A History of Namibia

When the UN’s Australian troops arrived in Windhoek to help secure the peace process in the build-up to Namibia’s Independence on March 21, 1990, the excited soldiers stormed out of their transport aircraft and took up combat positions around the circumference of the airfield much to the amusement of the locals. Nobody had got around to telling them that t they had arrived in one of the most under-populated countries in the world and, if they wanted war, they were going to have to look for it. A failure to encompass the size of Namibia, as well as the length of its history, is a common shortcoming of historians. It is not one which Marion Wallace transgresses in this excellent and comprehensive book which covers Namibian history from the Holocene period – more than 10, 0000 years ago – to the latter day killings of ‘Prime Evil’, Eugene de Kock, with extensive footnotes, bibliography and a generous index this book is a ‘must’ for anyone with an interest in Namibia.