Enige land se geskiedenis lewer figure op waarvan die grootsheid nie deur tyd en vergetelheid gestroop kan word nie. In die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks is Marthinus Theunis Steyn so ’n figuur: ’n man wat hom selfloos aan sy volk gewy het en bereid was om alles vir sy mense se vryheid op te offer. Die leser word op boeiende wyse betrek by Marthinus Theunis Steyn se kleurvolle lewensverhaal: hoe hy nooit sy herkoms as Vrystaatse plaasseun verraai het nie en selfs as president in voeling met die eenvoudigste Boere gebly het; hoe hy sy uitmergelende siekte met volharding bly beveg het en hoe sy geloof in God en sy liefde vir sy gesin en sy erfgrond hom in tye van beproewing staande gehou het.

Die Angola-Boere was afstammelinge van die Dorslandtrekkers wat vir sewe jaar deur woeste en onbekende lande moes swerf voordat hulle die “beloofde land” bereik het. Hier vertel die ou Boerepioniers op hulle eie, ongekunstelde manier van hulle jagvernuf en krygsvernuf – en hoe hulle in Angola geleef en die land help tem het. Willie Meester (Opperman) vertel van die kaalvoetjagter Larssen (“die knapste olifantjagter wat seker ooit geleef het”), die jagkonings van die Shimborro, die kwaai olifant van Catengue, petaljes met seekoeie, leeujag en slawerny in Angola. Oom Willem Grobler (’n Voortrekker-afstammeling) vertel van oom Paul Venter en sy viool en die veldtogte teen Maranga, Ndoendoema en Huambo. Oom Peet van der Merwe (skrywer van Ons halfeeu in Angola) vertel van die Vlugekspedisie (1906) en die Wenekspedisie (1907).

ELSIE is a riveting story told with gut-wrenching reality of a woman's courage set against a torrid period in South African and world history. Growing up in a small diamond-mining village near Pretoria, South Africa, her secure, sheltered environment is shaken with the return of the two men in her life from fighting in German East Africa during the first World War ...a changed shell-shocked boyfriend who commits suicide and an unemployed brother who becomes involved in illicit diamond dealing with dire consequences. Rather than indulge in self-pity she puts her strong pacifist feelings to work by volunteering as a nurse at a military field hospital in Belgium where she meets her husband to be and where exposure to the horrors and futility of industrial warfare changes her worldview and she joins with other women calling for universal suffrage. After the war she is thrown into further conflict when her husband is involved in the bloody confrontations of the 1922 miners' strike in South Africa and she opens a care centre for abused women and single pregnant mothers, giving them protection and hope of a better future.

Christiaan De Wet, commander of the Boer forces in the Anglo-Boer War, had the ability to lead his burghers, many of them individualists, with a strong hand, subjecting them to his stringent discipline. He was also a masterful strategist who could anticipate the moves of his opponents. But it was his ability to evade the British forces in what became known as the "First De Wet Hunt" that contributed significantly to his legendary status. Lord Roberts, Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in South Africa, believed that the capture of De Wet would lead to the end of the Anglo-Boer War. When De Wet slipped over Slabberts Nek on July 15, 1900, breaking through Lieutenant General Sir Archibald Hunter's cordon and taking with him 2,000 Free Staters, including President Steyn and the government of the Orange Free State, Roberts organized a massive pursuit. From all sides British columns entered the chase. However, from July to August, 1900, De Wet, along with 2,500 men, managed to evade the elaborate net Lord Roberts had so carefully prepared to ensnare him. In so doing, the "Boer Pimpernel" ran rings around 50,000 British troops. Significantly, De Wet's successful evasion of the British ultimately led to the adoption of guerilla tactics by the Boers. This compelling story of a watershed event in the course of the war and the colorful personality of the man behind it is masterfully told, and brings an important personal dimension to the history of the Anglo-Boer War.