Content area
Full Text
ANTHONY BUTLER, Contemporary South Africa. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan (pb US$22.95 - 0 333 71519 5; hb US$ 69.95 - 0 333 71518 7). 2004, 208 pp.
Anthony Butler sets himself a stem challenge: to provide an accessible and broad introduction to South Africa. Contemporary South Africa is billed as a reader-friendly volume, befitting the Contemporary States and Society series. Signposted through a rapid historical overview, the text then introduces South Africa as a 'Rainbow Nation' and from this description enters into a number of the challenges facing the state today. These are then developed more in chapters dealing with the economy, social policy, and government and politics. A consideration of South African culture and social issues rather surprisingly precedes a discussion of South Africa's international relations.
In aiming for a readable volume the work succeeds, although the breadth of the material covered leaves little space for...