This little book is in no sense intended to be of use to insurance experts. It is written by an outsider mainly for the ignorant, for the multitude who either wish to insure their lives, or to whom the insurance agent is for ever coming with his proposals, his promises and blandishments. My doctrine is that every man ought to insure his life the moment he arrives at a period or position when his responsibility extends over the lives of others. If this duty were regarded as an imperative one by the community at large, there would be little or no necessity for the elaborate machinery required by our life offices to induce people to invest in life or other insurance policies; but as long as apathy prevails, such agencies must be maintained and a ceaseless activity displayed by the offices in tempting investors to enter into policy contracts.

At the heart of South Africa's 'miracle' transition from intractable ethno-racial conflict to democracy was an improvised nation born out of war weariness, hope, idealism and calculated pragmatism on the part of the elites who negotiated the compromise settlement. In the absence of any of the conventional bonds of national consciousness, the improvised nation was fixed on the civic identity and national citizenship envisaged in the new constitution. In the twentieth anniversary year of the country's democracy, "South Africa" reviews the progress of nation-building in post-apartheid South Africa, assesses how well the improvised nation has been embedded in a shared life for South Africans and offers a prognosis for its future. It draws up a socio-economic profile of the population which is the raw material of nation-building. It measures the contributions of the polity and the constitution, religion and values, as well as sport and the media, to building a sense of national citizenship. The book explains the abrupt discontinuity between the contributions of Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki to nation-building and goes on to note the changing focus from reconciliation between black and white to include a concern for social cohesion in a society beset by violent crime, corruption and citizen deviance and dissidence. "South Africa" reconsiders the short, intense life cycle of Afrikaner nationalism and portrays the ambiguous relationships between African nationalism, non-racialism, civic nationalism and 'African tradition' in the ideology and practice of the African National Congress. In doing so, it provides a comprehensive analysis of a crucial aspect of South Africa's first twenty years of democracy, as well as exploring intriguing questions for the student of nationalism.""

This little book is in no sense intended to be of use to insurance experts. It is written by an outsider mainly for the ignorant, for the multitude who either wish to insure their lives, or to whom the insurance agent is for ever coming with his proposals, his promises and blandishments. The author's doctrine is that every man ought to insure his life the moment he arrives at a period or position when his responsibility extends over the lives of others. If this duty were regarded as an imperative one by the community at large, there would be little or no necessity for the elaborate machinery required by our life offices to induce people to invest in life or other insurance policies; but as long as apathy prevails, such agencies must be maintained and a ceaseless activity displayed by the offices in tempting investors to enter into policy contracts.