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POLITICS P. Eric Louw. The Rise, Fall, and Legacy of Apartheid. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2004. xiv + 255. Maps. Notes. Selected Bibliography. Index. $49.95. Cloth.
If I had to recommend a single book to anyone interested in learning about the origins and effects of South Africa's apartheid system, it would be this one by Eric Louw. He has given one of the most succinct accounts I have ever read. The task was an ambitious and difficult one: to construct "a coherent narrative of apartheid" (vii). In short, he succeeds.
Louw lays out in great detail the theory of apartheid, arguing that "at heart, apartheid was a radical survival plan" (42), but he then shows how that theory changed with events. His historical account of apartheid is both comprehensive and readable, while his chronology of the building of apartheid provides an excellent teaching and learning tool. His distinction between "grand apartheid" and "petty apartheid," and...