplish this they are partnering with Rockhopper Books to release the first in a series of coffee table books celebrating great figures in South African history. This first edition entitled Black Pioneers uncovers stories of Black Entrepreneurs in the 1960s; a time when there were little to no opportunities for people of colour to succeed in business. The book pays homage to Black Business Pioneers of the time, who were audacious enough to challenge the system and pave a new path for Black Businesses. The book serves to tell stories of Black Businesses; highlighting their history, challenges, successes, and contributions to business at large. Featuring high-quality images the book tells the stories of impactful South African figures including:
After Vanessa Goosen is imprisoned for smuggling drugs out of Thailand she gives birth to Felicia in Lard Yao Prison. Felicia is sent back to South Africa when she turns three. Here she is lovingly raised by her mom's best friend. But Felicia feels desolated and she does not know how to voice her feelings. Years of rebellion and self harming follows. In her student years Felicia's life turns around, and she becomes a wounded healer, reaching out to others bringing a message of hope.
“Sy bly nog steeds ná 50 jaar in die vermaaklikheidsbedryf ’n nooi soos Min!” – André H. van Dyk In hierdie pragboek word foto’s en memento’s uit Min Shaw se persoonlike fotoalbums en plakboeke opgeneem. Min se herinneringe aan haar kinderdae, haar transformasie van onderwyseres tot sang- en filmster, en die mense wat haar op haar pad na sukses gehelp het, word in haar eie woorde weergegee. Min deel verder snaakse staaltjies uit haar verlede, skoonheidsgeheime en interessante “Min-feite”. Sy vertel hoe haar geloof haar positief en plat op die aarde hou. Boodskappe aan Min van bekendes soos Corlea Botha, Franz Marx, Lance James en Leon van Nierop word ook ingesluit.
In September 2018, Professor Sean Davison's peaceful life in the leafy suburbs of Pinelands, Cape Town is shattered. Arrested for the murder of Dr Anrich Burger, a once-fit athlete turned quadriplegic who begged Davison to assist him in ending his life in 2015, the unassuming academic and father of three now finds himself locked up in a prison cell. Under investigation led by the Hawks, an additional two murders are added to the case for which he now faces a mandatory life prison sentence. Written in compelling detail, The Price of Mercy tracks the extraordinary journey that Davison embarks on to prepare for the gruelling legal challenge that lies ahead. The desperate cries of many, begging for his assistance to help end their lives of suffering haunt him. Unwavering in his belief that we all have the right to die with dignity, Davison's selfless battle is made more bearable by his friendship with the late and great Archbishop Desmond Tutu. A book that will change the way you see death.
The well-known food writer Pat Kossuth gives readers a taste of the international recipes she has gathered throughout her extraordinary life, starting in England and India in the 1930s, through North Africa, the Americas, Europe and Russia, to her present-day life in Hermanus, South Africa. Around the World in 80 Years is highly visual, studded with anecdotes and personal photographs of Pat breaking bread with the many interesting characters and celebrities she met during her travels. She takes the reader on her travels around the world, visiting places as far apart as Kathmandu, Russia, New Orleans, Jordan and the Timbavati.
Multiple award-winning author Elsa Joubert's memoir about life after the death of her beloved husband. She must come to terms with the loss of independence, friends who die and the changes in her memory and bodily powers. Vivid memories of her eventful life as a celebrated writer are skilfully woven into her story. Filled with wisdom, compassion and humour, this book will leave no reader untouched.
Adapted for younger readers from Born a Crime: And Other Stories- the #1 South African and New York Times bestseller ‘If my mother had one goal, it was to free my mind. My mother spoke to me like an adult. She was big into Psalms. I had to read Psalms every day. She would quiz me on it. “What does the passage mean? What does it mean to you? How do you apply it to your life:” That was every day of my life. My mom did what the school didn’t. She taught me how to think. In Born a Crime, Trevor Noah shares his remarkable story of growing up in South Africa with a black South African mother and a white European father at a time when it was against the law for a mixed-race child to exist. But he did exist and from the beginning, the often-misbehaved Trevor used his quick wits and humour to navigate a harsh life. This edition of Trevor’s fascinating memoir blends drama, comedy and tragedy to depict the day-to-day trials that turned a mischievous young boy into a restless young man. Against all the odds, and supported his mom’s unwavering love and indomitable will, Trevor overcame many obstacles and created a promising future for himself. Born a Crime provides a fascinating and honest perspective on South Africa’s racial history and it will also inspire readers looking to improve their own lives. TREVOR NOAH is a much-loved South African comedian, who is currently the host of The Daily Show.
Welcome to the story of Sami – entrepreneur, blêrie influencer and social media content creator. Throughout her time on Earth she has constantly asked herself what she believes to be the most important question in her life: ‘Why do these things always happen to me?’ From almost manslaughtering her teacher’s unborn baby, shattering her dad’s dream of an athlete spawn and almost being murdered by a goose, she certainly has some stories to tell. In The Memoirs of a Clumsy Potato Sami Hall takes you through some of the life events – tough and challenging events – that changed her forever and shaped her into the weird, clumsy, constantly tired potato that we know and love. The road hasn’t always been easy and there have been several obstacles along the way, but as Sami herself would tell you, it was all part of the journey and that her story is far from finished. Enjoy the funny, sad, weird and outlandish stories of Sami’s life and take a glimpse into her mind while we explore the million things that cause her to break into lengthy and passionate rants – loadshedding, potholes, and cell signal to name a few, and also get some answers to the internet’s most burning questions.
A captivating and insightful account of Dr Max Price’s journey at the helm of a major South African university during a period of immense upheaval. As Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town for two terms from 2008 to 2018, he offers a candid look at the challenges he faced during his time including transformation, rights of artistic expression, institutional culture, clemencies and amnesties, restorative justice and ethical decision, and of course, #FeesMustFall protests – which shook the country's higher education sector to its core. Drawing on his experiences, Price delves into the complexities of multi-stakeholder decision-making, crisis management, and the importance of values such as academic freedom in an increasingly polarised world. Part memoir, part insider's view of history, and part leadership guide, Statues and Storms is a must-read for anyone interested in higher education, South African history, or the art of leadership during times of crisis. |
You may like...
How Did We Get Here? - A Girl's Guide to…
Mpoomy Ledwaba
Paperback
(1)
Women In Solitary - Inside The Female…
Shanthini Naidoo
Paperback
(1)
Heart Of A Strong Woman - From Daveyton…
Xoliswa Nduneni-Ngema, Fred Khumalo
Paperback
This Is How It Is - True Stories From…
The Life Righting Collective
Paperback
|