Abantu Besizwe: Historical and Biographical Writings, 1902–1944 (African Treasury)

Abantu Besizwe, The Nation's People, is the first new volume of Mqhayi's writing to appear in over sixty years. The essays, many of them enhanced by Mqhayi's incomparable poetry, present South African personalities and events ranging from the early nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, recording climactic battles and intimate conversations, the growth of national movements and the lives of lifelong friends. Here you will find Mqhayi's humane and incisive portraits of men and women, royalty and commoners, the great and the obscure, black and white, Xhosa, Zulu, Sotho, and Tswana. This collection of largely unrecognized material will necessitate a reassessment of the history of the Xhosa-speaking peoples, establish Mqhayi's reputation as a significant South African historian, and confirm his status as a major South African author.