The Game Ranger, The Knife, The Lion And The Sheep offers spell-binding stories of some amazing, little known characters from South Africa, past and very past. Let us introduce you to some of the characters you’ll meet inside.

Starting with Krotoa, the Khoi maiden who is found working in the Van Riebeeck household as both servant and interpreter. In time she becomes the concubine of Danish surgeon Pieter Merhoff and later his wife. But did she jump (allured by the European glitz and good food) or was she pushed (abducted or sold to the Van Riebeeck’s by her uncle Atshumatso, otherwise Herry)? Was she raped or a willing sexual parter of Meerhoff? Women, like fresh meat and vegetables, were in short supply in those early colonial years in the Cape.

Then there is Mevrou Maria Mouton who preferred to socialise with the slaves than her husband on their farm in the Swartland, and with whom she conspired to murder him. What became of them is … best those gory details are glossed over for now.

And the giant Trekboer Coenraad de Buys, rebel, renegade, a man with a price on his head who married many women (none of them white) and fathered a small nation. The explorer Lichtenstein called him a modern-day Hercules. Then there are the men of learning and insight, such as Raymond Dart and Adrian Boshier, who opened up the world of myths and ancient artefacts so we now better understand the ancients and the world they created for us to inherit. Or James Kitching who broke open rocks in the Karoo to reveal creatures that inhabited this region long before even Africa was born.

And so, without further ado, we give you our selection of stories about remarkable characters from the veld. These stories will excite, entertain and enthral you! You will finish reading them wishing you had more!

“A brilliant biography that will transform your understanding of this young, charismatic leader” — Joseph Nhini, BooksLive, Sunday Times

“Deeply thought-provoking” — Tyrone August, Cape Times

“Makes a good job of weaving together a number of strands that make the totality of the powerful persona Biko became ... Sheds new light on more than just Biko” — Sam Mkokeli, Business Day

Interest in the iconic Steve Biko has strongly revived, as the current generation of activists calls on his legacy and thoughts. Biko is cited and disputed particularly in the #RhodesMustFall and decolonisation movements. This comprehensive biography, shortlisted for the Alan Paton award, explores Biko's life, the people and ideas that shaped him, and his part in Black Consciousness and the struggle. Updated in an affordable new edition, Biko: A Biography presents a new generation with nuanced insights into the life and thought of a South African hero.

New edition of the late Stephen Ellis' meticulously researched book that penetrates the secrecy of the ANC in exile for the first time.

After the ANC was banned by the apartheid government in 1960, many of its leaders and members were forced to leave the country. During the next three decades, it had to operate in exile and underground. Yet the real history of this period remains shrouded in mystery.

Some events, such as the Rhodesian campaign of 1967–1968 and the Kabwe conference of 1985, are well known, but lesser known are the intense factional struggles within the organisation, recurring pro-democracy protests and the creation of a security apparatus that inspired widespread fear. Some networks within the exiled ANC became heavily involved in corruption, even colluding with elements of the apartheid security police and secret services.

External Mission aims to provide a full account of the ANC’s years in exile, penetrating the secrecy the organisation erected around itself and testing the myths that emerged from that period. It is based on an exceptionally wide range of sources, including the ANC’s own archives and foreign archives such as those in East Germany, where the movement’s security personnel were trained.

Incisive and revealing, External Mission is key to understanding South Africa today.

Schoeman het nie net elke teks in Afrikaans vertaal nie, maar voorsien dit ook van onontbeerlike voetnotas en insiggewende redakteursnotas waarin konteks, geskiedenis en betekenisverklarings gegee word. Schoeman het hom veral toegespits op tekste van plaaslike inwoners en boorlinge, eerder as die van besoekers of reisigers, en wys in sy voorwoord daarop dat hierdie bloemlesing dus die vroegste geskrewe letterkunde van Suid-Afrika bevat. Die tekste (telkens deur Schoeman in Afrikaans vertaal) gee 'n beeld van die Nederlandse koloniale tydperk in Suid-Afrika.

In 1914 het ’n groep Afrikaners in verset teen die Unieregering gekom, aangevuur deur “Siener” van Rensburg se visioene wat vertel het van die ondergang van die Britse ryk.

Toe Louis Botha net ná die aanvang van die Eerste Wêreldoorlog aankondig dat die Unie Duits-Suidwes-Afrika sou inval, was die vet in die vuur en het honderde opstandige manne die wapen opgeneem. Volgens die joernalis L.E. Neame was dit “one of the most curious and dramatic incidents in the Great War”.

Naas die Groot Trek en die Anglo-Boereoorlog het die rebellie ’n prominente plek in Afrikanergeskiedsbeskouinge ingeneem. Dit is derhalwe nie verbasend nie dat daar reeds heelwat navorsing oor die opstand gedoen is, maar met Radelose Rebellie? ondersoek prof. Albert Grundlingh en dr. Sandra Swart aspekte daarvan wat tot dusver grotendeels verwaarloos is.

Was dit inderdaad so ’n vae, ongestadige verskynsel soos talle kommentators beweer? Was dit ’n redelose, radelose rebellie? Of het meer daaragter gesteek?

A photographic slice of conscript life in the South African Defence ForceThis pictorial is a compilation of images obtained by the author while working on his first book-an oral history of pre-1994 South African Defence Force national service. It was illegal to take photos; however, there were inevitably those conscripts who ignored the rules, aiming their cheap, disposable cameras at whatever they could, but usually among comrades or when it was considered safe to do so. Inevitably certain images are poor in quality, often blurred and off-centre. But that is the reality-hastily-taken amateur snapshots. Even so, many are remarkably clear, serving to illustrate a period when over 600,000 white South African males, between 1951 and 1993, were ordered to join the South African Defence Force for service mainly 'on the border', or the 'Operational Area'-South West Africa (Namibia) and Angola. It is of note that all the photos, apart from Operation Protea, were taken by non-professional soldiers; young men some would call boys. Some patriotically embraced their call-ups as an opportunity to serve their country, while most stoically accepted their unsought-for lot-the law, and a war to protect South Africa from the spread of communism, the Red Tide. Cameron Blake was born in 1969 in Johannesburg where he grew up. He graduated from the University of Cape Town in 1991, with a Diploma in Graphic Design. In 1992, still liable for compulsory national service-albeit in the early '90s when most conscripts were not heeding their call-ups-he cleared in at Voortrekkerhoogte, a large military base outside Pretoria. After doing his basic training in the Technical Services Corps, he transferred to the Ordnance Services Corps in Cape Town, completing his service in the media department. After a decade of varying careers in creative media fields, he finally teamed up with a long-time friend to open a small shop in Cape Town's CBD. The shop specializes in coins, medals and surplus militaria: his true passions. It was here that he began networking with veterans and collecting their stories, in line with his interest in southern African military history. His first book, Troepie: From Call-up to Camps, was published in 2009, and the sequel, From Soldier to Civvy, in 2010.