Maggie is a remarkable firsthand account of a teenage girl’s experiences during the AngloBoer War.

Margaretha (Maggie) Jooste was only 13 years old when the AngloBoer War broke out and her life was irrevocably changed. After months of house arrest in their Heidelberg (Transvaal) home, she, her mother and younger siblings were sent away to concentration camps in Natal. There they experienced hunger, deprivation and loss, but also surprising acts of kindness from British guards.

This very personal account is a story of hardships, but also one of humanity and friendships over enemy lines. A golden threat is the close bond between the Jooste family and the Englishspeaking Russells who lived as neighbours and friends before the war broke out. While the British soldiers and Boer commandos fought the war, the Russells secretly provided food to the Joostes to help them survive, and supported them after the war.

A poignant and deeply moving, but also heartbreaking, true story.

In A Man Apart Richard Steyn once again brings to life a South African icon. Louis Botha was the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, a union he did much to create in the decade after the devastation of the Anglo-Boer War. During the war Botha was a brilliant young Boer general who through his battlefield strategy won significant victories over the British in the early stages of the war. When the weight of British arms overhelmed the Boers, Botha along with Smuts did much to encourage peace between English and Afrikaner and led the country to Union in 1910 and dominion status.

Botha was a big-hearted and generous man who showed magnanimity in his dealings with all, including former enemies. He led the South African troops to victory and the capture of German South West Africa – prior to this he had to put down a revolt of pro-German Afrikaners. At the Peace of Versailles, representing South Africa, he pleaded unsuccessfully for magnanimity towards the Germans. Botha was a globally respected figure – he and Smuts effectively operated as a double act in South Africa and on the international stage before Botha’s untimely death in August 1919 at only 57. In A Man Apart this tragically short life is illuminated in full.

A timeous book, with Zimbabwe’s elections taking place in July 2018, These Bones Will Rise Again responds to the November 2017 ousting of Robert Mugabe, exploring events leading up to the ‘coup not coup’ that brought his 37-year rule to an end.

This long-form essay brings together bold reportage, memoir and critical analysis to radically reframe the political and cultural history of the country, recognising the role of women, workers and urban movements in its liberation struggle. In a searing account, These Bones Will Rise Again explores the heady post-independence days of the 80s, the economic downturn of the 90s, through to the effects of the fast-track land reform policies at the end of the century. Out of Zimbabwe’s official versions of history, Chigumadzi wrests a complex and personal history of the past and present through intercession with two ancestral spirits – anti-colonial heroine Mbuya Nehanda, the founding ancestor of Zimbabwe’s revolution, and her own beloved grandmother, who passed shortly before the de facto coup.

This is an inspiring work exploring loss, recovery and memory that reminds us of the universal and timeless human impulse to freedom, a shared sense of belonging and the will to hope.

A fresh, nuanced look at an extraordinary woman and her lifelong fight for justice. Defying the constraints of her gender and class, Emily Hobhouse travelled across continents and spoke out against oppression. A passionate pacifist and a feminist, she opposed both the 1899-1902 Anglo-Boer War and World War One, leading to accusations of treason. Elsabe Brits travelled in her footsteps to bring to life a colourful story of war, heroism and passion, spanning three continents.

As kampvegter vir vrouestemreg en in haar uitgesproke teenkanting teen onreg is Emily Hobhouse ’n ikoon wat vandag nog inspireer. Ontdek die onbekende sy van ’n verbasend moderne vrou in hierdie volkleur pragboek propvol foto’s, interessante dagboekinskrywings en briewe. So gee sy ’n genuanseerde, vars blik op ’n buitengewone vrou wat voortdurend in die spervuur was. Van kleintyd het Emily haar verset teen haar lot. Vir vroue was daar min geleenthede en sy moes boonop haar siek pa oppas. Tog raak sy wereldwyd betrokke by die stryd teen onreg en oorlog. In twee oorloe het sy duisende lewens gered, en tog is sy – ’n ware patriot – in haar eie land onbekend en alleen dood.

In the first half of the nineteenth century, Southern Africa was a jumble of British colonies, Boer republics and African chiefdoms, a troublesome region of little interest to the outside world. Into this frontier world came the Reitz family, Afrikaner gentry from the Cape, who settled in Bloemfontein and played a key role in the building of the Orange Free State.

Frank Reitz, successively chief justice and modernising president of the young republic, went on to serve as State Secretary of the Transvaal Republic. In 1899, he stood shoulder to shoulder with President Paul Kruger to resist Britain’s war of conquest in Southern Africa. At the heart of this tale is the extraordinary life of Deneys Reitz, third son of Frank Reitz and Bianca Thesen. The young Reitz’s account of his adventures in the field during the Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902), published as Commando, became a classic of irregular warfare. After a period of exile in Madagascar, he went on become one of South Africa’s most distinguished lawyers, statesmen and soldiers. Martin Meredith interweaves Reitz’s experiences, taken from his unpublished notebooks, with the wider story of Britain’s brutal suppression of Boer resistance.

Concise and readable, Afrikaner Odyssey is a wide-ranging portrait of an aristocratic Afrikaner family whose achievements run like fine thread through these turbulent times, and whose presence is still marked on the South African landscape.

Die Nederlandse historikus, Martin Bossenbroek, het in 2013 die Nasionale Nederlandse Geskiedenis-prys gewen vir sy nuwe kroniek oor die oorlog wat Suid-Afrika gevorm het, en die boek is ook in 2013 op die kortlys vir die AKO Letterkunde-prys geplaas. Beide hierdie toekennings is vername Nederlandse letterkundige pryse. Hierdie Afrikaanse hardeband, wat in 2015 as 'n Engelse en 'n Afrikaanse sagteband uitgegee gaan word, sal die lof en byval bevestig wat Bossenbroek reeds ontvang het, en aan Suid-Afrikaanse lesers die geleentheid bied om sy unieke storieverteltegniek te ervaar. Die Anglo-Boereoorlog (1899-1902) is al verskeie dinge genoem: die oorsaak van apartheid, die voorganger van die Eerste en Tweede Wereldoorloe, en die eerste media-oorlog (waar joernaliste vir die eerste keer by 'n oorlog ingebed was). Dit het gehelp om die nasiestaat van Suid-Afrika te skep en meer as 'n honderd jaar nadat die oorlog geeindig het, lei dit steeds tot vurige debatte. In Die Boereoorlog bied Martin Bossenbroek vir die eerste keer aan lesers die volledige storie met ongeewenaarde insig en detail. Bossenbroek volg drie kleurvolle hoofkarakters: die Nederlandse prokureur, staatsprokureur van die Suid-Afrikaanse Republiek, staatsekretaris en uiteindelike Europese gesant Willem Leyds; die Britse oorlogsjoernalis Winston Churchill, en die Boerekryger en toekomstige Suid-Afrikaanse politikus, Deneys Reitz. Bossenbroek se fassinerende nuwe blik op die oorlog troef Thomas Pakenham se klassieke topverkoper, en is 'n moet-lees vir alle Suid-Afrikaanse geskiedenis-entoesiaste.

Die skrywer Erika Murray-Theron wou weet waar die vroue in haar familie vandaan kom. Wat kry ’n mens van wie? Waar kom alles wat jý is vandaan? Hoe is die vroue in haar familie se lewe geraak deur trauma en groot wêreldgebeurtenisse waaroor hulle geen beheer gehad het nie? Theron se ouma Issie is op 3 Mei 1885 gebore; 133 jaar gelede. In hierdie verhaalbiografie gaan soek Theron in ou kookboeke, aantekeninge, foto’s, herinneringe, albums, briewe en geslagsregisters na haar ouma Issie se storie. ’n Lewe ontvou wat geraak is deur die verlies van ouers, die Anglo-Boereoorlog, die Rebellie van 1914 en daarna die energie wat dit verg om ’n groot huisgesin te behartig. ’n Skerfie glas wys hoe die verlede, selfs die verre verlede, spore op latere geslagte laat.

The Anglo-Boer War in 100 Objects brings the victories and the tragedies, the full extent of the human drama behind this war – to life through 100 iconic artefacts.

While a Mafeking siege note helps to illustrate the acute shortages caused by the siege, a spade used by a Scottish soldier at Magersfontein and the boots of a Boer soldier who died at Spion Kop tell of the severity of some of the famous battles.

The book follows the course of the war but also highlights specific themes, such as British and Boer weaponry, medical services, POW camps, as well as major role-players on both sides.

The text is interspersed with striking historical images from the museum’s photographic collection. A further 200 secondary objects have been included to help tell the story of a conflict that left an indelible mark on the South African landscape.

Hierdie publikasie gee ’n volledige beeld van die kunstenaar Frans David Oerder (1867–1944) se oeuvre – sy Anglo-Boereoorlogtekeninge, landskappe, genrestukke, portrette, blomstudies en stillewes, interieurs, dierestudies en grafiese werk. Geen moeite is ontsien om hierdie boek so volledig en betroubaar moontlik te maak nie. Argivale bronne in die Kunsargief van die Universiteit van Pretoria, die Argief van die Johannesburg Kunsmuseum en die Nasionale Argief van Suid-Afrika in Pretoria het grootliks bygedra tot die toevoeging van inligting oor hierdie kunstenaar wat nie voorheen bekend was nie. Dieplakboek van Gerda Oerder en ’n lang lesing met detailinligting oor Oerder se vroee lewe deur mev. Lorimer in die Kunsargief van die Universiteit van Pretoria het bygedra tot ’n nuwe vertolking van die lewe en werk van hierdie belangrike Suid-Afrikaanse kunstenaar. Tydens die Anglo-Boereoorlog was Oerder die enigste amptelike kunstenaar aan Boerekant, maar tot dusver is nog geen volledige geskiedenis van sy deelname aan die oorlog geskryf nie. In hierdie boek word Oerder se Anglo-Boereoorlogtekeninge nou vir die eerste keer so volledig moontlik afgedruk en beskryf.

Wanneer ’n mens aan die ervarings van Boerevroue en -kinders tydens die Anglo-Boereoorlog dink, is die outomatiese konnotasie die van konsentrasiekamplyding. ’n Fassinerende en grotendeels onbekende buitebeentjie in hierdie genre is die dagboek van Anna Barry, waaruit ’n unieke en veelkantige beeld van die oorlog na vore kom. Aan die een kant van Anna se oorlogservaring staan haar broer Japie – ’n begeesterde jong soldaat wat uiteindelik as krygsgevangene op Ceylon sterf. Hierteenoor le haar geliefde pa Thomas (aanvanklik ’n gerespekteerde veldkornet) al in 1900 die eed van neutraliteit af, en wag hy die grootste gedeelte van die oorlog in die neutrale Basoetoland uit. Vir die tienderjarige Anna is die oorlog as gevolg hiervan ’n uiters verwarrende ervaring en haar dagboek bied ’n sonderlinge blik op die gefragmenteerdheid en buigbaarheid van konsepte soos “identiteit”, “nasie” en “volk”. Die feit dat die dagboek eers in 1960 vir die eerste keer gepubliseer is en daarna grotendeels in die vergetelheid verval het, is verder veelseggend in terme van hoe Anna self verwag het haar ervarings kort na die oorlog ontvang sou word – maar ook in terme van hoe blinde lojaliteit aan sekere groepe so dikwels in die geskiedenis van Suid-Afrikaners vereis is. Die dagboekteks, geboekstut deur Ena Jansen se insiggewende en verhelderende voor- en nawoord, bied nie slegs ’n sonderlinge blik op die Anglo-Boereoorlog nie, maar is verweef met kwessies van taal, politieke mag en sosiale status wat vandag nog net so relevant is soos toe die dagboek geskryf is.

Toe die Britse Imperiale Ryk in 1899-1902 sy volle militêre mag teen die Boererepublieke van Suider-Afrika in die veld gestoot het, het ‘n groot gedeelte van die res van die wêreld hulle morele ondersteuning aan die dapper burgerkrygers toegesê ... maar sedert die bitter uiteinde van daardie ongelyke stryd het geskiedskrywers die verhaal van die oorlog grotendeels uit ‘n Britse oogpunt benader.

Hierdie is ‘n geskiedenisboek wat anders is.

Oorlog-Beeld voer ‘n verbeeldingsprong uit om die krygswêreld van daardie stryders wat deur Nelson Mandela as die ‘eerste Afrika-vryheidsvegters van die 20ste eeu’ beskryf is, te laat herleef. Hier, in koerantformaat soos dit destyds kon gewees het, volg die verhaal van die ‘Engelse Oorlog’ wat deur Boere vertel word: deur die offisiere wat hulle burgers op die slagvelde by Magersfontein, Colenso en Spioenkop aanvoer; deur bittereinderburgers wat tot op die laaste volgehou het; deur verveelde burgers wat Mafeking, Ladysmith en Kimberley tevergeefs beleër het; deur vroue en kinders in die konsentrasiekampe; deur regeerders en krygsgevangenes in ballingskap asook verskeie ander deelnemers – alles toegelig uit ‘n magdom kontemporêre bronne en met ‘n menigte foto’s wat destyds geneem is.

Daar word nie net oor militêre konfrontasies berig nie, maar ook oor die kommandolewe, oor die ervaringe van krygsgevangenes in kampe oor die aardbol heen versprei, oor die aktiwiteite van die Boere-afgevaardigdes in die buiteland wat buitelandse inmenging aan Boerekant teweeg moes bring, oor die aktiwiteite van prominente individue, soos president Paul Kruger en Emily Hobhouse, en oor die treurige lot van vroue en kinders in die konsentrasiekampe.

Maggie is die merkwaardige verhaal van 'n Afrikaanse tienermeisie en haar belewenis van die Anglo­Boereoorlog.

Margaretha (Maggie) Jooste was net 13 jaar oud toe oorlog uitbreek, en haar lewe onherroeplik verander. Ná maande se huisarres in Heidelberg, Transvaal, is sy, haar ma en jonger broers en susters na 'n konsentrasiekamp in Natal. Daar het hulle honger, onsekerheid en verlies ervaar, maar ook verrassende goedhartigheid van Britse soldate.

Hierdie baie persoonlike vertelling, in haar eie woorde, is 'n verhaal van swaarkry, maar ook van medemenslikheid en vriendskappe oor vyandsgrense. 'n Goue draad is die band tussen die Joostes en die Engelssprekende Russell­familie wat lank voor die oorlog bure en vriende was. Terwyl die Britse soldate en Boerekommando's oorlog voer, het die Russells in die geheim aan die Joostes kos voorsien om hulle te help oorleef, en hulle ook ná die oorlog ondersteun.

'n Aangrypende en diep ontroerende, maar ook hartverskeurende, ware verhaal.

General Jannie Geldenhuys is widely regarded as one of the leading military commanders South Africa has ever produced. As Chief of the South African Defence Force from 1985 to 1990 he brought his experience to bear on the South African Border War, and was part of the negotiating team which brought an end to the conflict in 1989. In this edition, Geldenhuys reflects on a life defined as much by a military career spanning more than four decades as it was by politics and indeed the need for peace on the African sub-continent. At the Front covers the years before and during the protracted Border War. But rather than a blow-by-blow official history, it consists of Geldenhuys’ personal experiences and insights. These include facts unknown to civilians and even to some high-ranking military officials. In particular, Geldenhuys sheds light on the final years of the conflict and the negotiated settlement. Geldenhuys also writes of his early years, as he evolved from a rugby-mad young subaltern officer to a deep-thinking, reflective man with ever-sharpening insights into, war, peace, politics and, most of all, himself.

Die Britse beleid van "verskroeide aarde" en konsentrasiekampe tydens die Anglo-Boereoorlog het bitter herinneringe en trauma veroorsaak wat dekades na die oorlog steeds by Suid-Afrikaners spook. In die nuut opgedateerde uitgawe van ’n topverkoper gee vooraanstaande historici ’n vars en sober blik op hierdie hoogs omstrede aspek van die oorlog. Die vokleurboek verken die perspektiewe wat na meer as 100 jaar moontlik is, en bring nuwe insigte oor een van die mees omstrede aspekte van die oorlog.

Meer as ’n honderd jaar na die laaste skote in die Anglo-Boereoorlog geklap het, word genl. Christiaan de Wet steeds bewonder as onverbiddelike bittereinder, die held wat tot die einde toe volhard het. Sy jonger broer, Piet, word onthou as die joiner. In Broedertwis probeer Albert Blake verstaan waarom hulle lynreg in stryd met mekaar gekom het. Wie was reg? Christiaan, wat ten alle koste die vryheidstryd wou voer, of Piet, wat ’n einde aan die smart en lyding van die oorlog wou bring?

Ben Viljoen (1868–1917) was ’n prominente jonger generaal in die Anglo-Boereoorlog, maar ná die oorlog is hy nie opgeneem in die nuwe politieke elite van die Afrikaners nie. Nadat hy die eed van getrouheid op St. Helena onderteken het, het hy noot weer permanent na Suid-Afrika teruggekeer nie.

Carel van der Merwe het besluit om Viljoen se spore te volg na Brittanje, Nederland, Mexiko en Amerika en te gaan uitvind hoe dit gebeur het dat dié Boereoorloggeneraal burgerskap van vier verskillende lande gehad het, die ster was van ’n Boereoorlogskouspel, aan ’n Mexikaanse revolusie deelgeneem het, as vredeskommissaris tussen die Yaqui-Indiane opgetree het en voor sy dood op die punt was om ’n film in Hollywood te vervaardig.

’n Prentjie van ’n komplekse persoonlikheid kom na vore wat herinner aan ’n deel van die huidige generasie Afrikaners – minder godvresend, gemaklik in verskillende kulture, en bereid om te emigreer wanneer hulle dink dit tot hul voordeel is.

Africa is forever on our TV screens, but the bad-news stories (famine, genocide, corruption) massively outweigh the good (South Africa). Ever since the process of de-colonialisation began in the mid-1950s, and arguably before, the continent has appeared to be stuck in a process of irreversible decline. Constant war, improper use of natural resources and misappropriation of revenues and aid monies contribute to an impression of a continent beyond hope. How did we get here? What, if anything, is to be done? Fully revised and updated and weaving together the key stories and characters of the last sixty years into a stunningly compelling and coherent narrative, Martin Meredith has produced the definitive history of how European ideas of how to organise 10,000 different ethnic groups has led to what Tony Blair described as the 'scar on the conscience of the world'. Authoritative, provocative and consistently fascinating, this is the updated edition of the seminal book on one of the most important issues facing the West today.

East Africa affects our imagination like few other places: The sight of a charging rhino goes directly to the heart; the limitless landscape of bony highlands, desert, and mountain is, as Isak Dinesen wrote, of "unequalled nobility." White Hunters is the story of seventy years of African adventure, danger, and romance. It re-creates the legary big-game safaris led by Selous and Bell and the daring ventures of early hunters into unexplored territories, and brings to life such romantic figures as Cape-to-Cairo Grogan, who walked 4,000 miles for the love of a woman, and Dinesen's dashing lover, Denys Finch. Witnesses to the richest wildlife spectacle on the earth, these hunters were the first conservationists. Hard-drinking, infatuated with risk, and careless in love, they inspired Hemingway's stories and movies with Clark Gable and Gregory Peck.

This authoritative, yet hugely readable, book traces the history of the Zulus from their arrival in South Africa they were not indigenous as were the Koi and San population and the establishment of Zululand. It describes the violent rise of King Shaka and his colourful successors under whose leadership the warrior nation built its fiercesome reputation. It studies the tactics and weapons employed during the numerous inter-tribal battles that occurred. The Zulus real struggle for survival, rather than supremacy, came in wars against the white settlers. In 1877/78 they defeated the Boers in the Sekunini War and this prompted British intervention. Initially the might of the British empire was humbled but the 1879 war, despite the shock Zulu victory at Isandlwana, saw the crushing of the Zulu Nation. The little known consequences of the division of Zululand, the Boer War and the 1906 Zulu Rebellion are analysed in fascinating detail.

The Jameson Raid was a pivotal moment in the history of South Africa, linking events from the Anglo-Boer War to the declaration of the Union of South Africa in 1910. For over a century the failed revolution has been interpreted through the lens of British imperialism, with responsibility laid at the feet of Cecil John Rhodes. Yet the wild adventurism that characterised the raid resembles a cowboy expedition more than a serious attempt to overthrow a Boer government.

In The Cowboy Capitalist, Charles van Onselen challenges a historiography of over 120 years, locating the raid in American rather than British history and forcing us to rethink the histories of at least three nations. Through a close look at the little-remembered figure of John Hays Hammond, a confidant of both Rhodes and Jameson, he discovers the American Old West on the South African Highveld.

This radical reinterpretation challenges the commonly held belief that the Jameson Raid was quintessentially British and, in doing so, drives splinters into our understanding of events as far forward as South Africa’s critical 1948 general election, with which the foundations of Grand Apartheid were laid.

Op 17 sluit die talentvolle maar aweregse Henning Viljoen, 'n agterkleinseun van Piet Retief, by die Boeremagte aan. Vir die volgende twee jaar beskryf hy die lewe op kommando in sy dagboeke voordat hy tragies op die slagveld in sy pa se arms sterf. Die jonge Henning se eerlike, lewendige beskrywings bied 'n unieke perspektief op die oorlog in reguit en ongekunstelde taal. Wanneer hy byvoorbeeld mooi Boeremeisies op die plase teekom, is sy reaksies tipies van 'n jong man. Hy vertel egter ook van swaarkry en verliese, asook sy skok oor fusillerings. By een geleentheid moes hy toekyk hoe twee swart mans – eens sy speelmaats – tereggestel word. Die dagboeke vertel van die noue band tussen hom en sy korrelkop pa, 'n generaal. Na sy seun se dood sukkel sy pa om tot berusting te kom en lewer 'n anti-oorlog pleidooi in 'n brief aan genl. Louis Botha. Die laaste hoofstuk ondersoek die Bittereinders se sielkundige motivering. Blake vra ook die kritiese vraag: moes hulle so lank met die stryd aangehou het?

Sandwiched between the glamour and heroism of the Zulu War, and the controversy and bitterness of the Boer War, the Matabele Wars of the 1890s have long been southern Africa's forgotten colonial wars. There is no denying that the Matabele Wars are a lot less romantic and photogenic than the Zulu War. The wonky, unreliable Gatlings and ludicrous rocket batteries of the Zulu War had given way to the highly effective Maxim guns that were seeing major action for the first time. Nevertheless, the Matabele warriors showed every bit as much heroism, determination and elan as had their kinsmen in the Zulu War. With oft-claimed links to the infamous Jameson Raid, the origins of the second Matabele War are as fascinating and controversial as those of the first, and it was a dirty, hard-fought guerrilla war, more akin to the African bush wars of the 1960s and '70s than those waged at the height of the colonial period. The brutal murders of women and children committed by the insurgents and the widespread use of dynamite to entomb rebels in their subterranean hiding places both sparked fury and condemnation at the time, but aside from the butchery, actions such as the Mazoe Patrol were as heroic as anything of the age. This is the first history which covers both wars in a single volume, allowing the reader to see how they flowed seamlessly into one another and how they impacted on the southern Africa. Written in Ash's typical no-holds-barred style, the book thunders along rather than tiptoeing round modern political niceties. Special attention is given to the many outlandish characters of the period: old-school savage tyrant Chief Lobengula, the ambitious and ever-scheming Cecil Rhodes, and the rascally Dr Jameson, of course...but also men like Captain Lendy, one of very few men in history to have died from putting a shot, Frederick Selous, the archetypal great white hunter, Kagubi the infamous witchdoctor who whipped up so much trouble during the rebellion, not to mention the likes of Plumer, Forbes, Wilson, Colenbrander, Burnham, Baden-Powell, Gifford and the extraordinary `Maori' Hamilton-Browne. Indeed, the cast is probably the most fascinating part of the tale: adventurous young Anglo-Saxons from every corner of the empire and a few old Indian fighters from the American West, who all found themselves thousands of miles from home facing a valiant and terrifying enemy.

From the young mining town of Johannesburg came ideas of peaceful struggle which spread across the world. Formulated by Mohandas Gandhi in the early 1900s, the philosophy of Satyagraha (soul force or passive resistance) became an inspiration to millions all over the world. For a decade, during the formative years of his philosophy, Gandhi lived in and around Johannesburg where he established a prosperous law practice, though his legal work was soon overtaken by his political activism in support of Indian rights. During that decade, he made the streets and suburbs of the city his own, changing homes frequently and walking tirelessly. Tolstoy Farm and other places and buildings captured in words and pictures in this evocative book are landmarks of Ghandi's personal and political growth. The sites featured span huge social divides, from slums and shanties of the old Indian Location to the comfortable suburbs reserved for whites. Considered as a whole, they and the events surrounding them are an essential part of the Gandhian experience.

This richly colored memoir chronicles the exploits of a flamboyant Jewish family, from its bold arrival in cosmopolitan Alexandria to its defeated exodus three generations later. In elegant and witty prose, Andre Aciman introduces us to the marvelous eccentrics who shaped his life--Uncle Vili, the strutting daredevil, soldier, salesman, and spy; the two grandmothers, the Princess and the Saint, who gossip in six languages; Aunt Flora, the German refugee who warns that Jews lose everything "at least twice in their lives." And through it all, we come to know a boy who, even as he longs for a wider world, does not want to be led, forever, out of Egypt."