Namibia Travel Guide
Namibia Travel Guide
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Further reading

Namibia Travel Guide

Further reading



History


Hansheinrich von Wolf and Duwisib Castle by Dr N Mossolow. Published in 1995 for the Society for Scientific Development, Swakopmund. ISBN 99916-30-13-9. This neat 20-page account of the castle and its founder is half in German and half in English, and often available from the castle itself. The middle eight pages are black-and-white photographs of the castle and its characters. Worth buying whilst you are there.
Africa: A Biography of the Continent by John Reader. Published in 1997 by Penguin Books Ltd, 27 Wrights Lane, London W8 5TZ, England. ISBN 0-241-13047-6. Over 700 pages of highly readable history, interwoven with facts and statistics, to make a remarkable overview of Africa's past. Given that Namibia's boundaries were imposed from Europe, its history must be looked at from a pan-African context to be understood. This book can show you that wider view; it is compelling and essential reading.
The Bushman Myth: the Making of a Namibian Underclass by Robert J Gordon. Published in 1992 by Westview Press Inc, 5500 Central Ave, Boulder, Colorado, 80301-2847. Also in the UK by Westview Press, 36 Lonsdale Road, Summertown, Oxford. ISBN 0-8133-1381-3. If you, like me, had accepted the received wisdom that Bushmen are the last descendants of Stone-Age man, pushed to living in splendid isolation in the Kalahari, then you must read this. It places the Bushmen in an accurate historical context and deconstructs many of the myths we have created about them.
Rivers of Blood, Rivers of Gold: Europe's Conflict with Tribal Peoples by Mark Cocker. Published in 1998 by Jonathan Cape, Random House, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SA. ISBN 0-224-03884-2. This highly readable book explores four colonial episodes: the conquest of Mexico, the British onslaught in Tasmania, the uprooting of the Apache in north America, and the German campaign in South West Africa during the early 20th century. It gives an excellent, detailed account of the 1904–7 war, and examines the conflict, and the main characters, in the context of contemporary world politics.
Lake Ngami and The River Okavango by Charles John Andersson. Originally published in the late 1850s, but republished as a facsimile reprint by C Struik of Cape Town in 1967. These two fascinating books record Namibia in the 1850s through the eyes of one of the first traders and hunters in the area.
Explorations in South-West Africa by Thomas Baines. Published 1864 in London. Although linked more with the countries further east, the travels of Baines, as he accompanied Livingstone and others, make fascinating reading.
Namibia – The Facts. Published by IDAF Publications Ltd, London, in 1989. Concentrates mainly on the liberation struggle over the last ten years. Highly emotive text and pictures.
History of Resistance in Namibia by Peter H Katjavivi. Co-published by James Currey, London; OAU in Addis Ababa; Unesco Press in Paris. Rather more scholarly than Namibia – The Facts, it's impressive in its detail.
The History of Rehoboth by Robert Camby. A very useful pamphlet for understanding Rehoboth's history.
The Price of Freedom by Ellen Ndeshi Namhila. A biographical account of 19 years spent in exile by a young Namibian woman.
'Why gossip is good for you' by R I M Dunbar. Article in New Scientist, November 21 1992.
'Franz or Klikko, the Wild Dancing Bushmen: A Case Study in Khoisan Stereotyping' by Q N Parsons. Published in the journal of the Botswana Society, Vol 20 (1989), pages 71–6.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT THIS ON-LINE CHAPTER
We are working very hard to put all of this Bradt Travel Guide online. However, there's such a lot of detailed information in the book, that this process is taking time.

We started loading this book online in 2006, and expect to have completed it about August 2006. Please check back regularly between now and then, and you'll find more and more information here.

Some chapters are already here in their entirety. This one is not yet. However, if what you are looking for is not here, then you might find useful information on some of these areas at expertafrica.com.


^ Top of page