In this epic narrative Frank Welsh explores South Africa's eventful history through the clash and engagement of cultures -- tribal, Afrikaner, and British, among them -- that have made this nation on the tip of Africa not only the most powerful country on the African continent but also the most controversial. South Africa: A Narrative History begins in pre-colonial times, when South Africa was home to the now extinct Bushman, and ends with Nelson Mandela's last year of power as the first black leader of the post-apartheid nation. Among the seminal events that take center stage in this drama are accounts of the Jameson Raid, the Great Trek, the Zulu Wars and the Boer War, and the struggle of the African National Congress for legitimacy and political power. Welsh, the author of A Borrowed Place: The History of Hong Kong which the New York Review of Books called "a magnificent, much-needed and compendious history", has now written an essential book on South Africa, a book for anyone wishing to understand the historical and economic underpinnings beneath the present day realities.