A History of South Africa, Fourth EditionA fresh and penetrating exploration of South Africas history, from the earliest known human inhabitation of the region to the present. I did not think it was possible for a white person to write a history of South Africa which a black South African would find to be a fair and accurate account of a beautiful land and its people. Leonard Thompson has disabused me of that notion. His is a history that is both accurate and authentic, written in a