Loosing the Bonds

by Bob Massie

Book Overview

Loosing the Bonds is popular, narrative history at its best: a consuming, dramatically told David and Goliath story about the moral power of justice triumphing over powerful forces of oppression.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385261675
• ISBN13: 9780385261678
• Release Date: May 1997
• Publisher: Nan A. Talese
• Length: 896 Pages
• Weight: 2.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.9" x 6.7" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

An excellent work of history

I've long been searching for a clear, narrative history of the modern political development of South Africa. This book is it! Massie's book is a clear, concise history of 20th Century South Africa that is very well-written and highly engaging. Though the premise is ostensibly about US-South African relations, in practice I found this to be only a very loose focus. At best, the book is just a narrative of South Africa's own evolution as a country. When the foreign policy of United States played a role in that evolution, America is mentioned, but the focus is not American-centric overall. Massie primarily reports on South Africa's own internal struggles and political battles, making this a far more thorough and complete story than one might imagine from the title. "Loosing the Bonds" is neutral and not polemic. The author does not overtly pass judgement on the nature of South African-American relations over the years, but merely reports the facts. In seeking to educate about such an inherently controversial history, this book does a great service to all its readers.